The Phantom Stinger (UPDATED w/ Part 2)

Gheizt knew he shouldn't have answered that strange phonecall. He found himself in another weird dream/alternate world...or was THIS actually the real world? That damn Kallius and his reality-altering spells and mind games... In this version, Gheizt had lost his right arm to poison after being stung by a radioactive creature from the wastes. Scoops and Ashora managed to construct a get-by prosthetic from high quality scraps they gathered up. While Gheizt was inspecting his new limb, simultaneously trying to figure out if this was just another nightmare, Scoops and Ashora were playing around with the new children's grand piano they recently discovered at a nearby junkyard. How they managed to get it on top of the van was anyone's guess. But anyway, Scoops was doing a piano cover of 'Do You Believe in Magic?' by The Lovin' Spoonful.









SCOOPS: Holy s***! It's that thing that took Gheizt's arm!!!
ASHORA: It must have tracked him here to finish the job...












MYSTERIOUS STRANGER: Now, now...no need to jump to violence. Accidents happen out here all the time...
GHEIZT: Who the hell...?


MYSTERIOUS STRANGER: Proper introductions are due, aren't they? Very well... this here is my loyal companion, Scout Corporal Ian.

MYSTERIOUS STRANGER: And you can call me...Captain Stinger.

What Scorpion toy did you use for this? Looks very big. Well done

Your figures look impressively "realistic" even though they are post-apocalyptic fantasy characters. It's your attention to detail... and the grunge! Everything is so gritty! It's awesome!

Gotta love an armored giant scorpion... with armor cobbled together with stuff found in a junkyard! How freakin' cool!

Nice to see another installment from you. Your ability to integrate and customize items from all sorts of sources and scales pays off beautifully (as does the paint job and the rationalization). I was worried about Gheizt's robotical arm, but that came out excellent, too. Is that a knight's visor on the scorpion? And I suppose the major would explain how an overgrown scorpion came to be partly armored...

Long time no see. Glad to see Gheizt and Co. back for more craziness. Like the new arm, and the armored scorpion is inspired.

Pretty creative setup, i like it. I second the question about the scorpion figure, would be an awesome radscorpion base.

Glad to see your stuff once more AlKel. Cool photos as always and Scoops is looking deadly and cool, Gheizt's new arm looks mighty fine too, you did a great job with it. For some reason the mysterious stranger being bald took me by surprise.

I love your posing! Geizt trying out his arm, Scoops leaning down to talk to Geizt, them jumping off the van, all beautifully posed.

And what a cool arm!!!

An interesting set of characters!

Yay that was a fun one, great pacing.

I like their "Ready for Mayhem" posing once they got down the van, this is where their theme song would play.
And then it feels like they just stand there in silence, waiting for the scorpion to finally get closer. I see you used the knight parts again on it.

Captain Stinger looks like a Gentleman Vampire/Demon Hunter with A DARK SECRET.
We will see if these two become part of the group, and what cosmetic upgrades theys will acquire in the future. I love that your universe allows complete open minded ever changing cosmetics.

"Do you believe in magic" and happy magic clown colors make me think of Meet the Pyro.

ZeroDelta wrote:What Scorpion toy did you use for this? Looks very big. Well done

I found it at a thrift mall I frequent to sometimes find random old 1/6 scale accessories. I have seen plenty of dinosaurs and lizards but never a scorpion this size, so I knew it would be useful for a Fallout-style Radscorpion in my verse. Bottom label says it's a Toys R Us Maidenhead.

davidd wrote:Your figures look impressively "realistic" even though they are post-apocalyptic fantasy characters. It's your attention to detail... and the grunge! Everything is so gritty! It's awesome!

Gotta love an armored giant scorpion... with armor cobbled together with stuff found in a junkyard! How freakin' cool!

Thank you much for the praise! I know my style borders between reality and trippy scifi/fantasy, so it's good to know there are some grounding factors in this hobby that help to give it a surreal quality.

Tjolnir wrote:Pretty creative setup, i like it. I second the question about the scorpion figure, would be an awesome radscorpion base.

Thanks TJ! Similar idea I had in mind, see above for answers. I know with your Fallout-inspired kitbashes you could probably create a more traditional Radscorpion with this kind of base.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Glad to see your stuff once more AlKel. Cool photos as always and Scoops is looking deadly and cool, Gheizt's new arm looks mighty fine too, you did a great job with it. For some reason the mysterious stranger being bald took me by surprise.

Thanks boo, glad you are enjoying the characters' continued adventures and metamorphosises. I considered giving Captain Stinger some hair, but I ended up digging the natural bald headsculpt and decided to stick with it. Figured it'd be a nice change-up from my usual cast of wonky-haired characters.

Diana wrote:I love your posing! Geizt trying out his arm, Scoops leaning down to talk to Geizt, them jumping off the van, all beautifully posed.

And what a cool arm!!!

Much appreciated!! My clothing choices sometimes restrict the TBLeague bodies' full posing potential, but I do what I can to make them more expressive.

BAMComix wrote:An interesting set of characters!

Thank you, I'm happy you are intrigued by my cast!

Ovy wrote:Yay that was a fun one, great pacing.

I like their "Ready for Mayhem" posing once they got down the van, this is where their theme song would play.
And then it feels like they just stand there in silence, waiting for the scorpion to finally get closer. I see you used the knight parts again on it.

Captain Stinger looks like a Gentleman Vampire/Demon Hunter with A DARK SECRET.
We will see if these two become part of the group, and what cosmetic upgrades theys will acquire in the future. I love that your universe allows complete open minded ever changing cosmetics.

"Do you believe in magic" and happy magic clown colors make me think of Meet the Pyro.

LOL, I went back to look at the first couple of battle poses and there is indeed a 'delayed awkwardly waiting' vibe going on there, like you see in some movies for comic relief when things are too serious.

And yes, I did outfit the critter with the rest of the knight armor. Makes me more inclined to refer to him as 'SIR Scorpion' now.

I did want Captain Stinger to have that archetypal cold-faced man-in-black thing going on...with a bit of Nick Valentine PI detective vibe from Fallout 4.

...Maybe he's a Synth too?

Haha, I enjoyed the video. I like coming across those random animated short films on YouTube. If you're a fan of that kind of offbeat animation humor, I would recommend the show Love, Death + Robots. Every episode has a different art direction and overall 'tone' to the narrative, it's really diverse and one of my favorites.

Time for PART 2.

Gheizt was suddenly engulfed by a wave of disorientation, as reality seemed to shift around him once more. Did the scorpion's venomous attack from earlier have some kind of latent effect on his psyche, and was just now taking full effect?





Whatever was happening, he began to experience some really trippy hallucinations...






SKUPES: Umm...dude, are you OK?


CAPTAIN STINGER: Hmm...it would seem your friend is beginning to experience the more latent symptoms of Scout Corporal Ian's toxins.

CAPT. STINGER: He was the first of my subjects to test my mind control serum on. Human minds have proven far too complex and resistant...that is, until I happened upon a certain undead breed not too long ago. Their brains are so much more...malleable.





CAPT. STINGER: I am The Ringleader, you see... Ever since you freaks started showing up in the Afterworld, it has been my dream to enlist an ensemble for The Last Greatest Show on Earth - a Circus Coliseum where folks will come from all over to watch you tear each other apart in a battle royale. Hahahaha....AHAHAHAHA!!!!


SKUPES: Hey, that's those zombies who attacked us a couple of months ago!! Kaiden Cauldwell and Franchesca...you twisted their minds and bodies, and dressed them up like that? That's so F***ED UP!!!!

KAIDEN: No, you're the one who's about to be f***ed up this time, little clown man!!!!

And of course you had to end on a cliffhanger! Fingers crossed, our heroes will prevail. Even if they are assaulted by such potent filters.

Cool fight scenes!

Oh no!! I want to read more!!! How DARE you!
And YAY for hallucinations!!!

Awesome, your action figures see a lot of action, that's for sure. Beautiful job and great new incarnations and upgrades, especially our zombie friends and Kaleidoskoops. He looks so experienced now, high level equipment.

Your fights always feel like there is a lot at stake and the enemies always feel very formidable and dangerous. Faceapp stinger with the sword looks like a true villiain now.

The hallucinations are beautifully weird and random.

Did you get a second car or did you Paint It Black?

Great fight shots and I must say the beard on the wolf is glorious.

Whoah! That was intensely bizarre, and now turning into something possibly tragic. I like the forced perspective shots during the fight sequence.