Ok, many of you have seen these before, but I've tweaked quite a few of them and have a new guy to show.
So a bit of an intro -- I'm one of those rare guys that actually
loved Van Helsing - sure it was corny, but it was fun. And I'm perfectly cool with Stephen Sommers "LASER BLAST" all over the literary origins and morphing the old Universal monster movies into an action-adventure flick. I get really irritated with folks who [LASER BLAST] about remakes/retellings and how it ruins the story, blah blah -- but I digress.
A while back, I took all of my "Monster Hunter" customs, and started putting them together on the same team. Likewise with the bad guys - led by Dracula, of course, since he pops up in every modern monster tale anyway. These guys are in the same 'verse as my Marvel/DC customs - and sometimes even interact with my Joes and other non-superhero characters (Adventure Team, Lara Croft, etc.)
Anyway - let's start with the bad guys.
Dracula: Kind of an Amalgam of how he's appeared in every other story - with some Bela Lugosi mixed in. Although he looks nothing like the Marvel version, his character borrows a lot from that. He's an evil mastermind and well-versed in the black arts, which allows him to build his team of supernatural villains and maintain control over their will if need be.
Speaking of asserting his will, Dracula managed to bamboozle Imhotep into serving him -- he resurrected the ancient sorcerer in exchange for Imhotep doing Dracula's bidding. And to prevent the Mummy from getting too powerful, Dracula did not resurrect him completely, hence the decayed skin and whatnot...
I made this guy today -- I've been wanting to make a Mr. Hyde for my Masters of Evil team, but didn't want to deal with putting clothes on a big figure. Then as I was watching Van Helsing (and the cartoon prequel) last night, I got the idea to make Mr. Hyde from the flick. Although this will still be Dr Calvin Zabo from the Marvel U, his look is based on the Robbie Coltrane-voiced CGI character from the flick. Just a comic pack Hulk with some paint, a cut-up t-shirt, and the cloak from a Prince Caspian werewolf fig.
This next dude - I don't even have a name for yet. He's basically just Drac's muscle - a merciless killer who enjoys his work too much. Any ideas for a name?
Lastly is Michael Corvin (the Lycan/Vampire hybrid from Underworld) -- although he started out as a hero, the conflicting nature of his genetic makeup made him vulnerable to Dracula's will. He is unable to revert back to human form, and serves Dracula loyally.
And now the heroes:
Their leader, Gabriel Van Helsing. An immortal with extraordinary combat training due to centuries of warfare and fighting the supernatural. He has a wealth of knowledge about all supernatural creatures and is an excellent tactician.
My old VH custom used a Wolverine Origins Hugh Jackman head, but it was a pain in the ass - the hat wouldn't fit right and it really didn't look anything like Jackman anyway. So I put a movie Duke head on instead. Mainly because the hat fits perfectly, and it's not like he wouldn't have gotten a haircut by now. Besides, I usually keep him covered up with the hat & scarf anyway, so likeness doesn't matter.
Next is Van Helsing's good friend for the past 150 years or so, Frankenstein's Creature. He prefers to go by the name "Adam" though.
Although he was created artificially and has superhuman strength, his compassion for all living things often leads to him being considered the "most human" of the team.
Van Helsing's partner is Selene (because she reminds him of his dead girlfriend, Anna, for some reason....
) After the events of Underworld: Evolution, she no longer possesses any of the vampires' weaknesses and is actually more powerful than all vampires save Dracula. Her former love, Michael, betrayed her by turning to Dracula's side. She has tried many times to turn him back, but has all but given up hope.
Rounding out the team is Jack Russell - aka, the Werewolf by Night. Not one of the Lycan race, his lycanthropy is based on an old family curse. Although he has complete control over his transformations now and retains his human intellect while in this current form.
Then we have some "guest-stars" that help out when needed based on their specific areas of expertise (not shown: Moon Knight, because c'mon -that's a given
)
Finally, we have the former Gargoyle, Goliath. I love this figure - I don't know what it is. I actually made wings for him, but decided that I wanted to make him an even more tragic character, so I stripped him of his wings and worked this bio for him: Goliath sought aid from a sorcerer to turn him human so he could be with his beloved Elisa Maza. He was halfway through his treatments when his clan of gargoyles was attacked by an unknown entity, destroying all the clan members, and killing Elisa in the process. Goliath, while still tremendously strong, had lost his wings and as such could not reach the battle in time, arriving to have his beloved die in his arms. Turns out the sorcerer from whom Goliath sought help was actually Dracula in disguise. Dracula wagered that if he could break Goliath's spirit, he could harness his vast strength for his own nefarious purposes. However, he did not expect Goliath to have such a strong will, and was unable to turn him.
Although Goliath was devastated, he continues to fight against evil. His wings gone, he uses a cape made out of special material (provided by his friend Bruce Wayne) to glide through the air from rooftop to rooftop. He is still incredibly strong, though not as powerful as he was in gargoyle form. And although he enjoys the camaraderie of his new team, he steels himself against getting too close to anyone emotionally, so that he doesn't place his new "clan" in mortal danger.
And one final group shot:
Anyway - if you made it through all that, thank you for checking these guys out
Cheers!
