Now, I love making battle beast customs, but a few months ago my interest was starting to wane (just a teeny tiny bit). I was looking for a NM Ox to finish my basic set and stumbled across an ebay seller offering buyers choice of virtually any beast. In this single glorious photo were 2 undisclosed, not for sale beasts I had never seen. I was astonished. I was intrigued. I became mildly obsessed. Honestly, this single photo led to me searching everywhere on the net and eventually to discovering the absolute wonderment of LRG. Thank you very much photo. I learned that the mysterious beasts were the Canadian War Monsters line and I also quickly learned how unlikely it was that I would get my hands on some (though I have seen a single ebay auction for 3 that went off for $225). This was an unacceptable proposition.
And so behold:
image1.JPG 92.83K 14 downloads
How could I not slice and dice myself a custom set? What i liked most about this process, is that it seemed almost like the entire line was made by a mad scientist. Trying to break them down, I realized that besides the obvious Tiger, Zebra, Bat, Snake, Gator, and Buffalo I would also need parts from a Spider, Rhinoceros, Porcupine, Deer, Bear, Shark, Ant Eater, Fox, and from my own designs Moose, Panther, and Tapir. I tried to mimic the originals as best I could in actual design. When it came to the painting, I mimicked, but then had to give them some flourish to make them my own. Enjoy!!!
Bobcat
image2.JPG 54K 15 downloads image3.JPG 46.4K 4 downloads
War Monster Bobcat is: Crocodile Legs, Rhino Torso, Porcupine arms, Ant Eater Hand, and.......Panther head (to which I added the cheeks of an actual tiger figure's head). I originally was going with the tiger head on it's own, but wasn't happy with the mouth in comparison to the original. I toyed around a little with panther and ended up pretty happy with the result.
Original: 130a.jpg 54.52K 8 downloads
Bull
image6.JPG 52.94K 7 downloads image7.JPG 61.2K 5 downloads
War Monster Bull is: Moose legs, Buffalo torso, Moose arms, and Buffalo head. The hand is an amalgam of one of the claspers from Ant Eater's weapon and a spike through the center
Original: 124.jpg 48.2K 6 downloads
Gator
image8.JPG 46.15K 6 downloads image9.JPG 48.25K 5 downloads
War Monster Gator is: Bear Legs, Gator Torso and head. Getting the arms right was tricky. I matched Ant Eater shoulders to Shark forearms, and used the Tapir Hands to simulate the actual claw design. I also had to attach the Gator tail. Who can't love that little stump?
Original: 126.jpg 55.83K 8 downloads
Bat
image10.JPG 53.33K 8 downloads image11.JPG 49.39K 5 downloads
War Monster Bat is: Rhino Feet, Bat legs and Torso, Tiger Arms, Bat head. I added a sticker holder to the torso. I clipped the wings a bit to help match up, to mediocre success. For the face, I originally was planning on simply scarring up the right side, but by the end of that effort I had made such a hole that I tried inserting an upside down bat eye and cheek from another figure. Quite a bit of sanding later and I think it worked out nicely. The hand blade was carved from the leftover torso of a snake.
Original: 127.jpg 68.25K 8 downloads
Snake
image12.JPG 48.88K 8 downloads image13.JPG 58.69K 8 downloads
War Monster Snake is: Spider legs and Torso. I then grafted the snake neck and head on and added a sticker holder. I just happened to have some Moose parts lying around from the bull mod and so I used the antlers for the neck flair. I thought about shaving them down, but ended up leaving the ridges. The left arm is snake into spider hand. The right arm is a little funky because I salvaged some random snake arms to graft together and give it a similar shoulder to hand look as the left.
Original: 128.jpg 45.24K 10 downloads
Unicorn
image4.JPG 57.67K 8 downloads image5.JPG 40.67K 6 downloads
War Monsters Unicorn is: Buffalo legs, Fox Torso, Buffalo arms, Deer Drill, Zebra Head, and Rhino Horn. Somehow, despite using 5 figure's pieces, this one was the easiest.
Original: 125.jpg 48.11K 5 downloads
All remaining parts have found a wondrous future purpose already, except for a singular snake torso, which shall now be chopped and diced for random accoutrement