Saint Crow - 1st of the Radio Kings & Post Apocalyptic Warlord. King's Currency: Wasteland Salvaged Records, Turntable, and Speakers MEGAPOST!!!

Amazing, my daughter follows a photographer who takes pictures of abandoned places, and I think they must use post processing, but your work here reminds me of their pictures

OMG ! The spiral staircase is a Masterwork Thanks for showing !

Ephiane wrote:OMG ! The spiral staircase is a Masterwork Thanks for showing !

So glad you dig the staircase!

Peaches wrote:Amazing, my daughter follows a photographer who takes pictures of abandoned places, and I think they must use post processing, but your work here reminds me of their pictures

I'm obsessed with abandoned places, and I think that goes hand in hand with my love of post-apocalyptic fiction.  As a kid there were a bunch of abandoned factories by my father's house that we used to play in, and in my teen years, we snuck into an abandoned asylum outside of Philadelphia.  It's way harder to do today, and people seem to take it way more seriously (at least in the area where I live), but these are some of my fondest memories and I miss being able to explore places like that.  You'll have to as  along the photographer's name.  Sounds like it'd make good inspiration.  And I post process the hell out of a lot of my photos too, to get the look I want.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:

ReverendSpooky wrote:

This really is a fun rabbit hole to have gone down!  And while I agree with Peaches that  sometimes the apocalypse is just a great backdrop for the meat of the story,  I personally am with you in that I prefer when the cause of the apocalyptic future plays into the themes of the story.  In the case of Radio Kings, it's about creating a horrible future caused by unbridled greed, selfishness, and shortsightedness, and then creating characters that hopefully can build something contrary to that out of the ashes.  It's definitely a case where the "why" of things is very important, not to mention how it shapes the struggles the characters deal with.  And I'm totally with you that in the end, good characters are what really carry it.

And ugh, I swear, everything Terry Gillian touches is beautiful.  And I am long overdue on seeing Book of Eli.  Both French novels you mentioned sound like really fresh and fascinating takes on the apocalypse, and worth a reading.  The concept of nomadism vs sedentarism in an apocalyptic setting is something I'm really interested to read about.  I'll have to see if there's an English translation of either.  And I'd never heard of that Philip K Dick story, although I've admittedly only scratched the surface of his work.  If nothing else, I'm jealous as hell that he beat me to the name Dr Bloodmoney, because that's pure apocalyptic poetry.

One of the great fun things about apocalyptic themes is how broad a canvas you have to paint your story.  There is no one single model for apocalyptic scenarios, though I find the ones that involve things like giant asteroids or things beyond human ability to control are unsatisfying in the sense that the moral message about man destroying the Earth is entirely absent. In any case, every single movie I've seen involving a giant asteroid, we somehow avert complete disaster and mostly survive.

There is also no one model for what the aftermath will look like.. or how complete the breakdown of civilization is.  Having studied both apocalyptic fiction, survivalists (now called preppers) and the problems with surviving a global cataclysm, I've come to the conclusion that there isn't much purpose in the idea of outliving the human race without also trying to rebuild civilization, and hopefully not making the same mistakes we made the first time.  Civilization however requires order and stability, and order requires law, and hard men and women to enforce it. So, post apocalyptic stories that focus on these themes, will have a lot in common with the good old American Western and the every present theme of bringing order to the untamed West.  Maybe that why the backstory to my collection has the characters in the American southwest somewhere.  In building it, I was hoping to emulate the style of the old TV series Rat Patrol to some extent, but found looking at my first figure and her dress and equipment, that she reminded me a lot of the mercenary leaders in the 1968 classic "Dark of The Sun, and decided to keep pursuing that look.  And if the back story to the group's survival mostly involves being in the right place at the right time when the brown stuff hits the fan, (aka not being at the wrong place at the wrong time) the main story should focus on their efforts to protect and rebuild civilization as an organized and disciplined body, despite its unusual composition.

I completely agree, and prefer the apocalypses we've caused, largely for the message that goes along with it.  I love your comparison to classic westerns, and 100% agree that they appeal for a lot of the same reasons.  There's something about the freedom from the confines of society, and the allure of a world that's still wild, and the romanticism of, as you put it, the hard men and women carving out their place in it.  

It's funny, Saint Crow is really a reluctant hero, and his motivations are not entirely altruistic.  He's a bit monsterous himself, and kinda thrives in the chaos of the wasteland.  But as he starts carving out a place, he's almost blindsided by the sense of responsibility that goes with it, and there's an impulse to just take off that he's always grappling with.  

I think it really illustrates your point about the diversity of stories that work so well in this type of setting.

PureEnergy wrote:This is a fascinating discussion…


Spooks, your work is always such a jaw-dropping spectacle.  That staircase is a sensational, spiraling masterwork - and those photos belong in a magazine, sincerely.  


I do dig the premise for your Radio Kings.  It’s going to take me some time to catch up on your stories, but it’ll be time well spent, surely and most enjoyably.  

Meanwhile, in a word: Superlative.  


And while I love the discussion that I’ve been reading here, please continue to go your own way with regard to details, won’t you?  Although the genre seems ever-available, far-reaching and quite fetching (and my own theme is rather pseudo-post-apocalyptic, although fantasy, as well); all the examples of such seem to serve the point that it is perhaps becoming a weary one, with so much singular reiteration.  Your concepts are so fresh; perhaps, at least in part, because you’re not directly thinking about what constitutes the genre, so much as you are running with imagination.  Therein is virtue, and invaluable quality.  

Badass.

Thank you so much PureEnergy!  I love discussing all the ins and outs of the genre, and I am always trying to test my ideas against other concepts, to make sure they hold up.  The Radio Kings really did come from me wanting to do some sort of post-apocalyptic figure, but NEEDING to find my own fresh angle on the genre.  And everything I build is visually predicated on first the concepts and backstories.  I wish I could say I wasn't thinking about the genre, but truthfully, a lot came from dissecting it, and actively trying to look for ways to subvert the conventions of it, about how it HASN'T been approached before. Heroes who are, in certain ways, as mad as the villians, and actually love and thrive in the brutal anarchic wastelands.  So the one thing I can guarantee, is that the Radio kings will always stay true to to it's own bent vision.

[quote="ReverendSpooky"]

I completely agree, and prefer the apocalypses we've caused, largely for the message that goes along with it.  I love your comparison to classic westerns, and 100% agree that they appeal for a lot of the same reasons.  There's something about the freedom from the confines of society, and the allure of a world that's still wild, and the romanticism of, as you put it, the hard men and women carving out their place in it.  

It's funny, Saint Crow is really a reluctant hero, and his motivations are not entirely altruistic.  He's a bit monsterous himself, and kinda thrives in the chaos of the wasteland.  But as he starts carving out a place, he's almost blindsided by the sense of responsibility that goes with it, and there's an impulse to just take off that he's always grappling with.  

I think it really illustrates your point about the diversity of stories that work so well in this type of setting.

[quote=

"In "The Searchers," which is arguably the greatest western of all times, John Wayne (Ethan) is very much that sort of character. He is a strange sort of character who is absolutely essential to the taming and civilizing of the West, but frankly very much out of place within civilization itself. He does some pretty bad things too in pursuit of his kidnapped niece, and for most of the film plans to kill her rather than let her grow up to be the wife of some Comanche brave. In the end, his responsibilities, to society and his kin overwhelm his also and instead o killing her, he brings her home. The final scene is the most telling of the film, where Ethan hands Debbie off to her now foster parents, and instead of joining everyone indoors as one might expect, he stands in the doorway for a moment, looks in, finally smiles and turns around without word walking off into the Monument Valley landscape. I've analyzed this film and this scene for decades and come to the conclusion it was the only sensible ending to the film. I'm quite sure that when they made Mad Max, and more particularly, "The Road Warrior," Ethan Edwards must have been on their minds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvfIsbhIQLA

ReverendSpooky wrote:Thank you so much PureEnergy!  I love discussing all the ins and outs of the genre, and I am always trying to test my ideas against other concepts, to make sure they hold up.  The Radio Kings really did come from me wanting to do some sort of post-apocalyptic figure, but NEEDING to find my own fresh angle on the genre.  And everything I build is visually predicated on first the concepts and backstories.  I wish I could say I wasn't thinking about the genre, but truthfully, a lot came from dissecting it, and actively trying to look for ways to subvert the conventions of it, about how it HASN'T been approached before. Heroes who are, in certain ways, as mad as the villains, and actually love and thrive in the brutal anarchic wastelands.  So the one thing I can guarantee, is that the Radio kings will always stay true to to it's own bent vision.

Always my pleasure to view and comment on your fantastic work, Spooks.  


With regard to genre, I completely understand your point, and I have to agree that the climate is so saturated, as it were, with convention, that any relevant acknowledgement of such a setting simply cannot entirely discount the already thorough coverage of the milieu.

I appreciate your approach in taking such into consideration and then seeking new inroads to the subject; it differs somewhat from my own method, which is perhaps more free-form with regard to leading with imagination, regardless of genre-oriented archetypes, and rather rejecting those labels.  

I would believe that our objectives are similar, nonetheless.  I only wish that I could say the same about the quality of our art, LOL - but you remain leagues beyond, and I say such with sincerest admiration.


TPB, as concept or theme, “Man vs. Nature” - or, in a collective sense (many men vs. Nature and thus, vying against each other for her bounty which is perceived as limited or scarce) - is much older than the Westerns of which you speak.  There can be no question that similarities there abound, but such is rather elemental, I should think.  Whether it’s the untamed American West, an obliterated society scrambling for survival, castaways on an island, or colonizing and “terraforming” another planet; certain situational conflicts are to be unambiguously anticipated - and perhaps, therefore, inevitable.  

Also, realistic characters have always been beyond the two-dimensional, white-or-black-hat portrayal - in truthful representation to man’s inherent complexity; shades of gray, per se.  Or as Walt Whitman had put it, "I contain multitudes..."


I suppose that my point here is that, given the degree of unavoidable similarity of circumstances, themselves; the challenge of originality truly depends upon one’s vision for that which has not been so predetermined by situation - but rather, the conceptualization of new responses and new situations…  

Just pondering aloud.  

[quote="

Also, realistic characters have always been beyond the two-dimensional, white-or-black-hat portrayal - in truthful representation to man’s inherent complexity; shades of gray, per se.  Or as Walt Whitman had put it, "I contain multitudes..."


I suppose that my point here is that, given the degree of unavoidable similarity of circumstances, themselves; the challenge of originality truly depends upon one’s vision for that which has not been so predetermined by situation - but rather, the conceptualization of new responses and new situations…  

Just pondering aloud.   [/quote]


There are only so many apocalyptic scenarios we can think of; Nuclear war, alien invasion, asteroid strike, global warming and or global resource depletion, plague, zombies, scientific experiment gone awry, massive coronal ejection from the sun, rise of the machines.....

But all of these really only serve a purpose, which is create a setting for the protagonists of our stories to live or die by. At the end of the day, we can only milk the cause of the disaster so far and it's the interactions between the humans, be they the heroes or villains of the story or both that give depth to the story. An asteroid crashing into the Earth, a nuclear weapon exploding over your home city, a plague....these things have no feelings, no thoughts. Simply destructive power without a purpose and indifferent to what lies in its path. So regardless of the originality of the concept, if indeed such a thing still exists, what makes a story enjoyable would be the quality of it's characters.

My personal favorite PA stories are either hundreds of civil wars on a global scale, or multiple EMP attacks that wipe out anything and everything run by electricity.

Stryker2011 wrote:My personal favorite PA stories are either hundreds of civil wars on a global scale, or multiple EMP attacks that wipe out anything and everything run by electricity.

In the case of the first, we are talking about a gradual descent into chaos, in the case of the second, all the lights going out at once.  Both have potential as backgrounds. In my Kamiko Takahara DAZ 3D stories, it's pretty much a case of the first, including the United States which breaks into complete anarchy right around a constitutional crisis in 2019.  Kamiko is an American woman of Japanese ancestry, who some say is watched over by the kami--her name translates into "Little Goddess"--who ends up right in the middle of it. She has a knack for finding her way into chaotic situations, plus the luck of the devil.  I am planning to try to make a Kamiko figure and integrate her into my current 1/6th scale story line, but without the excessive eroticism of my DAZ stories.  I've ordered a head that looks sort of like her and then I have to cut the hair to match her bob-style haircut and do a few other things.  If I succeed, she'll eventually become a part of my pin-up patrol.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:There are only so many apocalyptic scenarios we can think of; Nuclear war, alien invasion, asteroid strike, global warming and or global resource depletion, plague, zombies, scientific experiment gone awry, massive coronal ejection from the sun, rise of the machines.....

But all of these really only serve a purpose, which is create a setting for the protagonists of our stories to live or die by. At the end of the day, we can only milk the cause of the disaster so far and it's the interactions between the humans, be they the heroes or villains of the story or both that give depth to the story. An asteroid crashing into the Earth, a nuclear weapon exploding over your home city, a plague....these things have no feelings, no thoughts. Simply destructive power without a purpose and indifferent to what lies in its path.  So regardless of the originality of the concept, if indeed such a thing still exists, what makes a story enjoyable would be the quality of it's characters.

Well, that’s rather my point - however, I do believe that there is yet room for originality, although it often seems discarded for the sake of expedience; what constitutes the genre is perhaps not as limited as the several scenarios that you’ve mentioned, but rather, the relatively original ones have not yet been proposed...  

And I wholly agree that it’s thoughtful development of quality characters that truly distinguishes any story, regardless of genre.  

In any event, your story sounds intriguing, TPB.


Stryker, Isn’t it unsettling to consider how reliant we’ve become upon technology, that something like an electromagnetic hiccup could quite literally, ultimately, wipe out all of humanity?  

Indeed, such were never an issue with which 19th century settlers had to contend.  All these scenarios seem indicative of an entirely new era in which we find ourselves currently upon the doorstep...

Telltale fears of a world shifting amidst tremendous transition...

I keep going back to this diorama as it's serving as inspiration for one I want to create myself detailing as section of Alex and the Pin-Up patrol's nuclear missile silo bunker. It's having all the little details that make it come to life and you've certainly done that here. It has just what it needs in detail; no more, no less. Enough to think it could be a real living space, but not so much as to detract us from the figures and their interactions which are all masterfully posed. Bravo!

Wow! as a lead character and protagonist this guy is just amazing! Not only is he kitted out for anything he may come across in this broken world, but he also has a kick ass pad and two lovely ladies to keep him company! I love all the small details, the records are a really touch!
Everything about this post is spot on. This world you have created for your figures to live in is just breath taking!

ReverendSpooky wrote:But I think it's really dependent on what the cause of the collapse of civilization is.  Is it a pandemic?  

Could you ever have imagined, when you tapped out these lines on your keyboard in January 2019, that one year later just such a pandemic would be unleashed upon the world?

ReverendSpooky wrote:In the case of Radio Kings, it's about creating a horrible future caused by unbridled greed, selfishness, and shortsightedness, and then creating characters that hopefully can build something contrary to that out of the ashes.  

Your "fictional" story, unfortunately, eerily parallels current world events. Like a handful of Sci-Fi (I know, I know, it's SF now...) authors of the past – Clarke, Heinlein, Gibson, Bradbury – it appears that your predictions regarding the near-term future may be all too terrifyingly accurate, with your themes mirroring exactly what is happening in the world right now, today.

And here I intended merely to ask you about the 1/6 scale records, but after reading through the entire post and the follow-up comments... I may not sleep well tonight.