So, longtime visitors to the site will notice that I took a long break, for the better part of a year. I'm going to steal a line from Douglas Adams and claim that I was spending a year dead for tax reasons. That's not at all accurate, but it's funnier than the truth, which is that I was depressed and didn't feel like working on anything. (I'm honestly surprised my model paints hadn't all dried up in the interim.) However, I'm trying to ease back into things, and despite the utter misery that was 2021, I'm still committed to finishing up the monsters of Final Fantasy IV. At this point, I'm roughly halfway there! My first projects for 2022 were a comparatively easy pair of creatures to bring to life, namely the Armadilo [sic] and the Ironback. It's nice to finally add something new to the display shelf! I've still been gobbling up tiny plastic animals and decades-old action figures and things on eBay, with the intent of turning them all into projects some day. So, with any luck you'll see something new here next month. However, if 2021 taught me anything, it's that you absolutely cannot predict the future. Guess we'll see in March!
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This month I set out to tackle three of the armored knight warriors from Final Fantasy IV who serve the forces of Golbez, namely the Guard, the FlameMan (pictured), and the BladeMan. These projects were the culmination of many months' worth of hunting down the very specific action figures and accessories I required to bring these video game enemies to life. I make it look easy, I suppose, but the process involved is often anything but. When it came to the BladeMan and his buddies, for example, it was clear I needed to start with an action figure of a medieval knight. But, which one? Was it affordable on eBay? Would I be able to collect three of them? After discovering the existence of the King Arthur and the Knights of Justice toy line, that solved the problem of the base figure, but what of the accessories? This project required a very large shield and a broadsword to make it work, as well as a suitable cape and helmet. Where would I get them? And how would I ever find three matching sets? These are the questions that keep me up at night. Well, that and too much Mountain Dew Voltage. Next month is Halloween, so I suppose it won't be giving too much away to mention that my plans are to do a suitably spooky project. A haunting we will go! I seem to somehow have developed a following of hundreds of unique visitors a week. Stop it. Seriously, people. You're making me feel guilty that I didn't do a March update now. (I could offer excuses about how it was my birthday, and then I took some time off to paint my daughter's room, and then, uh, there was this zombie apocalypse. Two out of three of those things may actually be true.) So here's a tiny, insignificant offering by way of apology. I have a bookshelf for all my Final Fantasy IV projects now, and I envision it as being less a display shelf and more a diorama. I'm trying to populate it with props like trees and rocks and things that make sense for the environment in which these monsters tend to appear in the actual game. I might even try to print backgrounds from the actual game and use that as a backdrop. I'm not sure. I haven't gotten that far yet. Anyway, my point is that I've also been collecting treasure chests and things, because obviously those factor into the game mechanics. Cecil and his buddies find these damn things all over the place. They're in castles. They're in forests. They're in the desert. They're on the Moon, for crying out loud. Figure that one out. This particular one is from the Animal Jam series of blind-packed figurines by Jazwares. I had been planning to buy up a whole bunch of these when they went on clearance, but I mostly missed out. I've got one, at least. I guess it makes sense that there would be a lot of different-looking treasure chests if Cecil is finding them all over the world. (Selective rationalization is how I sleep at night. That and Advil PM.) Also, directly below is a sneak preview of what I'm working on right now. These guys are from the Skeleton Warriors toy line that Playmates Toys sold in the 1990's. The character's name is Aracula, and he used to have six arms. You would not believe how much people were charging for these things on eBay during Halloween. Like, I don't want to break the bank on used action figures from 20 years ago, especially when I'm just going to hack them apart with an X-Acto knife. |
DAVID GRAHAM EDWARDS
Illustrator, writer, painter, sculptor, collector of toys and cats, observer of things. Categories
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