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Sci-Fi previews, part 2 (with a new WIP on PAGE 2)
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Author:  drbindy [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:53 am ]
Post subject:  Sci-Fi previews, part 2 (with a new WIP on PAGE 2)

Some more context for you first. So there are inhabitable planets in the universe beyond Earth, and foldspace technology lets us travel to them semi easily. Many of those planets have life on them. Some are remarkably Earth-like in their plant and animal habitation, others are very alien.

So far, humans have interacted with only one sentient alien race, and it was our misfortune that the one new race we encountered was quite aggressive; and immediately waged war on the human race. It's the last time humanity was truly united also, as during the years that the war raged on, the Two Kingdoms were allies, despite their past differences. Since that war ended, the lack of conflict outside of the realms is probably most to blame for the increasing anxiety and tension returning to the relationship between the Kingdoms.

The sentient alien race is humanoid, and blue skinned, but I don't want, in any way to end up with an Avatar vibe in this verse. I don't have any males to show off yet, but was, and probably still am intent on using Thor movie Frost Giant figs to represent them. I hesitate only because I just watched Thor, and I think my mods might not have gone far enough to distinguish my blue aliens from their blue aliens. lol.

Also I admittedly struggle with the name of the race. I created it for a new Star Frontiers RPG race many years ago, and at the time called them Aqualarians. So far, I've been sticking with it, but when spoken, it simply sounds too close to Aquilonian to me, perhaps. Thoughts on that? I'm considering shortening it to Aquarian instead, but I believe that might be taken by one of the Colonial planets in BSG. Naming places, things and people has become my least favorite part of story creation.

So anyway, here is the one Aqua...blah blah character I've made a completed figure of so far. It's a female, and one of the unique features of this race's society is that the males often tend to outweigh their mates by as much as 3 or 4 to 1. Females are typically lean, agile and sinewy strong, while the males are walking tanks. It means there is a high mortality rate for females of the species, with a large percentage of those deaths occurring during childbirth.

So, here she is.

Vox Caeda
Race: (See above, lol)
Sex: Female
Anatomy: Humanoid
Homeworld: Qiona, of the Aqualarian Empire
Profession: Assassin (Guild sponsored)
Current Allegiance: None - not even to her Guild.
Weapon Proficiencies: Too numerous to list
Weapon Preferences: Blades and Poisons.


Image
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Vox Caeda was an important historical figure from the previous Human-Aqualarian Wars. Understanding that the war was on the verge of destroying both civilizations, and having a bend to the more peaceful beliefs of the monk-like Aqualarian Brotherhood (more so than the war mongering ideology of the conquesting Aqualarian Empire, and in shocking contrast to her profession), Caeda accepted the invitation of the human envoy (the great Paladin of Avalonia, Lord and in this instance undercover agent, Percival Ajax) to participate in the assassination of the Aqualarian Emperor, known to the human worlds as Emperor Tyrannos Atunis.

Of note is that Caeda was a member of the Royal Court in Aqualarian society, but was already an assassin by trade (such positions being held in the highest of esteem in traditional Aqualarian culture). While she herself was progressive in her views, she was pragmatic enough to rely on the skillset she had spent her life honing, rather than on the passive hope for a more idealistic realization of her goals towards intergalactic peace.

The assassination of Atunis was not without cost - to the Aqualarians and also to Caeda personally. Her husband was the Captain of the Imperial Guard, and was, not surprisingly, implicated in the plot to murder the Emperor. In the chaos that followed, he escaped, as did she, but he has sworn a death vow against his now former mate. His shame, both real (for the dishonor brought on by his wife) and alleged (even though he actually played no role in the assassination) have made him unstable mentally. He, like Vox, is also now a Rogue and a fugitive. His fury is not exhausted upon his mate alone, as her human political handlers (and eventual victors over his once proud empire) are equally to blame in his mind, if not more so, for the dishonorable act of turning his mate against her own kind.

In the years following the end of the war, Vox Caeda went into hiding. Recently, upon learning that Lord Ajax had left his own King's service, she sought him out with a proposal, the terms of which Percy has not spoke of. However, she has been on board the Talon, and assisting with Percy's various missions ever since.

----
Recipe:
SW Jarael head and arms
MU Torso (modded)
Resolute Baroness Legs (modded as bare uppers)

The softgoods and belts were modded so much, they may as well be scratch-builds.

And here is a sketch of the character made many years before I ever thought to make her in plastic form.

Image

----

Another character. This one is more of a secondary character. Name is Casus the Tall. He is a legendary and seemingly ageless explorer. He has worked for each Kingdom at different points in his career, in charting the depths of space, exploring the Fringe Worlds, where it seems newly discovered habitable planets are found daily. And he also aids in the modification of uninhabitable worlds (what we would call Terra-forming).

Casus the Tall
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Image

Recipe: MU AIM soldier body, dyed and painted. With boots from a Crimson Guard figure (don't ask why, I don't even remember what I was trying to accomplish there).

Head is Ki Adi Mundi, modded, and with a SW pilot helmet, also modded and painted.

Author:  DarkJedi [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

The chick is cool, but I like Casus.

I recognized the Ki-Adi head, and wish I had a ton of those helmets...

Author:  danielb [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:03 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

She is great and once again a more colorful female....

but the explorer takes this round finding a use for that head is certainly no easy task. Do you ever have bleeding issues with dye? it seems any time I use dye it winds up being impossible to paint or it bleeds all over the place.

Author:  Tsunami [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:18 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

danielb wrote:
but the explorer takes this round finding a use for that head is certainly no easy task.


Concur! Use of that head as a standard human head is remarkable.

As for a name for the aliens, do you want to keep it "blue" related?
Howabout Azurians? Maybe somthing Teal related? Tealitokin.....Tealites......

Author:  DarkJedi [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:28 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Tsunami wrote:
As for a name for the aliens, do you want to keep it "blue" related?
Howabout Azurians? Maybe somthing Teal related? Tealitokin.....Tealites......


There are a few alien species in the Star Wars universe that have pale white skin, plus there is that hot chick from one of those TV sci-fi space shows...Farscape?

Author:  JBYRDD [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 1:36 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Both of them rock, excellent parts choices to.

Author:  drbindy [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 2:42 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Thanks guys. I know there's nothing unique about a bblue skinned alien, but something about the look spoke to me, and I wanted to run with it. It's a light enough blue to almost be grey, which does have some other basis, beyond the Avatars of the world

DarkJedi wrote:
Tsunami wrote:
As for a name for the aliens, do you want to keep it "blue" related?
Howabout Azurians? Maybe somthing Teal related? Tealitokin.....Tealites......


There are a few alien species in the Star Wars universe that have pale white skin, plus there is that hot chick from one of those TV sci-fi space shows...Farscape?


Yeah, but everything in this verse is something I'm trying create new. I hesitate to keep saying "original" as many sci-fi cliches will be here. But I'm also not trying to directly copy any existing fictional beings.


EDIT: Dan - sometimes the dye bleeds, but not often. It may be because I don't measure the amount I use in the water, which I suspect means I'm typically using less than the recommended amount of dye.

But I also use the dye very specifically, so if I'm dying something black before I paint in black, I'm not going to notice it.

Other times I like a little bid of the bleed-through effect, and will get the dye itself a little richer when I'm adding it to the water. I dye pants black then paint them grey, and the black dye adds some real nice depth without me having to ink or dry brush.

On Casus, above, I started out (before I found a Ghostrider figure) trying to dye an AIM body black. The yellow plastic took the dye, but not near well enough to get it all the way to black. The brown you see above is 80% the way the dyed plastic looked. I still could have painted black, but then I got a Ghostrider and went a different direction. This body sat unused for a long time, til I decided I actually like the brown weathered leather look. So I added a wash, some light dry-brushing, then sealed him and he's good.

As for bleeding not just through the paint but onto other stuff - that only happens if I'm handling the dyed figure before I paint him. Once painted, I get none of that.

Author:  Cap [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 3:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Magnificent, as usual. A great round with equally enjoyable backgrounds.

I don't care about contemporary comparisons. There have been always blue or near blue skinned peoples in fantasy from the Irda through to the Rieklings of Solstheim. It will always work for me. ; )

Maybe for their male forms, some heavy detailing on that head might differentiate them from the Thor ones. I was thinking of carving down their helmet forms and maybe using the Baroness hair on one, since the area of coverage would be substantial.

Author:  Tanstoys [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 4:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

more awesomeness.I like her alot

Author:  Keenan [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 6:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Casus the Tall is just fantastic looking. That's one worth putting on the "to copy" list. Dig it.

Author:  Greyryder [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 10:57 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Casus is cool, but I'm a sucker for blue chicks. The soft goods on her are a really nice, unique touch.

Author:  Darko [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Looks awesome, and I especially love the use of the SW head on the guy. Can't wait to see more of this project.

Author:  G.I.JAC [ Sat Oct 08, 2011 11:51 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Really cool stuff, good use of cloth parts. Feel sorry for the females though...
Both figures are great, if this was a series of figures I'd definitely buy them.
Don't worry too much about the 'originality' of your ideas, someone, somewhere they'll be compared to the work of someone else. I'm sure even Tolkien suffered from this when some of his fellow scholars read his work and remember a lot of people think Lucas' work was 'inspired' by Dune.

Just keep creating! I really enjoy working on and seeing other people's original creations

Author:  Gaaway [ Sun Oct 09, 2011 11:23 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

Both are very good & I love the way you use soft goods. I also like the back story.

Author:  toy-nutz [ Sun Oct 09, 2011 4:00 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sci-Fi previews, part 2.

I agree with everyelse, both of these are great! When I saw the Casus, I was wondering what head that was it was great. Seeing it was Kai shocked me! Great going on that! Keep up the great work!

Michael

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