Shanatu War Blog

A Normal perception of insanity usually defines their reality.

2012-01-28T10:52:00.000-08:00

Insanity is perpetual. One action inspires another action, until shit is so fucked up that no one can recover. The only counter to it is to do something so out of the ordinary that it forces logic back into place.

I find the definition of insanity to be extremely flawed. The definition is a normals reaction to the insane event or person.

True insanity doesn't repeat. Normalcy is a repetitive action. You cannot counter insanity with normalcy. You can only escalate it.

Stop insanity with strategy.

Well it is a shanatu blog. Maybe I should talk about the Shanatu

2012-01-20T13:40:00.001-08:00

Eventually I had to start making shanatu posts after all it is the shanatu war blog right?

Well here we go.
See.
I've been busy making shanatu figures over the last few months.
My revamp as it were.
I love it. It's fun.

I've even had a commission or 2. Actually I was surprised that my video of Omar the terror popped

up on Michael k Williams twitter. Which did promo more views and one guy commissioned me to produce a duplicate for him since the one I originally made sold on eBay long ago.

Anyway, enough about that. It's awesome mind you but not the basis of my post.

So I always start off with myself. Yeas I'm ego driven like that. My universe my figure first. Anyway. So here I am. Made him last year. Added more articulation and such.

So I will elaborate as to the character a little bit.

Tetekrious is the son of Anraztemehk, the Emperor of the Shanatu. His identity to being the emperors son is a secret but given that info and his reckless behavior. He is assigned several body guards who not only become his friends but his own personal Shanatu Army.

Now I am working on a series of books so characters will jump around a bit as I didn't make characters chronologically.

Now the second character you see is called slate.

Slate is the Emperors personal assassin. Normally if there is a situation that requires direct imperial attention the Emperor will send one of his elite. Anraztemehk has suspicions that his son plans to replace him and sends slate in to investigate. Posing as a new recruit to Tetekrious's army her job is to gather intel as to what he is up. Rather than typical protocol of assassination, her orders are to not engage and allow the Emperor to deal with him personally.

She first appears in the 3rd book.
There is a strong attraction between slate and tetekrious that causes tension in many situations that causes tetekrious to make bad decisions that force him to find ways around them making him good at reacting to complex situations before they occur.

Slate was Born in a paradise land of Santhomathia. and had traveled a lot to all the different Lands. being a constant traveler and explorer of tribal cultures, she decided to devote her talents to the Emperor of the Shanatu. what other motives she had for being there are a mystery and what reason for her departure are also a mystery. she only shows up in books 3 and 4.

The next character is Valasara.

She is one of tetekrious's generals. She shows up in the first book and is pretty much a main stay through 3 or 4 of the books. Valasara is a bad ass field combatant. Known for deadly strategy. Typically not waisting time with complicated fighting moves Valasara will often wait til get opponent has over stepped their bounds and executes one move. She is over protective of her unit and sees herself as the mother figure. She is ranked 3rd general in tetekrious's unit though she is of higher rank in the entire Shanatu army. This eventually causes conflict later on. One of her confidants is Maestra the Queen of spades who it is speculated to be Tetkrious sister or wife depending on who you ask. Valasara is often teaming up to keep an eye on Tetrix the Ace of spades who suspiciously sides with tetekrious on most issues but is completely loyal to the Shanatu empire.

Next up is general Kratero.

Remember how I said my character is reckless? Kratero starts off as a captain of the patrol guard. In the beginning of the story he's asked to keep an eye on tetekrious. Hoping to tone down his wild behavior. They become really good friends and tetetekrious shares his secret of being the son of the emperor and declares him to be his main general once he becomes emperor. (not fully aware that his father is almost eternal)

Kratero is obsessed with the color purple and designs artwork and body armor as well as combat inventions usually in the color purple. As you can see I haven't made his body armor yet. He only wears it in combat and hardly ever wears purple. He's also obsessed with cat women because of their furry tails and has a big obsession with the baroness telva mentok though he has never met her in person.

Next is Creverex the 7th Executioner.

Now normally birth right doesn't mean much. It's speculated that a lot of shanatu are related to Anraztemehk, however Creverex has definitive proof of relation. You see 7,000 years ago Anraztemehk had a son named Zarnak. He was so bad ass on the battlefield he was called the executioner. Zarnak unfortunately was slightly psychotic and wore a mask to "ensure the last thing his enemies ever saw was their reflection as they died." now there's no doubt his mask resembles cobra commanders as there are some gi Joe references in my story. This hitting close to home. Honestly I created the character so long ago I couldn't tell you if cobra commander was the inspiration for the masks design. Anyway so yeah Zarnak decided that he should rule believing he was the most powerful. Zarnak challenged his father in the trial of blood. A battle to the death. He was killed and his mask passed on to his daughter. She became second executioner. Each executioner has a detailed story, but I'll skip it right now to get to Creverex. So basically he's like a distant cousin to Tetekrious. Well once word gets out that Anraztemehk has a son who could claim the throne Creverex who has lived in the out skirts as guardian of the tower of destruction (longer story) decides that this is an outrage and he truly should be the next in line to the throne. He and his most trusted guard travel to the Shanatu temple in the alpha city. His plan is to challenge the son for title to be next in line for the throne. As the story develops. Creverex and tetekrious become good friends to despite their severe disagreement on how a descendent of the emperor should conduct himself in public much less in front of his soldiers. Creverex is a student of shanatu war strategy and tactics and is a historian of shanatu history and genealogy. Know who comes from who in history. He's the only character who seems to give a shit about it. Every so often tetekrious finds it interesting and sometimes will even implement a strategy from one of Creverex's tales.

The next is Quasnekens

who is a surveillance operative. In the first story Kratero and tetkrious request his aid and they end up becoming a unit of 3 basically. Quasnekens has an obsession with guns but typically uses melee weapons when combat occurs. Despite his obsession with guns he's a poor shot typically hitting objects that cause mouse trap type of effects leaving any given area in complete devastation. His battle technique is called anger through power.

I haven't mentioned this yet but tables and chairs and walls tend to talk to tetekrious so most shanatu dismiss him as mentally ill. But they really are talking to him and often give him intel that he normally wouldn't possess. I bring this up because more often than not inanimate object ridicule tetekrious for his inability to understand others around him and for his outlandish actions. Tetekrious tends to lash out destroying tables chairs couches fire escapes and walls. I bring this up because Quasnekens sees this behavior as a great way to " fuck shit up" at first until he begins to notice the severity of tetekrious's condition.

Quasnekens also has a unique power to say things so wrong that it makes people forget what he has said or stop people dead in their tracks.

this is the 3rd General in Tetekrious army. most call him The General because he inspires fear in the troops because of his sometimes unpredictable behavior patterns.

I think I'm going to stop here for now. I'm tired of writing. But there will be a part 2.

Transformers classics universe generations 2.0 cliffjumper!

2011-11-28T10:38:00.001-08:00

Long time ago I picked up classics cliffjumper on eBay for like 20 bucks I think. Wasn't impressed cause it was red bumblebee. Everyone knows this. Wfc cliffjumper came out and like everyone else I jumped on it to make classics cliffjumper look like cliffjumper and not red bumblebee. Decided to paint him red and black because that original paint scheme was crackified! (yes I made that word up, and the exclamation point is part of the spelling. Crackified!) very pleased with him. I think one of my best works yet painting wise. To bad I choose to sell all my transformers. Now up on eBay he goes. He's still SO pretty.

Ssshhhhhhh!

2011-09-15T12:01:00.001-07:00

So dead pool is very likable. I remember back in the day when he was considered a Villain in x-force he was so bad ass. He'd lay the smack down on the most bad ass mutants and talk shit while doing it. He was often referred to as the mutant spiderman. When wolverines movie came out I think dead pool is one if the few characters I bought. But I felt disappointed. I hate those leg joints. Have hated them since they first showed up in wave 6 of marvel legends. It's the main reason I don't collect the movie figure lines. I really like how marvel universe joints are designed, but now I see xmo figures showing up in the universe line which is totally crappy. On the bright side of things it means I can customize characters such as dead pool.

When I saw the Scarlett Spider I knew who he was going to be. The only pieces salvageable on dead pool were his hands feet and belt. Even his swords didn't make the cut. So after some black paint and a lot of web gear and weapons donated from a few real American heroes dead pool is reborn.

I have to say he is one of my favorite new customs.

2011-08-31T07:22:00.001-07:00

Why giant robots exactly?

2011-08-14T15:18:00.001-07:00

I am so proud of myself. I wanted the sdcc exclusive sentinel so bad. I said if I could actually turn a big enough profit for the months of may June and July then I would get one.

Well I got one! And he is AWESOME!!!!

He's holding a custom storm in one had and a custom rogue in the other.

That's all I wanted to say. I might make a video on you tube about him.

Evil-lyn isn't the only witch in Eternia

2011-07-11T18:47:00.001-07:00

I managed to muster up enough thought one day to want to make an original character in Motuc style.

I wanted the diversify the cast a little bit so I added a 2 darker skinned characters.

But in masters of the universe characters need a gimmick. Looking at the majority of the gimmicks it is apparent that stating the obvious about the character is prominent. So I choose a witch archetype. Given that I also went with a very Halloween theme for color scheme, so orange and black were the colors chosen.

Now I have to say that I really am very pleased with how she turned out.

BRU-JAH
Heroic witch of the fall
Real name: Elphaba

Once the horde invasion began, Bru-jah choose the side of king Randor. Normally staying in her homeland and staying out of affairs was her way of life. Between the Horde, the Snakemen, and Skeletor it seemed the better option.

Shanatu War Blog: size matters when your larger or shorter on a plan...

2011-07-10T13:00:00.000-07:00

Shanatu War Blog: size matters when your larger or shorter on a plan...: "I want to address the motu character Ram-man. this guy was one of my favorite characters when i was a kid. his figure was crap looking back ..."

size matters when your larger or shorter on a planet in the center of the universe.

2011-07-10T12:44:00.000-07:00

I want to address the motu character Ram-man. this guy was one of my favorite characters when i was a kid. his figure was crap looking back at him but for certain, his arms had abnormal articulation and his legs were fused together because of his spring leg action. as a kid he was awesome because of his ability to knock skeletor or whoever the fuck out with his head. in modern times with masters of the universe classics, mattel has yet to produce him. several reasons probably exsist for this. Ram-man is one of the few characters that had an original design from a line that early on had 2 or 3 molds that were used over and over. not much of a repaint factor in this guy and mattel loves their repaints. spacing out a list characters is the typical answer. but with sdcc coming soon many are hopeful to see this guy at the event of the year for most nerds.

it's pretty unanimous in most cannon that Ram-man is not very bright. having He-man actually call him slow in thought from day 1.

He almost sounds jealous that He-man spends more time with Teela than with him. Now what i did notice was Ram-man and He-man are about the same size in the comic. this is not the case in either Cartoon depiction. the original had Ram-man quite short while the 200X version had him taller and larger than everyone else.

Mattel spokesperson Toyguru has said that ram-man will have a different body than the standard they used for everyone else. most people i think want him to be bigger. my guess is that we will find out the answer to that in a couple of weeks but being the impatient person that i am i made my own ram-man.

i wanted him to be wider more than larger but the parts i used took care of that but only by a little.

at first he was just a little bit taller because i used lex luthors feet from dcuc but it made him look thin because of the height. so i switched to marvel universe Juggernaut boots which reversed it making him just shorter than most.

i prefer this version because he looks wider this way and not so thin. now as for his name. my guess is his box will say

Ram-Man

Heroic Master of Breaking and Entry

real name: Rammond D Noggin

insert bio here. i didn't feel like putting that much energy into it.

anyway. i hope to post better pictures here soon.

In the past of 2002 the future of 2010 had cryogenic technology.

2011-06-23T21:58:00.000-07:00

So, this is not a post about action figures. it's about Jason X.

why? because I decided to watch it. it's on demand. now I remember when this movie came out back in 2002. I knew it was going to be bad long before I decided to go see it, but the critics from Fangoria Magazine said despite how bad it sounds it's actually really good.

Now I've seen many horror villains go into space. Pinhead and the Leprechaun both tried it, so why not Jason right? And let's face it. Jason took Manhattan Just like the Muppet's so why not take it into outer space. Well my point is I went to go see it. And I was right, this movie was a piece of shit.
so I see it on my list on demand and I think to myself for a minute. why do I want to see it again?

Well I start to watch it, and i start to realize. I want to know if it's still as bad as I remember it to be?
Oh yes.
It's still horrible but i did find some really interesting things in this movie that maybe because when it was released we were not thinking about where we would be almost a decade later.

The majority of the movie takes place in 24 something of another. but in the very beginning the movie starts off in the futuristic time of 2010. in this version of the future Cryogenic stasis is possible for an immortal killing machine that being Jason Voorheese. I think that's how you spell his name.

Anyway, there's a lot of twists to this part I don't want to type out so I will say he ends up in 24 something or another and well i'll just go down the list of things that they had
hologram like next generation sequence
morality jokes about the 1980's
nano technology
life like android
oh yeah
i forgot so earth was destroyed and scavengers from earth 2 were on the planet for some reason i wasn't paying attention to hard. anyway it takes place on a space ship. so he kills a lot of people in the ship proving that even in a space ship you can make a horror movie. which was what was interesting to me and even why i wrote this blog here.

if your curious i never type with caps i always type out lower case. so at first all i could hear is my wife telling me use capitals cause she's a grammar Nazi. but after trying really had to keep that up i got tired of talking about this movie so i wanted to rush it. so i am not writing to her specifications.

i just wanted to say if youtr looking to watch a good movie this is not one to watch, but if you wanted to experience and interesting perspective change between what we were going to be in 2010 vs looking back at what we were and how not so in the future view point of 24 something or another to check the movie out. my favorite part is where one guy offers the military unit leader 500 thousand dollars to kill jason, or the fact that they are in a space ship and the guy figures out that a relic like jason voorheese could be worth millions. it preety funny how inflation in someones mind really works.

ok movies done i'm going to bed.

i'm sorry but a pirate could never beat a ninja!

2011-06-04T08:23:00.000-07:00

Well, maybe not never, a Pirate could get lucky. or maybe the pirate was a ninja at one point. Either way, this post is about the Pirates of the Caribbean Figures and how crappy they are and why i choose to make Captain Jack Sparrow more Articulated.

First let me say the sculpting on these figures are 100% better than the last set from the third movie. with that said the problem was the articulation and some aspects of the figures makes them look like kids somehow.

well i bought one because i have a friend who looks (or thinks he looks like) Johnny Depp. he use to be a Hollywood character (or is again) so he dressed up as Captian Jack Sparrow all the time. you have an interesting perspective on life when your in the middle of a conversation with Jack Sparrow, Shrek and Superman about local politics. Anyway, so i wanted to make a figure of him, but as it turned out i was just articulating Captain Jack Sparrow.

spare 9612

i don't know what that means, my daughter had her Olivia doll type it out. she's 2 and a half.

in case you are wondering. that's me.

this figure was actually the custom of the month at toy news international a month or so ago.

you can check that out here

link

and he is currently on eBay if you wish to own this fine piece

custom Captian Jack Sparrow

i think that's all i have to say for now.

Indeed

2011-05-09T22:13:00.000-07:00

My Wife made me watch this show called the Wire. It was amazing. if you have never seen the show i suggest you watch all 5 seasons. There are a lot of characters that move the show, however one that stands out beyond the rest.

This would be Omar Little or Omar the Terror.
Who is he?
Well, lets just say he robs Drug dealers.
He rolls up on their stash houses and jacks all their drugs and money.
He smokes newports.
He carries a shotgun.

Well, so I decided to make an Omar Little action figure. He is of G.I. joe size and made from G.I. joes. Ripcord and Storm Shadow and such.

Now as you can see he is in his bullet proof vest, trench coat and do-rag, sporting his Shotgun so he can acquire his other accessory. the Stash! you see how an he be a Stick up kid if he doesn't come with the stash he just jacked from some stash house.

This sort of behaver was Typical on this show.

Why it's called The Shanatu War Blog.

2011-05-08T20:07:00.000-07:00

I never explain this usually, but considering the types of posts I want to make in the near future I guess i should let those who don't know, know. in a previous entry i stated that i saw a therapist and got into action figure therapy. Well, one of the other things that happened at that time was the creation of a comic book. it was a silly graphic novel titled "The war for Dimentia"(i misspelled it by accident way back then but i left it that way because i thought it looked kool, blah). This comic book took place in a different dimension. everyone had super powers, and the characters died very often. I myself had at least 4 until the story just kinda ended. I think that has more to do with the fact that I allowed someone else to help co write, and it just lost it's momentum.

Anyway! as part of the whole deal I made custom action figures of all the characters. well, being that I never published these "masterpieces" I have been allowed to actually go back and rewrite the entire story from beginning to end. changing a lot of major things and many minor things. one of the things that never changes is the group of main characters are part of a tribe called the Shanatu. hence the name of the blog.

Well here is the part where the re customization of these characters begins.
the first set were made out of x-men, spider-man and the toy biz like from way back when. there was a second figure re design in 2004-2007 where i used old school g.i. Joe's and just built an army of ninjas and such since most of the characters dressed that way. this time around i am again using G.I. Joe's. the current 25th anniversary design has more than enough articulation so it was just figuring out who gets made out of who which usually just falls into place for me anyway.

Now there is a reason i do this. it makes the story flow easier for me. i can have the characters on site to find out what they are going to do. I also like to make stop motion videos which I haven't done in years but really want to get back into.

So next time I will introduce you to some of the characters so you get an idea of what the new story is like for those who knew the old story and for new people to understand what is going on.

the You tube surprise!

2011-05-08T08:47:00.000-07:00

So I Made a Video for my Shadow Weaver Custom.

Transformers the movie part 2: The Revenge of Rodimus Prime

2011-05-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

So if your a child of the 80's and are into the toy collecting market, more than likely you were into Transformers. as it turns out there are thousands of us out there and more every year. however if your in the collectors age range that i am in you were a child when the original 1986 animated masterpiece the transformers the movie came out. now as to NOT fall off topic i will not explain why this movie is awesome let's just assume you know, however i WILL point out what no one else is saying but should be. that movie traumatized a lot of children. anyway, in case you didn't know, they killed Optimus Prime. well through the course of the movie. we kinda follow this new Autobot named Hot Rod who by the end of the movie becomes Rodimus Prime. Ok so just forget his name was Hot Rod, it's easier to swallow.

well, so Rodimus Prime by who he was personality wise during the entire movie before he became Rodimus Prime was actually a serious bad ass. Quite worthy of replacing Optimus Prime for the next Generation of Transformers Fans.

The problem arises with Guilt. not Guilt of Conscience (which it should be) but Guilt of profit loss. look it would be one thing if Optimus Prime was the only fatality in that movie, but no, they Kill off the Majority of the first season and some second season cast. well, so Guilt of Profit loss.

What does this mean? This means that in order to save their collective asses they have to make Rodimus Prime good enough to lead for right now but no where as great as Optimus Prime, so they fill him with low self esteam and a overwhelming sense of inferiority to Optimus Prime. bring Optimus Prime back to life and return Rodimus Prime back to just Hot Rod.

ok so, did I mention that there was a prophecy(rolls eyes) and there is a chosen one which by the way they drop that info as Optimus Prime is dying and pretty much hint who it is in less than 6 seconds. anyway you find out it's Rodimus Prime.

well anyway, so a decade passes and Transformers becomes bonded with the identity of Optimus Prime. 2 decades later to celebrate 20 years of tranformers they release what they call a Masterpiece Optimus Prime. basically a 12" Optimus Prime that was acurate to his cartoon rendition, because let's face it, the toys looked nothing like the cartoon. so yes everyone proclaims Optimus Prime as the end all be all of transformers iconic character and Rodimus Prime is a faded memory. except, at some point a long long time ago, The Japanese had continued the original cartoon and even righted the wrong of ressurecting Optimus Prime and killed him off once again and returning Rodimus Prime to his rightful place as Chosen one. so since the cartoon took place in 2010. Takara decided to release a Masterpiece Rodimus Prime.

Now, Transformers fan that I am, i decide to purchase said item. I even knew i was going to review this item. but i wanted to give myself a few months to soak in the entire experience of owning this magnificent "masterpiece".

Well, so there is this thing about his shins and some paint rub and reports of it being fragile. This is no doubt the case. masterpiece Grimlock was Built like he was going to have to go 12 rounds at a day care with 50 munchkins. Rodimus Prime has a Pretty solid Frame but his Extensions of his identity are made in hard plastic which are easily breakable.

BUT... it's Rodimus Prime.
Scale is the enigmatic antagonist of the Transformers world since originally you had little robots turning into huge planes or minivan robots being the same size as a construction vehicle. and the toys were all over the place so it was never consistent. i go by scale of robot usually. Now due ti economic issues at the time Grimlock was reduced to 9" to match starsceam and the jets, though we know he should be larger than Optimus Prime. i don't even have Optimus Prime. anyway. Rodimus is not as tall at Optimus, but larger than Grimlock.

so Robot Mode is Exactly like the movie and Season 3

appearance. while his Transformation is difficult in some spots due to panel alignment issues, but i am amazed how they set it up for transformation.

the vehicle modes are a little odd but accurate. let's just say that robot to sports car = awesome. futuristic RV was kind of well, partsformerish. but still not that bad. though idk. Let me just address this real quick.

Yes Optimus prime turned into a semi which at the time was called the king of the road, so it fit. now in the future of 2005-2010 the king of the road is a futuristic sports camper. it's like the guy who couldn't let go of his youth but instead added on for the future. ok sorry.

in any case if your looking to be the leader of the trailer park
then you'll be blasting your classic rock out of this stylish camper while downing a few Milwaukees and hitting on your best friends pregnant girlfriend.

yes made this entire blog just for this photo.

ok, so after all of that, and after all the 4 month wait to report. i think, Rodimus Prime is still fantastic!
but yeah probably want to wait for the second release where they fix the problems of the original release.

not for the average transformers admirer.

2011-05-06T13:35:00.000-07:00

Masters of the Universe, at this current date and time are the only figures I collect that are out of the 3 3/4 scale or 1:18 scale.

Most of my collection I got for free from a friend of mine I use to work with. well anyway. being the Horde fan that i am, and knowing that Shadow Weaver may never get made. i choose to make one for my collection.

this is an old toy biz Galangriel figure as a solid base. add ons were made with hot glue. unknown to me at the time of purchase, the eyes light up. so i just went with it.

Shadowweaver has a fantastic figure in the cartoon so I wanted a figure that would show that. I think this did the trick nicely.

I did a 3 tone red on her to accentuate her sculpt and help add depth to the figure.

any one who is into He-Man
knows that his twin sister is She-Ra and she fights the Horde though it wasn't really the intention of the Hordes creation.

well because of the transition the horde actually have a very diverse amount of females in their ranks, making Hordak serious pimp while Evil-lyn has tricked Skeletor and his crew into thinking she's god's gift to evil companionship.

anyway, this is the byproduct

the horde symbol is always the problem. but making molds helps out a lot.

Reinvention

2011-05-06T11:28:00.000-07:00

So i am trying to get back into a lot of things i loved to do. this is one of them. i use to be over on live journal for a long time. It was fun but now i want to take a different approach to how i express myself.

If you don't know me, then the first thing you need to know is i have an over active imagination.
i also have several talents but only a few obsessions.

toy's and action figures has been an obsession for me since high school. of course when i was a child i had many star wars, g.i. joe, transformers, thundercats, and many many more toys.

well. years later as a teenager i am in therapy for who knows what's wrong with me. my therapist wants to try action figure therapy, to help me express my emotions through interactive play.

Basically i take a bunch of action figures and designate them a people i know to act out situations that bother me. Well, it was fun but i could never find a figure to represent me so well.

That's when I made my own of me. now i make figures of other people i know as well as characters in several different universes.

one of those universes is my own universe which i will write about and share ideas with in this new journey.

a good point to start is with my latest incarnation and my wifes. you will also see posts about the 3 3/4 scale city i am building for the kids. so sometimes the back ground is from that city.

i think this is a good enough starting point.