For the last 2 weeks or so, I've had this idea about a fiction series I want to write. I get these ideas all the time. It usually goes that I've come up with an idea, I think about for a while, I realize the reasons why its a bad idea or not a good time to work on it now so I can stop thinking about it. This time after a week thinking on it, it is still on my mind and I'm really excited to work on it. So I'm going to put in the effort to make this project happen. And that idea is to write a story that is inspired by 80s cartoons using characters also inspired by various cartoon characters I grew up loving. Overall a story that shows how much I love the 80s.
I'm still in the brainstorm stage but there are a few characters I know I want to have it in. The overall story will probably be similar to ThunderCats with me using Lion-O, Cheetara and Mumm-Ra with the concept of a group like the Lunataks. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles will also be a major influence. I want one of the turtles to be one of my heroes though I'm not sure which. I will probably pick the one that will best work with the rest of the cast (whoever that be) if I don't make it an amalgam of multiple turtles. I also want to use characters inspired by Bebop and Rocksteady, mainly the versions of them when they first appeared in the cartoon when they were a serious threat. I run into a slight problem here as I can't think of who else to add. Both He-Man and SilverHawks would make sense theme wise. But I never really watch He-Man as a kid though I was aware it existed. And while I did watch a lot of SilverHawks, I can't remember anything about it other than I watch it and the transforming villain looked better to me before he transformed. Transformers, G.I Joe, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and M.A.S.K. are all good candidates but I'm having trouble fitting them in with what I've already started with. They also have another problem which I will get into later. In any case, I think I have enough to work on to get a general feel of what the story will be like.
My initial vision of the story resemble a light novel with each chapter or episode being a combination of artwork and text. There are many 2d character editors out there and I was planning on using one to make my artwork. I know these editors can take some time to master but making simple character profiles that show off what characters look like and their normal outfit are fairly easy to do. What will take more time to learn are dynamic poses and action scenes. I was going to host these chapters on a new site made just for it. It was most likely going to be another blog but I was planning on weighting my options. As I said, this was my initial vision, how it going to turn out will be quite different. The difference came about due to me changing my mind and deciding to host it here on Chaos Magic. Between me working on many other projects that will be on their own platform and current Chaos Magic projects future being uncertain, I wanted something here that would be updated regularly. Once I decided on that change, it made sense to me to change how to make the artwork. If I was going to put this on a site dedicated to miniature war gaming and storytelling, then I should use miniatures for my artwork on this project too.
Switching to using miniatures is a significant change. Redesigning the characters in some ways are now both easier and harder to do. Not only do I have to factor in what I want the redesigns to look like, I'm also limited to what I can find in available miniatures as I'm terrible at using green stuff. I'm willing to look at any miniature range in the 28mm or 32mm heroic scale. I'm hoping painting and conversions will bridge any gap between what's available and what I'm envision for characters. Miniatures is the reason using stuff from Transformers, G.I Joe, Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and M.A.S.K. is extra problematic. I think redesigning characters is fairly easy, redesigning vehicles and make them look good is something completely different. And then trying to build that in miniature form is quite possible beyond my current skills. Even if I could come up with something that works, those shows would be costly for me. Especially Transformers and M.A.S.K. where each character/vehicle represented would need 2 models. As a painter this means I would also have to paint 2 models in a way to make it seem like they were the same object. Not to mention the second model needs to be converted into something completely different. Just feels like they are not worth the trouble. That said, bringing in Transformers means Unicron is available, and I would love to use Unicron. In terms of storytelling and theme, a race like Transformers should be in the series from the beginning. However, it would be far easier on me if they got introduction in season 3 plus. It will be some time before these series starts so I have a little time to decide.
The miniature swap is going to greatly affect how soon I can start this project. Maybe I was underestimating how long it was going to take me to make those initial 2d profile artworks, but I figure I could get them done in a timely manner and probably start working on the first chapter in 2 or 3 months. Now I'm thinking its going to be double if not triple that time before I can start proper. The only up side is that I know where to start. My former podcast buddy made me aware of Dark Sword Miniatures and their Critters Kingdom line. With how the my story is forming, I know I will need a lot of anthropomorphic miniatures. Even if they don't have anything to fit any of my redesigns, I'm going to need a lot of anthropomorphic animal miniatures for background characters, important non hero characters and villain minions. This will give me a large selection of material I can work on and have regular progress updates. One thing I won't do in miniature is the scenery. For me that is too expensive and I don't have the room to store it. For a project like this using terrain at my local gaming store won't cut it. Gaming terrain works fine for games but its probably too small for what I want to use it for. Plus official terrain would need some conversation for my story so they don't look like they are from the game world that they are from. My backgrounds will be some combination of landscape pictures taken by me and things I think up later.
And that is my new 80s Project. The first two things I'm going to do is watch a bunch of 80s cartoons for ideas and plan a large Dark Swords Miniatures order. I have to say it is going to feel weird building and painting miniatures that I have no plans to play any games with. On the other hand, I created this blog to do a project just like this, with the only different in having the plot decided by war games. If this is something you might be interested in then stay tune. If not, I do have more war gaming news to post soon. Until then!
