Cat Brawler

 

I built this character for my New Elementary article on Lilo & Stitch set Angel - which I don't like as a set design piece but which has some really nice bright pink pieces. The process on this model was certainly an unusual one, and I think the model is quite unusual, too. I first build the upper legs and the hips, reveling in those recolours. And I though it would be just another human character with fashionable pink trousers (and maybe some other pink garments too, or maybe a bright green jacket). But it didn't. I wanted to use the thin 45 degree macaronis, which were to most interesting pieces in the set, and I couldn't find a good use for them on usual human character. Pink hair, maybe, but pink hair with pink clothes wouldn't have stood out very well.

This took a sci-fi turn when I returned to work on it. First, I made the sleek boots with sort of okobo shoes, festooned with some bow ties. I still didn't know where I was heading. I still had to find out how to use the macaronis. I wondered if I could make some uncanny tentacle things, but that didn't proceed. Instead, I made a tail inspired by our cats. And with the cat tail theme emerged the rest of the model in very fast, straightforward process. 

Aside the tail, the bulky shoulders defined a lot, giving this a Samus silhouette (but with a long tail). Those big eye prints, asymmetrical with the other one closed, are pretty challenging pieces - but here I think the asymmetry works well, being more of an feature than a bug. I'm particularly happy how the black frames crop the shoulder pads. That aside, pink petal pieces made a nice pair of paws (albeit fragile ones). The head was made in a spur of a moment, combining Samurai X sticker from Ninjago with a petal piece, originally designed to be the face plate of super hero action figures. I like the cyberpunk uncanny feel of this combination, spiced up with the cute bow-decorated ears. Posing helped to establish the character.

-Eero.

Brown Lands Ranger

This was a fast last-weekend entry for Palikkatakomo's Monochrome (actually not monochrome) contest. We had two contests running side-by-side, and I had already completed my entry for the other one (I'll post it here later for weird reasons). I felt an obligation to make something for the other contest as well as I usually like to pay some attention on the colours of my MOCs; limiting to one gradient was an interesting challenge, as such. I had already done a model of that sort for Summer Joust in 2022, though. My small efforts were rewarded this time as I got the second place and the Plum Blossom set (I had reviewed it for New Elementary last year, but another one doesn't hurt).

I had some brief ideas of using green to make some sort of earth/plant creature, probably as a somewhat two-dimensional painting type. I have lot of green plant pieces as I havent built many green landscapes lately, and they're difficult to utilise in character builds in large masses. I abandoned the idea, though. Instead, I ended up using the vast palette of different browns - one of them is the skin colour here, included free of charge - with the actually plausible idea of camouflage. The jump to Tolkien-themed ranger associated to the notion of Brown Lands west of Morannon was a short one. Rangers are cool, and I find myself liking Aragorn more and more as years pass (though this is not him). 

The hood is an old tablescrap originally intended for the Death (of Discworld) years ago, in black. I thought it was best not to preserve that any longer. The dark brown beard is associated with Numenorean complexion - naturally I could not make this one bearded - and a simple serious expression felt fitting for this figure. I used more dark brown to add a simple leather armour detailing to the dark tan tunic, while the mudguard shoulderpads help to make the silhouette more heroic. The joints are made completely with brown pieces, evincing the pleasantly vast selection of pieces in these earthy colours. 

Themetically, this has more than few similarities with one of my Palikkatakomo contest entries of last year - Vainolaista vastaan built for the medieval diorama contest.  Both feature a down-to-earth warrior with a bow and arrow; though here I added a sword instead of a spear, as that felt more natural for a ranger fighting orcs of Mordor that Finnish iron-age hunter. The bow, while having some similarities, is a tad more "civilised" with S-curve near the tips. The quiver uses the same tech with the arrows.

The final tweak here was changing the trouser colour to dark brown. They were medium nougat at first, but that felt too 1970s-1980s, reminding me of the weird underparts Aragorn of Ralph Barkshi's animated Lord of the Rings and even He-Man. The dark brown legs were more clearly trousers and balanced the colour better - that was the point of the contest, after all. Finally, a patch of land with wretched plants demonstrated the camouflage attire's function.  

-Eero.