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

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!

ReverendSpooky wrote: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.

Saint Crow's book looks great. And it is an excellent idea. I looked at the 1/6 (or sim.) scale books I had, and only one was exactly the right size, but I don't seem to be able to find more of the same. So I'm working on making some; if it doesn't work out, I will have to resize the cover art. We'll see...

Part II: The search for Superhero Fireman Chad continues...
For Part I, see post 1 above.

Same disclaimers apply as for Part I.

More leaked documents from IAFOOSHA shed additional light on the continued investigation, which was apparently going nowhere fast...



Appendix A: covers of additionally identified volumes (outside the firefighter-related genre)







Appendix B: front and back covers of volumes collected and filed by agent Goodenough









I hope you have enjoyed this new installment of (hopefully) humorous inanity, created in response to some of the comments above.

#humor #parody #satire #romantic #erotic #fiction #fireman #firefighter #modern #male #ancient #rome #medieval #middleages #starwars #scifi #superhero

It took awhile, but I read all the back cover blurbs. Hilarious— you should be writing erotica/romance novels, my friend. You seem to have the knack for the over-the-top absurdity of them down. Nice use of words and graphics.

Stryker2011 wrote:It took awhile, but I read all the back cover blurbs. Hilarious— you should be writing erotica/romance novels, my friend. You seem to have the knack for the over-the-top absurdity of them down. Nice use of words and graphics.

Thank you so much, Mark. This comes as a huge compliment. I was trying to walk a line between what is plausible and what is satire, so it sounds like I succeeded with you. Glad you liked it. As for writing erotica/romance novels... hmmm... it is probably easier to make fun of something than actually do it (well). And all poking fun aside, plenty of people enjoy this sort of stuff, and many of the authors, I'm sure, must be able to tell a story very well. Though judging by the stuff I turned up in my research (when I started this project and even more now that I actually had to look a little bit closer at the content -- on the back covers at least), some of it is very out there in one way or another... but to each their own.

Taking a quick breather mid-house move to comment here, because... WOW, these just got even better!!! I'm super impressed by these parodies [homages?] -- you really captured the vibe and visual aesthetic so well. Your starring character really does have great hair, haha...you did an excellent job on it. I'm lol'ing at the er, 'Randian' cover [or should that be 'Ayn Randy'??  ]. And I'm really tickled that you managed to indeed turn that Singed by Eros into a modern retelling of Cupid and Psyche --- thanks for that. As ridiculous and melodramatic as the premise sounds, I'd probably still read it. ;D 

And regarding the erotic fiction and romance genres... it's a pretty interesting subject to me. Romance and erotica are not always the same exact genre, though of course there is a certain amount of overlap. These days, almost anyone can self-publish on Amazon, so there are indeed some pretty 'out there' works that might not have seen the light of day in terms of actually being published in the past. Including some absolutely hilarious 'niche erotica' parodies, some of which have become legends in their own right [see: the absurdist satire of Chuck Tingle]. 

In addition to the published and self-published side of things, there is also an entire world of romance/erotic fiction that is written and distributed for free...aka, fanfiction. I've read my share of both published romance novels as well as fanfiction -- and have written a great deal of the latter, myself -- and I find that there can be some absolute gems amongst both. There are some published historical/fantasy romance novels that remain to this day some of the best all-around stories I've ever encountered, and likewise, I've read some stunning fanfiction that has more 'literary' merit than many, if not most, published works. 

Overall, romance and erotic fiction allows some fascinating explorations of one's personal fantasies and desires within the context of a 'safe' fictional setting. For some people, this is actually very therapeutic, especially if they've never had a safe space in which to explore that side of their psyche. That can apply to both readers and writers of this kind of thing. Romance especially allows for much greater focus on the minutiae of romantic relationships, as well as on the emotional journeys of the characters, than 'normal' fiction. Not to mention an array of niche subject matter that you would not be able to find anywhere else. And when it comes to fanfiction, fans of existing fictional characters are to explore interpersonal relationships [whether romantic, erotic, or otherwise] with an added level of emotional depth that is perhaps not always available to them in the extant 'canon'. And again, for many people this can be not only deeply satisfying, but also very therapeutic. 

Of course, there are the extremes of this genre, which do exist and in great number. The cheesy, over-the-top, dime-a-dozen, Harlequin romance novel that is so well parodied here. Or the worst, most negative examples which somehow still become the most famous best sellers, like Twilight and the horrid fanfiction it spawned...aka, Fifty Shades of Grey. But ultimately there is still merit in the genre -- for every 50 Shades, there are hundreds if not thousands of decent published romance/erotic novels. Not to mention countless well-written fanworks out there can people can read and peruse for free, that explore a myriad of characters and scenarios, and which are written with real passion for the characters and subject matter, even if 'just' by amateurs. 

And, as demonstrated above, the genre can be an inspiration for some of the best parodies and an endless source of humour. :') So, thanks again for creating delightful these 1/6 book covers, GF -- there are several here that I would totally read in RL, even if just for the laughs. If you do indeed make some printed 1/6 versions, please let me know, as I'd be very interested.