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MmM
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Posts: 826
Registered: 04-04

Sisyphus

An anthropomorphic beetle warrior found exclusively in Konami's 1993 Sega Genesis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters video game. In this particular adventure, Sisyphus (along with April O'Neil, Casey Jones, and Ray Fillet) joins the four terrapins (Raphael, Leonardo, Michelangelo, and Donatello) on their journey into deep space to rescue Master Splinter from the clutches of Triceraton, Krang, and Karai. It won't be easy: Sisyphus will have to first defeat Krang's clones (evil replicas of his seven friends, and himself) before he can even hope to challenge the trio responsible for Splinter's abduction.

Sisyphus is an accomplished martial artist. In addition to traditional punches and kicks, Sisyphus' attack style takes full advantage of his insect physiology. His three special techniques consist of: (1) spitting globes of acidic mucus (motion down, down-towards, towards + A/B); (2) executing a wing-assisted, flying charge into his opponent (charge back briefly, then towards + A/B); and (3) a series of super fast horn stabs (rapidly tap A/B). In dire situations, when Sisyphus is close to death, he gains the ability to vomit forth gigantic rings of mucus (motion towards, down-towards, down, down-back, back + C when his life bar is low and flashing red).

The kanji symbol on his chests means "king; rule; magnate". Perhaps Sisyphus is some kind of beetle monarch?

Materials:
Newsprint, Kleenex, white/hot glue, wire twist ties, ink, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions*:
(* The numbers given are approximations, as the dimensions of this figure can vary considerably depending on how the joints are positioned.)
5.7 cm/2.2 in. x 3.2 cm/1.3 in. (highest point x widest point)

Articulation:
Thirty-six points total: Neck (2), shell (3), wings (4), shoulders(4), elbows (8 ), wrists (4), groin guard, thigh guards (2), hips (2), knees (4), and ankles (2).

Time:
Roughly four days: Construction occurred on September 18, 20, 23, and 25 (2008 ).

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/TMNT_sisyphus1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/TMNT_sisyphus2.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/TMNT_sisyphus_process.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/TMNT_sisyphus_game06.gif

Last edited by MmM on 09-27-08 at 14:12

09-26-08 16:03 #

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Creaphis
I will deliberately take a contrary position just for the sake of writing incredibly long arguments

Posts: 3953
Registered: 10-05

Quite impressive, once again.

MmM said:
Perhaps Sisyphus is some kind of beetle monarch?

Judging by his name, perhaps a dung beetle monarch :)

09-30-08 01:37 #

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lupinx-Kassman
Senior Member

Posts: 1250
Registered: 10-06

Awesome model as usual.

09-30-08 02:32 #

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Shapeless
Forum Regular

Posts: 876
Registered: 01-03

there's not much to say about him since he was never a popular character, in fact I just learned of him. reminds me of backserstockmen

09-30-08 18:48 #

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Coopersville
Get Psyched!

Posts: 2724
Registered: 10-01

found exclusively in Konami's 1993 Sega Genesis Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Tournament Fighters video game

I had a TMNT action figure that resembled him greatly. Any ideas as to what I'm thinking about?

EDIT: I went looking through the garage, and found it. Destoryed from childhood use, it turns out it looks almost nothing like Sisyphus, but I thought I'd post it just for reference, anyway.

http://i354.photobucket.com/albums/r421/coopart/40765475.jpg

Last edited by Coopersville on 09-30-08 at 21:46

09-30-08 21:37 #

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MmM
BoP

Posts: 826
Registered: 04-04

Coopersville: In addition to Scumbug (the one you've got posted) and Baxter Stockman, there's another insect TMNT villain toy, Antrax, who does have four arms.

Creaphis: Yeah, a guy on the TMNT forum I belong to said he was a dung beetle too--I didn't want to believe it (none too glamorous to roll sh*t around for a living), but a trip to Wikipedia confirmed it. The same guy also made me aware that Sisyphus is also the name of the guy in Greek mythology who's doomed to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity down in the underworld (which has it owns dung beetle aspect I suppose).

************************************************************

Here's another quick one I made the other day (Final Fantasy 3 beastie):

http://kramwartap.fortunecity.com/aegil.html

This isn't for a particular figure, rather it's a generic 2.5-inch-tall articulated female body that I'm making specifically for the purposes of creating a universal mold, so that I can mass produce the body type relatively easily. If this works out well, I hope to make humanoid male and skeleton bodies for the same purpose as well. Once I have the basic molds, I can then start modifying them to make more specific molds. This will save me a lot of time in the future--it's kind of inefficient to sculpt a brand new humanoid body each and very time, when using an old one as a starting point would literally save me hours of work on each figure. I just started it last night, so there are still things to be done before I can create the mold. I need to makes some hands (probably fists, as I think individual fingers will break, due to their delicacy at this scale, in the mold) and feet, as well as modify/clean-up the sculpt in general. I'm probably not going to make elbows, knees, or a neck in the mold (which is why they're missing) because those pieces are simple and easy to make anyway. The wire you can see in the photo isn't an armature, it's just there to hold the figure loosely together for the purposes of taking the photo, as the body, head, upper/lower legs/arms are all separate pieces.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/eve02.jpg

10-01-08 16:25 #

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Creaphis
I will deliberately take a contrary position just for the sake of writing incredibly long arguments

Posts: 3953
Registered: 10-05

MmM said:
The same guy also made me aware that Sisyphus is also the name of the guy in Greek mythology who's doomed to roll a boulder up a hill for eternity down in the underworld (which has it owns dung beetle aspect I suppose).

Right. I barely know any Greek mythology (and I know even less about TMNT mythology) but I know what Sisyphus is classically famous for. So, imagining a beetle who had to roll boulders for eternity immediately made me think of dung beetles. The name Sisyphus for a beetle is a very clever allusion, which is to the credit of the TMNT writers.

10-01-08 18:39 #

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Inferno
Senior Member

Posts: 1095
Registered: 09-03

Surprised I've never heard of this guy (Scumbug I do however). However I didn't play the genesis version of the game only snes, which is probably why.

That said, the model is very good, the only thing I would say is that the horn looks a bit high, but maybe thats how it is, I'll google some pics and check myself. But yes, good work again.

10-02-08 01:26 #

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MmM
BoP

Posts: 826
Registered: 04-04

Inferno: Well, I can save you the trouble of Googling for pics of him, I ripped several sprites from the game for my web page for the figure, which can be found here:

http://kramwartap.fortunecity.com/sisyphus.html

The horn, while not perfect, looks okay to me. The prongs on the top should curve in the opposite direction, backwards instead of forwards, but the length looks about right to my eyes.

And as far as not playing the Genesis game, you're not missing much. It's vastly inferior to the SNES game. The NES version is okay, given the limitations of the 8-bit system.

Creaphis: Yeah, when you consider the Greek and dung beetle connotations, the naming was very clever indeed.

***************************************

Here's how the universal female body looks after a couple of more days of work (I slapped a couple of coats of acrylic paint on it so that the problem areas are easier to see--it's difficult to spot when things are amiss when the figure is covered with burns and newsprint text). I also replaced the arms and legs I showed last time with new ones, as I felt the originals were too thick/masculine looking--I did save them for potential use with another figure though. I know I said last time I wasn't going to bother making the neck, elbows, and knees, but I decided to do it anyway, just so I can make sure all the proportions are how I want them--those five pieces probably still aren't going in the mold though. The figure is getting pretty close to how I want it, but there are still some problem areas, most noticeably the breasts and feet. The head's probably a tad too small, but seeing as how it's going to have hair sculpted on top of it in most cases, which will make it larger, that should be okay (and if it isn't, well, then I'll have to sculpt a new one). Once I get everything fixed up okay, it'll be mold-making time, then casting, and, finally, if all goes well, a steady stream of female figures utilizing this base body.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/eve03.jpg

10-03-08 15:29 #

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EarthQuake
9.5 on the Richter!

Posts: 2710
Registered: 05-03

I've always found your action figures to be quite incredible. What amazes me even more is how you manage to create these so small! I don't understand how you can even work with them.

10-03-08 15:56 #

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MmM
BoP

Posts: 826
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Thanks for the kind words, but it really isn't all that unusual to see sculptures in this scale. There are artists that sculpt on ridiculously tiny scales--there's one guy, whose name I forget, that literally sculpts detailed stuff on the heads of match sticks and inside the eyes of needles--now THAT'S small.

10-03-08 16:07 #

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Creaphis
I will deliberately take a contrary position just for the sake of writing incredibly long arguments

Posts: 3953
Registered: 10-05

Looks good to me. Just don't let your figures get too similar.

(I trust that there's very little risk of that, considering your very eclectic output.)

10-03-08 17:27 #

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MmM
BoP

Posts: 826
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Creaphis: Yeah, that is a danger that I considered in regards to mass production. With different clothing, hair styles, etc. the resulting figures should end up looking different enough, but there will always be a certain unavoidable sameness to them. Even with identical molds of humanoid figures, I'll still be turning out unique sculpts of monsters, so there should always be variety from that perspective.

*************************************************

So, here's the bottom half of the mold. I don't know how well the green clay I'm using is going to work out--it's taking forever to air-dry/harden (or at least forever for someone as impatient as I am); at this rate, it may be a week before I can even try my first casting. If it ends up not panning out, then I'll have to try a different medium for the mold.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/eve06.jpg

And I started working on this, a Super Mario Brothers 3 Bloober with Kids, to keep myself busy/sane in between modifying the female figure/repainting it numerous times (I've lost count of how many times I sanded/filed those breasts down, and then built them up again, trying to get them symmetrical). I obviously don't have the Kids done yet, but the adult is pretty close--I mainly need to fix the eyes--one's slightly bigger than the other and they're not quite straight. I was thinking I might do a simple base for these as well, consisting of a sandy bottom with some transparent green seaweed, and poles to plug the squids into so that they're "swimming" in mid-air. More likely I'll just be lazy and call it quits when all five figures are finished.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/bloober_process.jpg

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y196/kramwartap/bloober.jpg

10-06-08 15:32 #

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