New Superhero Revealed? FIRE-MAN (NSFW?) (updated with Part II July 2019)

Your perception of life's cringiness is phenomenal. And objectification of men is one step closer to equality, or something.

Ovy wrote:Your perception of life's cringiness is phenomenal. And objectification of men is one step closer to equality, or something.

Thank you very much!

Thanks for the well-wishes, guys. House moves are indeed the bane of my existence, but sadly I am used to them. I have not had a permanent living situation now for over 12 years. In the last eight years alone, I have moved seven times.  Some of the moves have been more traumatic than others, but all have been draining in their own way. Hopefully this is one of those times when the stress and physical exhaustion turns out to be worth it. 

While it's still not going to be a completely permanent situation, there seems to be a chance this time that we could be in the new place for several years, at the very least. However long it takes before we are finally able to own our own house.

skywalkersaga wrote:Thanks for the well-wishes, guys. House moves are indeed the bane of my existence, but sadly I am used to them. ... While it's still not going to be a completely permanent situation, there seems to be a chance this time that we could be in the new place for several years, at the very least. However long it takes before we are finally able to own our own house.

You are welcome. Hope it's going well and that it will be a relatively stable and satisfactory solution until you're ready to settle down in one place for good.

Thanks, GF! I dearly hope so, too. : )

Btw, I was just curious about the female head sculpt in the final Roman cover — that’s the brunette Verycool ‘Jenna’ head, right? I was potentially looking at getting that sculpt loose, but noticed the gaze on it seemed a little odd, like slightly to the side. Have you noticed that with it, or was I just imagining things?

skywalkersaga wrote:Thanks, GF! I dearly hope so, too. : )

Btw, I was just curious about the female head sculpt in the final Roman cover — that’s the brunette Verycool ‘Jenna’ head, right? I was potentially looking at getting that sculpt loose, but noticed the gaze on it seemed a little odd, like slightly to the side. Have you noticed that with it, or was I just imagining things?

Yes, it is what you're thinking of.  It is actually "Jenner", even if our own new product announcements, perhaps because it included machine-translated text, had both names referenced (HERE). It is the same sculpt at the one in Singed by Eros and Burning Sensations (sequel to Burning Desires and Burning Passions -- I hope someone got that!). I suppose I was quasi-subconsciously finding the association of that name (and possibly face) with virginity ironic. At any rate, she is just like the promotional photos, although they do not emphasize it: the gaze is slightly (very slightly) to the left (camera right), especially in her right eye (camera left). It looks ok in hand, and can look ok if you want her to appear looking straight ahead.

Ah, gotcha, thanks for explaining. Glad I wasn’t totally crazy for noticing the unusual gaze, though it’s good to know that it still works ok with making her look forward/ahead if need be.

And lol, I did notice her on the other covers as well — one of my faves was the Singed by Eros one , as I was imaging an erotica retelling of Cupid and Psyche, one of my favourite folklore motifs (seen also in Beauty and the Beast, East of the Sun & West of the Moon, and many other ‘monster husband’ or ‘ Search for the Lost Husband’ type tales).

skywalkersaga wrote:Ah, gotcha, thanks for explaining. Glad I wasn’t totally crazy for noticing the unusual gaze, though it’s good to know that it still works ok with making her look forward/ahead if need be.

Not crazy at all -- in fact, good eye. I'm not even sure I had noticed or processed that myself. Anyway, here are a couple of more zoomed-in shots I just snapped for you. I don't know whether they are all like that or just mine. If you really look for it, the difference between the right and left eyes' gaze direction is actually almost disconcerting, but in practice it has a much less obvious effect. (The theory behind the position of the pupils, etc, might be valid, it just seemed a little too much of a variation to me.)



PS -- Looking at the photos, it occurs to me to note that if it looks like the nostrils are uneven, that is all (or mostly) just the shadow from the direction of the light.

Thanks for the close-up, GF. It's a very pretty sculpt, even with the wonky eye, lol. And I'm guessing it is purposeful, as the other ones I've seen on ebay seem to all have the same thing going on. I'm tempted to get one, but had just wanted to make sure the eye/pupil position wouldn't make it harder to do certain poses, etc.

ETA: Maybe it's her 'shooting' eye?

You are welcome. I think it works well enough. I suspect that if there is a theory behind it, it would be that when you focus on something in mid-distance or closer, the eyes wouldn't be perfectly parallel in alignment -- though I also suspect this effect has been slightly exaggerated here -- if that was even what they were going for in the first place.

I have a feeling that whoever puts the eye decals on has a difficult time aligning the right eye. Just my theory.

Lol probably — I was trying to give benefit of the doubt. ;p

LOL! Doesn't look to have much of a hose for a fireman!

CHEERS!

skywalkersaga wrote:Lol probably — I was trying to give benefit of the doubt. ;p

I was too!

Rogerbee wrote:LOL! Doesn't look to have much of a hose for a fireman!

LOL. But I will have you know that I had to paint every mm of that hose with three fabric markers until I got it to look about right, color-wise (it was originally white)... and then to fix the colors by ironing (me iron!!?)... and then touch it up with acrylic (I was losing patience by then). Or if your mind was in the gutter and you meant something else, I'd just point out the fact that the pants could not accommodate any more than they did. LOL

Well considering you said it was NSFW, which did you think I meant, LOL!

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote: Well considering you said it was NSFW, which did you think I meant, LOL!

Roger, you wicked, wicked man! If I had an old lady action figure or kitbash, I would have illustrated her scolding you in pretended Victorian outrage. But I don't, so you will have to imagine it. And per Stryker's diktat, the firemen were all fully armed and operational.

Holy crap, this is so beyond EPIC!!!! Dying man, and damn, what commitment on this! Seriously, this is a ton of work, and so well worth it. The whole concept is a blast, and just flawlessly executed. The photos alone for the covers are so perfectly done, but the covers as a whole are each a masterpiece. The True Blood one may be my favorite, and I love the idea of how far the romance novel could stretch a genre (You like firemen? How about vampire firemen? Ancient Roman firemen?). Even the tag lines are killer (the "began as a BBQ" one wrecked me especially). And you nailed the aesthetic perfectly.

What you COULD do (or I'm tempted to do and send to you) is print the covers at 1/6 scale and make a stack of 1/6 paperback books. You've already done all the heavy lifting.

That’s a freaking brilliant idea, Rev! I’d totally want some of those!

Forgot to add I also found the True Blood one highly amusing as well.

A bunch of paperbacks in 1/6 scale is brilliant. You could use them in so many of your story-line photos, Guv. That’d be awesome. Neat idea, Rev.

ReverendSpooky wrote:Holy crap, this is so beyond EPIC!!!!  Dying man, and damn, what commitment on this!  Seriously, this is a ton of work, and so well worth it.  The whole concept is a blast, and just flawlessly executed.  The photos alone for the covers are so perfectly done, but the covers as a whole are each a masterpiece.  The True Blood one may be my favorite, and I love the idea of how far the romance novel could stretch a genre (You like firemen?  How about vampire firemen? Ancient Roman firemen?).  Even the tag lines are killer (the "began as a BBQ" one wrecked me especially).  And you nailed the aesthetic perfectly.

What you COULD do (or I'm tempted to do and send to you) is print the covers at 1/6 scale and make a stack of 1/6 paperback books.  You've already done all the heavy lifting.  

I am very happy you found it funny and thank you for the kind words. I love how different things manage to resonate with different people. And I think you described the process with the real thing spot on... living in fire country, I find the whole fascination with fire both natural and fundamentally disturbing (so I had plenty of second thoughts while working on this project). I am somewhat surprised no one has highlighted the Burning Sensations (sequel to Burning Desires and Burning Passions) title, which sorta came together and I was kinda proud of myself... I mean, it's outright educational... On the 1/6 books, see my response farther below...

skywalkersaga wrote:That’s a freaking brilliant idea, Rev! I’d totally want some of those!

Stryker2011 wrote:A bunch of paperbacks in 1/6 scale is brilliant. You could use them in so many of your story-line photos, Guv. That’d be awesome. Neat idea, Rev.

Thank you all for the enthusiastic encouragement. At least you're not suggesting I write those books, but to make actual 1/6 paperbacks, I would have to design the sides and -- more importantly -- the back covers. What goes on the back covers of such things? Any ideas? Maybe I should go to the bookstore and wander into unexplored (except virtually) territory...

GubernatorFan wrote:Thank you all for the enthusiastic encouragement. At least you're not suggesting I write those books, but to make actual 1/6 paperbacks, I would have to design the sides and -- more importantly -- the back covers. What goes on the back covers of such things? Any ideas? Maybe I should go to the bookstore and wander into unexplored (except virtually) territory...

Or you could just look on Amazon. Check out the Romance and Erotica novels; if they're like most of the other books on there, they should have some that show the back cover at least. Save you the embarrassment of shopping in that section.

Generally what is on the back is similar to many other types of popular fiction: a tagline of some sorts, a 'blurb', aka partial summary of the plot to hook any potential readers, and possibly some quotes from reviewers, a couple sentences 'about the author', logo of publishing company, etc.

Except generally on paperbacks, the cover art has a tendency to wrap around to the backside, as well.

Stryker2011 wrote:Or you could just look on Amazon. Check out the Romance and Erotica novels; if they're like most of the other books on there, they should have some that show the back cover at least. Save you the embarrassment of shopping in that section.

skywalkersaga wrote:Generally what is on the back is similar to many other types of popular fiction: a tagline of some sorts, a 'blurb', aka partial summary of the plot to hook any potential readers, and possibly some quotes from reviewers, a couple sentences 'about the author', logo of publishing company, etc.

Stryker2011 wrote:Except generally on paperbacks, the cover art has a tendency to wrap around to the backside, as well.

I have followed your advice and done some basic research on amazon... looks pretty simple overall -- usually no elaborate imagery and a couple of paragraphs, one for the story, one for the author; also, and not to be forgotten, a big bar code area. Of course, I'm trying to figure out if any of that will be legible in 1/6 scale, but the project has resumed...

For what it's worth, I have the 1/6 romance novel that came with one of the HT Harley Quinn figures, and the text on the back is so tiny it's not even legible: 

skywalkersaga wrote:For what it's worth, I have the 1/6 romance novel that came with one of the HT Harley Quinn figures, and the text on the back is so tiny it's not even legible

Excellent point! Actually I have that (one of many bits and pieces I've picked up from broken down sets) and had forgotten about it. I do feel like I should make an effort to compose the text, though, even if it will be illegible...

Sure! I wasn't trying to discourage you, but just wanted to reassure you in case it was a bit daunting to come up with actual blurbs for every single one. But I think perhaps Hot Toys fudged that one a bit, lol, as I have indeed seen perfect 1/6 scale replicas of actual literary novels out there, some of which are even readable. So it's doable, with some effort.

Hope Ididn't just create a mess of more work for you.

What would probably be the easiest way to go would be to do a generic back cover that you could just re-use (especially if you were going to do a few).  You could either write original copy if you're ambitious, or follow Hot Toys example of making it illegible.  And then just the title down the spine. You could pretty much use black backgrounds for all.  

Now what I would do, is buy a bunch of those little books you can get in the dollhouse section of almost any craft store.  Real pages, blank covers, and already about the right size for a paperback.  you could just glue your covers over them and save a lot of time.  They come in 2 sizes, but the bigger ones are probably perfect.  What I did for Saint Crow's copy of Blood Meridian.

Another great idea, Rev!