FINAL FANTASY IV
FIEND PROJECT #645 CREATED: MARCH 2020 The creature known as the Fiend (not to be confused with the Four Fiends of Elements!) was a being who lived in the Land of Summoned Monsters. It fiercely guarded the path to the secret realm of monsters, attacking anyone who ventured too closely. Fiends often traveled with Warriors, who were as quick with a sword as the Fiend was with its teeth and claws. For all its ferocity, though, the Fiend was not much of a threat to seasoned travelers. (The monster's original name in Japanese translated to "Satan Junior," just as the Warrior with whom it traveled was originally called the "Satan Knight." Nintendo of America had a policy about censoring religious references, and was quick to rename the monsters. In the PlayStation Portable version of Final Fantasy IV, the Fiend was renamed Mini Satana.) I made my Fiend action figure (as well as his cousin, the Gremlin) out of a Yu-Gi-Oh! figure by Mattel called the Feral Imp. I ended up substantially rebuilding the entire toy. I chopped off his toes and sculpted new boots, sharpened his claws, and whittled the fur off his legs and shoulders. I also completely redesigned his head and face, adding new horns and ears and a nose, using toothpicks for teeth. I replaced his wings with those from a plastic dragon figurine. I wanted him to be able to achieve the crossed-arms pose from his game sprite, so I built a new swivel joint for each bicep and added a new hinge joint to each elbow. (Alas, there was no way to rebuild the legs in a similar manner—not if I wanted the guy to actually stand up afterwards.) It's always looked to me like the guy is wearing sunglasses (according to his Super Nintendo appearance, anyway) and I've never been able to unsee it. You can even see the light reflecting off the lenses. It's unmistakable. So, I found some Barbie-sized sunglasses and tinted the lenses red to match him. They're removable, and underneath are eyes closer to his PlayStation Portable game sprite. |
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