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Rygel XVI

Rygel XVI, deposed dominar of over 600 billion subjects, of the best TV show ever, Farscape. Rygel was one of the most complicated dolls I've ever made. To start, he has nonhuman proportions, but to truly make him an "action figure," I needed to start with a doll having the highest articulation. At 1/6 scale (to match the rest of the Farscape "crew"), I decided on using a 6" action figure available at any toy store: Spider-man!

Why Spidey? Spider-man figures have been highly poseable lately. Some are even created specifically for that. Also, Spidey is a wiry hero and not overly-muscled, and Rygel's arms are pretty scrawny.

First step was to remove Spidey's head and calves, then start adding bulk to the body and sculpting Rygel's head over the neck.

The Dominar, fully clothed and on his thronesled. The thronesled was sculpted from scratch using Sculpey, then cast in resin. The original piece was nearly destroyed in the process, which is often the result of casting.

Rygel's clothes were made from a magenta T-shirt, painted felt, the smallest gold buttons I could find, little bits of gold chain, and a Sculpey comm badge. The hair for the brows and moustache are gray doll hair glued on with Fabric Tac.

The grey stuff is Magic Sculp, being used to bulk up Rygel's belly and also to sculpt the fingers. Spidey's fingers were cut off first. The tan stuff is Sculpey. Originally I used Magic Sculp, but an air-drying clay was making fine-tuning a problem. Because this was a doll, I had to be very careful not to cover any articulation points, including the waist, which is why the Magic Sculp cuts off so cleanly.

The legs then needed to be bulked up, and the feet and toes completed. Because I was working from a basically human-proportioned doll, the legs weren't quite the shape that they should be, but they work well enough here. The paint job is incomplete because most of the body will be covered by a robe. I did make a little magenta unitard for him first, though!

At his right is the Toy Vault version of the thronesled, which is about half the size mine needed to be.

Back view of the sled. The whole sled was painted black to start, then drybrushed with gold paint and silver pearl powder. The little joystick on the left is just black paint with glossy red at top.

Current Status:  residing in Stately Hardy Manor!

Farscape and Rygel XVI are owned by The Henson Company


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