Subject: We have at least 2 actual cat agents.
Author:
Posted on: 2024-09-30 23:12:29 UTC
Mmrrowl (black) and the Ambitious Calico (... calico). They even met up back in 2020, though the Ambitious Calico was the god Stone at the time. (Ignore Aunt Sam; she's just a mini.)
hS
So I recently discovered Hero Forge, a site that lets you design miniatures for tabletop games such as Dungeons & Dragons. (You can buy what you make if so inclined, too!) I have since spent uncounted hours making my agents and other PPC characters, because I am mildly obsessed with this sort of thing at the best of times, and the level of customization offered here is huge. The characters are slightly stylized with overlarge heads, hands, and feet, but the level of realism is otherwise quite good, too. I quickly found myself deep in the weeds, haha. Now, I want to share some of my results! I've downloaded screenshots using the built-in screenshot feature, which adds the logo and the character's name. Clicking on the image will (in all but one case) take you to the Hero Forge "workshop," where you can zoom in and rotate the figure for a 3D look!
Nume and Ilraen
As so often seems to be the case, Nume was easy to capture, and Ilraen was difficult. I've missed the androgynous quality he's supposed to have, and the hair isn't the fluffy curls I want. I refrained from making his expression too uncanny, though canonically he doesn't know how to smile properly. It also irritates the heck out of me that the messenger bag doesn't come with a strap, and there's no way to add one that actually works. It's the same with backpacks and other gear, too. Sigh.
And a bonus: You can choose how zoomed in you want your screenshots to be. I took advantage of that for a portrait of Ilraen in his natural form. I had to get quite creative with decals in order to get a nice fur texture and nose slits (actually a lip scar, used twice), and obviously it's not 100% accurate. Overlarge eye stalks are the major issue, I'm not at all certain there should be a navel there, and sadly, if you select the mouthless face, you can't customize any other features for some reason, and the facial posing available is also limited.
Even so, I'm pretty pleased with the result! No workshop link, though. I closed the tab by accident before grabbing it, and anyway, there was nothing worth seeing from the waist down.
Derik and Gall
For these two, I went with a bit of "residual self-image." I just wanted Derik not looking angry or sad for once, and when there's literal Viking clothing available for Gall, how can I resist? ^_^
Jenni and Henry
Took me a while to refine Jenni's face. My original attempt was very harsh, haha. This version is maybe a little too soft, but I wanted friendly and inviting, and I think I got it. The profile is almost exactly right, except the nose; it should have either no curve at all or a slight concave curve, rather than the slight convex here.
I think Henry is about 11 here. I originally made him looking kinda surly, but in the end I wanted more pleasant screenshots. I also did an adult version, but I want to tweak it some more before screenshotting and sharing.
Mirrad
Did this solely for the challenge of seeing how close I could get to a Minbari appearance. Obviously the bone crest is lacking, since it's being played here by "Balding" hair, haha. And I went with some warm colors instead of all-neutral purely because I didn't want to recolor the decal pattern on his clothes. ^_^; Very happy with the overall vibe, though!
Now I want to see yours! To help save you from sinking hours into it like I have, here are a few tips:
Oh, and if you don't have someplace to upload your screenshots, feel free to just get the share link and post that. I will look!
~Neshomeh
They are loved. They are hated. In two years, they are all dead. It's happening now. It's happening...
... again? Yes! Thanks to the work of the MMMM (the last M is silent), the Pantheon we all loved and/or hated back in 2020 are back! In Heroforge form, at any rate.
Based on their iconic performances at the Party in the Parc, as reconstructed from eyewitness reports, these are the definitive depictions of HQ's very own musical gods! (Any inaccuracies are the fault of the gods themselves; frankly if they wanted to be accurately modelled, they should have hung around instead of mysteriously vanishing after barely a month.)
Also included in this collection are three never-before-seen gods! We have created an artist's impression of the mysterious Raven Queen (our depiction of what was actually reported on her stage being somewhat underwhelming), and the first depiction of the equally-mysterious figure who may have created the gods, Ananke. We have also, based on reliable if spectral sources, included a depiction of the thirteenth god - the Lone Power. What was she up to during the Pantheon's time in HQ? Could she still be out there? Our crack reporters are working on those very questions. But for now... miniatures!
I originally only planned to make Yavanna, and to tweak Neshomeh's Henry miniature into the Ellimist. As Neshomeh knows, I then tried to resist going out and doing the rest of the Pantheon.
I failed. ^_^
These are "artist's impressions" of the gods, not definitive depictions. I mostly worked from the WicDiv documents, not from the wiki, so skin and hair in particular might have gotten skewed. I don't even know how many of the RP participants are still around, but I hope nobody will be offended by me borrowing their agents and playing dress-up with them again. :)
Character notes: El-Ahrairah, Lucian, and Mary Poppins all suffered a bit from the lack of suitable props (a proper-sized cane, any shaped halo, and an open umbrella, respectively). Anyone with magic effects got hit with the Glow button (many thanks to Neshomeh for pointing it out!), and occasionally transparent plastic (Meridia and Lady Kee'ra). And for reasons unknown to me, my original Lady Kee'ra deleted itself, so she was pulled back together at the last second.
hS
Look at the Tash, look at the Ilcharheen you made! She's amazing! The colors look great, and that vaguely bird-shaped headgear is such a good fit! And you've even found a thing with sand pouring out of it! This is so cool, hS, thank you for making these!
—doctorlit hasn't read Young Wizards yet, but has osmosed enough pop culture from you YW fans that he feels a bit of chilly dread whenever the Lone Power gets mentioned now . . .
I have to confess, Tash was the reason I wanted to go beyond just Yavanna and Ellimist, and finding that headdress was what let me go ahead. I think I made her right after Ananke and the Lone Power, so I was a bit worried that she'd fall down in comparison to the rest... so I'm really glad you like her!
~hS would almost certainly have written a full Two Years Hence story featuring the Lone One and Tash clashing in the remains of HQ if he'd been ten years less tired during the RP
Actually, this is based on my real cat, Agnes. {= )
I don't expect the tortie patches to match, of course—she actually doesn't have many distinct patches, but more or less dense sprinkles of orange all over. As for the eye, she has microphthalmia in her right eye, which basically means it's small and not shaped right, possibly due to viral exposure in the womb. We don't think it hurts her. She may have some vision in it, and sees quite well with her left eye.
~Neshomeh
Love the tortie splotches, and her bright little eye!
Calcifer would say hi, but there's a thing, could be a bug, important investigations ongoing. (Also the last time he met another cat he screamed the house down, which - given that it had somehow gotten into the house at 4am - was probably a sensible reaction.)
hS
He's supposed to be a cartoonishly round, dumpling-like rabbit (imitating a snow rabbit), but this realistic one works too XD. Maybe he'll take this form during missions into more realistic continua.
Bonus character:
After I found out I can leave the main character as "blank" and use the Pose feature on a prop to move it around on the base, I milked it for all it's worth.
I'd believe it.
An actual cat as an agent wouldn't be that weird in the grand scheme of things. I'm pretty sure there's much weirder ones.
Mmrrowl (black) and the Ambitious Calico (... calico). They even met up back in 2020, though the Ambitious Calico was the god Stone at the time. (Ignore Aunt Sam; she's just a mini.)
hS
A cat on two legs is a contradiction in terms, as seen in this image:
Here you see a true cat, represented by myself, and a ridiculous sham of a thing, ably represented by the mini. Do you know she actually enjoys having a bell around her neck? If she really was a cat, she would be a disgrace to the entire species - and so, of course, not really a cat anyway.
((I'm pretty sure the incident pictures is doing to end up with Aunt Sam the mini-Mogget becoming King of England. ~hS))
I'll have to give it a shot when I actually have time, haha.
--Ls
I'm definitely doing Reicheru at some point!
~Neshomeh
Can't wait for Reicheru to nya on!
--Ls
This was fun! Her face is as anime as I could get it without veering into repulsive. Similarly, her figure is as ridiculous as I could stand to make it. I was shocked to realize there isn't a regular Japanese schoolgirl outfit, but not that there isn't one that matches what Reicheru wears in her drawings. I went with vibes. The hair and ear colors were sampled directly from the artwork using Inspect's color picker tool, which I don't mind saying was a big-brain thought on my part. ^_^
~Neshomeh
I want to thank you for waiting until after I'd already painted all the DnD miniatures I need at present, or else this could have gotten very expensive. I've stolen your trick of adding height="300" to the image coding because I liked the way it looks. ^_^ All pictures link to the relevant model if you want to check out the details.
Dafydd & Constance
D&C are fairly settled these days. Dafydd is quite content to tell stories to the kids - that's a volume of the Histories of Middle-earth he's holding, but the stories he tells aren't exactly like they appear in the book. Constance, meanwhile, has gotten tangled up in ShenanigansTM, and would quite like you not to make her assassinate you before she's had her coffee.
Kaitlyn & Selene
Kaitlyn is seen here in her favourite disguise, having clearly just spotted a Hobbit in need of protection and/or a mushroom patch. Selene is the only one of this lot actually focussed on the mission at hand, whatever that may be. The Key (steampunk stuff on the side of her face) was difficult to fake with the facial decals available; I did my best.
And just for bonus fun: you can add an entire saved miniature as an "extra" in the Stage section!
Kaitlyn and Selene are going on an adventure, or as Selene insists on calling it, "an actual mission, Kaitlyn, please can we focus". Meanwhile, Constance has finally persuaded Dafydd to get up and help.
hS
hS is probably on a mission, unless he's randomly singing a song; you never can tell with elves.
Morgan is dealing with Time Lord shenanigans and is not coping. Full disclosure: she is at least 50% responsible for said shenanigans. Fuller disclosure: she really needs a drink.
hS
I was resisting that, but seeing your characters sharing space, I might lose my resolve. It's so nice to be able to compare them more directly! Like, you don't really get how much taller and narrower Selene is until you put Hobbit!Kaitlyn right next to her. Even allowing for Kaitlyn being crouched in her running pose.
I think Kaitlyn is my favorite. I love her outfit and her mushroom basket. ^_^
All of them have some really fun details, though. Selene's face is intriguing, good for what it is, and I love that she and Dafydd both get a flame decal somewhere. Constance looks so fed up, haha. This is good visual story-telling!
~Neshomeh
(You've got the same link attached to Kaitlyn by herself and Kaitlyn and Selene together, FYI.)
The account was literally just linking to Google to avoid having to save a bunch of links elsewhere, so it was an easy win for me. Agents hanging out was a bonus. (I didn't discover until after posting them that you can move the figures around on the base; it's the three-axis diagram over the feet in Pose > Advance, if anyone else is hunting for it.) I'm afraid the Kaitlyn-Selene link has gone the way of your Ilraen one, oh well!
Kaitlyn is having so much fun, but the one that really struck a chord with me was Dafydd. I don't know that I realised I had one of the first disabled agents in the PPC until I modelled him. That's an odd thing to recognise nearly 20 years down the line.
I did try to put flash-patch decals on all of them, but the ash branch doesn't work super well for a cactus, and Kaitlyn... I think is using her flowers as a Floaters patch? You can't do individual decals on an "over" top part, as far as I can tell.
Naturally I am scheming on doing more. Morgan and hS are murmuring in my ear, and there's always the question of who's going to do Jay and Acacia...
hS
I originally planned to see if I could make Charlie, Jiwon, and potentially the Curator, but times got busy over here and I struggled enough with the first that I decided to leave it as is. The result isn't perfect (it doesn't look stupid enough and the feline options Heroforge don't feel like they fit them all that well), and I'm not even sure if the image embed will work, but have a Charlie.
How do you do this
And a standard link in case the image post doesn't work, which knowing my luck it won't.
(EDIT: links have been updated with more leg-accurate Charlie models, will try to work on Jiwon some time this week)
It took me way too long to finish this, because I hated how the face came out (and I still do a little - I couldn't figure out how to make HeroForge carry expressions of anxiety, I kind of hate the chin, and I did not realize the neck was disjointed until after I had spent two hours on it and couldn't manage any more effort). At least most everything else came out okay, excluding the rough neck bracer meant to represent a Universal Translator collar. That, and no tail option could really get to accurate scale, which I suppose makes sense because it wouldn't fit on the stand.
I also updated Charlie's legs to fit the rest of them, so the links should be updated there.
The links and image embeds here are still a struggle, and I have no idea if this'll work or not seeing as the preview shows me nothing but blank space and error image file symbols. I'm even trying three different attempts, two using the formatting guide with an Imgur and HeroForge link, and the other using the Imgur 'embed post' option. Here goes nothing, and if all else fails again, there's a link at the bottom.
Link text
It looks like you entered "<img src="https://imgur.com/9j1sTgv">Link text". All you need to do is add the image file type to the link, ie ".../9j1sTgv.png", and remove "Link text". That gives this code:
<img src="https://imgur.com/9j1sTgv.png">
Which looks like this:
If you want the image to be smaller, you can add height=300 into the image code, like this:
<img src="https://imgur.com/9j1sTgv.png" height="300">
Which will scale the picture down like this:
Jiwon looks good! I like what you did with the hands; those are difficult. The drooping head and tail really sell the mood (and he looks a lot like his wiki pic, well done!).
hS
Have to say, I was really hoping to see Charlie and Jiwon. ^_^ I DO wish the less-human options had as much room to edit as the more-human ones, though.
In any case, I like this Charlie. I think the pose sells their carefree, do-lally nature pretty well.
Is there a reason you used cheetah spots on the face rather than rosettes? At first I was going to ask about the body having rosettes rather than cheetah spots, because I had imagined them as looking more like a cheetah, probably because of the previous image on their page. But apparently they're an anthro leopard. Whoops!
FYI, your image code didn't work because you didn't use an image URL, ending in an image file format (in this case, the screenshots save in .png format). Let me know if you need more information than that. {= )
~Neshomeh
To be honest? I don't know why I stuck the rosettes on the legs. I think part of it was me spacing out the work over a few days, another part just clicking to get the decor part over with and forgetting about it.
But funnily enough, the feedback had me going back to check on Charlie's wiki page, and you know what also might've led to the dissonance? I forgot I changed Charlie's species at some point, because the description copied from my old 2019 Permission request says they're a leopard, but my rewrite of my agent introductions labels them as a cheetah. I think the black streaks under their eyes were something I added at some point to my mental image of them and grew fond of, which may have led to the species change. Or it might not be, it's been a while.
I think I'll have to update the Wiki page, and maybe the Heroforge model too if I figure the embeds out. So would the solution just be to use the screenshot download, and then link it in the HTML formatting listed in the formatting guide?
For sharing images on the Board, the steps are:
~Neshomeh
Those eye-burning colors are intentional, of course. I tried to make the body and facial features softer, but it seems I can't quite recreate the delicate, Disneyesque figure.
They're loud, but I think they fit together. She's very cute, even though, yeah, it's hard to get a character looking really delicate in this style. Partly that's due to the limitations of the presumed eventual physical figurine, I'm sure. Too delicate, and it'll break too easily.
If you wanted the face to be more narrow, you might be able to do that, though?
The wings look really pretty regardless. The image gives them a really nice glow effect.
~Neshomeh
Eldritch Foundry (go to "start building now). I haven't tried it yet though 😅
Unfortunately, I'm not living at my house right now so I have to scrounge up old WIP photos for most of them, but they should be enough to give you an idea!
The only one of which I have a finished photo, of Best Character (TM) Corolla! As Huinesoron put it (because I just had to share it with her number one fan), "she looks like she's solving one problem and creating three more" The base is a model kit from Bandai's 30 Minute Sisters series of mecha girls, the Sis-Ac25g Far Farina. Aside from repainting some parts to better fit Corolla's colors, I used the energy wing effect parts from a Bandai HG GAT-X105B/ST Star Build Strike Gundam model, and the KotobukiyaM.S.G. SP006 EX Magia Blade set in light blue to try to depict her Moonlight Dagger spell. Fun fact: the figure is actually very close to 15cm tall, which is Corolla's height in "fun size" form. So this depiction of her is actually 1/1 scale!
And left we have Nikki (please ignore Ami on the right for now, that's a very WIP image, I have a better one for later). This is an attempt to try to depict her in her full Fortress Barrier Jacket - which hasn't even featured in TWWA yet. The pauldrons have since been replaced with less blocky ones, the skirt armor has been modified by replacing a few pieces with thrusters, and I added a cloth skirt under the armor one to not have her waltz around in just a leotard XD. The "hair intake" bangs and most of the low ponytail were actually scratch-built. As for what I used, them ain body is mix-and-matched parts from a Laetitia and a Materia from Kotobukiya's Frame Arms Girls line, with quite a bit of painting involved. The skirt is again a Kotobukiya M.S.G. line set, the SP022 Expansion Armor E, while the wings at the back are from Bandai's 30 Minute mIssion line kit Air Fighter in white (from where I also took the thrusters I later put on the armor skirt). Her Device, Vanguard, has been depicted with yet again a Kotobikiya kit, the M.S.G. Led Sword. I got the blue one because they unfortunately don't make a white one, but it is good enough. I later also fitted a shield, taken from the Bandai HG Gundam G-Self Perfect Pack. You can glimpse the complete form of the figure in this photo that I took while I was at a RC Drift event with my rc car and some stuff I brought as diorama pieces (inculding Ami with an alternate body). And yes, I am running an Itasha-style livery with Nikki on my RC car!
And now let's go for the other two, who actually aren't PPC Agents in the main timeline, but Ami is in some alternate ones.
Here's Ami fully painted. I hadn't fully finished her Device Moschetto yet here, so she's actually holding a Tomytec Little Army Mk14 EBR. Kind of a continuity error, since what I'm depicting her in is the "light" version of her Barrier Jacket which she only made long after she lost that rifle... The figure is mostly a Kotobukiya Megami Device kit, the Soldier/Scout, with her one-up pigtail made with one that actually came from the Laetitia kit I used for Nikki. On the very left you can get a very terrible angle of the still incomplete Moschetto, which I made mostly out of HG scale Gundam weapon parts. Also pictured: A Tomytec Little Armory Barret M82A1 I got in the so far disappointed hope that we'll get male character kits so I can make Sergio, a 30MS kit with the bikini body parts I had used for another project (an underwater diorama in an acquarium), a drone that was part of the Soldier/Scout kit, and the also still unfinished CMS-42HS Knight Destiny Gundam also from TWWA (a kitbashed Bandai HG Perfect Strike Gundam kit)
Last but not least, Chris Leone, Sergio's twin sister introduced in TWWA (and as such not a PPC agent in any timeline, actually.) The idea was to depict her in a high tech flight suit, so I used a Bandai 30MS SIS-A00 Tiasha for the body and the alternate head left over from the Soldier/Scout kit (which was actually perfect as it was, and what inspired me to start Chris' figure project in the first place). The gun is indeed her Beretta M93R, coming from the Tomytec Little Armory M9 and M93R combo set. I plan to replace the skin-colored thighs with black ones to make it a full suit instead of a leotard and thigh-highs combo, I have ordered the parts already. Haven't figured out how to make her glasses yet, though...
The title I used for the post was meant to be in jest, I didn't want to belittle anyone here! I guess I should've worded that better.
But, yeah, my brain went "Hero Forge -> Miniatures -> Figures -> wait I did made custom figures!" and I just went into manic mode describing what I had built giving too little thought about how to make a "funny" title... should've given that a bit more thought, I guess.
I definitely can understand getting carried away by excitement, heh.
I'm afraid the details have gone over my head, but it IS cool to make your own stuff, for sure! Especially your own characters, in a style you enjoy.
Phobos and I have assembled and painted some Warhammer 40k minis this year, which is also fun, but not quite the same thing. It's not as easy for me to get into the grimdark headspace—though I do have plans to paint some Mandrakes with warp-flame in shades of urple. ^_^
~Neshomeh
It would be so eldricht, even Chtulu himself would be wary!
Wobbles really isn't that good in HeroForge. She isn't big enough, she isn't wide enough, her trousers are not , and there's no options for her canonical big clown wig beyond futzing around with decals on the Afro hair, which was such a pain in the neck I just gave up. That said, the presence of a balloon animal is very welcome and her bow tie is suitably enormous.
The Notary, by contrast, turned out rather well. She has a semi-relaxed hairstyle appropriate to this point in her arc, she has a collapsing meat skewer, she has a sci-fi-looking pistol, and she has her big yellow sash, which rarely gets an outing but is actually a pretty important part of her outfit. Plus the pose is good.
I don't know if I'm behind on her current state, but I imagine Grey from the early Council meetings would be horrified to look so dynamic.
I also imagine Dis and the Agent would 3D print hundreds of tiny Action Notaries and hide them all around HQ, specifically to wind her up.
Also I am now imagining a ConCoun TTRPG. Possibly with each of the Council playing a different member in their Time War incarnations, and driving each other up the wall.
hS
Haha, the Notary is looking very Assassin's Creed there. Fun!
Wobbles is giving clown/jester-themed superhero with that cape and pose, haha. She's blasting off to save the day with balloon animals! ^_^ I'm surprised all the measurement sliders didn't give you more play, though. Might help sell it more to go wider and/or add cheek puff (in Pose) to the face, maybe? I know Weight doesn't really touch the face much on its own.
~Neshomeh
Full disclosure, I've been using HeroForge to make DND characters for a couple of years now, though this is the first time I've had a stab at PPC agents. I know the tricks. This uses some of them, along with some of my own regarding Pose->Advanced. There's a limit to how much you can crank up the facial roundness in the engine before a model stops looking right, and while I could have gone a bit further, I was already a little dispirited from the attempts at Giant Rainbow Wig so I didn't have it in me.
As for the Notary, well, talking about her means talking about Wobbles too. I tried to pose them both in a way that would capture how they feel to me, rather than anything specific. The backstory for this is that they'd be returning from a mission to a high-fantasy world, possibly a cultivation fic (ask Lily Winterwood), with a more fantastical flair; that's why Wobbles has that cape when it's not in her backstory at all, that's why the Notary's sash is doing Anime Sash Things, and so on. I specify returning from that mission because, well, look at the bases - I thought it'd be fun to have them on completely plain bases to represent them standing on Generic Surface. =]
It did occur to me that I'm usually the last to know about things, so I hope I didn't come off as talking down too much. I'm just in that college-kid excitement phase, wanting to share the thing that is new to me. ^_^;
I like the backstory! Lily has educated me a little bit about cultivation fantasy, too. I could see the Notary doing well in that setting, if I'm not totally off-base that following the rules is generally rewarded. At least if you're not the rebellious but cute protagonist.
I used one of the polished rock colors for my Generic Surface. Upgraded from plastic gray in some cases, downgraded from flagstones in others. {= )
~Neshomeh