Yeah that is new to me, thanks photogs for digging it up!
I would write more but I still have to process it all... xD
I would write more but I still have to process it all... xD
An online community to discuss and share news about sixth-scale figures, with an emphasis on either custom or commercial articulated figures.
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ThePhotogsBlog wrote:I really love the loft set you built for this. Saint Crow and his buddies clearly have one of the coolest pads in the wastelands.
ThePhotogsBlog wrote:The element that causes the most damage to un-maintained buildings is water, whether in liquid form or snow. If this building were in a very dry region....Arizona desert or something like that, it would have a pretty good chance of surviving.
I've gone into lots of poorly maintained old industrial buildings here in Montreal, and I can tell you that what give our first is the roof/ceiling. The wall, if they are thick enough, can last a long time. The building work in was built in 1908 and has very thick brick walls, both inside and out. The roof however was old and rotted and a couple of years ago, a sudden micro-burst in a freak storm tore about half the roof off.
My own post-apocalyptic collection will be set in the years immediately following the collapse and so decent housing will not be the problem so much as defending it from hungry, desperate survivors who'll do anything for a chocolate bar.
These things being said, it's the details, big and small that make your set come together. I love that spiral staircase? Where my I ask did you get that?
I plan to build a diorama-set for my figures also, but haven't decided if they've taken refuge in a hunting/fishing camp in the mountains, an abandoned motel, or have they gained access to some kind of underground bunker? I'm still think about this as I build my collection.
Stryker2011 wrote:That's amazing, Rev, that you made that staircase out of fans. Never would have thought of that. Brilliant.
And interesting discussion about the post-apocalypse. There's so many problematic areas if you want to be a true-survivalist -- which is why all these movies and TV shows about the end of the world are always a bit ridiculous. Urban environments would be the absolute worst place to go if you wanted to survive the end of the world. Without water, food, electricity and gasoline, food in grocery stores would quickly dry up -- disease and starvation would kill off most of the population in a matter of days -- not to mention murder and pillaging. A person alone won't last long at all. Sleep depravation would slow your response time, dull your senses and eventually kill you, or get you killed. But by the time most people figured out that the best course of action would be to get out of the city (and how would you do that without a working vehicle), 98% of the population would either already be dead or too weak to do anything about it -- imagine trying to walk your way out of a major metropolitan area with a backpack laden with necessities; or you have a small child; or an elderly or disable person -- all the while surrounding by other desperate folks wanting the same thing -- to survive. Tough choices would have to be made. Are you going to leave your kids behind? Put down your elderly parent who can't travel by foot?
Bunkers sounds like a good idea; if you were one of the folks smart enough to already have one. Those folks that do, have the money and resources to have stock-piled enough food and weapons to fend off all sorts of starving, weak-from-hunger invaders; so most likely you wouldn't be able to get close to any of those. And the majority of Survivalists that have Bunkers or are "Off-Grid" don't disclose those locations to anyone, and they are generally well-hidden. There are entire communities today of people preparing for the "end of the world", or at the very least the next Civil War, and they are a die-hard and committed group, many military or ex-military, who don't screw around, and wouldn't hesitate to blow someone's head off if it meant the survival of themselves and their family.
Rural areas would actually be your best bet for survival, but it doesn't make for interesting video games to watch a bunch of people living in camouflaged huts built from natural sources in the mountains of Montana or British Columbia, killing animals for food, and trying to grow crops with what little bit of grain they could carry with them on their way further out into the wilderness to get away from all the death and disease of the inner cities. Even then, you'd have to set up watches, not just for people, but for wild animals, and without a reasonable number of people in the community to spread out the day-to-day necessities for survival (shelter -- the most important; food -- and water) -- the chances of survival are still extremely slim. Humans can go without food for about 3 weeks; only 72 hours without water; but the number one killer of most people in a survival situation is exposure to the elements -- without some place to bunk down and either keep warm or cool -- you won't last long.
A community is the only way survival of any kind would work -- even if it's out in the sticks. You need people to keep watch, build shelters, hunt for food, plant crops, try to maintain some sort of sanitary conditions -- or disease and wildlife will kill you -- and most of that can't be done for long by a single person unless you're highly trained and skilled in woodcraft and survival techniques. The average Urban dweller is an idiot, and as I said before, they'd be mostly dead within a week's time (what few sickly stragglers were left could be easily wiped out after that).
Anyways... all of this is way too serious a subject for mere Action Figure dioramas of what's supposed to be fun "end of the world" dioramas with cool characters and cool sets.
skywalkersaga wrote:Ahhh wow, I am soooooooooooooooo incredibly in love with this!!! Not enough words to express!! This is the kind of content I am here for. The lifelong miniature enthusiast in me is thrilled by pretty much every single thing about this. ESPECIALLY those tiny LPs..... I NEED ME SOME OF THOSE OMG. :3
Stryker2011 wrote:Glad you found the conversation interesting, Rev. I was beginning to worry we may have been hijacking your thread, or putting too dark of a spin on your really cool world you’ve created.
skywalkersaga wrote:Interesting discussion.
I adore post-apocalyptic settings, whether realistic or fantasy versions. That said, as with all my fiction, my preference is for dark, but with a heavy dose of Romanticism. : ) Of course, I can appreciate the appeal of exploring things in a highly realistic manner that draws on actual survivalist knowledge and what we know of history and pre-history (and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading things like 'The World Without Us', which was a thought-experiment that sounds similar to the video that was recommended above; along with another post-apocalyptic story I encountered recently, entitled 'Station Eleven', which was absolutely haunting), and have spent a great deal of time thinking about how such a thing would pan out in 'real life'.
But at the same time, I also think that a post-apocalyptic world can be a wonderful fictional setting in which one can simply tell a good story, explore some fascinating themes (such as freedom, mortality, 'what is civilization', etc,), and even just as a way to provide a backdrop for some excellent character studies -- and for those purposes, hyper-realism isn't always a necessary, or even desirable, approach.
When it comes to realism vs. fantasy in this genre, what is rather more irksome to me is when a story *claims* to be a 'gritty' and 'realistic' take on such a scenario, but actually is anything but. I much prefer a fun and unapologetically fantastical post-apocalyptic story like Mad Max: Fury Road than, say, something that makes a false pretense at 'gritty realism'. :p
Stryker2011 wrote:You might want to check out Richard Matheson’s book “I Am Legend”. There have been 3 film interpretations, but none of them followed the book that well. That last one with Will Smith (despite a great performance by him), sucked horribly if you know the book. Stephen King cites it as the book that got him interested in writing Horror novels.
ReverendSpooky wrote:
Yeah, I agree 100% that the post apocalyptic setting really is just in service of the story you want to tell, and the themes you want to explore. And there's a lot you can get away with omitting and leaving to the imagination. But too big a leap in logic can be really break your immersion. I'm not overly critical, but there have been so many shows I've enjoyed, until something happens that just makes me scream "Come on! That could never happen that way!"
skywalkersaga wrote:ReverendSpooky wrote:
Yeah, I agree 100% that the post apocalyptic setting really is just in service of the story you want to tell, and the themes you want to explore. And there's a lot you can get away with omitting and leaving to the imagination. But too big a leap in logic can be really break your immersion. I'm not overly critical, but there have been so many shows I've enjoyed, until something happens that just makes me scream "Come on! That could never happen that way!"
Totally agree -- it's definitely crucial that the story has internal consistency, regardless of the precise nature of the setting. And jumping off from that, I also get really frustrated when character arcs are cut short and not allowed to have any resolution (sad, happy, or otherwise), just in the name of (so-called) 'realism' -- such as in the case of , ah, certain tv shows that shall remain nameless, who tend to build up various characters only to them kill them off for shock value, and then, when criticized for it, say 'but it's more 'realistic' this way!!' And I just roll my eyes, and think...ok...but earlier in the show other characters survived a wound or a scenario that would not have been realistic survivable, so no, it's not 'realistic' in that case, it's just lazy writing, and thus is the kind of thing that takes me out of the story just as much as any other leap in logic. ;p
LOL, sorry for the rant . *heaves sigh*.
And regarding your own post-apocalyptic verse -- I greatly admire your dedication and incredible imagination when it comes to the whole concept and execution. It may have echoes of things like Mad Max, but it is still very unique. The 'Radio Punk' aesthetic is just brilliant. I'm reminded of yet another novel I read recently, entitled 'All The Light We Cannot See', which is not a post-apocalyptic tale, but rather a story set during WWII, and it really drives home the theme of how crucial radio was to the era, and how it could be used as tool for (and by) both 'good' and 'evil'.
Anyhoo, thank you for sharing this world with us, it's extremely inspirational. : )
shazzdan wrote:There is a good book called "After the End"
http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/aftertheend/
It is written by a gaming company but it contains lots of hard facts and data. It is written from a perspective that makes it perfect for writers and movie makers.
blackpool wrote:Damn it took me an hour to catch up but what a fantastically interesting turn to this thread!!! I don't even know where to begin lol (before I forget, that staircase is absolutely stunning)
While I totally agree that characters and stories should be built not only by the context, post apocalyptic or not, I gotta confess in that specific genre I still like when the story meets or gives an opportunity to understand the apocalypse that preceeded. But I absolutely agree that a story cannot only depend on that environment, just as characters must have some inner consistency out of the events (I really hate when characters are blank pages that seems to only live what is told in the story, I much prefer to have characters with a deep background, making them more ambivalent and less simple to like or dislike)
As for the post-ap itself, I found the "i am legend" pretty poor except for the visuals, the hunting sequence in a decayed manhattan was beautiful... My favorite post apocalyptic world imagery will always be Twelve Monkeys, Terry Gilliam's signature works perfectly, and the snowy destroyed new york is gorgeous (sadly there are not enough sequences about it)
In another style I really enjoyed the "Book of Eli" for its visuals and costumes/outfits.
Talking novel/books reference, I have read many, I would defnitely suggest "Ravage" from the french novelist René Barjavel, the story is about the fall and rebirth of the city of Paris experienced through various characters, the apocalypse being a simple power cut on a continental scale that erases all bank acounts and all IDs, makes all vehicles and planes fall from the sky in a futuristic world where mankind totally depends on machines...
Another extremely good french novel is "Malevil", from Robert Merle, a very early post-ap survival novel, with very interesting descriptions of a world brought back to middle age, once again through the eyes of a group of different individuals that have to surpass their differences to bring back civilization. It cleverly questions the choice of nomadism/sedentarism, the position of men and women in a new born society...
"Dr Bloodmoney" was also very good from the famous Philip K Dick, I really enjoyed how each character had a very strong background and position that are totally reversed after the nuclear apocalypse.
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.
Ephiane wrote:OMG ! The spiral staircase is a Masterwork Thanks for showing !
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
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.
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.
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OneSixthFigures » Forum » GENERAL TALK » Saint Crow - 1st of the Radio Kings & Post Apocalyptic Warlord. King's Currency: Wasteland Salvaged Records, Turntable, and Speakers MEGAPOST!!!
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