FINAL FANTASY IV
D.MACHIN PROJECT #615 CREATED: SEPTEMBER 2018 While most dragons were organic creatures who existed naturally (frequently living on the Moon), there was at least one form of artificial dragon created on Earth. The Dragon Machine was a mechanical replica, engineered to resemble the real-life Blue Dragons and Red Dragons of legend, accurate down to the finest detail. The metallic Dragon Machines were even tougher than living dragons, and were designed to emulate their characteristic behaviors. They were stationed within the Tower of Bab-il, programmed to patrol its walkways. Searcher drones were capable of summoning them if necessary. There were also Dragon Machines lurking deep within the subterranean caverns on the Moon. The Dragon Machine was a formidable foe, and could take a great deal of physical punishment before being reduced to scrap metal. (This monster's name was truncated badly as D.Machin for the Super Nintendo version of Final Fantasy IV. It was renamed Mech D. in the Game Boy Advance remake, and was assigned the rather awesome name of Clockwork Dragon for the PlayStation Portable version.) While the Super Nintendo game sprite for the D.Machin is merely a different color than the Blue D. or the Red D., the PlayStation Portable version takes it a step further. The updated game sprite has redesigned surface details, including what appears to be tiny bolts holding the dragon's metal armor together. I really liked this idea and ran with it (especially since the dragon as he appears in the Super Nintendo version doesn't strike me as being mechanical at all, aside from the name). I wanted to add the bolts as well, so I drilled tiny holes into the surface of the plastic dragon toy, and glued over 200 sewing pins in place. I also cut some incisions into the dragon's body in key places to make it look like the gaps between metal armor panels. I think this helps to make it look a lot more like a mechanical dragon than just a new coat of paint would. Of course, the paint helps, too. I drybrushed him with silver paint to make it look like some of the greenish paint is stripping away to reveal the bare metal. |
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