Trade is trade

 Final installment in the Astropolis project! While most of the minis in this kickstarter are mechanics or tech support of some kind (except the minis I used as Imperial Guard), these others have quite a different look. The first two are labeled as 'merchants'. Honestly, I think that if I had painted them red and added a Machina Opus or whatever, I could have made them pass as Mechanicus Adepts. But at the time I really wanted to change subject and in the end I went for the merchant idea.

So totally not-red colours! They needed to be somehow opulent, different form the rest of the bunch, kind of out of place, being outworlders coming to bargain or whatever.

He can also practice kendo if needed

Lady Olenna Tyrell after the grimdark filter

You see, they both are relatively versatile minis, but I think they work fine this way.

Oops, I hadn't discovered until this very moment that I had missed a bracelet. Will solve that

The thing is that having merchants gave me the excuse to paint the last two minis. Of course Xenos are not tolerated within the Imperium of Mankind. But you know, living in the Eastern Fringe can be hard, far from the Light of the Astronomican. Imperial authorities are not always watching, and even foul Xenos can trade some interesting stuff from time to time. So it's not that strange that weird alien species can come and visit, making the black market thrive.

It would have been fun to paint these in cold colours, kind of Sulley in Monsters, Inc., but I didn't see myself making it work, so in the end I opted for a classical Chewbacca scheme, just the way I did long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away.

These guys are like half Wookies, half Ithorians

Then I emphasised the Star Wars theme as much as I could, there was no point in hiding it

In the end it looks like trading is good for everyone:

"You got the stuff?" "It depends, you got the money?"

So I can happily declare the Astropolis project closed! Hooray! Besides, life is going back to normal, so I think I can afford to spend a little bit more time on the hobby. I don't even know what will I do next, but I'm delving into my pending projects boxes. For sure something will come up...

Mech Droids

 I know that, given the title, you may legitimately be expecting some R2 units today. Well, I'll try to make up for the broken expectations with some cool models from the Astropolis KS.

Today I'm bringing the bots, some pretty cute models, I have to say. However, even being so lovely, at first I was quite unsure of what to do with them. I mean, I don't see an obvious function they can perform, and for a moment I considered taking them down to bits and using them for conversions. But it was just a second, I really couldn't chop them down, they are simply too cute. So I just painted them!

Beep booop

They have quite a strong DUM-series pit droid (you know, the mech droids from The Phantom Menace) vibe to me, which makes them adorable, of course.

This droid shows more tiredness than any human-like mini I've ever seen

On the other hand, this guy is super happy

And this other one looks pretty pensive

What I'm saying is that these little fellas are super expressive, even without a face, or two of them even without arms! They are quite memorable sculpts in their simplicity.

I'd love to understand the conversation they are having

I could have added a lot more details, I guess,and I'm not happy with the light effect, but on the whole I think they work and will look nice on the board. By the way, if the Adeptus Mechanicus asks, they are servo skulls with reinforced armour and enhanced functionalities. Just in case.