EVOLVING THE HARPIES

EVOLVE YOUR OWN ALIENS

You will start with a vague idea. Make some protoypes. Make some bettter ones. Make something satisfying. Then repeat until you get better modelling skills and beter ideas.

Your first aliens may be horrible in the worst modelling sense but your third batch will be GREAT !

 My aliens started out called 'Selenians' as a temporary measure to call them something other than just 'aliens'. Harpies of Greek mythology siezed/snatched/stole things away and my monsters do that too, They run about and screech like ancient Harpies too.

A la Harryhausen HERE

2000 version - still nasty HERE

DESIGN AND MAKE YOUR OWN ALIENS
You are not going to make your own from scratch. Not until you have some better skills.
What you will do is modify  some plastic models to make them into aliens/monsters.


Number 1 is to see what raw materials you have available. A good place to start is a toy shop. Have a look at toy shop websites or visit one and look for small plastic figures you can modify. Toy monsters, aliens, insects, amphibians dinosaurs and zoo creatures are all possible candidates.

There is a wierd set from SCS of 90 pieces which may allo wyou to create a bunch of suitable aliens.

GO HERE

Or the Colonial Marines and Aliens set from Diamond Select which remove the need to mess with conversion IF YOU WANT

GO HERE

SCALE : get the size you need !  If you will use Army Men as your spacemen then you need something that can look ok fighting 60mm high men. If you use 20mm plastic figures as your spacemen then 30mm high aliens are adequate and 60mm may be overkill.

ACTION : Boring animals make boring aliens. Try to find figures doing more than just standing still. Often you can bend plastic to make beter poses but static poses look boring.

This is a good candidate

This is a dull pose. Hard to make it scary.

SKETCH SOME IDEAS FOR MODIFICATIONS
Now you have some models in mind sketch some ideas on how you can modify them to make an alien species. Here are some possible simple modifications.

1. Add spikes by setting panel pins into the body - where should they go ? How big?
2. Texture the skin by dragging hot wire/soldering iron over it. Where ? What pattern ?
3. Replace the head / hands / tail. With what ? From another figure ? With some you make yourself? For example put bird heads on amphibians.
4. Add exta limbs - two tentacles by the fore-limbs? Extra walking legs ?
5. Remove limbs - make centipedes or insects with fewer legs.
6. Join fore parts of one to back parts of another: set a scorpion tail onto an armadillo ?

WHAT I DID
I started with some cheap dinosaurs on offer at a supermarket. They are 8 cm or so long and so could fight Army Men. The set included soem dull plant-eaters and a lousy flying one but 7 of 12 were two-legged and could be made into bipedal semi-humanoid aliens. Not to be confused with 7 of 9, of course.HERE

BACKGROUND STORY FOR MY FIRST ALIEN SPECIES : HARPIES

Scenario : The deep space trading routes are infected with an alien species which shoots egg pods out from planets, asteroids and spaceships it has contaminated. If an egg pod hits a ship it melts through the hull, sealing its way behind it. Once hatched, the Harpy Queen kills one crew member and proceeds to hatch more Warrior caste individuals to serve it in its less and less mobile form. More eggs means more Harpies means more demand for food. Finally, the Harpies die as the queen pumps thousands of eggs into space.

NATURAL HISTORY OF THE HARPIES : Xenocarnifex sauroviatoris

The Harpies evolved on a distant planet which was large and populated by life forms occupying oases amongst pools of noxious liquid gas. The slug-like queen can project eggs up into storm clouds for dispersal round the planet. The hatched eggs are all queens which have 'Warrior' form and obtain some prey to fuel the transition to an egg-laying queen. Her eggs now create more Wariors which fed her until she is developed enough to project eggs high up into the atmosphere.

Unfortunately, the establishment of a DF spaceport on their home planet gave the Harpies a route into space and the hulls of spaceships and the turbulence of their launches dragged the contamination into interplanetary space lanes. Now they hop between spaceships and anywhere else they come to rest and can feed.

In a ship the Queen makes a Hive in an inaccessible space betwen bulkheads or in enclosed space. It is not necessary to enter aHive to wipe it out. A fire bomb chucked into the entrance is enough to finish the soft-bodied queen and the eggs. The rough, tough Warrior Harpies are another matter.

HARPIES HUNTING FOR FLESH

WARRIOR CASTE HARPY