Count down to Crossover Part 4: The pitch

So here we are at the end of Countdown but hopefully the beginning of something great:

Now whether Crossover comes into being or not is kind of in your hands. As you will have no doubt noticed there are links here to our Kickstarter page where we look to raise the funds to complete the sculpting and casting of our initial release. There are a number of different levels of support with incentives at each level to say thank you to those of you who donate. There's plenty more I could tell you here but as you're going to check out the Kickstarter page you don't need to read it all twice do you?

You are going to check out the Kickstarter page, right? Yeah thought so, cheers.

Help us to bring Crossover to life, this could be the start of something pretty cool.

Soaps.

PS: Here's that link for ya: Crossover Miniatures Superhero range Kickstarter project.

Countdown to Crossover Part 3: The Twist

Welcome, reader to out penultimate issue of Countdown to Crossover where our Hero is sent careening across alternate realities and meets eight different versions of himself!

So we've met the Guardian already, stalwart hero of the city and defender of the public good.

The question is though,is there more to our hero than meets the eye? Well of course there is or I'd hardly be asking the question now would I?

So last time I mentioned that Rusti and I had had an idea. It started as a way to get the most out of our goons but never being one to let a random thought just drift off into the ether I suggested that it might be worth trying out the idea on a few of the other figures in the range to give the punters a bit more variety. As ever I kind of went on auto pilot and disappeared for a few days only to next get back to Rusti with the news that now all of the heroes and goons (except for out Hulking Brute Ram Jam) had completely interchangeable heads and that I was doing three different one for each of them (Ram Jams gets three heads too but they would look ridiculous on anyone else, he is quite big). There was a bit of silence then, you could almost hear the nervous sweat beading on his forehead as he wondered just what kind of lunatic he was getting involved with...

...but everything was cool in the end. (Now there is a cop out ending if ever you've read one)

Anyway here for your delight and delectation I present to you our Guardian in eight new guises! Now Guardian was a bit of an experiment and I've tried out something else with him and am working on a separate cloak. This part is still WIP and we don't know if it will see final production but it does offer a few more options for the discerning hero about town. So, without further ado the Guardian becomes:

The Bug, wisecracking member of the Crisis battalion!

The N.S.Agent, government super operative

Mandroid, an artificial hero desperate to understand humanity

Knightline, former sidekick now forging his own heroic legacy

The Prowler, seeking redemption for his past life.

T'Chule, enemy of Atlantis.

Alpha Centurion, galactic defender.

and finally Super Stig! Just coz.

Shown then are a selection of other heads from the characters already created for the range. Some work better than other as they are clearly designed to work on a different style of model all together but they do show the versatility of the range with only a few models under way. Sadly that brings us to the end (almost) of this issue. Next time our story comes to a close as we find out what all of this has been leading up to and how you can get involved, see you next time.

LETTER COLUMN:
In Issue one Superherofigurehunter asked:
Any hints as to what Crossover may entail? A commercial venture by any chance? Or a fan=community venture?


Stay tuned to next issue to find out!

And in Issue two Superherofigurehunter asked:
Are these going to be commercially available?


That's the plan!

If so, if you are casting them up, would you guys consider tabbing instead of integral bases?


Now I know there are a lot of people out there who prefer tabbed bases and I am aware of the arguments for and against but here is were I stand on it (for this project at least). Integrated bases allow you to start playing with your miniature straight away it is, to some extent, table ready. If you are using modelled bases an integrated base is not much harder to remove than a tabbed one although granted it does require a little more care and attention and finally if you have a tabbed base then you are pretty much obliged to provide a slotted base to go with it which is yet another expense for a start up company to find, it also means you are beholden to yet another supplier providing you with their stock before you can even send out your product to gamers. There are also a couple of different styles of slotted base, not to mention sizes and shapes, so which one do you use? Will it put some people off? At least when you have an integrated base you can be sure that if people aren't buying your models it's because of the model itself and not because of the bit of plastic you've had to pay someone else for your customers not to like! :)

Thanks to all those who have offered encouragement and please if you have something to say or a question to ask then leave a comment and I will try to answer as many as I can in the next issue when the countdown to Crossover finally ends and our story moves into new an uncharted territory.

Countdown to Crossover Part 2: The Design process.

So last time I waxed lyrical about how the idea for crossover came about this time I am going to take a look at where we went with the idea.

As I was recently reminded a picture is worth a thousand words so I thought it would be easiest for Rusti to show me his ideas in a picture so with that in mind I knocked up a couple of blank body templates for him to sketch over some uniform ideas:

Feel free to use these templates for your own hero sketches, it's fun! I know the woman is all shoulders and no hips but give me a break, it's the first female figure I've drawn in about a decade and for my drawings close enough is close enough!

So anyway, I sent Rusti a copy of the templates for him to rough out his ideas on and pretty soon I had the first one back. A classic, bodysuited, old school hero type. Or at least that's what I assumed it was...

By the looks of things Rusti didn't draw...

...but that was okay because at least I knew what he was after (assuming the eyes were artistic license and not an accurate reflection of his desires). So I adjusted and had a mess around and came back with a couple of versions of a classic bodysuited hero:

The first one had a slightly more modern look with some raised and padded areas to add a bit of something extra whilst the second was a lot truer to the original idea maintaining the stark simplicity and allowing plenty of scope for painters to add their own personality to the figure. Rusti was quite happy for the figure to share the same pose with the sketch template so I even knew how to pose him up. After a few more back and forth's Rusti and I had come up four characters and a 'goon' and I was about ready to get sculpting...

And below you see the fruits of my labour. Here is the first of out new heroes, the torch bearer for Crossover. Being such a simple figure I had to make sure the body shape worked as I wouldn't be able to hide anything under 'stuff'. I'm really pleased how he turned out.

As I said Rusti and I had come up with a number of characters; heroes, villains and goons, and they were all coming along great but then we decided to try something a little different. something risky but we thought it'd be worth the effort.

Tune in to our next thrilling instalment as we reveal the big plot twist and start paving the way to the gripping conclusion of a story that could only be called: Countdown to Crossover!

Countdown to Crossover Part 1: The idea

I've been trying to work out when crossover started.

It might have been during the late 80's reading Marvel UK titles like Death's Head, Dragons Claws, Transformers and Action Force.

It might have been back in the early 90's when I walked into the Warner Brothers store in Kingston and they were playing The Batman Adventures on the big screen.

It might have been when BBC radio 1 transmitted the audio dramas of Knightfall and the Death of Superman.

It might have been when I found They Walk Among Us, a fantastic comic shop in Richmond where I bought my first DC comics and ultimately ended up working, some 10 years later, after I left GW.

It's more likely to have started when I discovered the supersystem rules and decided these were exactly what I needed to scratch an itch I didn't even know I had had.

There is a strong chance that it really became an idea once I started sculpting my own superhero miniatures and posting them on the LAF superhero boards.

I know when I stopped being an idea and started to become a reality though. Fergal, fellow poster to the Lead Adventures forum, contacted me and asked if I was interested in sculpting a range of superheroes. I asked him if bears were Catholic and the Pope shits in the woods, damn right I was interested! We both seemed to be on exactly the same wavelength and were finishing each others sentences before the end of our first phone call. It felt a bit like what I imagine the relationship is like between a writer and his artist on a comic book. Russell, for that is Fegal's secret identity (although not so much now I fear), had loads of ideas for characters and I took inspiration from his descriptions and turned them into something we both liked the look of. Suddenly it was real and we both got all exited, manly and reserved naturally, but still excited.

So I suppose that is were it started really. Of course it wasn't Crossover then, it was just the idea. Work has gone on behind the scenes and soon with a bit of luck and some support from the gaming community it may even become a reality. The countdown to Crossover has begun. Watch this space.

I'm not dead yet...

...and to prove it here are some things I made.

The Christmas project

Crickey, it's just occurred to me that I didn't post up my Christmas project. That being said, here we go.

So last November I got a message from Lord Ashram who was after a few figures for his good lady for Chrimbletide. Unfortunately I was a bit busy at the time but once I heard what the project was I decided to make the time. I managed to finish up my projects and even got the models finished in plenty of time (or so I thought). Now Lord A lives in the US so two postal services and a bit of snow got in the way of the efficient delivery of the models so Christmas was a bit light at the Lord A homestead but eventually all was well and the models arrived. For the full story, and to see them painted up and in their diorama base check out Lord Ashrams blog (above).

Anyway, here are the models he wanted. Harry, Ron and Hermione. And most enjoyable to do they were too.

Ragnarök

ODIN!

Lord of Valhalla, high king of the Æsir.

Odin carries his treasures, the spear Gungnir, the magical ring Draupnir and the head of Mimir which predicts the future. He is accompanied by the ravens, Huginn and Muninn, his wolves Freki and Geri and rides out on Sleipnir the eight legged horse who was fathered by Loki.

At Ragnarök Odin shall ride before the Æsir and the Einherjar wearing a golden helmet and an intricate coat of mail where he shall be swallowed by the great wolf Fenrir and so die.

HRYM

During the end times Hrym shall captain the ship Naglfar, made of the finger and toe nails of the dead, from Jotunheim to Vígríðr bringing the legions of jötnar to the final battle.