"Uno Gato Muy Peligroso" o "Uno Blog Post Muy Nerdoso"

Yet another re-design challenge at the He-Man.org fan-art forums--my post is here and the original thread is here. The voting thread is here--I placed second.

The subject this time around is part of a line of Argentinian toys called Fuerza-T. These action figures used old He-Man molds (licensed by Mattel, as far as I know), with mixed and matched body parts and accessories, and new color schemes to make each figure appear unique. While they are not officially He-Man toys, Fuerza-T action figures are still of interest to enlightened He-Man enthusiasts. I am one of those enthusiasts.

Felinor is a member of the evil Aracnos faction. His hobbies include drinking the blood of his enemies. His dislikes include the rival villain group Escorpius, and the heroes known collectively as Fuerza-T. The toy version of Felinor is constructed from Mer-Man's head, Beast Man's body, Skeletor's armor, and He-Man's power sword. My version diverges from this a little, for the sake of making Felinor appear a little more unique:

click above for larger view

This one came together pretty quickly--for whatever reason, I was able to quickly pick colors that I was satisfied with, which I usually find difficult and time-consuming. The key for me was adding more cold colors to accompany the white face and turquoise brow of the original color scheme. His chest and shoulder armor were modified to resemble the Aracnos symbol, and the studded arm bracers are taken from the official illustration of Felinor. I added the nose, the tail, the scaley feet and hands, and the cat's eye motif (A lot of the other fan-interpretations of Felinor include a cat's eye motif as well). The cape is my addition too--inspired by the hood-like collar in the original illustration. Despite the wisdom of the Incredibles, I just think everyone is cooler with a cape. And as a nod to Felinor's allegiance to the Aracnos, his cape has eight points, just as a spider has eight legs.

Man... posting a drawing of an obscure Argentinian action figure with a metafictional lineage that connects back to three of He-Man's greatest foes just doesn't seem geeky enough. What could I do to really geek this up? I KNOW. Since very little is known about him, I could write a little background material for this crazy cat (get it? cause he's a cat)...

* * *

FELINOR is fiercely loyal to Carnivor, ruthless leader of the Aracnos faction. His golden sword was created by a master sword-maker, in a mortal attempt to mimic the divinely forged perfection of He-Man's power sword. The sword-maker's intentions were not sinister, but Felinor cast a spell to corrupt the blade, and the cursed sword now shares Felinor's hunger for blood. To further bolster his strength, Felinor encrusted his power sword's hilt with an enchanted gem. This gem is another counterfeit--copied from an artifact from the nearby planet Thundera (the gem on his breastplate is simply decorative). In spite of all this, Felinor's power sword still does not match that of He-Man or She-Ra's true power swords. It is rumored that the mysterious sword-maker escaped and disappeared, and was even able to forge more power-sword imitations. the existence of these swords has not been confirmed.

Most recently, Carnivor has discovered the existence of planet Earth, and has sent Felinor and a subterranean attack force to perform reconnaissance and prepare the planet for invasion.

* * *

I coined Felinor's title of "Evil Nocturnal Champion" myself, but in light of the profile I just whipped up, I wonder if "Evil Copy Cat" would have been more appropriate?

Now For Something Completely Different...

It's far from my standard uber-nerdy fare, but every now and then I get inspired to do something out of the ordinary. This one is for Jacob, who one day linked me to a German Hip Hop video on YouTube by a group named Deichkind. The video featured a female MC called Nina (sometimes referred to as Nina MC). Here is my interpretation of the very striking Nina MC:

click above for larger view

And here is the aforementioned video by Deichkind, entitled Bon Voyage (No, I'm not confused--yes, it is a German track with a French title):

My sketch is a somewhat loose take--it's more caricature than portrait, and not much of a caricature at that. But I think it captures some of her spirit. Keen-eyed observers will note that while Nina sported a pull-over hoodie in the video, I drew her with a zip-up hoodie. My personal bias for zip-up hoodies aside, I was also looking for an excuse to draw an exaggerated, over-sized zipper.

My pencils and inks were a little bit cleaner this time around, but i was looking to do a little something different with the colors, so I took the suggestion of my friend Charles, and loosened up some. I still used Photoshop, but instead of making my usual super-careful lasso selections, I just colored the whole thing with the paintbrush tool. I chose the brush that mimics a marker tip, and brought the opacity down (30%-60%). I'm pretty happy with the results.

Don't get me wrong, Nina is Jacob's gal--as far as raven-haired Euro-hotties go, Nigella Lawson is more my speed (call me, Nigella!). Now, the lovely Nina aside, let's talk about Deichkind--these dudes are freakin dope! I have no clue what their lyrics are about, but they got "mad flow" as the kids say.

Actually, now that I stop and think about it, there are only two people that I know who understand any German at all, and one of them is my Dad. Dad, if you are reading this, I apologize in advance if you heard any explicit German lyrics, and I implore you to NOT tell me what those lyrics say, because the last thing I need to hear is German obsenities translated into English by my father. Thank you.

Here for your enjoyment, is another Deichkind video, sadly sans Nina, but awesome nonetheless:

For more on Nina MC:

• http://www.moundmarkus.de/hiphop/nina/nina.htm
• http://www.newyorker.de/?arg=en/entertainment/artists.html&tp=1 (artists listed alphabetically)