Mark Patraw

Siamese Vulture Bat

By Mark Patraw | Add comment Add a comment

Details

I chose to make a "Siamese Vulture Bat" (which is my made-up name for the creatures; as far as I know, they don't have an official moniker) from Sega's 1992 Genesis and Game Gear Chakan: The Forever Man video games. Said titles were based on the Chakan graphic novels, which were written and illustrated by Robert A. Kraus (R.A.K. Graphics.) As they're just lesser "fodder" enemies, that can be encountered in the Elemental Plane of Fire, Siamese Vulture Bats aren't very exciting, gameplay-wise. They simply flit about on their wings, trying to nip at Chakan with their twin beaks, and are relatively easy to dispatch. However, as I enjoy both multi-headed monsters and animal fusions/mash-ups, this particular creature design appealed to me and had been on my "to make" list for years until now.

Interestingly, at least to someone like me who treasures trivial knowledge that has no value to a sensible person, this particular creature has a different appearance in the two version of Chakan. In the Genesis game, the Siamese Vulture Bats are crimson and appear to be made out of living fluid magma, while in the Game Gear adaptation they're solid and ash-like in color. I'd speculate that the weaker 8-bit Game Gear hardware probably couldn't handle the flickering magma color effect that the 16-bit Genesis creatures sported, which was why their appearance was altered on said handheld unit, but, in my mind, I like to pretend that the reason the Game Gear creatures are gray is because they've been airborne for so long that they've cooled into animate stone monsters while the Genesis ones are still "fresh" having recently emerged from the rivers of fiery lava.

*****

Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, wire twist ties, white glue, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions:
9.4 cm (3.7") long x 5.6 cm (2.2") high x 6.8 cm (2.7") wide.

Time:
One day: December 29, 2016.

More photos/info:
http://www.angelfire.com/ult/ace/vulture_bat.html

Add a comment



← Back to Mark Patraw's main gallery