FINAL FANTASY IV
BLACKCAT PROJECT #647 CREATED: APRIL 2020 The BlackCat was a dangerous foe who guarded a lone treasure chest in the ruined castle of Eblan. Cecil Harvey and his companions first encountered one while exploring the remains of that ancient structure. The BlackCat (who was arguably more blue than black) had a powerful Bluster attack that could paralyze or even kill instantly any party member upon whom it was used. It was only after tangling with the BlackCat that Cecil and friends realized they may not have been adequately prepared to deal with the dangerous monsters lurking inside Eblan Castle. The felines would show up later in the Tower of Bab-il, often traveling with the likes of the Mad Ogre or Q.Lamia. By this point, Cecil's group was slightly better equipped to handle them. (The BlackCat was renamed Coeurl for the Game Boy Advance remake of Final Fantasy IV. The Coeurl was originally a monster created by sci-fi novelist A.E. van Vogt; similar creatures in Dungeons & Dragons, called displacer beasts, were directly based upon the Coeurl and were likely the inspiration for the Final Fantasy IV monster.) To create the BlackCat, I started with the "laying female cheetah" figure manufactured by AAA, which was easily on par with Schleich brand figurines in terms of quality. The only major physical change I made was to add the two large whiskers to the toy. I painted the entire thign white and then went back and airbrushed the toy using several different shades of blue, each darker than the last. The spots were carefully hand-painted, and I tried to match the BlackCat to the Panther as closely as possible. And then I had to do the whole thing over again after my seven-year-old daughter decided to play with it and ruined the paint job. Sigh. |
|