FINAL FANTASY IV
TINYMAGE PROJECT #572 CREATED: JULY 2017 The TinyMage was one of the smallest roving baddies encountered by Cecil and his team. Found in a wide range of locales (the watery Octomamm lake; the desert outside Damcyan; the grasslands near Mysidia), they were one of the first magic-using enemies Cecil and company would encounter. They were capable of using the Psych spell to drain Rydia and Tellah's magical powers, and used the Hold spell to immobilize Cecil and his teammates. Sometimes they traveled with Imps, SwordRats, or WaterHags, who served as the brute force while the comparatively weak TinyMages hid safely behind them to cast their magic. (The TinyMage is one of the few creatures that was never renamed for subsequent releases of Final Fantasy IV.) The sprite used for the Super Nintendo version of the game is so small that it's pretty indistinct. The PlayStation Portable sprite has better resolution and depicts the TinyMage with more detail, and shows him wearing a miniature robe. I found a small plastic figurine of Dopey the Dwarf from Disney's Snow White that seemed like a good starting point—it was the size I wanted and was wearing the right costume. I replaced the arms and head with those of another toy, partially resculpting the hair with Sculpey. Luckily, the TinyMage is one of the few monster sprites that isn't recycled and used as another creature (in the American version of Final Fantasy IV for SNES, anyway) so I only had to find and build one of these. |
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