Space Mummy Action Figure Concept

 Inspiration

Ever since I was able to create a set of molds for a function 3.75 inch (or 1/18) scale action figure buck, I’ve been thinking over different themes and influences as I determine what kind of characters I wanted to make. I decided to look to my own collection of retro and retro-style 3.75 inch, 5 POA (points or articulation) action figures and jotted down the common themes between them:

• Super7’s The Weirdest and The Worst series of ReAction Figures

• Super7’s other horror-themed ReActions (back when Super7 was still partnered with Funko)

• Vintage Fisher Price Adventure People (particularly the sci-fi themed ones)

• Random Star Wars guys

But chief amongst my inspirations for this project was Phantom Starkiller, an original character created by Killer Bootlegs in 2013 who continues to have cool new variants produced to his very day (many of them co-produced by Super7, like the one that I own). For the history of Phantom Starkiller, the Cosmic Ghoul Warrior, I recommend checking out this article from the Wehadthatstuff blog.

Combining the cosmic undead motif of Phantom Starkiller with the sensibilities of Super7 (whose company mascot is a mummy), I settled on the idea of making a space mummy wizard character that merges the mysticism of ancient Egyptian mythology with the over-the-top sci-fi and fantasy aesthetic seen in many action figure lines from the late 70’s and early 80’s (with a touch of Ancient Aliens).

For want of a better name at the moment, I’m just going to call this potential action figure Space Mummy.

The Concept Figure Explained

Now that I have the basic idea for a character in mind, I’m not going to dive right in to creating a master sculpt using the parts I cast from the buck body mod. Not yet anyway, since every time I do that ends in disappointment. Typically, this is where someone would draw a series of concept sketches of the character to figure out what they want it to be and what details to include. But since I can’t draw, I’m going to create a quick and dirty concept figure instead of a concept sketch that will allow me to mull things over on an actual three-dimensional object in what I can best describe as a free-flowing kitbash/jam session that will give me at least a rough outline that I’ll refine and build upon when/if I make the actual master sculpt of the Space Mummy action figure.

For the record, a master sculpt is what I refer to the action figure parts that I will use to make the molds for the final figure (which will then be cast in FlexIt 90 flexible resin). These are typically created by casting gypsum plaster copies of the base body parts, sculpting over those with polymer clay (typically Super Sculpey Firm or Living Doll), and then making the final molds from those master sculpt parts. But since this is just a concept figure, a pre-prototype, I will not be doing that here. That is a completely separate process and an article for another time.

In fact, I won’t even be using my 3.75” buck body molds for this concept figure. Instead, my starting point will be a 3D print of a 3.75” ReAction figure of the Universal Monsters mummy that I downloaded on Cults3D to save me a little bit of time since its already wrapped up and I won’t have to sculpt the bandages myself (though I will for the actual master sculpt of the figure when and if I decide to go down that road). I’ll modify and kitbash the Universal Mummy 3D print with parts I “sample” from other figures in my collection as well as details that I sculpt onto the mummy figure myself using epoxy clay. The idea for the concept figure came to me when I was reading about Kenner doing a very similar thing when they were producing photographic references/mock-ups for the original twelve Star Wars figures when they were early in the design process, using Fisher Price Adventure People as a starting point and kitbashing them to look like Han, Luke, Obi-Wan and the rest of the gang.

To give you a frame of reference, pictured below is the 3D printed Mummy that I’ll be using as a starting point side by side with a fully assembled flexible resin casting of my 3.75” buck system (as well as the gypsum plaster castings of those same parts below).

Sculpting and Kitbashing

Normally when I 3D print something, I’ll try to smooth out the surface by giving it a few rounds of sanding, surfacing with thinned down Bondo body filler, more sanding, and then coating with sandable filler primer (and then possibly more sanding). But because this is, again, just a concept figure meant for brainstorming and little else, I don’t really care if the surface has layer lines on it. So once I printed out the Boris Karloff Mummy figure, I got right into it and used a sharpee to start marking off areas where I wanted various details that I thought would look cool. These included things such as a broad collar, backpack, pouches, belts, a chest control panel, etc.

While I sculpted the collar and the various straps and belts with Magic Sculpt epoxy clay, everything else I “sampled” from existing 3.75” scale figures in my collection using the Crafsman’s non-destructive method of placing silicone mold putty or Oyumaru thermoplastic molds over the details on other figures, stuffing the mini molds with epoxy clay, and then gluing them onto the figure. For example, most of his pouches are from various Star Wars figures, his backpack is a chestplate from an Adventure People astronaut (and his boot details from the Adventure People Space Knight), and his robot hand is copied from a Dollar Tree Gundam. I think it goes without saying that for the master sculpt of the actual figure, I’ll be creating all of these details myself either by sculpting them out of polymer clay or digitally creating them and 3D printing, but that isn’t the goal here. Quick and dirty is still the name of the game here.

I knew I wanted the character to have bandages on his face so I looked at a bunch of references of various fantasy-type mummies before settling on the “one eye exposed” look and made some nonsense ancient alien runes on some of the bandages to give them a little bit more visual interest.

I thought about doing accessories, maybe a wizard staff with an Ankh on the top or an energy sword shaped like a khopesh, but I decided to save that for later.

Painting

While I don’t consider this concept figure to double as a paint master, which more or less informs what details are colored what in the final product, it’s important to play around with the colors and figure out what works and what doesn’t.  Here is the concept figure primed in white.

I should probably note here that in a final figure, I wouldn’t be priming everything in one color and painting over the entire thing. I would instead cast everything in the most common color and let the base plastic do most of the work, though I would add deco hits for little details here and there (and possibly a wash and a few highlights to further enhance the sculpted details).

Much like everything else that goes into a concept figure, the paint job isn’t meant to be anything elaborate nor am I approaching this the same way I would approach painting a miniature where an emphasis is put on shading and highlights. Rather, I just blocked out some base colors, painted in some of the smaller details, added a wash here and there and called it a wrap (no pun intended). Oh, and I gave it a glossy clearcoat to protect the paint and give it more of a manufactured plastic sheen. Not my proudest or best work by any stretch but it serves its purpose as a visual aid and it was a fun little exercise, even though I immediately started to rethink several design elements (especially the head) once the concept figure was finished.

A Different Approach: AI Generated Concept Renders

I was ready to end the article there, but it only just occurred to me a day or two prior to this posting to give AI generated imagery a try via Canva’s magic studio. My rationale here was that I could generate multiple examples/concept photos based on the general idea that I had in mind, mostly to get the creative juices flowing, think about the project in different ways, and possibly even pick and choose different elements from the AI generated samples that I might actually like to incorporate into my actual design (a head sculpt here, a type of panel there, a color scheme, etc). I think my keywords were something to the effect of “Space Mummy Retro 3.75 Inch Action Figure Scifi 1980’s” and probably not in that exact order. This is just one round of AI generated concept renders but I made dozens of these and not just for the Space Mummy, but other classic monsters reimagined in the same throwback retrofutustic sci-fi style.

Where I’ll take this project next is still up in the air since I’m still working on other things at the moment, but this was a fun diversion and I hope to be do more things like it soon.