Merla Glimmer, Salamander Sword Advocate

Merla Glimmer is the second of the figures displayed with Spire of Zeal yesterday. She's built in January, maybe, and is a fan of Vereftoi Radiante the speeder bike contestant, and the colour scheme is taken from that creation: Dark green, white and orange from Vereftoi's attire and dark red hair from Salamander Sword speeder; light bley stockings with medium lavender are not, but there's got to be a personal touch, right?

The dress is... well, I have no idea about the terminology here, but it's sort of traditional model with miniskirt, ribbon and all. Something like neo-traditional punk thing seen on anime cosplayers, maybe, and therefore fitting for happy cyberpunk setting. It recycles ideas from Excela Noa Aura, a creation from (!!!) four years back. This is less extravagant I.E. no huge pointed blades with white ruff in between. Wealth of cut-out baby bows in dark green is used, as I got some (lots) from LEGO House's Pick-a-Brick. Their shaping capability is put into use, and they also make a nice, aforementioned ribbon. I also like how the fill the gap between car front and orange bow parts on the sides nicely. The dress panels are connected into octagonal frame part. The hem ruffle is vibrant coral, as there was some vibrant coral on most of the build of this series (for example Vereftoi Radiante's hair). I'm still bit unsure if orange would have looked better, who knows. Underneath there's actually Vahki hip piece - rare thing, using such blocky Bionicle part in System build like this.

The legs are application of the usual technique. Light bley stockings made it possible to make them monochrome without hinge parts standing out irritatingly; mundane colour also felt fitting as the dress was quite imposing. I built a pair of high heel shoes, as they felt quite fitting for fan character with prominent attire. They use "persian" arches for the shape and for once I could us Mixel ball cup without hiding it somehow. They're based on shoes I made for a comissioned model in November that should be posted soon-ish after these speeder bike world things.

Most of my character models have extravagant hair, as hair is excellent subject for new parts uses (compared to leg, for example). Hair gives lot of personality, so I took another route here and made it short and spiky, while still utilizing exciting pieces (dark red rock parts). It gave the model totally different balance than big hair, leaving the silhouette of the upper body more visible. It also makes the glasses more prominent; I though big round glasses, using chakram pieces, worked well with the dress, and they also make a connection to Vereftoi Radiante. Merla Glimmer eats sushi - a little hint about the next spires...

-Eero