Thor – Grimmleigh's Lab

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Beta Ray Bill

When I was in my early teens, Walt Simonson was working on the Thor comics for Marvel. He went really hard into the whole Cosmic Fantasy aspect of the character, and somehow managed to stay incredibly close to the design aesthetic established by Jack Kirby. As a comics smitten kid with a penchant for doodling, I was smitten.

Somewhere along the line, Thor did something dumb, and Odin, being Odin, decided that Meow-meow needed to go to someone else, someone more worthy. So, the hammer made its way to Beta Ray Bill, a Korbonite warrior who was, as it turned out, pretty worthy. Look at this cover… it’s still metal as hell four decades later!

Atomic Mass Games released Beta Ray Bill for their Marvel Crisis Protocol game a couple of years back, and the box has been sitting neglected by me since then. I did paint up Ulik recently, and Bill was my reward for being a good boy and posting consistently through January and February.

Gaze upon the freaking MAJESTY of this sculpt! When you have something this amazing to work with, the miniature pretty much paints itself.

I still sometimes forget that this miniature line is part of a game and not a series of DIY collectible figurines. I guess it’s all in your mindset, right? Nightcrawler from the X-Men is up next!

Marvel Crisis Protocol

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Ulik the Rock Troll

I have to be honest here, I hardly remember Ulik from the Thor comics. Sure, he was there as hammer bait a lot if I remember correctly, but under normal circumstances I’m not sure I would have picked up this model.

But he came with Beta Ray Bill…

Also, the model is just plain bad-ass. Yeah, he’s a giant beat-stick looking for a good solid smack, but isn’t that what trolls are for? He looks amazing!

I am really happy with the metalic green armor scales, I used diluted green ink over silver and it did exactly what I was hoping! This was a really fun model to paint!

Miniatures, Workbench

Marvel Crisis Protocol: Valkyrie

I just realized today that I haven’t actually posted pics of most of the Marvel Crisis Protocol miniatures that I have painted up, so I’m going to have to make a change to that!

Valkyrie, though, is a newer mini that I finished up this week. The box art shows her in her classic comics version, all Nordic and blonde. Nope. I’m a big fan of Tessa Thompson’s portrayal in the Marvel movies, so I opted for a darker skin tone and black hair.

I kept everything else pretty straightforward from Valkyrie’s classic comic look, with the purples and vibrant blues.

Workbench

Lightning SFX Experiment

The Thor mini form Marvel:Crisis Protocol is pretty cool, but after finishing him up, he was lacking… oomph. That had to change.

One quick search through EBay later, and that Jane Foster Thor found its way home to me. Click are terribly painted, but that lightning effect is made of soft, transparent plastic. Time for some chop-shop action!

Getting the lightning onto Thor took some persistent pinning, but the end result is pretty great.:

I’m tempted to strip the paint off of the Jane Foster fig. The sculpts on Clix can be half decent once the foot of paint is cleared off!

Workbench

Thor from Marvel: Crisis Protocol

Gotta love Atomic Mass Games right now. Marvel Crisis Protocol hasn’t even been out 6 months yet, and the line up past the initial boxed set is impressive to say the least!

The Asgardians hit stores about a month ago, and as you can see, a certain Odinson isn’t messing around!

I spent a little extra time layering in some richness to the cape, and I’m still thinking of some lightning effects that I can work in. Other than that, Thor is another solid winner from Atomic Mass!