My inaugural Judgement Day submission is Walter the Wobot.
Judgement Day is a collaborative project that Mr Saturday and I are starting today. The aim is to help us to get some of our Judge Dredd related miniature backlogs painted, full details of the format can be found here. In short, we have each committed to posting images of a previously unseen, fully finished Dredd related miniature once a fortnight for the next six months or so (at least).
Both of us are posting up new miniatures today for the inaugural post, but after today Mr Saturday will be posting on even numbered Judgement Days and I will be posting on odd numbered Judgement Days.
“CWIPES JUDGE DWEDD!” etc
Walter the Wobot is a comic relief character who has irregularly featured in the Dredd strip since prog #10 back in 1977. A vending machine/klutz with a “speech” impediment played for laughs, Walter was nonetheless integral to a number of significant Dredd stories.
Walter doing his thing during the Apocalypse War.
Often paired with Judge Dredds housekeeper “Maria”, the duo was involved in many sitcom style shenanigans back in the seventies. A combination of robotic speech impediment and Dolmio advertising style dialogue, its a comedy slam dunk I tells ya…
Karl Urban need not apply.
Walter fell out of favour as the Dredd strip became grittier in the nineties, right up to having the poor little guy smashed to pieces by Mean Machine Angels head. As is often the case with things like this, Walter was reintroduced later having been rebranded as “post modern” rather than “rubbish”.
As a kid I thought that Walter was funny. In my teens through to my thirties I found Walter annoying. Now at almost forty I kinda like him again. Draw whatever conclusions you like from that, I have my own theories.
Walter having a minor personality breakdown last year.
This Walter model is a Mongoose Publishing/Warlord Games metal figure, made from a digital sculpt. It looks the part, the model is instantly recognisable as the comic character. Walter is smaller than human sized so its worth noting that the base that he is in in these photos is 20mm diameter.
Painting was straightforward, nothing too fancy. I am doing a bit of experimenting with OSL at the moment and I had a go on the “I’M WALTER, TRY ME”. The detail there was a little too fine for the effect to work perfectly, but its tolerable. Walter is usually portrayed with that text lit in red, but a recent strip featured Walter with more of a light blue glow to the text, so I went with that.
Walter and some of his robo-buddies, roboting it up.
Walter has been involved in robotic uprisings in Mega City One on both sides of the law over the years. I reckon that I will probably get a bit of use out of the model at the head of renegade robot forces, I find that image amusing.
Mr Saturdays first Judgement Day post should be here at some stage today if any of you fancy taking a look. Mr Saturdays next Judgement Day is May 4th and my next is May 11th, Grud willing.
Filed under: Miniatures | Tagged: 2000AD, 2015, Dredd, Judge Dredd, Judge Dredd Miniatures Game, Judgement Day, Perp, Robot, Sci-fi, Sci-Fi Non-Combatants |
sho3box 
Why have you started liking Walter again? My conclusion is that adulthood largely sucks, and most people don’t fully realize it until their late 30s. At that point, we start to try and reconnect with the things that brought us joy when we were younger.
It’s a great model. I like the way the old school CRT display is painted (Pong? Lol.) and the metallic surfaces are convincing without being too um, “showy”. Overall he seems very faithful to the character on-page, which is the important thing, I suppose. A strong start to Judgment Day!
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I agree NSA. I have a few further theories on that part of this topic too, theories on the reasons why many do decide that “adulthood largely sucks”. I think that rampant hormones are the enemy. Dont trust anyone of an appropriate age to breed – they are deranged and unable to make a clear decision by definition 😉
A little more on topic, I deliberately chose a simple but iconic character to start with. It would have been technically possible to get stuck in with NMM approach and the like om Walter, but frankly I think that this simple paint job is the one that makes the model look most like he does in the comics, which is the main goal for me.
Thanks for the considered feedback No Such Agency 🙂
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Great stuff! A good start to the project.
(sorry I also tried to make a comment earlier from my phone, something went wrong, so if it appears please just delete it).
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Im glad that you like it Warburton. Walter may not be the most dramatic character in the Dredd setting, but he is iconic. I am looking forward to getting a few games in with him.
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Excellent ! Walter is one of the characters I fancy a lot (always have btws, draw your own conclusion, I’m too afraid to grow my own…).
Having recently reread a vast amount of early stories I find Walter (and Maria in a more secondary way) is a really effective pendant to Dredd’s righteousness. Walter stubbornly refusing to be the first free robot or him ironing his master’s panties and even that slightly weird and awkward relation of love/admiration/obedience are really good. I’d even go as far as to say that Walter is the perfect assert for Dredd. Dress loves nothing but Justice and he behaves like a machine due to this, it’s only natural that the only creature to love him fully is a machine too for only a machine can fully understand Dredd (In that aspect Walter could very well be considered more human than Dredd in his behaviour).
But I digress (I do love Walter a lot) an dthe painting of yours does Justice to this great character !
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Walter is the sort of character that was regarded as essential in comics of the seventies and eighties, a goofball intended to entertain schoolboys. I do feel that Walter often jars with some of the grittier tone in Dredd stories. That said, one of the strengths of the Dredd stories is the mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous, summed up pretty well in Walter.
I am definitely on the “I like Walter” side of the debate, but I do understand why people find him unappealing. Its interesting how he seems to be generating some debate though, so at least people feel strongly about the littel guy, that has to be a good thing 🙂
Thanks for the feedback Asslessman!
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“Walter is the sort of character that was regarded as essential in comics of the seventies and eighties, a goofball intended to entertain schoolboys.”
Hah! Doctor Who comics did this with Frobisher the talking penguin.
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Im not familiar with Frobisher but with a description like that, I feel that I already know him.
There would be a high chance that he would be voiced by Robin Williams I suspect 😉
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I really like Walter as an icon, but always cringe at him when I actually read something with him in it. I haven’t caught up with modern Dredd, I’m still at the 80s stuff.
The bits with Maria and Walter were always hilariously cringeworthy.
You did a very nice job on him, I like his “face” a lot. I know that’s a part I would’ve struggled with.
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Im with you on this in lots of ways Phreedh. Walter is an icon and I like him as such, I just struggle to find appearances that fully justify why I like him. The scenes with Maria dont do much for me, but on some level I like Walter a little more now (in the Mrs Gunderson era) than I used to.
I think that much of my attitude stems from how the character has grown in tandem with me throughout my life. More recent stories have added a little pathos to a ridiculous clown character. I have a complex, mid-life crisis tinged relationship with the rather sad character.
As for the ‘bots “face”, I tend to consult comics a lot when I try to represent things like that in miniature. I dont have the time or skill level to engage in photo-realistic attempts to render something like that, so I tend to look at the visual shorthand that people like Carlos Ezquerra or Kev Walker have used and try to copy that in some way. Hence the simple screen effect. Im glad that you like it 🙂
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Fantastic mate, have to love Walter.. such a brave little Wobot 🙂
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Thanks Chico, Im glad that you like it. Walter featuring as the opening miniature in this project came about directly as a result of a discussion that I had with you in fact. It was a satisfying miniature to work on for a few reasons.
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He a perfect for your robo range Paul your collection really is amazing well of what I’ve seen of it on your blog that is, can’t wait to see the next one & what Dave gets up to.
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Thank you Frank.
Walter has led a small robot rebellion in his time, so having him mastermind another on my gaming table makes loads of sense.
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I’m calling your recent output your ‘bot period’ (101)! All the new ‘bots are great, but Walter is gorgeous. The contrast you’ve achieved on a very monochrome figure is great, all nicely topped off by a great paint effect on his screen.
Good job!
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Very kind axiom, thanks.
I didnt spend exceptional time painting the little guy but he did work out pretty well. Part of it is that the digital sculpt suited the character design, so in concert with the simple colour scheme he sort of painted himself, if you know what I mean.
My ‘bot period (101) isnt quite over either…
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Walter looks the business. A strong start to Judgement Day with an iconic Dredd character. He’s a strange little bot, but has an undeniable charm. Good work, his screen looks great.
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Thanks. Like you I felt that it was good to open with an icon. A more anonymous MC1 dweller next time I think 🙂
Im looking forward to seeing how far we can keep this up for, being first to fall could be humbling…
😉
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With your undeniably faster turnaround, the pressure is indeed on…
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I applaud healthy competition to keep standards and output up, but pissing contests dont interest me. Im far more interested in an encouraging sort of arrangement.
I am going to attempt to stay ahead of myself with this one though. You can quote that back to me in a couple of months when I am up at 4AM trying to finish a mutant or something.
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