New Comic Review: Pawn

Pawn is a wed comic I came across years ago, forgot about, then found all over again. It's a funny story because the comic was originally hosted on a pay sight for mature comics, which I was leaching off of for free thanks to a nice little trick I once knew, but now it seems to have popped up on the Smack Jeeves network. So I don't really feel bad about reading it for free all those years ago. In fact, I would feel kind of ripped off if I had been paying for it only to see it out there for free now.

The story takes place in sort of a D&D setting and is about a female scholar (what? You never played the scholar in D&D? Me either...) who sneaks down into a dungeon guarded by a big demon chick, invokes demon law to force said demon chick to play chess against her, winner takes the loser's soul, and actually beats the demon. So now she has her very own sexy demon slave, but they still have to make it back out of the dungeon. That's where the story starts. Remember back in the 80s, when you were playing D&D? You would go through all that sh*t just to get to the center of the dungeon, fight the monster, take the loot, and then... nothing. The game was over. The game always overlooks the trek back out of the dungeon. Well this comic gives you that exact missing part of the game your dungeon master was too short sighted to include, and does a really good job of it.

On top of that there is a subplot set around the scholar and her growing relationship with the demon chick. Yes my friends... it's a yuri. Oh and remember how I said this was on a sight for mature comics? The demon chick is naked through the whole thing. So if you like D&D, and constantly having to look at large boobs doesn't bother you, and you like girls making out with other girls... you may want to check out this comic. It's pretty good. otherwise you may just want to look the other way.

Unexpected spending

I shouldn't be spending any money right now. I'm trying to save it all up for Connooga next month, but as I was checking Mycomicshop.com's ebay page for that one comic I must find, I came across three issues of X-Men: The Phoenix. This was a series I had never seen before. Drawn in Manga style and depicting The Phoenix in a very skimpy outfit that makes me wonder why she ever wears clothing at all...

As I was looking at it and noticed the little "explicit content" bar at the bottom of the cover I said to myself, I have got to see this. Then I noticed that all three auctions were ending in less then three minutes. Oh no!

So I had less then three minutes to sign into ebay and bid on three different auctions. I managed to do it though and won all three of them. in the words of a geek, "w00t!" Now I'm $18.00 short on my Connooga fund though... Oh well, I'll make do.

Today's Activities 12/10/10

I put the hair on the Venus figure I am turning into April (Turtle Version) but the paints for that project haven't come in yet so I'm going back to working on my Irma (Rat Version) figure. Tonight I'm doing the sculpting. Fun, fun. I also stopped in Hastings and picked up Tales Of The TMNT #65. It's the first time I've read the new comic. Not bad but I still think I prefer the old Archie comic...

Pictures of sculpted Rat Irma in the next post.

New Custom Project

I got the base figure for the new custom figure I plan to make. This time I'm looking to make were-rat Irma from the classic cartoon show. She was only a were-rat for one episode but I thought she looked really great as one. (One of The Ratking's few accomplishments)

For the base figure I'm using a Blink figure from the X-Men toy line. She had this awkward way of standing with her knees slightly bent and her toes pointing inward that gave a very insecure look that would be perfect for Irma. Her hands were also perfect for a were-rat. The figure is a bit more sexy then Irma ever was... let me make that WAY more sexy, but that's okay. She can be a sexy were-rat. I think becoming a were-rat was an improvement for Irma anyways.

For the head I had planned to take the head off of a Ninja Turtles 'Master Splinter' figure and sand it down just a bit to make it look more girlie, but as you can see in the picture, while the figures are about the same height, the proportions are way off. The head will be too big on her. That was something I hadn't planned on. Now I'm thinking I'll have to sculpt the rat features onto the already existing head. I can only hope it works out because as far as I know there aren't a whole lot of rat action figures out there to be used as parts. The Biker Mice From Mars sure won't work. I know... I checked...

Teenage Mutant Samurai Turtle: Step 3

The last step was to sand down any parts that needed to be smoothed out and then paint the figure. I didn't sand down too much because as I said I wanted him to have a weathered, ragged look. For that same reason I used the cheap craft store acrylic paint instead of the good stuff you would use on plastic models. It gave him sort of a dusty, chalky look which was what I wanted. I wanted this guy to look like he had been walking cross country for the last few months, not like he had just come off the shelf at ToysR'Us.

All in all I'm very happy with how he came out for the first custom figure I've made in five years... the first I've ever made that involved sculpting... Look at him there hanging out with my favorite turtle girl, Venus.

Now All I have to do is find him a good sword and make a kimono for him to wear. I'll put up another picture when I do.


For my next custom Ninja Turtle figure I'm planning to do the were-rat version of Irma from season 4 of the classic cartoon. I already have parts in the mail and I'll talk about it more when I get started on it.

Teenage Mutant Samurai Turtle: Step 2

So now that I have sculpted the new parts on my figure it's time to harden them. With sculpty you have to use heat to harden it and there are a few ways we can do this. The way you hear the most is to put it in the oven and bake it. But wait! Won't the figure melt if you put it in the oven? Umm... yeah... I've been told that you have to keep the oven somewhere between 150 degrees to 245 degrees. That way it will be hot enough to harden the sculpt but not melt the figure.

Screw that!

That's too hard, too much work, and too risky. I took the easy approach and boiled the figure. That's right, I just popped him in a pot of boiling water for five minutes and he was done.

Although as you can see in the picture, the paint on his shoulders, which were made of hard plastic instead of hardened rubber like the arms and legs, changed from green to white. I actually boiled the color right out. I think this was because I forgot to turn the heat off before putting the figure in the water. As I understand it, you need to bring the water to a boil then reduce heat and bring to a simmer before putting the figure in. I didn't do that. I just boiled him like a lobster... Oops.

But I was going to paint him anyways so it shouldn't make any difference.

PS: Again, bad picture. This was taken the same night as the other ones.

Teenage Mutant Samurai Turtle: Step 1

So I've been working on my Ninja Turtle custom figure and I'm almost finished. Here's what I did...

First I found an old ninja turtle figure (Michelangelo) who had, as I mentioned in my last post, been damaged. I forgot to take a before picture to show what he looked like before I started working on him. Sorry... So the first step was to make him some new parts with sculpty. Fingers and toes to replace the ones that were missing. Samurai looking hair, since I wanted a Samurai Turtle instead of a Ninja Turtle... And sandals sculpted onto his feet. I also used it to fill in the groove around his waist where his belt went since I didn't intend to use a belt for this figure. I didn't bother sanding down any of the places where his mask, wrist bands, knee pads, ect. had been sliced and chipped because I wanted him to have sort of a weathered, ragged look and whatever had gotten a hold of him had already done the job for me.

The next step after this will be to harden the sculpty.


PS: I know the pictures look a little... what's the word... bad. I'm not a photographer and I was having difficulties with my camera the night I did this.