Competition wips

[Techno]

I think the only way you could really give the impression of mist would be as a complete 'one off' using the transparent Fimo (If they still make that !)...Just don't think that'd work as a metal model though.
Don't worry.... It looks great as it is...really !

Like C says....."You know what to do" regarding 10mm figures 

Cheers - Phil.

[sixsideddice]

The monstrous head looks like a Pananggalan, which is a vampiric creature from mythology.

[Sinister Jester]

The monstrous head looks like a Pananggalan, which is a vampiric creature from mythology.

Interesting, I have never heard of that before.... Whose mythology?

I have seen some good examples of mist/smoke sculpted but couldn't find the examples when I did this.

How much info/story line on an entry do the judges want? Will they use it in the game? I am unfamiliar with the game.....

Getting ready to post figure 4 and 5...... 

[sixsideddice]

Interesting, I have never heard of that before.... Whose mythology?

The Penanggalan or 'Hantu Penanggal' is a peculiar variation of the vampire myth that apparently began in the Malay Peninsula, or Balan-balan in Sabah. See also the Manananggal, a similar creature of Filipino folklore. "Penanggal" or "Penanggalan" literally means "detach" or "remove". Both terms â€" Manananggal and Penanggal â€" may carry the same meaning due to both languages being grouped or having a common root under the Austronesian language family, though the two creatures are culturally distinct in appearance and behavior.

There are similar myths of creatures with almost exactly the same features among the Balinese of Indonesia, where it is called the Leyak, in Thailand where it is called the Krasue, in Laos where it is the Kasu or Phi-Kasu and in Cambodia where it is the Ap.

According to the folklore of that region, the Penanggalan is a detached female head capable of flying about on its own. As it flies, the stomach and entrails dangle below it, and these organs twinkle like fireflies as the Penanggalan moves through the night.

Due to the common theme of Penanggal being the result of active use of black magic or supernatural means, a Penanggal cannot be readily classified as a classical undead being. The creature is, for all intents and purposes, a living human being during daytime (much like the Japanese Nukekubi) or at any time when it does not detach itself from its body.


In Malaysian folklore, a Penanggal may be either a beautiful old or young woman who obtained her beauty through the active use of black magic, supernatural, mystical, or paranormal means which are most commonly described in local folklores to be dark or demonic in nature. Another cause where one becomes a Penanggal in Malaysian folklore is due to the result of a powerful curse or the actions of a demonic force, although this method is less common than the active use of black magic abovementioned.

The Penanggalan is usually a female midwife who has made a pact with the devil to gain supernatural powers. It is said that the midwife has broken a stipulation in the pact not to eat meat for 40 days; having broken the pact she has been forever cursed to become a bloodsucking vampire/demon. The midwife keeps a vat of vinegar in her house. After detaching her head and flying around in the night looking for blood the Penanggalan will come home and immerse her entrails in the vat of vinegar in order to shrink them for easy entry back into her body.

One version of the tale states that the Penanggal was once a beautiful woman or priestess, who was taking a ritual bath in a tub that once held vinegar. While bathing herself and in a state of concentration or meditation, a man entered the room without warning and startled her. The woman was so shocked that she jerked her head up to look, moving so quickly as to sever her head from her body, her organs and entrails pulling out of the neck opening. Enraged by what the man had done, she flew after him, a vicious head trailing organs and dripping venom. Her empty body was left behind in the vat. The Penanggal, thus, is said to carry an odor of vinegar with her wherever she flies, and returns to her body during the daytime, often posing as an ordinary mortal woman. However, a Penanggal can always be told from an ordinary woman by that odor of vinegar.

The Penanggalan's victims are traditionally pregnant women and young children. Like a banshee who appears at a birth rather than a death, the Penanggalan perches on the roofs of houses where women are in labour, screeching when the child is born. The Penanggalan will insert a long invisible tongue into the house to lap up the blood of the new mother. Those whose blood the Penanggalan feeds upon contract a wasting disease that is almost inescapably fatal. Furthermore, even if the penanggalan is not successful in her attempt to feed, anyone who is brushed by the dripping entrails will suffer painful open sores that won't heal without a bomoh's help.

A Penanggal is said to feed on human blood or human flesh although local folklore (including its variations) commonly agrees that a Penanggal prefers the blood of a newborn infant, the blood of woman who recently gave birth or the placenta (which is devoured by the Penanggal after it is buried). All folktales also agree that a Penanggal flies as it searches and lands to feed. One variation of the folklore however claims that a Penanggal is able to pass through walls. Other, perhaps more chilling, descriptions say that the Penanggal can ooze up through the cracks in the floorboards of a house, rising up into the room where an infant or woman is sleeping. Sometimes they are depicted as able to move their intestines like tentacles.

This Penanggal has a beginning. It was known to start from a woman who was notorious in the medieval time. She had a face that only a mother would love. No man dare to put eyes on her and her femininity was repeatedly denied. Her hatred on married women with families and pregnant women became her rage of vengeance. She killed and murdered many innocents people during her rampage. She was tracked and caught to face punishment. People in those days had their own ways of passing deadly sentence. She was tied to hang on her neck to a tree and her legs were tied to a raging bull. Her neck was snapped away from her body leaving her head and intestinal organs dangling on that tree. The villagers shouted happily to see their ordeals ended after her death. Little did they know that they have unleashed the most deadly demon on the loose. That night the head went missing. The village was tormented by this Penanggal for seven deadly nights.

[O Dinas Powys]

The Penanggalan or 'Hantu Penanggal' is a peculiar variation of the vampire myth that apparently began in the Malay Peninsula, or Balan-balan in Sabah. See also the Manananggal, a similar creature of Filipino folklore. "Penanggal" or "Penanggalan" literally means "detach" or "remove". Both terms â€" Manananggal and Penanggal â€" may carry the same meaning due to both languages being grouped or having a common root under the Austronesian language family, though the two creatures are culturally distinct in appearance and behavior.

*snip*!

Wow, cool info.  I remember these from the Fiend Folio for AD&D!

I'd always just assumed it was of "Cymric" (but Cornish rather than Welsh) origin because Penanggalan reads/sound kind of similar to "pen a ngalon" which is Welsh for head and my heart!

You learn something new every day 

[Ivan]

that head... I have serious flashbacks of Carpenter's The Thing... scaaaary and really highly disturbing image 
nice clean sculpting

[Sinister Jester]

Ivan: Thanks you so much! I try lol

Sixsideddice: Thanks for the info, I too remember something like that from my old AD&D days.....

[Sinister Jester]

Now to add some more figures for the competition

First off I started this:



Here a scale shot:



Then I added the rest to make it become a ghost:



Right side view:



Left side view:



Back view:



Let me know what you think....

[Sinister Jester]

My next entry is a little different

This is an Orb Beast. It has razor sharp teeth and six long tentacles. It is not known whether the beast floats or walks on it's tentacles as it appears to do both. The beast normally finds a dark corner or ceiling to hide in the shadows. It will normally wait until a lone party member is either separated or wandered off on their own to attack. It will normally attack if detected too then take off to hide again. If it can it will drag the prey to it's lair to be consumed. It's lair is normally a ledge or opening high on the wall or ceiling of the dungeon. It's lair is normally littered with body remains and parts of body remains of the unfortunate.

Orb Beast in wip:






Orb beast front view:



Right side view:



Left side view:



Back side:



Top view:



What do you think?

[Sinister Jester]

A scale shot of all the little monsters I've done in this thread next to a Reaper figure for comparison

[Leon]

Some great imagination you've got there!   

Thoughts on them all, from left to right:

The misty head thing - I like it.  Nicely sculpted, cool idea, although it does look a bit like it's dragging a pair of balls behind it... 

The orb beast - Probably my favourite.  Simple idea, well executed.  It could maybe do with a bit more of a 'body' under the chin area, and maybe the tentacles in slightly different positions to each other? 

The ghost - Not sure on this one.  I think the face is putting me off, it looks a bit cartoon-y for me.

The worm - Great head, nice detail on that.  I'm not sure on the pose though, it doesn't look completely 'natural' to me?

All in all though, very nice work, and thanks for entering

!

[Techno]

I think Leon is right about the ghost....Would probably work better with the eyes and mouth less 'formed'....Just elongated 'holes' might look less 'cartoony'.
Personally, I like the worm as it is....But again, Leon is right about the mist beast's ...."ahem"....testicles....But once painted, that probably wouldn't be an issue at all.

Having said that....Alll in all a great bunch of beasties...Great stuff !....Great detail!

Cheers - Phil

[Sinister Jester]

Thanks guys 

as to the mist guy, that is exactly what I was going to say paint the stones to match the dungeon floor and it will look good. 

The Orb Beast tentacles are placed 1) for ease of casting. I didn't want to have separate parts  2) to cover the wire I was using to mount the body to the base

The ghost... well I thought at that size, the eyes and mouth would show up and be easier to paint? I can change it, to be more menacing maybe?

The Wyrm... I was thinking when it is not burrowing, it scuttles across the land like an inch worm? I also wanted it to fit on the base size that was listed. Plus you can cut or mount it however you need. I figure some people would want to cut him and mount him like he was coming up out of the dungeon floor or wall......

anyhow I might have one more if I get motivated to finish him before I goto GenCon

[Leon]

as to the mist guy, that is exactly what I was going to say paint the stones to match the dungeon floor and it will look good. 

The Orb Beast tentacles are placed 1) for ease of casting. I didn't want to have separate parts  2) to cover the wire I was using to mount the body to the base

The ghost... well I thought at that size, the eyes and mouth would show up and be easier to paint? I can change it, to be more menacing maybe?

The Wyrm... I was thinking when it is not burrowing, it scuttles across the land like an inch worm? I also wanted it to fit on the base size that was listed. Plus you can cut or mount it however you need. I figure some people would want to cut him and mount him like he was coming up out of the dungeon floor or wall......

anyhow I might have one more if I get motivated to finish him before I goto GenCon

Cool, I really like them and I'm looking forward to seeing the new one if you have time.