Bout Damn Time

Fearsome Force Unlimited. Nuff said.

Recipes/Bases for those interested:
(from left to right)

Worsel: JLU Superman base, scupley glasses, paint, sticker emblem.

Mixmaster: JLU Atom base, paint, sticker emblem.

Fast Choker: JLU Flash base, sculpey visor, paint, sticker emblem.

Big G: JLU Batman base (freaking tall as hell), sculpey mask and shoulders (the cape leaves a HUGE gap when you remove it), paint, sticker emblem.

40oz.: JLU John Stewart Green Lantern, sculpey helmet, paint, sticker emblem.

The colors I used were Apple Barrel brand Apple Red, Black and Silver and some other brand of Peach for skin tone, if you're interested. I'm moving towards higher end paints I think after these. The chalky paints don't really cover well and take numerous coats even with a full coat of prime. Citadel Foundation paints were recommended by the local hobby store owner. I might by one to try it out.

Not too bad and it took me long enough to do because I'm a slacker. I got a room set up (for now) to work in though so I should be faster with it all. Whatchoo think?

Review: Halloween 2007 Workprint

Remakes are hard to do. In theory, they should be easy. Take what works, discard what doesn't, and improve what you have left. The Fly did this. So did The Thing. So did Invasion of the Body Snatchers....three times. This is what Rob Zombie has set out to do with the remake of John Carpenter's classic and pretty much slasher-genre creating film, Halloween.

We all know the story. Unless you haven't seen the first one, in which case, stop reading. Michael Myers kills his sister when he's young on Halloween. Years later, he comes back to his home town of Haddonfield and has another night of terror. Both the original and the remake have this in common. That's pretty much where the comparisons start to fall apart.

In Rob Zombie's film, we find out more about the boy/man behind the mask. This is about half of the film. He has white trash upbringing, an abusive parent, a mean sister and a pretty much crap life. Also, he kills pet rats. The makings of a psycho, indeed. Zombie patterned the behavior off of the definition of psychopathy. Unfortunately, it doesn't come across well in this film unless you know it ahead of time. It also kills the mystique. Michael is no longer an enigma. He's kind of a brat. He's pretty straightforward too. No more sneaky kills. He's jumping people right on their front porch and standing out in the open much more than necessary. In the original, we had no idea what he was after. Now we know, but can't seem to care.

I can't help think this would be a better movie if it was a homage to the original and that was it. If you removed the Michael Myers bit you'd have a decent movie about a psychopath. Instead, you have a beloved character pretty much wasted the entire film and played by a wrestler so not only is he sneaking around, he's also 7 feet tall and sneaking around. Unlikely, no matter ho ninja you think he may be.

The violence is there, but there's a lot of unnecessary language and the script could have used a good doctoring to reflect how people really speak. I'm curious to see what changes were made to the theatrical version of the film. Maybe I'll see it tomorrow. I think it's a rental though, and not much more than a footnote in the path of the original film.

Haunted: Part One

I was inspired by House of Leaves. This is what you get in return. Hopefully more to come soon.

Parallax Boots

The next phase in the Parallax custom is the boots and the knee armor. It took a bit to smoothe out and and need to do some sanding but it looks fairly decent. He's shaping up to be a right nice Green Lantern.

Why I'm Not Allowed to Go Paint Balling Again

Various bruises. One on the right arm and the mother of all bruises on the right.

Mask of Parallax

No, not the movie with Eric Stoltz. This is the mask that I've sculpted onto Kyle with Sculpey and cured via hair dryer. This method is a littler harder on the fingers than baking since you have to hold him while you blow dry it but it won't melt the figure though it may make the joints and plastic a little more flexible for awhile.

It's modeled after Kyle's original mask since that's what he wears in the Sinestro Corps book after being taken over by Parallax. More to come.

Something Different

Well, since my wife is watching the Hills, I have a bit of time to kill. I'm starting on a new custom project (still have others to finish too but that's for later) and I decided to chronic-what-cle it this time. What is the grand project? Nothing extreme, I'm just making a Sinestro Corps JLU Parallax figure from a Kyle Rayner JLU figure. Said base figure is below.

Now that I've presented the image and been buzzed by a mosquito that made the most terrifying ringing in my ear I will tell you what I have to do. I must go to bed, but first for the figure I will be creating a mask out of sculpey. Parallax uses Kyle's original mask, known affectionately as the "crab mask". It's basically a raised mask that has two levels. I created it but making the bottom half first and cutting out eyeholes and then putting the top half above it. I'll have a photo of that later on.

I've also gotten the other materials that I'll need together. I have a spare cape so I trimmed that and will have to paint it green. Then I have to make shoulder pads that will keep it on Kyle though I'll probably drill pin holes to mount it in a little more permanently since glue sucks. After that, I need to make gauntlets and knee armor, also from sculpey. I'll cure the mask first though and since handling a figure that's still malleable is a pain when you bump something and ruin a good while's worth of work.

I'll be updating with photos as I get them and I might even make a little podcast for ya'll to listen to about my endeavour. Just a photo one. I'd use video but you'll just be hearing hours of me swearing then. :)

I'm also creating the first Fearsome Force vehicle from old GI Joe ones. In this case I'm repainting the HAVOC. I'm doing the hovercraft first to see how the paint looks and in this case. I think it actually looks really good. It's a new type of metallic paint for me to use and it seems to go on well though. I might not do a full coat though since with the streaks it looks like red metal instead of painting plastic with metallic flakes, which is pretty darn cool. I'll post photos of that as well. I'm outtie.