Albert Art M Bison Munny custom vinyl toy

The Psycho Crusher is Real!

I'm taking part in a group art show here in Vancouver, (Dec.5th @ The Fall Gallery), where the theme of the exhibit is "Evil Toys."

Nothing too original, and kind of boring actually in terms of a theme, but instead of doing the usual bloody, demonic, homicidal maniacs, and belated Halloween figures expected in a show such as this, I wanted to do something a little different.

So, I started brainstorming. Searching a box of Munny accessories that I've accumulated over the last few years, I got some ideas that revolved around this hat accessory, but really there were only two designs that came to mind, and it was a toss up between Hitler, and M.Bison.

Both are very iconic figures in pop-culture, (one more so than the other), but rather than design a toy around one of the most evil individuals to ever walk this Earth, I decided to skip the touchiness of a Hitler subject, for the videogame inspired villain from Capcom's Street Fighter, instead.

Besides, I love Street Fighter!

M.Bison has a pretty cool design to begin with. The massive boots, shoulder pads, and hat are great details to start out with, but it was the characters white eyes, and facial expression that really sold me on the character.

The imposing character is often seen with a toothy grin in artwork for the Street Fighter series, which over the years hasn't changed much, even though the character become more steroidal with each new game.

To make the design work for such a small super deformed vinyl toy, like the Kidrobot Munny, required some planning. Minimal, and simplistic in approach to the face, and added details, or the toy wouldn't work.

And of course, I have to put my own style into the design, as I am a fan of the asymmetrical expression.

The cape was taken from an old umbrella cover, which I cut and wrinkled up to give it a posable ability. The fabric became quite rigid, and easy to work with after a while. As you can see, it looks like the cape is flapping in the wind, when in actuality, no wind, or wires were required.

The boots were made with Super Sculpey, which I boiled, then sprayed with metallic paint in chrome. They are attached by screws which connect to the vinyl base, drilled with a handy Dremel tool.

The shoulder pads which are also Super Sculpey, had to be the right size, or the head wouldn't be able to move. The degree of rotation is limited, because the pads are pretty delicate, and can break.

M.Bison is another addition to my gamer themed collection of customs. I hope this toy brings a smile to all fans of Street Fighter. It was fun to make! This is also my last vinyl toy of 2009! Expect more awesomeness in the new year!

If you're in Vancouver, and wanna see this toy up close, stop by the art show Dec.5th to check it out. More details below.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

More info...

www.thefalltattooing.com

http://www.facebook.com/#/event.php?eid=170944202265&ref=mf

Good Gaming in February

I love Street Fighter IV, but that theme song is shiiiiit! Poppy-boy-band-Jpop-styled rock music for an otherwise awesome fighting game. I think the 'Indestructible' song cheapens Street Fighter kinda like the songs from every Sonic Adventure game, sounding more like a Saturday Morning cartoon theme for middle-school kids, than an epic beat em' up. Is there anyway to turn off the vocals? I'd rather listen to instrumental.

Aside from that, I'm having an awesome time playing Street Fighter IV. I honestly haven't played this much Street Fighter, since back in the SNES days when Super Street Fighter came out. And though times are different from then and now, Street Fighter remains Street Fighter, good ol' 2d bashing but with a graphical update, and more options to beat your opponent.

I beat arcade mode the other day on medium, after slugging it out with Seth. That guy is a cheap mofo, but after 10 or 15 tries, I finished him off.

The game looks so good on my monitor that I just had to take some pics of the opening intro. I love the painterly art style.

I especially like the option to have challengers connect while playing arcade mode. Makes the game feel even more like an arcade experience from the comforts of home.

GTAIV The Lost and Damned.

I used to really despise GTA, but since playing through and finishing GTAIV, I've grown to enjoy the series with a renewed sense of appreciation for what the developers are trying to accomplish with their film-like sandbox crime series.

"The Lost and Damned" is more of the same but with a biker gang, new characters, a basic leveling-up feature, and familiar faces from Niko's adventures in Liberty City. The gritty film-grain look really adds a cool aesthetic to this biker story, making The Lost and Damned, seem like a new game in itself.

If you're like me, and avoided using the motorcycles in GTA IV due to frustration with the control, I was bummed to hear that this game would involve lots of bikes, and bike racing. Gladly though, there are improvements to the handling of the motorcycles, but there are instances where controlling the thing is just beyond your control. It's not as frustrating as before, so that is definitely a good thing.

Pictures from GTA's intro.

Life is good with these two games!

Please stop sending me the Stop Uwe Boll Petition!!

Jumping on the Uwe Boll "hate" bandwagon is so 2006

Just because I interviewed the guy at his Raging Boll Boxing publicity stunt, doesn't mean I actually care for his movies. In fact, I don't give a flying F*ck. I just don't care, to the extent that I don't care for the petition to stop his filmmaking career.

Why do people even care about his movies anyway? He hasn't exactly turned the most popular video games, into horrendous films. Besides, it's not like gamers really cared about the Alone in the Dark, and House of the Dead games.

How many people actually played House of The Dead? How Many people actually played Alone in the Dark?

Sure they have a following, (a cult following which includes me) but they ain't no Halo, in terms of sales, or mainstream pop-cultural acceptance.

These games should never have been made into movies. Even if they were made by a different director, I'm sure they'd be pretty shiotty. Hello! House of the Dead! Anyone who's actually played the series knows it has a pretty campy/cheesy/cliched storyline with awful cinematics and voice over. I wasn't exactly waiting around for someone to make it into a feature film.

It's not like there were many people who remembered Alone in the Dark, either. Most people on the petition probably aren't old enough to remember Alone in the Dark! As for BloodRayne, Dungeon Siege, Postal... never interested me. Yet I can see where the anger comes from. Why make these games into films if people weren't hoping and wishing for movies based on them. Especially given Uwe's reputation, and the way they turned out. We have every right to fear more crappy video game to film abominations.

But everyone needs to realize that there are worse movies out there, and worse directors. Why aren't people bitching about Paul Anderson, and his Resident Evil flicks? He's raped Resident Evil, the Alien/Predator franchise, and now OMG Castlevania with Stomp the Yard director Sylvain White?!! Or what about Xavier Gen and his Hitman filck, that no one saw. Let's not forget Annabel Jankel, Rocky Morton, Roland Joffé, Dean Semler, all of who had a hand in making Super Mario Bros. the movie. What about DOA: Dead or Alive? or The live-action Street Fighter directed by Steven E. de Souza (who also helped write The Cradle of Life)? Lara Croft: Tomb Raider by Simon West? Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life by Jan de Bont

What about the new Street Fighter? Maybe there should be a petition to end Andrzej Bartkowiak's career... a director who also just so happened to direct Doom... as well as Romeo Must Die, Cradle 2 the Grave, and other hip hop martial arts cheese??

Gamers shouldn't be angry at solely Uwe Boll. Hollywood is to blame. Developers/Publishers who whore out their properties without much involvement (if any), in it's adaptation and production are to blame. Video game's aren't being treated, or respected as source material, as novels are treated when adapting for film. It's a shame.

I'm not worried about Uwe. I'm more worried about McG doing the next Terminator filck, and Paul Anderson molesting Castlevania. The world is coming to an END.

Signing the petition is like contributing to a marketing survey that shows statistically, 1 million people are aware of Uwe Boll's existence. What an ego booster. If you wanted to hate on someone, ignoring them is worse than acknowledging.

Smallville Fighter!

This is what I think of Kristin Kreuk in the new Street Fighter Chun Li Film:

I like Kristin Kreuk. I like her, because she's Canadian and from Vancouver. I think she's a gorgeous actress, and well, HOT! I think her taking on the role of Chun Li will solidify her as an icon of geek culture, even more so then Smallville. Though I still can't believe they're making another Street Fighter film, it's hard to believe that it's revolving around the character of Chun Li. I've heard rumors about it for the longest time, and now I guess they're true.

I was pretty surprised she was chosen to play Chun Li, after all, the character Chun Li is fully Chinese, and speaks the language fluently. Kreuk will have to learn the language, unless of course the filmmakers decide to Americanize the character for western audiences. I guess Kreuk will have to learn martial arts, like wushu, and wire-fu too. When thinking of the film, you can't help but think about another game -to-movie fighting franchise like DOA. It sure LOOKS good, but that's about it.