28mm "Blakes 7"

Cally, Gann, Jenna, Blake, Avon, Orac and Vila

For a number of years now I have been coveting these gorgeous figures but took ages to a) Get round to buying them as they are not my standard historical fare and b) getting the things painted.

Thankfully this year's Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge had a bonus TV / Movie round, the excuse has landed.

Gann was a bit shy when this one was taken.

I am pretty sure that this fantastic TV show, filmed in the late 70s and early 80s didn't travel very far outside the UK and I don't recall it being repeated either, so those under 40 might not even be aware of the programme. It certainly seems that way when I posted these to the AHPC site.

Cally and Jenna with Orac

I loved the show back then and still do today, the low budget and creaking sets are there for all to see but so is the great writing and fantastic characters who all had their own interesting and often ambiguous motives.

Cally front and back.

The story followed a group of renegades out for revenge (or money / power !) battling against the "evil" Federation led by the scheming Servillan  (to be painted soon).

Blake was the Rebels leader (or was he ?), backed up by Avon a general rogue who was out for himself  (or was he ?), Gann the gentle giant with a brain implant to restrict his violence. Vila the cowardly thief, Cally the telepath, Jenna the Smuggler and Orac the super computer.

The real cast and show logo.

The figures themselves are heroic 28mm in scale and I bought them from Crooked Dice Miniatures under the title Future Freedom Fighters, there has been a recent split in the ranks of that company and I understand that these figures will now be sold under the new company name of Beast in the Broch.

Jenna front and back.

Regular viewers will know that my normal bag is historical figures so these are a bit of a departure from the norm for me. I also generally paint Figs in batches of 8 to 10 where as these were all painted individually which is a real change in technique.

Blake and Gann

The seven figures here represent the classic (in my mind) cast of the series which was active throughout most of the first two series. Major changes were made in series 3, Gann had already gone part way through series 2 to make it Blakes 6 and then at the end of series 2 Jenna disappeared and Blake was shot believed dead (although he did turn up at the end of series 4).

The show ran for 4 series each of 13 episodes. There has been a series of radio plays over the years often featuring members of the original cast however recently there have been very strong rumours of a resurrection of the show which would be fantastic news.

I have the figures to do the remaining characters who joined the crew over the series plus two later period Avon and Vila minis, added to which are the bad guys, but more of them soon.