My Little Sentinel

Converting and customizing toys has been a favorite of mine since I was in grade school. It started off with repaints of my Hotwheels and Micronauts and has just continued on.

Many artists have been converting vinyl toys, most popular are the Kid Robot ones and My Little Pony. When I saw the Robot Chicken skit with My Little Apocalypse Ponies I realized that I had to make my own. So I got out on the net and looked around at what other artists were doing. WOW! All you have to do is Google "my little pony customs" and you'll see!

For my custom, I wanted something close to my interests. I decided to go with the Sentinel from the Matrix.

I started off disassembling both the pony and the sentinel. I gave the pony a primer of black to help with previsualization.



I'm using wire pins and modeling putty to join the two main parts


To mark the right spots for holes in the bottom of the sentinel, I painted the post tips with a contrasting color, white, then fit the sentinel on the pony.



After that and drilling out the holes for the pins, I did a couple of dry fits.





I like the second one as it uses all the sentinel parts. The first one, however, shows more of the pony and creates better balance of elements. The other consideration is basing. I'm not sure if I'll base this piece yet. The tentacles can support the form well enough, but wont be adjustable. If I put it on a base,the tentacles can then be positioned however I wish.


The only leftovers I have now are a few of the claws and the pony's head. Well, I do have plans for those...

THE PROJECT COMPLETE


AND WITH A BACKGROUND TAKEN FROM A FRAME OF THE FILM as a stand-in. I'll be painting a 1/2 view background/display for the model. Some would suggest the drop code, but in the film's reality, the sentinel only existed in the war blasted environs of the "real world" and not at all in the "the Matrix".



As you can see, I opted for a simplified form where the pony can still be seen. I had blanked out the whole model, save for the orange of the tentacles, then gave it a base coat of gunmetal (2 parts silver with 1 part black) with silver highlights. The eyes are orange (like the toy's original) with a liberal wash of red (to bring it closer to the movie image).

Two things would really kick the model up a notch:
Red LEDs in each of the eyes and more dimensional sculpting of the body. Overall, however, I'm very pleased with the results I obtained.

Of course, now I have to chase this muse as far as I can. What to do next....

Persons interested in purchasing this pony should contact me directly through email or Myspace Mail.

"Be seeing you..."



C!nder