An Army Worthy of Mordor: The Irony of Hat Industrie's Sea Peoples

It's ironic that Hat Industrie's set 8078 "Sea Peoples" is so bad that it's good. I've read PSR's review on the set and, along with some suggestions from a thread at TMP, decided to order a single box of these figures. PSR's review basically dissed the set, citing poor sculpting and posing. With Caesar miniatures for comparison, this set was deemed as " more toys than anything that collectors and military history enthusiasts can get excited about. Now there are far better alternatives available this set really deserves to be quietly forgotten."

The figures were, however, well produced with nary a single flash in the set I got. But that doesn't co0mpensate for the set's biggest flaw. PSR writes " Several of the figures have the appearance of monkeys, with bents legs and heads down and forward of their shoulders, often with no neck at all. In a word then, these are just plain ugly. "

What's ironic is that the set's flaws are exactly what makes them perfect for my purposes -- as Middle-Earth orcs!

Of the 48 figures in the set, I've selected 24 that seem very suitable as Professor Tolkien's orcs. His orcs varied from one type to another. The Uruk-hai were larger, more powerful and had black skin. Smaller and weaker orcs than the Uruk-hai were called snaga or slave. The Uruk-hai of Saruman were also physically different from the Uruk-hai of Sauron being taller and with more human proportions while the latter were shorter, more bestial and had longer arms. Moreover, they could also withstand the sunlight better. In The Two Towers, Tolkien describes some orcs:

"There were four goblin-soldiers of greater stature, swart, slant-eyed, with thick legs and large hands. They were armed with short broad-bladed swords, not with the curved scimitars usual with Orcs..."

The enlarged pictures above show the poses I selected for drafting in my army. I think they will be suitable "as is" with no need for converting. I especially like the pose on the lower right, with the pose beside it being perfect for armored orcs. The White Hand's Uruk-Hai perhaps?

So there you have it -- Hat Industrie's Sea Peoples set is so ugly that it's perfect for a steady supply of orc figures. Granted, half of the figures weren't used ( mainly the Peleset, these are the guys with spears and the weird flat tops...) but with the low cost of 1/72 plastic, army building shouldn't be too prohibitive. I may look into converting them though for other uses.

Build me an army, worthy of Mordor!

You got it chief!