On June 10th, 1955, a humble little scifi B-movie hit theaters called THIS ISLAND EARTH. It starred Rex Reason and Faith Domergue as atomic scientists kidnapped by Exeter, a mysterious yet seemingly kindly man with white hair and a large forehead, and taken to his home planet of Metaluna. Metaluna was under attack by the forces of the planet Zagon, and Metaluna needed the earth scientists' aid to synthesize enough uranium to fuel their defensive screens long enough to evacuate Metaluna's population to Earth. While Exeter argues for a peaceful coexistence with Earth, the leader of Metaluna instead suggests a future where earthlings would be subservient to the "superior" Metalunans. The question is moot, however, as it's too late; Exeter and the earthlings narrowly escape as Metaluna, under heavy bombardment, transforms into a new star. However, a Mutant (or Mu-TANT, given the enunciation in the film), a synthetic species of humanoid insects used as slave labor on Metaluna, has stowed away on the flying saucer and attacks, delivering a fatal wound to Exeter before being destroyed itself.
I'll be honest, while it's got its charm it's not an amazing film, and these days might be best known for being included in "Mystery Science Theater 3000: The Movie," which I used to have on VHS back in the day. I certainly tend to think of some of the jokes made by Mike and the Bots in that when I think of this film.
The Mu-TANT, however, has achieved a degree of iconicness; because the film was produced and distributed by Universal Studios, it does get included with the Universal Monsters in some tie-in media (action figure licenses, etc), and coming just a year after the Creature From The Black Lagoon, I applaud the inclusion. Modernized version have also appeared in the films MEN IN BLACK 3 and LOONEY TUNES: BACK IN ACTION in scenes paying tribute to the sci-fi boom of the 1950s.
Which is a long, roundabout way to explain who these guys are. BigMrTong did a limited release of metal figures inspired by the Metaluna Mu-TANT, and I picked up three of them. They're now available as an STL file through his patreon, but I got three of the metal release, bending the arms slightly to create some variation between them. They'd been sitting primed on my desk for a while, but on the 10th I saw a notice on one of the B-movie pages I follow on social media stating it was the film's anniversary, so I got my rear in gear and started painting.
Nothing too fancy, and I avoided trying to paint the sculpted veins on the arms - I just don't have a fine enough brush and enough trust in the steadiness of my own hands not to bodge it up repeatedly.
While I was at it, I knocked out another bit of scatter terrain for my modern tables - a hot dog cart, ready to be parked on a street corner dishing out delicious street meat to hungry pedestrians.
This is a 3D print I got from Miniature Building Authority, given a simple metallic drybrush for that stainless steel look, and the hot dog and soda logos picked out in full color.
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| "This kid's been back four times today... he's an eating machine!" |
So let's get that tracker updated:
Miniatures Acquired: 149
Miniatures Painted: 129
Terrain Acquired: 4
Terrain Painted: 6
Scatter Acquired: 0
Scatter Painted: 9
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