Armor of Wildfire, Dao Jin!

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Jul 182012
 

Welcome back to the Wednesday Mash-up everybody.

In Monday’s blog, I discussed some of what goes into making a mash-up. The biggest decision, of course, is the choice of subject to mash up with. This week, I had a lot of trouble deciding. I wanted to pick a different genre but I didn’t know which. This week I turned to one of my favorite anime series. I don’t remember what exactly I was looking when I thought of Ronin Warriors (Yoroiden Samurai Troopers in the original Japanese), but I drew Todrick in armor as a test and then Nektara as Lady Kayura. But I wasn’t really convinced. It was when I cast Big Oonch as the Ancient, or in this case, the Oonchient, that I got more enthused for the project and decided to go through with a full cast set of mash-ups. This week is even bigger than usual as I decided to use the Pickle Patch Bandits to fill out the three remaining Warlord armors. Anyway, let’s get on with it, shall we? As always, you can click on the pictures to embiggen them.

A thousand years ago, Talpa and his evil Dynasty from the Netherworld were defeated when they tried to take over the mortal world. Now Talpa is back to try again with the help of his Pickle Patch Warlords. Only the Ronin Warriors can stop him.

The leader of the Ronin Warriors is Zoë of Wildfire. She can project the power of the volcano through her twin katana blades with her special attack, “Flare Up Now!” The katanas don’t look the same size because I was trying to make it seem like she was holding the left sword forward and the right sword back a little. Coincidentally, when I tried my hand at creating new female Ronin Warriors back in the nineties, their leader was named Zoë of Mantle.

The Ronin Warrior of Light is Sass of Halo. Her weapon of choice is a no-dachi sword which she uses to administer the Thunder Bolt Cut!

Todrick of Strata is said to be the more cunning of the Ronin Warriors. He wields a bow to fire the Arrow Shock Wave!

Barnaby of Hard Rock may be slow-witted, but he has the most heart and is the strongest of the Ronin Warriors. Foes must be wary of his tetsubo and his devastating Iron Rock Crusher attack.

Mild-mannered Blue Rich of Torrent’s armor draws power from the water. He wields a yari, or trident to attack with his Super Wave Smasher.

The power of the five Ronin armors can merge together to form the Armor of Inferno, worn here by Deema. Normally it’s the Ronin Warrior who wears the armor of Wildfire who becomes infused with the power of the other four Ronins, but I needed something for Deema to wear, so there you go.

The Ronin Warriors are guided by the Oonchient, the warrior monk who banished the evil Talpa to the Netherworld a thousand years ago. It was he who forged the Ronin (and Warlord) armors from Talpa’s armor. He sacrificed himself to create the bridge for the Ronin Warriors to cross over into the Netherworld to stop Talpa.

Speaking of the Warlords, their leader, Cyran, was the Pickle Patch Warlord of Cruelty. He used his kusari-gama to unleash his deadliest attack “Quake With Fear” in service of Talpa until the Oonchient showed him the error of his ways and he reformed. He briefly wore the robes of the Oonchient before wearing the Armor of Cruelty one last time to free Lady Nektara from Talpa’s evil influence. Sadly, though he was successful, he did not survive.

The Pickle Patch Warlord of Corruption wears the Armor of Darkness. Like Sass, he wields a nodachi, which he uses to attack with the Black Lightning Slash.

The Pickle Patch Warlord of Deception is a master of illusions. Amongst his weapons are the six deadly kamas he uses to spin the deadly Web of Deception.

Finally, the Pickle Patch Warlord of Venom uses vile poisons to weaken his foes, particular when he laces his six taichi blades with them to administer the Snake Fang Strike.

When the Pickle Patch Warlords are unable to dispatch the Ronin Warriors, Talpa turns to Lady Nektara, the last surviving descendant of the Oonchient’s clan who Talpa corrupted to serve him. She wields her twin sais to perform the Star Sword Scream. It looked like she would be successful in defeating the Ronin Warriors until the reformed Cyran gave his life to free her from Talpa’s influence.

Looking back, I don’t think the Ronin Warriors made for the best mash-ups. I wasn’t able to stylize the armors in a way to make them fit the characters, so it just looks like drawings of the Ronin and Warlord armors with the Animus character faces. I definitely should have drawn them without their helmets on since the ones I feel turned out the best are Big Oonch, Nektara and Cyran. I did like how the Pickle Patch Bandits matched up with the Dark Warlords pretty well. Dais has an eyepatch and webbed feet that lent themselves well to the rooster’s bird feet. Cale’s armor is patterned after a wolf. Sekhmet’s armor’s design was the easiest to adapt for the big pig belly. Anyway, I can use this week’s attempt as a lesson going forward with other mash-ups.

Come back next week to see how well I learned from this week’s lesson!

Down the Rabbit Hole

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Jul 112012
 

Welcome back to the Wednesday Mash-up. Some of you may have been able to guess from the preview on Facebook what this week’s theme was going to be. If not, then the title should clue you in. Unless you’ve never heard anything about Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, then I suppose you have an excuse. And if that’s the case, well I’ll just spell it out, it’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. As always, you can click on the pictures to embiggen them.

 

We start with the star of the story, Alice, portrayed here by Nektara. Doesn’t she look pretty in her blue dress and apron?

Alice’s adventures begin when she spies a white rabbit with a pocket watch, played here by Cyran, of course.

“I’ve often seen a cat with a grin, but never a grin without a cat,” Alice remarks when the Cheshire Cat fades away until only its grin is left. In our version, the Cheshire Cat is played by Sass, shown here as she transitions from visible to invisible.

Alice also meets the Caterpillar, played by Deema. This may be my favorite mash-up yet since I’ve started doing mash-ups.

The characters of Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum are actually from Through the Looking Glass, And What Alice Found There. Regardless, here are Barna-Dee and Barna-Dum.

Alice attends a mad tea party hosted by peculiar trio. First, there’s the Mad Hatter, played in this instance by Todrick.

Along with the Hatter, there is the March Hare, played with flare by the Big Oonch. At first, I simply drew Oonch as the March Groundhog, but I found it a little dull, so I drew a second version where he has hare ears and is actually playing the March Hare. I’ve included both versions here. Which do YOU prefer?

The third host is the sleepy Dormouse, played by Zoë. I drew her without the teapot cover first, and then I added the cover. Again, both versions are included here.

Finally, we have the picture I previewed on Facebook. It’s Red Rich, as the King of Hearts.

That’s it for this week’s mash-ups. If you want to know more about this week’s mash-ups, the next Monday Blog will be of interest to you! At any rate, see you Wednesday with new mash-ups!

Who Ya Gonna Call?

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Jul 042012
 

Welcome back to the Wednesday Mash-up folks!

This week, we take a look at that eighties classic, Ghostbusters. There are no clever names this time around. The idea is that the Animus cast have opened their own Ghostbusters franchise in Bree.

Before they can bust ghosts, the gang has to find them. Fortunately, Cyran has built a PKE meter attachment for his wrench! Normally, when I draw costumes and equipment I find a reference photo online, but I thought I had a pretty good idea of what the PKE meter looked like so I drew it from memory. It turns out I had the Real Ghostbusters version in mind rather than movie version. I think the idea gets across though.

Once they Cyran gets a fix on the ghost’s location, he or the Big Oonch can use their spectral goggles to see the target.

Then, it’s up to Todrick to zap the ghost with his proton pack!

Once the ghost has been weakened by the proton beam, Nektara can use a ghost trap on it. Do you think she’s displaying the appropriate amount of nervousness?

If the mood gets too dark, Sass can use some mood slime to try to lighten things up. Best to warn a fur first or the mood will sour even more.

Deema’s ghost is the unofficial mascot of the Ghostbusters. She loves ice cream cones. When I was first sketching her, I tried adding more detail to make her look a little more like Slimer, but the result was too creepy-looking so I scaled it back. With Slimer not having any clothes, I used some more shading than I usually do to add some texture to the drawing (pardon the pun). It makes her look much rounder I think.

Although he looks really friendly, Barnaby, the Stay Puft Marshmallow Bear is one of the Ghostbusters must destructive foes. That’s what happens when you’re as tall as a skyscraper. Stay Puft doesn’t have much more clothing and he’s all white, so I used some light blue shading to liven up the picture. I like the effect it gives.

Much more sinister-looking is the painting of Richo the Carpathian. He needs to inspire fear and anger to weaken the bond that keeps him trapped in the painting…or something like that. Drawing and colouring the whole painting was something new for me. I think it turned out alright if I do say so myself.

I almost forgot Zoë when I was drawing these and when I remembered her I was short on ideas. Finally, I decided to put her in the Ghostbusters commercial. Know that she’s ready to believe you!

So that’s it for this week! Come back for more mash-ups next Wednesday! Until then, may bustin’ make you feel good and remember to never cross the streams!

 

Rick and Red’s Bogus Journey

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Jun 272012
 

Welcome back to the Wednesday Mash-up! This week we follow up on the theme from two weeks ago as we visit the sequel to Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Bill and Ted’s Bogus Journey!

First up, Todrick is back as Rick S. Preston, Esquire. He also plays Evil Rick, the evil robot version of Rick from the future.

Next, Red Rich returns as Red Richedore Logan. Like Todrick, he also plays the evil robot version of Red from the future, Evil Red.

Big Oonch reprises his role as Rufoonch. Something I learned as I was going through Rufus’ scenes in Bogus Journey: He doesn’t wear sunglasses in the movie. Oh well.

Evil Rick and Red are sent back to get rid of Good Rick and Red by Rufoonch’s old gym teacher, Mr. Chuck Barnomolos, played by Barnaby, complete with built-in lights to highlight his chin.

After being killed by Evil Rick and Red, Good Rick and Red must challenge the Grim Tinkerer to a contest if they want to return to the land of the living. Fortunately, the Tinkerer, played by Cyran, isn’t very good at board games.

Finally, just so the girls aren’t completely shut out, here’s Nektara as a student from the future (sorry, I felt that Missy and the Princesses didn’t have iconic enough looks to mash-up).

That’s all for this week. Come back next Wednesday for new mash-ups!

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