Last month, we took glimpse at what Blackstar might look like if he and his supporting cast were made into action figures in the Masters of the Universe Classics style. It was a pretty easy association since the Blackstar cartoon preceded He-Man and the Masters of the Universe at Filmation, and the property also had a toy line that fit in pretty perfectly with MOTU back in the ’80s. This time we are taking the focus to a genre that had a great influence on the early designs of He-Man: barbarian fantasy. This was a popular corner in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and Frank Frazetta was, and remains to this day, the king of that genre’s artists. So, when he teamed up with maverick animator Ralph Bakshi for 1983’s Fire and Ice, the movie instantly struck a chord with the “Conan crowd.” Well, we are not alone in thinking that the characters from Fire and Ice would make for some pretty great action figures.
If you are not familiar with with Fire and Ice, I strongly suggest you check out all of the dirt here and here. Oh, and, you know, you should really watch the movie. If you have access to Amazon, you can watch it there, or just go the old fashion route and buy your very own copy. Now, the movie looks to be set to get a live-action remake courtesy of Robert Rodriguez, so if that does happen, look for property to take on an all-new cultural relevance.
The plot of the movie is fairly standard, but with Frazetta leading the way in terms of design and atmosphere, this is a rare opportunity to see his style come alive on the movie screen. Now, that doesn’t mean that Ralph Bakshi’s fingerprints aren’t on this one as well, and if you are a fan of his use of mixed media and rotoscoping, this will definitely scratch that itch as well. If you are new to the Bakshi game, the style might take a bit to get used to, but there is a natural fluidity that comes from his use of live-action models that cannot be imitated via any other method. I will admit that I was not aware of this movie until I was in college, but it definitely remains one of those films that I watch at least once a year. A major reason for that as of late is because, well, I want action figures!
So, like Blackstar, you better believe that I am not the only one that feels this way, and I have seen a lot of really cool customs over the years, with most people concentrating on the enigmatic Darkwolf. Rightly so, too, as he is most definitely the coolest character in the move and most certainly the most classic “Frazetta” archetype. Also like Blackstar, my quest for Fire and Ice figures began with a third-party custom kit by Alvis Underground. Even before I got the kit in the mail, I started planning what needed to be done to add Larn and Teegra to the mix, and, once again, Ibentmyman-thing helped me out with some of the work.
DARKWOLF
Like I said, this whole quest began with the Alvis Underground “Duskfang” custom kit. Matt K did a fantastic job featuring this specific item in his article from a couple of years ago, so please check that out for some eye-melting pictures. Personally, I have had this kit for a couple of months now and I am big fan, as you probably expect. The kit includes the head, loincloth overly, necklace, ax, and knife that all work very well with a King Grayskull body. Like his Blackstar kit, Alvis’ Duskfang is “plug and play,” so aside from putting the kit parts on the body, no further customizing is required. I did take the added step of painting the gauntlets in brown and copper to make the source a bit closer, but that is not required. Matt K used the Vykron body and that adds some additional details, so that works great as well. Just seeing this kit online was my gateway for more, but the other two character would require a bit more work.
LARN
Larn is the classic hero of Fire and Ice in the “Luke Skywalker” sense of the word. His character design is fairly simple since he doesn’t wear much of anything at all in the movie, so the basic MOTUC body lends itself well for adaptation, if you don’t mind giving Larn a bit more muscle mass. So, I started with a basic He-Man body and painted the belt and gauntlets in the same brown and copper I used for Darkwolf. I know the furry shorts don’t match perfectly with the source material, but keeping them was important to help bring in the overall Classics aesthetic.
I added his dagger and sheath to his right thigh via a borrowed piece from the ToyBiz Legendary Comic Book Heroes Conan figure and a piece of styrene, both painted to match. Aside from a knife, Larn uses a spear as weapon in the movie as well, so he gets to use the one that comes with the MOTUC Oo-Larr figure. At that point, the figure was 90% complete using parts I already had and a bit of paint, so a bit of effort to complete the figure was not really daunting, but I knew I would need a bit of help.
Enter: Ibentmyman-thing. Again. To save the day. I had considered commissioning him to create an all-new head sculpt for Larn, but at the end of the day, I found that adapting the Galactic Protector He-Man head would work very well, and without reinventing the wheel. Since I display my Galactic Protector He-Man with the helmeted head, this was even better because the look would not be duplicated on the shelf and hair was pretty much completely correct from the outset. So, benty made a cast of the head and added a braid in place of the ponytail that was donated from SOTA Vega figure. He also added some metal hoop earrings to complete the look. All it took was a bit of paint and he was done once I added the necklace that benty made from scratch.
The likeness of the face sculpt might not be quite perfect when it comes to Larn, but having a Classics sculpt ready and at the go was really helpful, and I think it works well enough, especially with the embellishments that were added.
TEEGRA
Ah, well, right from the get-go I knew Teegra was going to be the most challenging portion of this relatively small project, but I have to say that it was portion that was the most fun because of how she came together, considering all of that work that needed to be done. Let’s face it, it would not be Frazetta/Bakshi without a bit of cheesecake, and, well, Teegra plays that role well; don’t be mistaken though, she holds her own on several occasions throughout the film. So, for building a Classics figure, some considerations were going to need to be made, especially when she wears VERY little during most of her screen time.
Like Larn, I felt that I did not need to go very far to get a good likeness for Teegra. For parts, I simply used a Classics Adora head with Frosta’s hair painted black. Teegra has high cheek bones and large lips in the movie, so I think the Adora face works the best from what I had to choose from in Classics. Frankly, I am pretty happy with the results even though I will probably go back and set the hair just a bit better on the head.
After that, Teegra’s body is made up of some stark modification for accuracy, coupled with some adaptations to feel like a Classics figure. The basic base is Battle Ground Teela’s body, with Frosta’s shins, and Sherrilyn’s loin cloth. Again, benty was kind enough to lend his sculpting skills, and he smoothed down the forearms, gave her the requisite breast enhancement (and bikini top), and, most impressively, all-new bare feet as those do not exist in the Classics line. The work he did is really amazing and everything came together very smoothly.
Now, I decided to leave the bracers on the upper arms because I felt they were very complementary to both Teegra and the Classics look, additionally adding some more detail to the figure. The furry shorts, though, those are another matter. The choice to give Teegra the shorts instead of her thong bottom was made out of an aesthetic choice as well as necessity. Again, I think that the shorts help make this feel like a Classics figure and if Fire and Ice took place on Eternia, this is what she would be wearing. Additionally, if you know anything about how MOTUC figures are actually constructed, you know that the hip areas are just overlays for all of the figures, so having actual uncovered hips would be an engineering nightmare. Your mileage may vary on this choice, but I think it is a good compromise, and, let’s face it, Teegra needs a bit more clothing wherever she can get it.
Not that I think it is anywhere in the realm of possibility, but it would be awesome to get an actual line of Fire and Ice figures in the Classics style. Start with these three, but also give us some sub-humans and Nekron at the very least, and you can get a great line started. If it is not meant to be, at least we have some good bases to work with for customs, and guys like Alvis and Benty can lead the charge.
Thanks for reading and stay tuned, we have more installments still to come!
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