Shaheen McSheen, Royal Shell Knight

Greetings dear friends,

Let's start with a post apocalyptic, dystopic, British anthem.



Sorry.

Well, greetings!

Since I experimented with shell hats, I had the idea to create an 'Atlantic' character with mutant shell equipment. The idea was a culture looking like a mix of some of postapocalyptic Europe's 'main players'. To remind you, there are:

Mediterrans - maritime, shell/cone/crab based equipment, fishers and hunters
Cargo States - medieval/feudal vibe with some 'modern' old world military equipment and trinkets, Monotheistic Mammameri Religion
People of the forests - Hunter-gatherers 'primitive tools', leather, fur, stone, paganism, shamans
 
The inhabitants of the British Isles have to be different and unique compared to the ordinary continent, so the borders between the established archetypes/concepts are blurring more here. I think the different pockets of survivors connected earlier and developed differently compared to the continent.
So my first idea was a diving suit with shell armor.

I got a Robert DeNiro head and a frogman suit some time ago, had an old diving suit in mind with a coney shell hat. It took form when I got a big donation of Irish shells from my brother for Christmas.






So, for no particular reason, I felt the need to shoot and post this British Isle figure just today in his messy unfinished state, not knowing what the future will bring.

Also, here is some nice Auld Lang Syne for no particular reason at all. And to heal you from the Egyptian Army's interpretation of 'God save the Queen'


Shaheen is a man from everywhere - while his mother is a trader from the Cargo city state of Lehavre on the continent, his father owns a seafood joint in Soufhamptúnn, probably the largest Cargo-Kingdom of the Isles.
His dad is also a descendant from the Isles' forestfolks and the Western Shoremen, brought together by the river people.
The love-hate relationship between Lehavre and Soufhamptúnn is complicated. Just like the one of his parents.

As you can see, I want to combine modern looking equipment with those oversized shells, opposed to the more 'natural' looking Mediterrans or the more 'traditionally postapocalyptic' Cargonites.




Reminds me of a dystopic heat engineer.



It was some work filing down the shell into a ring. Placeholder plastic 'glass' wa inserted. Should I make a grid, like with old timey diving suits?


Seafaring has never been easy, but as the water is teeming with sea creatures mutated for hundreds of years by forced evolution, it's a very risky business. Even the ports aren't save. It doesn't take much effort of the big king crabs to crack the hulls of docked ships. And heavy snails attaching themselves to the hulls can sink ships easily.



Since he was a little boy, Shaheen wanted to be one of the shell knights, divers who protect the ports and the Channel. And he became one.
But it didn't turn out to be as glorious as his young mind expected - it is a hard, messy, nasty job. Dangers and surprises await around every corner, or under the muddy sand. They patrol the watery grounds by foot, held down by weights, to kill the critters crawling there.
Loss of life is high and only the best get old in this job.












Well, that's it for now. Much love and special greetings to all you beautiful inhabitants of the Real-life British Isles on this forum! 
...for no particular reason, of course.

Interesting character. Those shells are great.

Man did they butcher “God Save the Queen” — I don’t ever want to hear that again.

First off, that's one rather special interpretation of God save the queen.
Secondly that's a cool guy though I do not envy his job. I'm unsure if you should add some sort of grate over the shell port hole but I guess It wouldn't look too weird... do you plan on giving him either an air tank or a hose, maybe not a hose one of them sneaky crabs could cut it and it's game over.

Well, you certainly timed this one to perfection... if you know what I mean.  


But seriously, once again you've made some incredibly creative use of shells. I really love the mask /goggles thing that he can see out , very awesome. And his name is just... brilliant. :') 

The backdrop you used is also beautiful and atmospheric... great choice.

I can't say this one speaks to me like your other characters do, but I do like a lot of what you've done here -- and I think dystopian heat engineer is the right vibe from this character. The use of shells is still very cool, and I like the choice of head. Shaheen (Shahin) is usually a Persian female name, by the way.

Lol, yes—- I have an aunt named Shahin. I didn’t point it out as I thought maybe the dystopic future didn’t care about gendered names. ;D

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting character. Those shells are great.

Man did they butcher “God Save the Queen” — I don’t ever want to hear that again.

Hah, thanks. Yes, that Egyptian Army Orchestra is one in the world. They might be the only people on earth who can make Putin cry.

Theboo-bomb wrote:First off, that's one rather special interpretation of God save the queen.
Secondly that's a cool guy though I do not envy his job. I'm unsure if you should add some sort of grate over the shell port hole but I guess It  wouldn't look too weird... do you plan on giving him either an air tank or a hose, maybe not a hose one of them sneaky crabs could cut it and it's game over.

Thanks, of course you are right, I am not yet sure how he will get his air. I think there is some thrill and drama to a vulnerable unsafe hose, but an air tank would be more convenient for a figure. Maybe both.
I also thought he might be able to hold his breath for 10+ minutes, but that is a skill I reserved for the Mediterran freedivers, who don't rely on technology that much as they are natural badasses.

skywalkersaga wrote:Well, you certainly timed this one to perfection... if you know what I mean.  


But seriously, once again you've made some incredibly creative use of shells. I really love the mask /goggles thing that he can see out , very awesome. And his name is just... brilliant. :') 

The backdrop you used is also beautiful and atmospheric... great choice.

Thanks, I had to rush the Dio a bit as I wanted to perfectly time it for no particular reason, of course. :p I have to make one with darker sand one day.

Do you think the name is brilliant in a funny/cringy way or can he be taken seriously?
I mean, Britain has the highest number of eccentric gentlemanly man explorers /inventors with dramatics names.

GubernatorFan wrote:I can't say this one speaks to me like your other characters do, but I do like a lot of what you've done here -- and I think dystopian heat engineer is the right vibe from this character. The use of shells is still very cool, and I like the choice of head. Shaheen (Shahin) is usually a Persian female name, by the way.

Thanks, I see. I don't think he will turn into one of my favourite figures, but who knows how he might look with weight- and tool belt, harness and breastplate, armguard and kneebads. Also the discount body is rather restricted in his articulation and the suit doesn't help with that.

I found the head browsing machinegun.fr and liked the Vito mustache. Wanted to make a diving suit myself first using a glove, but the frogman suit was more convenient. 
Only after I combined everything I found there was that very strange coincidence that he reminded me of Harry Tuttle, guerilla heating engineer from Brazil.





And about the name, I am open for suggestions. It has a comical sound, I agree. 
In this Mammamerian religion of the Cargo State regions, Grandma is BOSS, so sons named after their grandmas might make sense. But I could turn Shaheen into a surname too. Sean Shaheen or something.

Btw, Yurgels (concept-)grandma Yurgel is supposed to look like this, but I guess I would have to make the headsculpt myself in this 1/6 business. I'd give her a fancy crossbow, a sword, a hatchet and a combat helmet too, along with a chain made of plushie cute animals. One can dream, right?

Now we know where Yurgel got his smile from.

Yurgel's concept grandma looks precious.

Oh, don't worry about the name! It doesn't bother me... I mean, sometimes men with 'female' names can be quite iconic in their own right ...think Alice Cooper or something. ;D Also, sometimes, over centuries, a traditionally 'male' name can be become more predominantly used as a female name, and vice versa. So who is to say in that era it even matters or is noticeable? : ) 

But if you really want to change it, I guess you could do some kind of cultural mash-up such as 'Sean McShaheen', lol. Really though, I don't mind it as it is... it's quite catchy. 

And I agree.... that is one awesome grandma.

a very interesting concept and one which I have never seen before !
Special, refreshing and far out !