Question about Kimono Troops and BAM Comix setting

Say, if you guys want I could talk about about what I have in mind world building wise and what my plans are. Is that okay with you folks?

ZeroDelta wrote:Say, if you guys want I could talk about about what I have in mind world building wise and what my plans are. Is that okay with you folks?

Go for it

ZeroDelta wrote:Is that okay with you folks?

Of course! I'm definitely wondering what you have in mind!

Plus... it's your topic!

Well, okay then, here goes nothing:

I was thinking about the SEcond American Civil war and it dawned on me that one of the most interesting ways to depict it comes form a book and video game called "Shattered Union". In that, a Controversial Presidential Candidate gets to power in one of the most contested Presidential Elections in the history of the country. That leads to unrest and a rise in domestic terrorism.

The Crackdown regarding that, leads to more push back, until its time for re-election. Despite having several Candidates running against the Unpopular President, the election is not clear and lands at the Supreme Court, who decides to back the sitting President, to the dismay of many. As he is giving his Second Inauguration Speech, a massive truck bomb kills the President and his staff (in the game/book, a nuclear warhead wipes out DC).

For the first time, the US has to call in for its Designated survivor to be sworn in as President. However, many states dont accept this, and declare that they are no longer following orders from DC. As in the words of the Texan Governor: "The Union is dead"

As more states seceded in the south, the nation falls into Chaos and the second civil war begins. Unlike the first Civil War, with both sides having sophisticated military hardware, the war is brutal and devastating. After 3 years of war, its over.....

With the war over, the question is, what to do now. For the first time, elections are held after the war, and the path is clear, as a new President is elected, its time to reform what should be one nation, then Future Glory awaits:


The US Reform, under a new flag, under a new system, under a new Government, for the people, by the people, with the people. Those that had led the old US into disaster are now either dead, have fled or await trail. The path is now open for new ways.

The Civil War had a great effect on everyone, the biggest impact was on Canada, as refugees streamed over the border. At one point things got so bad, that Canada decided to intervene on the side of the Union States.

This was not forgotten and as a result, the USA and Canada created the North American Union using the EU as a blueprint:


This is where we stand now, but as the US was busy sorting itself out, a new enemy to the world would appear.

Anyone familiar with the game series Metal Slug? In it, The Rebel Army (also known as the Rebellion Army), led by General Donald Morden, is the main enemy of the Regular Army. They started the war against the Regular Army in 2026. Thats one of the bad guy organizations in this setting, but they are better known under the name Shadow Empire. While Morden seemingly is the leader of it, there is actually a supreme leader that is above him that no one knows how he looks like, always kept in the Shadows.

2 recurring bad guys from that group are Colonel Olrik (for those who know Blake & Mortimer will know), a shadowy eastern European spy master, military advisor and ruthless killer, and Colonel Staggart, a ruthless ex-special forces operative that is now a mercenary for hire and who is obsessed with human perfection.

Then there is the organization simply known as SMOG (with nobody having an idea what the letters stand for), a shadowy organization that is very similar to SPECTRE or HARM, a espionage syndicate that is after new technology, artifacts and power. They do whatever it necessary to reach their nebolus goal.

If that isnt all, it seems earth is target of malevolent forces that originate from elsewhere, their cults operating here on earth, to open the gates so those unspeakable horrors can roam free again.

So, who is there to defend us?

Europe created the European Defense Force/League as a result of the US being busy with its civil war:

Its the main defense body of the EU and main part of NATO.

The US created the Defense Resources Agency, the name is a bit misleading on purpose, its a military intelligence agency, tasked with fighting the threats facing the US and the world.

Then there is also Department X (Roman numeral 10), of the Department of Homeland Security. The organization dates back to 1928 and was created after the Innsmouth Raid, to deal with threats that are inhuman in nature. It had various names over the years and is now part of Homeland Security.

There is more to this, like Russia having a second civil war as well and reforming as the Russian Union, China creating the East Asian Hegemony, as a counter to the Asian Confederation, Japan trying to be an Empire again, South America trying to form a Union and then falling apart again and much more.

What do you guys think?

When I saw "the Innsmouth Raid" I was totally hooked! I'm looking forward to seeing what you do with Department X within the context of the rest of your well thought-out world scenario.

It's a cracking story line to pursue! Like Dave, I can't wait to see what you come up with!

ZeroDelta wrote:Say, if you guys want I could talk about about what I have in mind world building wise and what my plans are. Is that okay with you folks?

Totally. Dave, Dal and I constantly discuss what we have in mind for projects, adventures, characters etc. It works, believe me. Dave and I were online for a couple of hours chatting about a potential new character just last night.

Where do you guys chat in? I am on discord for those who are interested.

ZeroDelta wrote:Where do you guys chat in? I am on discord for those who are interested.

We usually chat via pm's across forums

ZeroDelta wrote:Where do you guys chat in? I am on discord for those who are interested.

Dave, Dal and I usually chat through the AMMO Forum which allows that.

I see. Discord is a nifty program that lets you send IMs to people, you can even setup your own servers and invite people, it has voice chat and you can even stream with it if you want. You can also share images, videos and music and have even conference calls. So, I think its worth checking out.

ZeroDelta wrote:I see. Discord is a nifty program that lets you send IMs to people, you can even setup your own servers and invite people, it has voice chat and you can even stream with it if you want. You can also share images, videos and music and have even conference calls. So, I think its worth checking out.

I'm on discord too, but not often. I'm sure that all of us would welcome you to the AMMO forum if you would like to join that one.

Well, I just joined, my account has to activated tho.

ZeroDelta wrote:Well, I just joined, my account has to activated tho.

Just send Dal a PM and he'll take care of that for you. It's his site.

Okay, thanks, my account is now activated, I´ll hang around in the chat for a bit if anyone wants to talk.

There's a certain time of day when chat is most active.  It's around 330pm/1530 UK time.

Okay, good to know. I guess I will then keep posting ideas in here in the meantime.

I was wondering what head sculpt would work best for Colonel Olrik
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Colonel_Olrik



Also anyone familiar with Bob Morane, long running Franco Belgian book series, has a comic and a cartoon? SMOG is from there and I wonder if I can put together Bob Morane and his friend, William „Bill“ Ballantine




I mean if you can get The Doctor, Tifa and stuff, then I get Bob, Bill and the guys from The Temporal Patrol. Oh did I mention the Time/Temporal Patrol? They are the guys that make sure the timeline stays intact. Now I wonder what The Doctor would say to that.

ZeroDelta wrote:Okay, good to know. I guess I will then keep posting ideas in here in the meantime.

I was wondering what head sculpt would work best for Colonel Olrik
https://villains.fandom.com/wiki/Colonel_Olrik



Also anyone familiar with Bob Morane, long running Franco Belgian book series, has a comic and a cartoon? SMOG is from there and I wonder if I can put together Bob Morane and his friend, William „Bill“ Ballantine




I mean if you can get The Doctor, Tifa and stuff, then I get Bob, Bill and the guys from The Temporal Patrol. Oh did I mention the Time/Temporal Patrol? They are the guys that make sure the timeline stays intact. Now I wonder what The Doctor would say to that.

Colonel Olrik reminds me very much of Colonel Boris in the the Tintin books

https://comicvine.gamespot.com/colonel-boris/4005-11710/

Unfortunately, they both have a 1930's hair stile and look about them that would make either hard to do a kit bash on without doing significant work. My suggestion would be to look at military figures for WWII, especially Germany. Though the sculpt below isn't what would be needed for either, it is a step in the direction of Colonel Boris.

https://www.monkeydepot.com/GAC_Toys_Smirking_Head_GAC_032_p/gcb0030.htm

I tend to go about things the other way around and shop for head sculpts then create the character. The exception to this is Kamiko, but it took me quite a while to procure both head sculpts I use to model her. She was a DAZ 3D creation in the beginning

Here's one I thought would make a lovely villain, complete with dueling scars from his days at Heidelberg University.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/353585462340

Ah thank you. Yeah IO thought that Olrik maybe tricky, maybe I should try to do a modern appraoch to it then. As for Bob Morane, he is a bit easier to do, because his look is rather simple: Black hair, square jawed, typical hero look

Not to mention that depending on the artist, there are variations, he recently got a bit of a remake in a Reboot comic:

Bill might be a bit more complicated but I think I can find something that works for him.

Also sorry for the rather large images, hope it does not cause too much issues for people, I try to scale that down.

ZeroDelta wrote:Ah thank you. Yeah IO thought that Olrik maybe tricky, maybe I should try to do a modern appraoch to it then. As for Bob Morane, he is a bit easier to do, because his look is rather simple: Black hair, square jawed, typical hero look

Not to mention that depending on the artist, there are variations, he recently got a bit of a remake in a Reboot comic:

Bill might be a bit more complicated but I think I can find something that works for him.

Also sorry for the rather large images, hope it does not cause too much issues for people, I try to scale that down.

Bob Morane's back story would make this character fit very well into our universe. Since he is an explorer, he might even be acquainted with both Captain Glynnis Penny-Farthing and Sir James Ian Bond-Fleming (aka James Bond) who are both members of the Explorer's league, as well as being intelligence agents. Since he is former RAF pilot, he might also know Dal's time-traveling ex RAF pilot character Wing Commander Teegan, who flew a Spitfire in WWII. He might be acquainted with my pilot character, Flight Lieutenant Montague (Monty) Wintergreeen as well.

Here's black-haired head sculpt available cheap on Monkey Depot that might make a good starting point, but I'm sure there are lots of others on the market.





https://www.monkeydepot.com/Head_Mini_Times_Tommy_p/mnl0433.htm

Yeah Bob Morane´s original backstory had him a WWII pilot, spy and adventurer (in the novels, he works for the first Director of the CIA even at several points), but this backstory became more and more irrelevant as time went on, because sliding timescale and him not getting older.

Recently they did a comic called "Bob Morane: Reloaded" that is a modern day re-telling, where he is an Bill are officers in the French Foreign Legion who are stationed in an African country for peace keeping operations and ending up becoming heroes for saving a African Family from the deaths at the hand of rival tribal group. That results in them being thrown out of the Legion for not following orders and the like.

Its an interesting take for sure, but its a lot grimmer and grittier then original, as it deals with a lot of real life political issues and both Bob and Bill are at the beginning of a character journey.

I will try and merge the classic and the modern origin into one, that way you get the best of both and you can explain away a few things.

As for the Headsculpt: Interestingly enough, the Batman Arkham Bruce Wayne headsculpt that is floating around on E-Bay seems to be very close to what Bob Morane looks like, and I wonder how that came about.

he looks like a cool character to make!

ZeroDelta wrote:Yeah Bob Morane´s original backstory had him a WWII pilot, spy and adventurer (in the novels, he works for the first Director of the CIA even at several points), but this backstory became more and more irrelevant as time went on, because sliding timescale and him not getting older.

Recently they did a comic called "Bob Morane: Reloaded" that is a modern day re-telling, where he is an Bill are officers in the French Foreign Legion who are stationed in an African country for peace keeping operations and ending up becoming heroes for saving a African Family from the deaths at the hand of rival tribal group. That results in them being thrown out of the Legion for not following orders and the like.

Its an interesting take for sure, but its a lot grimmer and grittier then original, as it deals with a lot of real life political issues and both Bob and Bill are at the beginning of a character journey.

I will try and merge the classic and the modern origin into one, that way you get the best of both and you can explain away a few things.

As for the Headsculpt: Interestingly enough, the Batman Arkham Bruce Wayne headsculpt that is floating around on E-Bay seems to be very close to what Bob Morane looks like, and I wonder how that came about.

I've seen that sculpt also. I think it would be a good choice. A good place to get WWII style khaki clothing is The Veego Store in Hong Kong. I have bought from the a few times and they are reliable. I would look at the British WWII stuff ans the German Afrikakorps stuff also. The American section also has a bit of Khaki clothing like in some of the illustrations.

https://www.veegostore.com/index.php?cPath=60

I have some very retro looking figures in K-Troop as well and I think they turned out very well.

Monty_2 by Gary Menten, on Flickr

Katanga's Lost Diamonds Part II: The Valley of Strange Occurences by Gary Menten, on Flickr

Oh I saw that RAF Tropical outfit at Machinegunfr and had put it on my wishlist, they have a whole bunch of other items that would be very useful.

ZeroDelta wrote:Oh I saw that RAF Tropical outfit at Machinegunfr and had put it on my wishlist, they have a whole bunch of other items that would be very useful.

It's actually completely kitbashed.

The cap is from a guy in England who makes WWII and some modern cap and sells them on ebay as Banjoman. I've bought a few times from him an his product is top quality...better in fact than what you get with complete figure sets. His line is constantly expanding and he does stuff no-one else will.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/371292320708?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649


The bush jacket is from one of the Ujindou SAS desert raiders sets, and were popular in the RAF as well.

The belt and holster are from the same set, but his pistol is an S&W Victory model .38 Special from Battlegrear Toys.

The riding breeches are from a no-name Chinese Grand Moff Tarkine uniform set I bought in Giantoy for $20.00. I did not like the jacket and threw it away and repurposed the breeches for Wintergreen.

The boots, (not seen in the photo) are from a DiD German officer.

Ah thank you.

So say, how did the 10th Doctor end up working with BAM? Does UNIT exist in this world? I wonder how if I can somehow put SHADO in there somewhere.

ZeroDelta wrote:Ah thank you.

So say, how did the 10th Doctor end up working with BAM? Does UNIT exist in this world? I wonder how if I can somehow put SHADO in there somewhere.

The Doctor first landed at BAM-HQ while looking for Martha. As for Unit, I have never made reference to it, but I'm sure it will fit in easy enough.

Ah thank you. Now I was wondering about something: you had a storyline about an Action Man returning "from the wild" and something about him being lost for ages, that made me wonder, how old is Commander Rivers and co anyway? I know its a bit of an injoke about a toys life and sometimes it seems you break the 4th Wall with mentioning how they are action figures, but I do wonder about the time scale a bit.

Also, one of the main events is Rivers shooting a Senators son by accident during a mission, from what I understand, that was on US soil, so why was the SAS Allowed to operate there and why was no US Agency involved in this as well?

So Project Genesis seems to be a revived Super Soldier Project that created Captian America, Steve Rogers is even mentioned by name, so does that mean we have WWII with super heroes? Is Hydra a thing? If so I have some ideas regarding that.

ZeroDelta wrote:

Also, one of the main events is Rivers shooting a Senators son by accident during a mission, from what I understand, that was on US soil, so why was the SAS Allowed to operate there and why was no US Agency involved in this as well?

That incident is an active sub-plot in the Hidden in the Shadows story.

In brief, Jake Rivers resigned from SAS after that incident. A few years later he was coaxed out of retirement by his old SAS commander, the mysterious Mr. Tibias, and put in charge of a top secret Black Ops team now called BAM-HQ.

The Hidden in the Shadows story is re-visiting that incident, which also involves Jake's arch-rival and former colleague, Demitri Redbox, and previously hidden details are emerging.

BAMComix will provide more detail when he sees this question, I'm sure.