As a Masters of the Universe Classics fanatic and journeyman customizer, the conversion kits from third-party producers like Alvis Underground, Orsogranito, IBentMyManThing, Joe Amaro, and Mat O’toole (AKA Zombihamma) at the Castle of Power have been amazing gifts that help me round out and fully enjoy my Masters of the Universe Classics collection. Today I’m going to take a closer look at the Orc-Man conversion kit by The Castle of Power.
What you get
The Orc-Man conversion kit comes with the Orc head sculpt, shoulder armor, and a wicked flail. All the pieces are cast in a stiff plastic, and you can order them painted or unpainted at The Castle of Power’s Facebook page. I ordered a painted version.
The feral growl on this head sculpt is a true thing of beauty.
Mat’s sculpting is completely complementary to the Masters of the Universe Classics style, and the Orc has thick, strong features that make him look like he belongs in the MOTU world.
I also feel like there is a bit of influence from the Peter Jackson Orcs in his Ring films, but maybe that’s just me.
The head is full of character with evil, burning eyes and a wicked scar that looks to have been stapled shut by a blacksmith rather than a surgeon.
The paint work is astounding and really makes me want to up my customizing game to match the subtle shading and highlights on this face.
The armor slips over the head and clips securely onto the pectoral of the MOTU figure in question and came with a nice dirty brown wash.
I love how jagged and cobbled together the armor. It has a great hammered metal texture that feels appropriate for a savage Orc. I ended up adding a black wash to match the other paint work I did on the figure.
The flail is based on a weapon depicted on one of the many cardboard illustrations that came with the original Castle Grayskull. It’s got a nice solid feel to it, and the spiked ball is attached with a painted plastic chain. The overall effect is a perfectly vicious-looking weapon for an Orc.
You can request a color scheme to match pretty much any existing Masters of the Universe Classics base body. This kit is a fun way to use up that extra figure you couldn’t unload or perhaps found at Big Lots on clearance.
I went with royal guard green for two reasons:
1. I had an extra guard who had donated his armor to another custom project.
2. I want to build an army of green Orcs based loosely on the Orcs customizer extraordinaire He-Mike made(see below for pics of He-Mike’s Orcs).
To that end, I finished off my Orc-Man with brown paint on the loincloth and black and silver for the armor pieces. I also swapped out his feet for some monster feet I had and added an extra bit of sculpted fur above the belt and a skull to the center buckle to get closer to the He-Mike design I wanted to emulate.
You can just pop the kit on an existing figure and do no repainting and it looks pretty great as-is if you have no customizing skills or inclination.
These kits are not cheap, but I feel like the artistry involved in this small scale production is completely worth the cost.
I’ve been wanting Orcs and Goblins in my MOTU world for a while now since they are such a staple of fantasy fiction and an ideal army builder type character.
I’m so glad I was able to buy this kit and start my Orc army off right. To order, check out the order information at The Castle of Power’s Facebook page. Make sure you send Zombihamma an email with your order details.
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