Monday 6 August 2018

Strontium Dog - Johnny Alpha

The Strontium Dogs storyline focuses on Johnny Alpha, whose mutated eyes allow him to see through walls and read minds. He is responsible for such legendary achievements as destroying the Wolrog homeworld, leading the mutant uprising on Earth, and bringing Adolf Hitler to the future to face trial. His legendary career and his assistance to mutants in trouble - such as donating a large sum of money to the Milton Keynes ghetto in "Mutie's Luck" - have made him an icon to Earth's mutants. He is a highly skilled and dangerous fighter.
A dogged bounty hunter, Johnny never gives up in the pursuit of his quarry. While he does work for money, he possesses a conscience and will often take a job, forego payment or sometimes drop a job entirely: in "The Doc Quince Case", he immediately relented and rescued a man he'd hunted down, and in "The Slavers of Drule" he took an assignment to track down a group of slavers because he felt it was the right thing to do. He also can be extremely vengeful when angered, as shown by his actions towards Nelson Kreelman and Max Bubba.
He is the son of Nelson Bunker Kreelman, a bigoted politician who drafted the anti-mutant laws and gained power on the back of bigotry. Despised, abused and hidden away by his father, Johnny escaped at a young age and joined the Mutant Army, becoming one of its key leaders by age 17 and playing a major part in the mutant uprising of 2167. He never revealed the identity of his father, changing his name from Kreelman to Alpha.
In this post I'm taking a look at the six different figures I have of Johnny, produced by various companies.
Starting at the left are two versions of Johnny produced by Wargames Foundry. The figure at the far left was one of the the first figures that Foundry made based on characters from the 2000AD comic, and he is my favourite version of Johnny. The figure second from the left is too tall, too static and the face is off. He's my least favourite version of Johnny. Crouching down is the Indyclix version of Johnny. He is the most chunky of the figures but he is nicely posed and sculpted. I prefer standing figures to crouching or kneeling figures so it is unlikely I'll use this figure very often.
The other three figures were all produced by Warlord Games specifically for their Strontium Dog skirmish game. I do like the version of Johnny holding his pair of pistols a lot, and he's my second favourite sculpt. You'll notice that the Warlord Games figures are slightly smaller in size to the others and are more realistically proportioned. Moving on, is a special edition figure of Johnny with his Electronux and rather unusually, without his helmet. This figure can only be acquired if you buy the Strontium Dog rulebook (priced at £20) or the Strontium Dog Collection 1 bundle for £120. I do like this figure. Finally, is Johnny riding a skimmer (also known as a hover sled or hov-bike). His face is obscured by a pair of goggles and a scarf covering his mouth and nose. This is a wonderful figure made of resin with a few metal parts (upper body and handlebars). I like the dust cloud effect, showing it is moving at speed. I might not use this figure very often but I'm happy to have it in my collection.
Do I really need six versions of Johnny Alpha? Of course not! But I'm such a 2000AD fanboy that I had to have them all, and it's not as if they were all released at the same time. When I use Johnny in a game I'll most likely mix up which figure to take depending upon circumstances but for the most part it'll be a toss up between the original Foundry figure or the two-guns Warlord Games figure.

22 comments:

  1. I shall look forward to an AAR with VERY much interest.
    6 versions of Stronty is OK as far as I am concerned. Although I would most likely be happy with just 1. But having a full collection is no bad this either!

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    1. Thanks, Clint. When it comes to 2000AD miniatures I am a completist and it is handy having different versions of the same figures as I found out in my "The Ace of Spades Campaign" on my WOIN blog.

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  2. Hi Bryan, I agree with you about the best posed figure but the one on the skimmer is lovely, although I can see he would get very little use in games, but as you say the dust cloud looks very convincing, you've made a good job of painting it.

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    1. Hiya, John. Nice to see you agree with my choices of the best looking figures. The skimmer version of Johnny won't be used often but it is a handy option to have for certain specific scenarios.

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  3. They look great Bryan & from a gaming point when doing AAR's I think it very hand to different types of the same models.

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    1. Thank you kindly, Frank. I totally agree that it is very useful to have different versions of the same figure

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  4. Nice collection of Johnny figures Bryan, to be honest I like elements of all of them and could see a use for them all whether it be diorama's or gaming terms

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    1. Cheers, Dave. Yet again, I have to agree with you 100%. They could all prove useful depending upon the circumstances.

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  5. I didn’t realise there were quite so many versions of Johnny Alpha out there, Bryan, and have been hesitate about getting him on his grav-bike due to how little I anticipate using such a mini. But you’re evident delight at the model has given me second thoughts. Perhaps “Warlord Games” will bring out some additional ‘speedster’ minis in the future? I’d certainly like to restage Darkus’ assault upon a moving grav-train :-)

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    1. Many thanks, Simon. Having Johnny on his skimmer is a great idea, in my opinion. It's like having Judge Dredd on his Lawmaster Bike - you won't use him all the time but when called for you'll be glad you have him. I'd love to see some skimmers without riders so that you can mount whoever you want on them. I love the idea of Darkus and his gang assaulting the grav-train. What a fun game that'd be!

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  6. Geek credentials well and truly established. Well done Bryan, I like these very much.I always picture Barry Newman as Johnny Alpha back in his 70's heyday.

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    1. Hi, Phil and many thanks. When I first read your comment I thought you said "Barry Norman!" and I went "Huh?" D'oh! Anyway, I am old enough to remember Barry Newman in his heyday. I really don't know who I'd want to play Johnny, but if you watch the excellent "Strontium Dogs" fan film on YouTube, Matthew Simpson puts in an excellent performance as Johnny.

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  7. Wow! you've got more Johnny's than a brothel! (sorry I'll go now), but before I go great painting and a nice selection of figures.

    Cheers Roger.

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    1. That is so funny, Roger! :-) Thanks for making me laugh out loud with your comment!

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  8. Great collection of Johnnie's they all look really good. I really like the Electronux one and the bike to.

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    1. Thank you most kindly, Simon. They're both cool figures that you mention.

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  9. Wow! With all the hype surrounding the new release from Warlord, it'd really great to see these older versions of our favourite Mutie from 2000AD :-)
    Terrific work on all of them Bryan, and though I can understand your choice of favourites, they all have their merits and make for a brilliant collection!

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    1. That's very kind of you, Greg. There'll be loads more "Strontium Dog" goodness throughout this month.

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  10. When I immediately went to the pics I was wondering how you could have so many models and all of them painted when the game is barely out of the gate. Once I read the article everything made sense.

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    1. Cheers, HP. I've had the Foundry and Indyclix figures for many years now and I was very quick to get the new Warlord games figures painted.

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  11. Great timing o the post Bryan. At least if I can't start mine, I can devour your work in antissapation..lol

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    1. Many thanks, SW. I've just read your latest blog post and it's a shame that your "Strontium Dog" parcel arrived just when you're preparing to move house.

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