MotU by j-bird

[j-bird]

I think you topped Sal quite nicely as this actually feels like a potential toy! Well done! I love what you've done with Reptons, this and Heala are really excellent new characters!

Also love your idea for Photanium! Really great work, j-bird, as always but it deserves to be said over and over again. Thanks for the shout out on Icer as well, and I had it in my head that he's wearing Kulatak hides too! He's just that mean!

I don't know about topping Salamandor (I love that name), but thanks for the compliment! I appreciate the kind words, especially coming from one of the most popular artists on the .org. And you're absolutely right, Icer is just that mean!

And now, just in time for his MotUC release:


Kind of a hybrid take between classic and modern, but with pretty heavy emphasis on 200x elements. I just feel that version is simply better than the classic version. I do, though, like the chunkiness of the classic version, as well as the furry shorts. I thought it was kind of odd that 200x Buzz-Off wore a belt but no pants ...

[danbrenus]

Freakin' amazing!!!! This Buzz-off is incredibly cool, Icer too rocks, the Avian warriors are smooth, they really look like how they are supposed to be.

[j-bird]

Freakin' amazing!!!! This Buzz-off is incredibly cool, Icer too rocks, the Avian warriors are smooth, they really look like how they are supposed to be.

Thanks, danbrenus!

Here's something I started forever ago (I posted a work-in-progress over on deviantart in November of last year) and finally got around to finishing.



I went with a mostly 200x-inspired design, but took the silver boots from the classic version and applied the same color to the furry "shorts."

To be honest, I've never really been a huge fan of this character. The 200x cartoon series improved my view of him slightly by showing him as a decent melee fighter. Then they sort of ruined it by having him whine about his powers/role.

If it were up to me, I'd have given him some kind of cybernetic relay implant, and he'd spend a lot of time out and about placing and maintaining little "relay stations."

These would be much like Tri-Klops' doomseekers (from 200x) but stationary. He'd be uplinked to all of them and so could see pretty much anywhere he'd placed a relay station.

He'd also be radio-linked to each station and thus be the perfect communications-hub for the heroic warriors.

And he'd still have a telescoping neck.

[Ge-Man]

Is there a link to gbagok's version?

[j-bird]

Is there a link to gbagok's version?

... of Icer? He appears in oICEMANo and gbagok's "The Book of Evil - Part 1."

Or did you mean Salamandor? I believe he's in their collaboration "The Slave City."

Both are here on the .org, and both are well worth a read.

So, I drew Buzz-Off, I figured I should finish off my version of his queen:


I stayed pretty close to her 200x look, but tweaked some things and sort of MotUC-ized her (she would share parts with my versions of Scorpia and the Polti Queen).

I had posted a work-in-progress pic of her a while ago, but decided to go in a slightly different direction with her, and I'm much happier with it.

I toyed with giving her a giant bug-abdomen-thing like she had (in some scenes) in the cartoon, but I opted against it. If I revisit Polque, I might try it on her.

I also tried something with Stingrad (also from the 200x cartoon):


He's basically an oversized "repaint" of my Buzz-Off. I just gave him an extra chin-spike and larger insectile limbs on his back.

[Ge-Man]

J-bird, I was referring to Icer; but I Googled it and found gbagok's version. I just wanted to see how they were different. Both are cool.

[j-bird]

Here is my take on Man-E-Faces - it's not the first one I've drawn, but it is the first one I've felt good enough about to post. Man-E-Faces is one of my favorite characters, but he can be difficult to draw sometimes.

I did him in the colors of the classic figure (more or less), since I always felt like the cardback/mini-comic colors were less interesting.

I wanted to do a classic-style version (mostly), but with an eye toward how a MotUC figure could work with the removable heads.



The collar/harness would be a separate piece (the "armor") over the regular (or Trap-Jaw) body. The neck and collarbone area would be painted blue to match the armor (as in my first pic - I showed it "skin colored" here to make it easier to see).

Then there could either be three heads plus a helmet that would fit inside the collar/armor, or each head could simply have the helmet sculpted on and be all of a piece (like the robot head in the pic).

Anyway, that's what I'd do. I know a lot of folks have their hearts set on the classic-style spinning face action-feature, and that's cool, but personally I feel like that's a missed opportunity. If the MotUC figure were done something like this, your Man-E-Faces figure could be just about anybody, and I think that would be cool.

EDIT:

I've also been working on an updated version of Queen Elmora:


I went a little different direction with her - I envision her and Strongarm as being of the same race, Phantos' equivalent to humans (i.e. the most common/populous race). She would have the same row of head-spikes as well, but they're all covered up by her hair and crown.

I also decided to go with a different color scheme - I feel like the red-and-blue is overdone, so I used what I called her "phantom colors" when I sketched her up back in 2008.

Oh, and in my backyard, her tagline "She-Demon of Phantos" refers to her fighting prowess and quick temper. In the old cartoon, she went toe-to-toe with Skeletor (however briefly), so I figure she's at least moderately bad-@$$.

[danbrenus]

This is perhaps the best Man-e-faces ever! The head option is perfect, almost exactily as I ever saw it, really awesome work!

[j-bird]

This is perhaps the best Man-e-faces ever! The head option is perfect, almost exactly as I ever saw it, really awesome work!

Thanks, danbrenus - I'm glad, since I'm a big fan of Man-E-Faces. I've been enjoying your prototype characters too, especially the warthog guy.

Here's another, somewhat more classic take on She-Ra:


Part of me wants to try a version of her without a cape, or a battle-armor version (maybe do a battle-armor version without a cape?), but we'll see what time allows.

[Alleyezon4]

I like She-Ra but she needs her power sword

[Jon-O]

Part of me wants to try a version of her without a cape, or a battle-armor version (maybe do a battle-armor version without a cape?), but we'll see what time allows.

That came out really nice!!! Good mix of styles creating this. It would be cool to see a battle armor version without a cape. I love her crown btw; best of the tiara and the mask.

I like She-Ra but she needs her power sword

Yep! And I'm sure it'd look beautiful!

[j-bird]

A much-delayed thanks for the appreciation of She-Ra; time has kind of gotten away from me lately.

Anyway, I haven't been completely idle, just the next thing to it.

Here's something I started a while ago and wasn't sure exactly what direction I wanted to with it, so I kind of ended up doing an evolution of a character:

Centurn custom --> Centurn --> Helios --> Helios: fire form

What follows is a long and geek-o-centric explanation of how, in my head, Centurn evolved into King Helios (from the Filmation cartoon).

On the left is a picture of the custom Centurn figure by Galaxy Warrior and Skeletoncrew. Centurn was (originally) part of the Galaxy Fighters toy line (which was essentially a MotU knock-off).

I love that custom SO much. Anyway, what they did (in case you don't know) is found a way to work most (all?) of the Galaxy Warriors/Galaxy Fighters characters into their vision of Preternia, alongside He-Ro, Tytus, etc.

My understanding is that Centurn was part of the Fire-Scale clan (whose leader, Magoon/Dragoon, I posted earlier in this thread).

I get the impression that Centurn started on the side of the bad guys and eventually turned good, but I don't know if that's correct.

It is, however, what happened in my version of that canon. He started as part of the Fire-Scale clan serving as Magoon's champion.

Eventually Magoon fell (probably to King Hsss, at least in my version) and his evil was exposed. Centurn took up the leadership of the remaining human members of the Fire-Scale clan and led them into the desert. Eventually they became the Fire People (as seen in the Filmation episode "Curse of the Spellstone"), and Centurn became Helios ("Helios" would be their word for "King," so he would technically be "Helios Centurn").

(In my canon, the non-human members of the clan were either absorbed into the Snake Men or fled and eventually became the modern-day Repton race.)

There are versions of both Centurn and Helios on my standard backdrop on my deviantArt page.

EDIT:

I had also been working on a version of Starburst She-Ra:


This version ended up being basically an adaptation of beyond the legends' redesign. I really enjoy what he did with her sword, the whole split/dual-blade thing, and the energy-blades seemed a natural fit for this variant.

[danbrenus]

Centurn is outrageously awesome!!!!

[j-bird]

Centurn is outrageously awesome!!!!

Thanks! He's one of my favorite COTU conversions ... I just love him.

I also enjoy the idea of working the Fuerza-T characters into my MotU-verse. I drew Felinor a while ago, and now I've tried my hand at Destructor:


The color-detail I tried to do with his scales doesn't read very well at this size ... I'm a little disappointed; I might have to try and tweak that (you can kind of see it on his legs, but that's about it).

I've been toying with the idea of the Fuerza-T villains as ancient warlords, each holding their own territory but being under the dominion of Shokoti (much like Mer-Man is with Skeletor) back when she was first active (for me, in the time of Wun-Dar).

Destructor would have been responsible for the destruction of Zalesia (his figure did come with a red Havoc Staff, after all) and he would have held territory in what's now the Dark Hemisphere.

Pantano would have ruled the region around the Tar Swamp.

Felinor would have held sway over the Vine Jungle and what is now the kingdom of the Qadians.

Carnivor would have had his territory in the Mystic Mountains near where Avion is today, but a good chunk of his actual region would have been more underground than out in the air ... I think.

I suppose then that the Fuerza-T heroes could have been Wun-Dar's allies as well, but I just don't think the heroes from that line are quite as cool as the villains.

Anyway, enjoy.

[danbrenus]

Your take on the Fuerza-T characters looks really interesting, hope we'll see more.

[j-bird]

Your take on the Fuerza-T characters looks really interesting, hope we'll see more.

Thanks danbrenus; it's been a long while since I've been on the forums or drawn anything MotU (apparently almost a year - yikes!).

[Patreek]

I like the idea of a fire dude using man at arms armor!

[TechTrek]

your way of doing MEF is exactly what i wanted in a figure. i love the idea of having him be "pre MEF" he looks amazing. great work!!!