Bunch Of Jackasses, Standing In A Circle

This isn't a team I had planned to collect, but I had an emotional reaction after watching Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3

I've got a lot of time for the official Atomic Mass sculpts, but I couldn't turn down these movie-accurate prints from Trident Studios, especially as I could scoop up the whole team for fraction of the cost.

Star-Lord is up first, and one thing I noticed is that, even among the other characters of the MCU, the Guardians have quite muted colours (despite the alien skin tones). There's lots of regular clothes going on here, so you can do a lot with zenithal and contrast paint.

Gamora was one of the characters I knew from way back, although she's gone through a number of costume changes through the years - trading in her Barbarella-style catsuit for a pair of sensible trousers. Getting the highlights in her hair took a bit of blending, as was adding some layers to her skin (although I've painted enough goblins not to fear green skin).

Her sculpt is the least dynamic of the set, but I guess being the only sane member of the crew doesn't make you the most fun either.

By contrast, Nebula so much fun that she got included in the original crew. Her sculpt is so precariously balanced it had to be repaired twice, which is unusual, as these 3D prints tend to hold up well (although not much will survive having a 12" Thanos action figure fall on top of it - he is a stern parent).

Duly repaired with metal pins (appropriately enough), Nebula is ready for action. I'm looking forward to seeing her operate on the table, since she is very cheap to field, and has no means of scoring VPs - so basically exists to hunt down the opponents and beat them up.

Trident Studios did a decent job of sculpting Zoe Saldana and Karen Gillan, but I think they knocked it out of the park with Dave Bautista's Drax the Destroyer.

This was another character I knew from way back, although he had green skin and a more Flash Gordon costume - here it's just a pair of jeans and some knives (plus some tattoos that needed a careful drybrush).

With some characters, you struggle to find a defining quote. Others speak in nothing but defining quotes - like the real star of the franchise and the galaxy's favourite trash panda.

As you'd expect, Rocket is very, very small and something of a challenge to paint his furry face. Interestingly, I had to search around for his costume colours, since he doesn't really have a memorable uniform - all you remember about him is the performance.

This is Groot. I put my Wood Elf training into painting him. He has a good partnership with Rocket in the game, which is just as it should be.

So that concludes the Guardians. Being a plucky band of outsiders (don't call them plucky), there is almost no crossover with other affiliations in the game. Gamora can get into A-Force and there are some additional members that don't yet have MCU name recognition, like Agent Venom, Cosmic Ghost Rider and Beta Ray Bill. 

You can also field Ronan the Accuser (who let him in there?) and Yondu is on the way, but basically the whole team is cheap enough that you can field all six together and have a very solid (and narrative team). Let the dance off commence!