FINAL FANTASY IV
SWORDMAN PROJECT #598 CREATED: MARCH 2018 The SwordMan was among the sinister foes dwelling within the Tower of Zot. A skilled combatant with a tempered blade, it often traveled with its fellow sword-toting EpeeGirl, while at other times it traveled with an IceLiz for protection. Like many of the enemies in the Tower of Zot, it was heavily-armored against ice-based attacks, but fared poorly against a strong fire-based assault. The hidden secret of the SwordMan, though, is that its protective armored shell housed a formerly living humanoid, now twisted and undead. This also meant that it could actually be harmed by the effects of curative magic. (The SwordMan was renamed Black Knight for the Game Boy Advance remake of Final Fantasy IV.) I made the SwordMan (and the Warrior, who shares an identical game sprite design) out of a Power Rangers Knasty Knight action figure. I had to cut the dragon-themed shoulder armor off the toy as well as parts of its helmet, which I later partially resculpted. The double shoulder armor came from a Wonder Woman doll, and the cape was donated by a six-inch Director Krennic figure from Star Wars. Most of these projects are pretty faithful to the original Super Nintendo game sprites, but I really liked the way the PlayStation Portable version added a little more color to the design, so I borrowed the idea and added more yellow stripes than were visible in the 16-bit version. |
|