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Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head

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GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Asmus' Lord of the Rings license has resulted in a long sequence of figures, some of which have been masterpieces (like Gimli), while others have fallen pretty flat. King Theoden is not one of the fallen (see Michael Crawford's review HERE), but it is kept from being a masterpiece by the remarkably poor choice of giving him sculpted/molded hair; even worse, they made it removable so that his head can fit into a properly-sized helmet, resulting in an obvious, unrealistic, and unsightly cut in the hairline. I suppose they were afraid of helmet hair, which is an issue, but certainly less serious than the one that resulted from their attempt to avoid it. And it is not just about realism and the unsightly cut, the sculpted hair and one-piece head and neck get in the way of articulation a bit.

I modified my Theoden (Bernard Hill) head sculpt by removing the neck (which was just a little on the short side, but not a very necessary modification in this instance) and giving him real hair from Morezmore. For the most part I will let the photos tell the story. For more detailed step-by-step walk-through of the process, see my Conan head conversion HERE (a couple of others HERE and HERE).

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0110

The outer layers of the sculpted hair were designed to be removable, which greatly simplifies the work. I thinned down the sculpted hair on the head sculpt proper a bit, and rebuilt a low cranium over the back of the skull so that the hair would look right once in place.

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0210

I painted the cranium a flesh color just in case something shows through and began to apply the hair in the usual manner, in tiers starting from the back of the head relatively low. I picked Morezmore's "Brown Sugar" hair, because it seemed like a close match. And it does look almost the same as the painted hair in hand (though not in the photo).

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0310

After removing loose strands, a gentle wash, and a bit of a haircut, I snapped a few photos while the hair was drying.

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0410

I think it looks pretty good, but I didn't feel like futzing with it to give it a more ample appearance. Besides, it had to fit in the helmet. (Yes, this particular neck is a tad too long, but my neck box is packed away at the moment.)

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0510

And fit in the helmet it does, although it is a tight fit and results in helmet hair (of sorts). Which makes the hair appear ample again (but perhaps a bit too much).

King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head Ktah0610

Overall, I think I've improved the realism, appearance, and articulation.

What do you think?

#custom #kitbash #asmus #king #theoden #lordoftherings #lotr #fantasy #male #film


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Diana

Diana
Very impressive! I'm very tempted to try something like this myself... Thank you for the inspiration! Smile

GregT


improved is too mild a word, it's more like "completely transformed"!

Stryker2011

Stryker2011
Founding Father
Yep. Great work. I’m going to have to do this to mine, or I’ll never be satsified.


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King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head C8485110

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
AerynDiana wrote:Very impressive! I'm very tempted to try something like this myself... Thank you for the inspiration! Smile

GregT wrote:improved is too mild a word, it's more like "completely transformed"!

Stryker2011 wrote:Yep. Great work. I’m going to have to do this to mine, or I’ll never be satsified.

Thank you very much, everyone, I'm glad you like it. It was difficult striking a balance between too much hair and not enough (and my photos ended up showing both extremes although the hair was the same), so there will always be some futzing necessary with this one.

Stryker, when you rehair yours, decide whether or not to remove the neck. I did it more on principle than anything else (I have no plans for putting the head on a body that has an integral neck sculpt), but on the other hand you might still want to shave off any parts of the sculpted hair that would get in the way of the neck articulation and would be hidden by the "real" hair anyway. I had some trouble with glue flaking visibly on top of the head and not having a very close acrylic marker color to color it with. Maybe I should have just mixed some paint and diluted it with water; as it is, I used several colors and had to color a few extra strands of the hair around to make it look like it belongs (I also thinned down/blended the colors a little bit with wet cotton q-tips before they dried). Still not perfect, but luckily it is not a highly visible area. Perhaps a more careful application or less flaky glue (I keep using Gorilla superglue) would have obviated this issue.


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skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
I’m glad this one got the Gubernator treatment — it needed it! Looks so much better now , with or without helmet. Smile


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Ovy

Ovy
skywalkersaga wrote:I’m glad this one got the Gubernator treatment — it needed it! Looks so much better now , with or without helmet. Smile

Yay, agree, was happy to read that title.

The pic where he has green stuff on his head makes him look like some kind of...french bishop?

I like the look with the helmet on the best. But I think the headsculpt itself looks a bit cartoonish somehow. I don't know if it's the texture or the sculpt, or both.

skywalkersaga

skywalkersaga
I'm with you on that, Ovy. I think the sculpt itself is a bit....odd. Like...maybe somewhat 'pinched' in the face? But there's no doubt that the re-hair did improve things. Though, as you say, if I had this one, I'd probably keep his helmet on... ;p


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"The happy ending of the fairy tale, the myth, and the divine comedy of the soul, is to be read,
not as a contradiction, but as a transcendence of the universal tragedy of man."

Ignoring current 'official' Star Wars content for my own sanity.

Theboo-bomb

Theboo-bomb
The difference that makes is amazing, great job.


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All of my alt-history themed figures in one convenient link! BooBomb's alt history figures! King - Converting Bernard Hill Asmus King Theoden Head 1f60e

GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
skywalkersaga wrote:I’m glad this one got the Gubernator treatment — it needed it! Looks so much better now , with or without helmet. Smile

So that's what we're calling it now! Smile Thank you very much!

Ovy wrote:Yay, agree, was happy to read that title. The pic where he has green stuff on his head makes him look like some kind of...french bishop?

I like the look with the helmet on the best. But I think the headsculpt itself looks a bit cartoonish somehow. I don't know if it's the texture or the sculpt, or both.

Thank you! Yes, the green stuff does make him look a bit like a member of the high clergy, doesn't it? Smile I think the likeness is very good in conveying the actor's features; in this scale it is just a tad on the clean side; between these two things, I suppose it is a little bit cartoonish.

skywalkersaga wrote:I'm with you on that, Ovy. I think the sculpt itself is a bit....odd. Like...maybe somewhat 'pinched' in the face? But there's no doubt that the re-hair did improve things. Though, as you say, if I had this one, I'd probably keep his helmet on... ;p

Like I wrote above, there is something of a cartoonish quality to it, but the features are the actor's, even if perhaps a little stylized (in effect). I actually like both looks, but I suppose that with the helmet on he is even more on target.

Theboo-bomb wrote:The difference that makes is amazing, great job.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it!


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Valiarde

Valiarde
It looks so much better with hair than the sculpted version. Really dislike sculpted hair nowadays. So thanks for posting these pics and I will do some modifying on my heads in the future too Smile


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GubernatorFan

GubernatorFan
Founding Father
Valiarde wrote:It looks so much better with hair than the sculpted version. Really dislike sculpted hair nowadays. So thanks for posting these pics and I will do some modifying on my heads in the future too Smile

Thank you very much, I'm glad you like it.


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