Mega-City Judges, Mongoose Publishing

"The judges are the lawkeepers of Mega-City One, fighting to protect innocent citizens from criminals and scum. Few in number, the judges welcome only the best and the brightest into their ranks, and not all of those survive the 15 year training regime. A force of judges will be very well equipped and able to handle most situations."

 That quick overview from the Mongoose Publishing website.

Way back in the mists of time (or for any younger readers: the late 1970's) my older cousin used to collect the comic 2000AD featuring of course Judge Dredd; my older brother used to buy Starlord (the original home of the Strontium Dog character) and I had the Beano and Dandy. Naturally I used to read all the 'big boys' comics when they were literally handed down to me. 

These three figures, from the Justice Department Box Set by Mongoose Publishing, are painted to match how my brother remembered the Judges from the comic. I've seen the figures painted up with golden eagle on the right shoulder and the left shoulder pad painted yellow, but my brother wanted both to be the same colour. I later checked an old comic and the rule book from the role-player game and saw the shoulder pads were, in fact the same colour, normally a dark shade of yellow. 

The older comics also show the uniform to be a very dark shade of blue (navy?), not black or a lighter shade of blue I've seen in later editions of the comic or models. I assume this is because with black it is difficult to show highlights and shades and still making the image eye-catching. Looking at the uniform now it does seem an odd mix of colours but I still like it (nostalgia is a wonderful thing).

Judge Super Dude (remember him Ade?)

Although I did actually want the uniform to have a satin look the varnish is still wet on some of these photos. The camera was borrowed so I needed to get it back to my friend as soon as.