Custom TBLeague Pharaoh (updated with additional images)

Additional images in Post 9 below.

While I don't consider myself afflicted by Egyptomania, I find many aspects of Ancient Egypt fascinating. That is one of the reasons why I keep being divided by TBLeague's Egyptesque offerings, excited in principle, let down by poor choices or what I consider extraneous rationale. I have not bought a single one of their Egyptian-themed figures as a set, although I have picked up many parted out pieces -- some that were just interesting, most that were historically accurate -- or reasonably close. (Apologies to Delanie, who does not like Egyptians -- or Romans.)

TBLeague's Pharaoh Tutankhamun (HERE) was at first sight less fantastical than some of their other Egyptian-themed products, but in fact very little is salvageable if one wants to go for historical accuracy. The costume is not worth discussing (though it might point to a videogame as the inspiration for the look), the throne is a fantasy hybrid with very crude hieroglyphic gibberish, the bracelets a little off, the armor mostly fantasy, the sandals a mish-mash of Tut's slippers and a type of actual sandal, the collar turned into a sort of fantasy armor, etc. The two scepters (crook and flail) and to a lesser extent the spear are reasonably good approximations of real pieces -- though a bit oversized. The head is inspired by the famous gold mask found on Tutankhamun's mummy, and more generally the appearance of the king's head as rendered on several of the coffins and coffinettes from his burial in the Valley of the Kings. But even it has problems: the blacked-out eyes do correspond to one coffin and one coffinette, but only because the white eye inlay in those instances degraded and turned black over time; the gold mask has a neck and collar attached, TBLeague's masked head does not. And on the back of the mask's headgear, just above the "braid," TBLeague decided to improve on the beautiful simplicity of the original Egyptian design by introducing sections of concentric rosettes. (Philistines! Would that Rameses III should rise again...) Ok, vent over...

That said, their rendition of the head was more accurate than most, and I decided to pick it up to see if I can modify it into something closer to the real thing. In fact, I picked it up twice, as I chose to do both a (partial) mask and a human face look. The only other pieces from this set I used below are the crook and flail scepters, and the appropriate hands to hold them. I repainted the head and the scepters, and used an M32 body instead of the set's M33 (either one is too tall, but M32 has a more slender physique). The clothing is a historically-accurate loin cloth (not visible) and kilt (shendyt) on top of it. For the rest, generally, I picked pieces that were relatively easy to replicate. The apron, broad collar necklace, and bracelets were scanned from images of actual treasures from the burial of Tutankhamun (I should say I'm not specifically trying to make a Tutankhamun), scaled, then made a bit bigger (since Tut was substantially shorter and smaller than the 1:1 equivalent of the M32 body), printed, coated with tape and reinforced with cloth tape, and scoured for a modicum of relief. The bull's tail was done in a similar manner and attached to a wire (which might get covered up later on). The girdle is cloth tape. The human head got a string to hold the false beard in place. The sandals were sculpted, badly, by me. This is still a work in progress, with some improvements and alternative clothing options in the works, eventually. A bonus was learning a couple of new things about what I ended up making (or ended up passing on).











Here is a comparison of the original head from the TBLeague set with the modified mask and human heads. The original head looks perhaps most stylish to me, but since it does not correspond to historical reality, I have little use for it. The masked head is likely to strike as having overly bright blues, but that is actually about right -- although different lighting conditions and the differing effect between Tut's gold and TBLeague's bronze paint make it look a bit off. The human face naturally ends up on the stylized side, given that it is a repaint of the mask; moreover, the make up is perhaps more in line with artistic convention than actual real application (as seen in painted busts of Nefertiti and Akhenaten) -- but with the eye and eyebrow lines in relief, I felt I had to paint them in -- since the result is a good match for Egyptian artistic convention, I'm not too disappointed.



The headdress is glued to the head but can be pried off (which helps when painting it or retraining its flaps with hot water). Here is a makeshift use of the blue crown from the Mystical Forge figure of Rameses II. The crown is a bit too big to fit properly, and TBLeague's upcoming version promises to be a better rendition of that piece. But one gets the idea.





Additional images in Post 9 below.

#tbleague #pharaoh #king #egypt #tutankhamun #male #historical #ancient

Interesting outcome, Ian. Pretty wild you were able to paint over that death mask to match the skin tone of the body used.

It's so weird to me why TBL made Tut an over-sized muscle-bound grown man, when he died so young -- made no sense.

Great Work and Idea, i like the agyptian culture to. Beccause of the mystical creatures and gods and buildings, i think.

Stryker2011 wrote:Interesting outcome, Ian. Pretty wild you were able to paint over that death mask to match the skin tone of the body used.

It's so weird to me why TBL made Tut an over-sized muscle-bound grown man, when he died so young -- made no sense.

Thank you, Mark. Well, a shortish club-footed teenager probably would not have sold. Tut was never a good choice for a hero pharaoh -- Rameses II is a much more plausible option there. But even he is probably going to be a bit overly bulky with an M33. But we certainly have the most personal effects preserved from Tut -- since the ancients more or less forgot to plunder his burial (which might say something about how memorable he was) -- and of course the most treasures. Besides, as discussed in the New Product Announcement topic on the TBLeague set, the choice of clothing suggests this was based on a video game.

Ephiane wrote:Great Work and Idea, i like the agyptian culture to. Beccause of the mystical creatures and gods and buildings, i think.

Thank you very much, Ephiane. Without overselling the Egyptians, there is plenty to be fascinated by in their culture, art, and architecture. Including a gaudy, vibrant imagery that tends to be subdued by the sleeker, stylish look found in the renditions by ARH, computer games, and ultimately TBLeague...

Oh, I really like what you did with this, GF. The paintjobs on the face and the mask headdresses are great. The whole thing evokes a much more representive aesthetic of the subject matter. And the string to hold the false beard in place is a really fun detail.

The actual Tbleague faux-gyptian offerings leave me cold, but this is far more interesting to me. (And I'm not even that bothered with Eygyptian stuff, usually. )

skywalkersaga wrote:Oh, I really like what you did with this, GF. The paintjobs on the face and the mask headdresses are great. The whole thing evokes a much more representive aesthetic of the subject matter. And the string to hold the false beard in place is a really fun detail.

The actual Tbleague faux-gyptian offerings leave me cold, but this is far more interesting to me. (And I'm not even that bothered with Eygyptian stuff, usually. )

Thank you very much for the kind words. I was hoping for something more realistic, while realizing that was an unlikely outcome given the masked face and relief lines; but the resulting more representative aesthetic makes me feel good about it anyway. I'm glad I remembered the strings for the fake beard -- they are sometimes present, but often absent in the art (like Tut's actual mask, which does not have them).

I'm with you on their Egyptian-themed products. I realize they are often based on pop culture stuff that is itself inaccurate and they cater to a different aesthetic. But at the same time, seeing so much excellence in detail (sculpt, paint, etc), I can't help but feel it is wasted by not doing more historically accurate things.

That is some effective use of plain colored prints, works surprisingly well on photos. I think the body was the best choice among those available and knowing your hate for the m31 :p (although I think the m31 would be good here too.)
Interesting to see the famous mask brought to life, and the colour matches the body very well. Although I think it could use some more work to make him more alive. On the photos it looks like the skin has exactly one colour without nuance, like he was covered in concealer or a painted statue. I could imagine a decent light wash of orange and brown, some contouring, highlighting and fine pigment splashing. And of course addinf spark to the eyes. Instead of white I would use a light grey and add a hint of red/pink wash.

Great historical accuracy! Maybe someday you might contribute your finished work to an ethnological museum.

First, a few more images, including some close ups --

Ovy wrote:That is some effective use of plain colored prints, works surprisingly well on photos. I think the body was the best choice among those available and knowing your hate for the m31 :p (although I think the m31 would be good here too.)
Interesting to see the famous mask brought to life, and the colour matches the body very well. Although I think it could use some more work to make him more alive. On the photos it looks like the skin has exactly one colour without nuance, like he was covered in concealer or a painted statue. I could imagine a decent light wash of orange and brown, some contouring, highlighting and fine pigment splashing. And of course addinf spark to the eyes. Instead of white I would use a light grey and add a hint of red/pink wash.

Thank you very much, Ovy. I thought of using the M31, which would have been generally suitable, but the poor wrists and frontal sculpt dissuaded me -- that said, it actually is a viable choice. This one is skinnier which may be good, but also tightly muscled, which may not. Color matching was one of my priorities and I think it turned out well, although my flesh tone could have been just a little warmer for a perfect match (in some photos it is noticeable, in others not). In the end, the application does look quite even -- which is better than some of the alternatives, and earlier stages. I went through the dark-to-light in thin layers approach, but the original base is of course bronze/gold, and I was trying very hard to keep any of that coming through. Adding more layers would likely make it more flat, but perhaps an orange/brown wash and the effects you mention might help. That said, the heavy make up effect dictated by the molded lines (which are pretty accurate to the mask) would always keep the face somewhat stylized -- and I'm largely resigned to that. I purposefully mixed the white for the eyes with ivory and tried to darken it a little near the corners; but there was very little space to work with, and the heavy make up creates a stronger contrast. The eyes are given plenty of gloss, but it seems near impossible the capture it with my camera. Still, see the last two photos above. Taking these made me notice a more obvious problem -- with the "human face" the nemes headgear should not be shiny! It is shiny because it was designed to go with the modified gold mask face. Now I have to paint another one to go with the "human face," and make sure it comes out matte. The bronze/gold would probably have to be repainted yellow (or white, I have to do some extra research). But while more accurate that would probably look less iconic.

ElBundy wrote:Great historical accuracy! Maybe someday you might contribute your finished work to an ethnological museum.  

Thank you very much! That is what I'm going for, to a point. I hope to make more costume variations. Perhaps I could get Ovy to design or find and print the crowns of Upper and Lower Egypt, as I don't trust myself to be able to sculpt them accurately enough.

In the case of the layering that you did to get rid of the gold color coming through, and having the final paint app look a “bit flat” as Ovy said: sometimes going REALLY dark for that base color works best, like a mix of red-brown/burnt umber color and continuing from there. I wouldn’t suggest starting over at this point, as the idea of a wash would probably work at this point.

Nice work Ian!

Now that is a good project - making more historically accurate figures out of fantasy stuff is always welcome.
I had a book about Tut and even had a little speech back in school in our history class about him (everyone had to choose a theme to speak about that year) but I don't remember much. Next time I visit my parents I will try to find that book again.

Anyway, I really like that you made two versions out of his mask - real face and a modified mask. I can live with the M32 despite the high. Better choice than M33 for sure.

I think you did a great job here and it is cool to see what modifications you did.

Are you in for more modified egyptians, like Nefertiti, Ramesses or Echnaton?

Stryker2011 wrote:In the case of the layering that you did to get rid of the gold color coming through, and having the final paint app look a “bit flat” as Ovy said: sometimes going REALLY dark for that base color works best, like a mix of red-brown/burnt umber color and continuing from there. I wouldn’t suggest starting over at this point, as the idea of a wash would probably work at this point.

Thank you for the suggestion. I did interpose a darker layer (red and brown mixed together) between the gold and the lighter "suntan" color -- in fact, given my trouble getting lip colors right, I left it on the lips. Perhaps it was not dark enough. I had to keep applying thin layers of "suntan" because there was far too much unevenness showing through. So I went ahead and applied an orange-brown wash, then washed it off quickly (I am not satisfied with matte varnish, so I had not applied any), and I can't say anything has changed at all. I did paint a few more wrinkle lines under the eyes, around the lower nose and mouth, along the eyelid crease, with very watered down paint  (I was trying to keep them subtle), but I can't notice most of them either. Also added extra gloss to the eyes, after putting in a little watered down red paint in the corners. Other than the unfortunately different camera angle and perhaps the eyes, I don't really see the difference between before (left) and after (right) --

BAMComix wrote:Nice work Ian!

Thank you very much Dal, glad you liked it.

Valiarde wrote:Now that is a good project - making more historically accurate figures out of fantasy stuff is always welcome.  
I had a book about Tut and even had a little speech back in school in our history class about him (everyone had to choose a theme to speak about that year) but I don't remember much. Next time I visit my parents I will try to find that book again.

Anyway, I really like that you made two versions out of his mask - real face and a modified mask. I can live with the M32 despite the high. Better choice than M33 for sure.

I think you did a great job here and it is cool to see what modifications you did.

Are you in for more modified egyptians, like Nefertiti, Ramesses or Echnaton?  

Thank you very much, I'm very glad you liked it. Tutankhamun is the natural point of comparison -- given I started with TBLeague's rendition of him, and using pieces from his burial as reference -- but I'm not trying to make a Tutankhamun specifically. Still, it does have his features, doesn't it? I still cannot bring myself to get a Nefertiti head (if one were available) -- I keep passing on it in disappointment at the non-detachable crown -- at any rate, the rendition is not very accurate (they did much better with Tut, even if not quite perfect). We'll see about their Rameses -- I have pre-ordered one of those; I have many of the pieces of the Mystical Forge Rameses from years ago (that's where the blue crown above came from), and have shown him reconstituted on a TBLeague body HERE. Echnaton/Akhenaten -- maybe that Michael Jackson head I picked up would come to good use after all?

That's a cool bash and custom items too. I think it's a bit disappointing that the ancient egyptian offerings out there are mostly fantasy, still it's really good what you managed to make with them.

Theboo-bomb wrote:That's a cool bash and custom items too. I think it's a bit disappointing that the ancient egyptian offerings out there are mostly fantasy, still it's really good what you managed to make with them.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. And I agree. Of course, I'd hope they create more historical figures (their Rameses is some improvement), or at the very least that there will be more useful items in their sets.

I like it. These days my eyes aren't good enough and my hands shake too much for me to try face repainting. I'm thinking that you might have enough bits left over to bash a neat fantasy Egyptian.

shazzdan wrote:I like it. These days my eyes aren't good enough and my hands shake too much for me to try face repainting. I'm thinking that you might have enough bits left over to bash a neat fantasy Egyptian.

Thank you very much, Dan, I'm glad you like it. Eyes are always difficult when there is so little space to work with -- and even if one gets them to look pretty decent from a normal distance, macro photos make obvious every stray speck, turning one's work into an impressionist experiment. But there are experts who can do a pretty clean job of them, I'm just not as good as them. I did pick up some of the bits and pieces that I knew I would likely not use, for fantasy customs -- Egyptian or otherwise. I even picked up the throne (it was shown with my custom vampires) which is a nice enough piece in many respects, ironically not as an Egyptian one -- the hieroglyphs are actually the worst part (both oversized and still very crudely executed), and the most visible features, the winged lions under the armrests at the front, look decidedly un-Egyptian. I also loved the greaves (which did not look very Egyptian either -- not that the Egyptians used them), again, for a fantasy custom.

Another elegant historical figure! I actually had a brief Egyptian fascination phase when I was younger, though that was mainly due to exposure to the Brendan Fraser The Mummy films, and that animated Prince of Egypt movie. I was also being taught some Egyptian history in one of my Elementary school classes at the time, so it all kind of tied together simultaneously. Well done on that face repaint, and I personally prefer the classic pharaoh headdress look for him. Wasn't it revealed that King Tut actually had a club foot (hence the cane)? Not that it would work for the representation you're going for, but if one happened to be in possession of a TBLeague body with one of those faulty/broken ankle pegs, it would kinda be conveniently historically accurate, right?

AlKelAstra91 wrote:Another elegant historical figure! I actually had a brief Egyptian fascination phase when I was younger, though that was mainly due to exposure to the Brendan Fraser The Mummy films, and that animated Prince of Egypt movie. I was also being taught some Egyptian history in one of my Elementary school classes at the time, so it all kind of tied together simultaneously. Well done on that face repaint, and I personally prefer the classic pharaoh headdress look for him. Wasn't it revealed that King Tut actually had a club foot (hence the cane)? Not that it would work for the representation you're going for, but if one happened to be in possession of a TBLeague body with one of those faulty/broken ankle pegs, it would kinda be conveniently historically accurate, right?

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. I found the Mummy films fun, although obviously fantastical (but for the most part that was ok, since the bulk of the action took place in modern times), and liked the Prince of Egypt movie for what it was (Rameses would have been appalled, I'm sure). The Mystical Forge blue crown is not great, and it is not really designed for this head anyway. Yes, one of the few "facts" about Tutankhamun that really are facts seems to be the club foot, apparently it even resulted in some provision for it in some (not all) of the king's footwear. That this was the reason for the canes (there were a bunch of them) is less certain, since these were also symbols of authority and status. I don't know much about club feet (just looked it up again), and apparently there are different types. A later king, Siptah, had one too, in his case talipes equinus (in which case the foot is stuck in a high-heel-wearing-like position).

Excellent job! Love the repaint and the 'bling'. Just from a historical point of view was the 'tail' a real thing he would wear and what did it represent?

shovelchop81 wrote:Excellent job! Love the repaint and the 'bling'. Just from a historical point of view was the 'tail' a real thing he would wear and what did it represent?

Thank you very much, Alex. The collar was easy (sorta), because the actual object itself was a ceramic and metal imitation a real floral collar rendered as a bead collar -- it was made of tapering connected sections, appropriately molded and colored. All the bling is based on actual photos, scaled, manipulated, printed out, etc. Too bad the scouring doesn't show well in the photos.

As for the tail, it is found on depictions of the king from earliest times until the end. I do not know how often it was worn, but presumably there were certain contexts in which it was -- but perhaps it is more common in art, as a standard symbol appropriate to mark out the king (much like the multi-pointed crowns of medieval kings, even in modern cartoons). It probably started out as the actual object, but might have been replaced by an artificial and stylized representation of it (similarly with the false beards worn by pharaohs). The full symbolism is probably beyond recovery but on a fundamental level, it compared the king with a "mighty bull" (the Horus names of New Kingdom pharaohs all started with that phrase, ka nakht in artificial vocalization). And the bull was a symbol of physical strength and virility (in all sense of that word). I took the stylized pattern for the tail (and the skirt at the front) from images of pharaohs from Dynasties 19-20 (c. 1300-1100 BC).

Here are some examples (images might take some time to load, just in case also including the links) --

See the Narmer palette (c. 2900 BC) -- the king wears the bull's tail on both sides (upper registers) and on the right, bottom register, he is also represented as a bull breaking through a city wall and trampling underfoot a shaggy enemy.



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narmer_Palette#/media/File:Narmer_Palette.jpg

Ptolemaios VII Euergetes Physkon in Egyptian guise crowned by the tutelary goddesses of Upper and Lower Egypt, relief from the Edfu Temple, c. 140 BC:



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ptolemy_VIII_Physcon#/media/File:Edfu_Tempel_42-2.jpg

Thanks for all the info and great to know you did all the work yourself! I can't believe how many times I've look at hieroglyphs of Pharaohs and never noticed the tail! I guess I always assumed it was a crack or something! Ancient Egypt was even on our preschool history syllabus for the whole of year 3 (about 7 year old kids) covering the Southern Kingdom, the Northern Kingdom and then the Unification right up to Cleopatra. Kids in school now don't even know what WW2 is!! FFS...  Apparently they're learning about whether they are male, female or non-binary instead... We covered WW2 for our year 7 or Form 7 as it was actually called. AAhh.. the advantage of a decent private education in a British Embassy school in Greece..