The ABC Warriors from 2000AD. I used to read these as a kid, the were freaking awesome. Pure robot sci-fi loosely based on the idea of Magnificent Seven ( which is based on the Seven Samurai, the greatest film of all time ) but with all the great twists that the guys at 2000AD took into a whole other direction. As a huge fan of the artist Mick McMahon I try to collect anything with his work in it and have always had these guys in my mind. So when 3A toys started doing figures based on it I really wanted one. The first figure of '
Mongrol' is bloody huge. I wanted it so bad but just after xmas discovered that all the money I thought I had was actually minus the amount. I'm now too poor to buy one
So to hell with it, I'm going to have to build a new toy instead.
I was thinking it would be nice to have a life size head of each of the ABC Warriors. Why not start with the most original robot design ever created, General Blackblood. (Based on Robert Vaughns cowardly, low down snake in the grass, character 'Lee')
Most of my direction is based on this 2000AD issue 125. The ABC Warriors and the first appearance of General Blackblood. Front cover by
Mick McMahon. And a few other shots by others. But I think the best versions of the characters were by McMahon and Simon Bisley. ( By the way.. Take another look at that cover. You will notice that the 'Deadlock' character isnt even Deadlock. Who the hell is that guy?)
I did a couple of sketches to work out how to build it. This is based on a shot from issue 126. The small bits on the side of the head I decided to ditch. After this story you didnt see them again. The designs were always changing slightly over time but this early design is easily the best. (3A, if you make it into a toy it has to be based on the early one. With the WW2 ammo pouches and dodgy peg leg :)
Theres so many damn pieces to his head. Front head, back head, mouth, three layer jaw, four face plates,
forehead plate with twelve sections and skull, ears and lots of edge
trims. So I did a quick build in paper to work out if the layers would even work.
Which helped me design a nice curved shape for the top of the head out of one cut piece. And one sheet nose and mouth piece that would join at the ear to strenghten it. So I cut all the designs out of cereal boxes.
This is when I realised I wasn't really building a sculpture but a wearable mask. It fits nice. Seeing it like this I was able to work out some better shapes to make the final template. Look at that fool! It's not like I can ever wear it anywhere. I just like knowing I can. Like all the other helmets on the shelf behind me.
Its built using cardboard. Using PVA glue to attach it to 'Funky Foam' to give it some thickness. The sizes kept throwing me off as you have to add 4mm for each layer on the corners. And with thin strips of card glued on for the edges that you can see in the cover art. Then I used acrylic paint to coat the surface to give the spraypaint something to stick to.
Next I painted it with PlastiKote Metalic. This is for any metal effect you want to show through fake scratches and worn edges. Silver is really hard to photograph. Next thing was to use a masking fluid to cover any areas to look like scratches. Used it along all the edges that looked like they would get most wear. Let it dry longer than I did. It's damn sticky
Once that was done I painted it with dark green spraypaint. Once that is dry a used a sponge to dab on acrylic paint to give it some texture. Using light turquoise. Then medium, then darkish turquiose. Then finished with a couple of different greens. Because the arylic is matt, any spraypaint surface showing still has a shine to it which adds to the texture of it. Ive no idea why turquiose works so well to make green but it does. I got the idea from my mum, who is an amazing textile artist, who did this
book, that I keep flicking through now and then thinking, 'how the hell she do dat' . She manages to make any material look liked aged metal using hundreds of layers of paint. I dont have as much patience as her but I think I managed to hide the look of cardboard.
I also used a dirty brown and watery black to add into the crevices and add dirt.
Then I used a bronze metalic paint called 'Goldfinger' for the edges. Once that was dry. I rubbed off all of the masking fluid I had put onto the silver. This rips off all the layers of paint youve added and the shiny metal shows through. But it's too shiny. So I added dirt and rust colours to all these new edges.
Thats how far Ive got. I still have to add the front face plates. The forehead armour, with skull, and the ears. Not to mention the neck and inside of the mouth so you cant see the chin in there. And maybe have to work out how to add a glowing green right eye and a 'dead' left eye. It's a lot of work for a new toy.
Wait a minute.. how many more ABC warriors are there?
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