MsBig

I find this show totally compelling. I didn't know much about what happened in Chernobyl except what I remember form hearing about it as a teenager. The story is fascinating... especially for how much worse it could have been, and the nonsensical bureaucracy and blame-avoidance of the Soviet leadership. I've been word-of-mouthing all my family and friends to watch the show. The story itself is incredible, but the quality of the show-running, cinematography, script, direction, and acting is superb. It deserves every award available. There were parts of the show that reminded me of Aliens or other incredibly tense dramatic scenarios from other shows or movies. So well done! So great to see Stellan and Emily reunited after they both found fame (in the UK at least) with Breaking the Waves! And Jared Harris is always a gem. I loved the head miner (can’t think where I’ve seen him before) and lots of the smaller parts. I'm from the UK myself so the different British accents didn't bother me and I got the fact that they were indicating Russian language with a variety of dialects. Game of Throne took a similar approach. What did throw me off slightly was actually the casting of the pet-hunting young man. I think Nina Gold's casting is genius but I'm not sure she made the right call with him. Nothing wrong with his acting, but his face is so typically Russian that it made me start thinking about the rest of the cast, none of whom look Russian. I hadn't noticed that before I saw him! I thought episodes 1-3 were some of the best television I've ever seen, but I was disappointed with episode 4 (apart from the opener with the Babushka, which was brilliant). I think partly because I'd built it up in my head and raced home to see it, partly because I had to fast-forward all the bits involving pets, and partly because it just wasn't as great as the others. I could have done without the long pet storyline and more on the bravery of the volunteers in the dicey clean-up operation, and the leadership bungling the robot loan. I'm really looking forward to the conclusion, though, and sorry that it's only 5 episodes long.

This interview with Rory McGann in the UK Sunday Times Culture magazine just cracked me up! "So who's the big f****** ginger guy, then?"

January - June 2016 July - October 2016

I've still been lurking at Previously TV to enjoy comments on episodes. I've been avoiding recently because I don't want to get spoiled for Season 7. I hadn't realised it was so long since I'd posted photos of my Game of Thrones custom figure work. I'm adding them now in the order I made them during 2015 and 2016. Some were commissions, others sold already, a few still on eBay. The art of customising is to take parts from existing figures, then adapt them with body part swaps, resculpting, and full repainting. I've used mostly the official Dark Horse figure, mixed in with parts from other lines, like McFarlane and NECA. I only make one-of-a-kind items. I can't do copies of my previous work... my muse just won't let me. May - June 2015 July - August 2015 September - December 2015

Here are some large busts that I made for Halloween last year: And a gruesome couple for Halloween this year:

As promised, here are a few more 6" busts I made for GoT. Again, for all of them, I sculpted the hair and clothes from scratch and modified existing 1:6 scale doll heads (from Sideshow/Hot Toys, etc) where necessary. I used a DID German soldier for Littlefinger, with altered ears and nose. The Ada-made Sarah Connor head again for Cersei, with altered forehead. I used the Chloe Moretz head for Margaery (the same as I used for Gilly) with altered nose and lips. I used the same TrueType head for both Renly and Jaqen. For Renly, I altered the nose and forehead. For Jaqen, the nose, lips, cheekbones, and forehead. Example parts and unpainted sculpts. The white/yellow bits are casts of existing heads and busts. The pink parts are super sculpey clay. This goes on soft like plasticine, then you shape it, and boil or bake for 3 minutes to harden. Again, I used Baby Doll for Sansa, with an altered nose and lower lip, and the Ada-sculpted head for Tyrion, with only the nose and hair modified a little. For Olenna, I used a Buffy face as a base but just resculpted the whole face. I used a Joaquin Phoenix head for Ramsay, with altered his eyebrows, nose, ears, jaw, and chin. A custom Brad Pitt head for Theon, where I flattened his face, and reshaped his eyes, nose, mouth, and chin (this was the same face I used for Robb). I used Vladimir Putin for Roose, which seemed a no-brainer, but I found I did have to alter his forehead, ears, nose, cheeks, and chin.

I make custom figures and mostly busts these days. It's a hobby and I can only do it at the weekends as I'm away from home working all week. I started with a Buffy obsession, but these days it's all about Game of Thrones. I was a long-time lurker at TWOP but I followed everyone else here. After watching a new episode of GoT in the UK on a Monday, I loved reading all the comments at TWOP and PrevouslyTV to see what people thought. It really added to my enjoyment of the episode. I can't wait for Season 5! Anyway, I thought I'd share some of my fan art with you. Not for sale. I'm lucky enough to have a patron in Wales who snaps them up as soon as I make them. And he gives me free rein to make anything I'm inspired to attempt, so I get to make even the less popular characters. These are mostly large busts 6" tall. I used the heads from Sideshow or Hot Toys dolls and casts for the torsos and bust bases. Some of the likenesses were easy, as I had either professionally made heads (like Boromir for Ned) or well done customs heads (like Ada's Sarah Connor for Cersei). For many of the others I did a lot of alterations to the faces myself. For example, I used Spartacus for Jaime. The hair and clothes are all sculpted with super sculpey. Then I paint them with normal artist acrylics. For these, I used Sweeny Todd, Baby Doll, and Brad Pitt (squashed flatter!) respectively, with many alterations to the features with clay. I used a custom Paul Winfield head for Robert. Tyrion was another excellent custom head from Ada (Wanted Action Figure). I only have to alter the nose a bit. I used a custom Madonna head for Catelyn. I used Chloe Moretz for Gilly, Sweeny Todd (the same as for Jon!) for Sam, Amanda Seyried (Hee!) for Bran, and a cast of Tonks for Osha. I'll post a few more later, if these are of interest to you. I don't want to hog the thread. Thanks! Sasha (MsBig)