Unique Playing Card Collection

I meant to post these a long time ago. Sorry. This is quite a fun thing to collect and fairly cheap to boot! I needed to push an Amerzon order over the $25 mark for "free super saver shipping" because I like free shipping. So I went hunting for something cheap and maybe useful. Luck landed me on a deck of Bicycle Guardian cards. They were pretty fun looking in comparison to other cards I'm used to seeing so I gladly added them to the shopping cart. Hurray! Free shipping!

Then of course I researched other fancy looking decks of playing cards and I fell in love. I'm really fond of the black decks. They look so sleek. I think my favorite of the decks I own is the Bicycle Shadow Masters. Just a good looking set of cards.

In the future I may look into hunting down a Bicycle Samurai deck as well as a few of the Bicycle Karnival decks (Renegades, Assassins and Midnight) and the Theory11 Propaganda deck. Or if you are feeling generous you can hunt a deck down for me as a gift. *wink* *wink*

White Arcane Deck from Ellusionist.com

Black Arcane Deck from Ellusionist.com

Bicycle Shadow Masters Deck

Bicycle Guardians Deck designed by Theory11

Bicycle Black Tiger Deck from Ellusionist.com

Bicycle Brimstone Deck designed by Russell Kercheval

Figure Photos!

I had a great photo opportunity this holiday weekend at Jeremy's grandmother's house. So I took advantage of that great greenery. Enjoy!

I wish this photo hadn't turned out so blurry but I can't do anything about it. I took three pictures but they were all this way.

These two are my favorite!

I Finished Them!

So. While I'm waiting for the freshly clear coated Mighty Muggs to completely dry before I take pictures of them, allow me to share the sketch I did of the Ironhide Mini Mugg. As well as share a future Mugg project sketch of Chromia, Ironhide's partner.

On a side note, it feels so super good to have all 15 figures finished. That's 14 Mighty Muggs and a Kidrobot Raffy. Now moving on to my next projects. A few commissions from a few people as well as me sitting on my butt and reading a book by one Miss S.M. Boyce. Oh, and eating tacos. Nom nom nom!

On Track for Completion

Today I finished up all the detail painting on the previous figures as well as completed Kaylee's face. All I have left are River and Simon then I can move on to Rory, YAY! Right now my wrist hurts from all the small detail work I've done today so I probably won't be painting this evening. Though... the idea of finishing River and/or Simon is mighty tempting. Enjoy completed Muggs of the following: (Left to Right) Malcolm Reynolds, Zoe Washburne, Hoban "Wash" Washburne, Jayne Cobb and Kaylee Frye.

IF, and ONLY IF, I have time I will CONSIDER making weapons for Mal, Zoe, Jayne and River. The gun holsters have nothing in them for this reason. For the time being, the only Muggs that will have accessories are the Doctors. They each will have a sonic screwdriver. I've been toying around with the idea of Wash and Kaylee having a dinosaur and a wrench respectively.

From Left to Right: River Tam, Simon Tam and Rory Williams. I made an actual skirt for River's dress so I will be going back to the figure of Amy to give her a proper miniskirt. The skirt is an actual piece of fabric. So unless something very bad happens, I foresee no issues in the shipping process.

11 of 14 Mighty Muggs completed.

It Seems Like Forever...

Since I have written a decent blog post, that is. I'm swamped in these Muggs. It probably doesn't help that I don't enjoy the characters from Firefly in comparison to the Doctor Who characters. Painting the Doctor Who Muggs was fun while these have felt a little more like a chore. So in an effort to finish the Firefly Muggs up I am going to reward myself once they are done. The reward oddly enough will be painting a Rory Williams Mugg that I may keep for myself.

Officially he is my favorite companion and I'm not sure I will enjoy the series when both he and Amy are no longer in it. They have been my extra favorites. Jeremy says he knows my favorite is Ood Σ but I don't see him/her/it returning anytime soon, if ever. Also, gross. Odd look nasty.

Anyway, I have finishing touches to add to Zoe, Wash, Jayne and Mal. Kaylee still needs a face. River and Simon will be started today and luckily their outfits are ultra simple in comparison to the previous characters.

I will probably start Rory while I'm waiting on paint to dry and I'm on the fence about making River Song. I wonder about her hair. It is big and perhaps represents her larger than life personality. I'm not sure the Mugg would look good without me modeling hair onto it. The idea of modeling onto the figure doesn't really appeal to me for a couple of reasons. I like the challenge of making the original shape work for me. I'm not comfortable with the process of adding to this figure because it is hard plastic, not soft vinyl. Finally, if I mail the figure, would the modeled hair even survive? Ace Ventura...

Aside from all this hubbub, enjoy a picture of nearing completion characters and some mockups.

Mal's facial features are bigger than everyone else's. I had considered trying to redo them, but it would make the paint in that area look messy. I felt the cleaner look was more important than slightly smaller features. Also, I'm not sure I can execute another Nathan Fillion face as close in my style. Knowing my luck I would probably mess it up. I will, however, be shifting Wash's nose up. It's a little too low.

River is my least favorite of them all. I can't seem to get the distant/weird look. I just get Janeane Garofalo. Problematic.

Mighty Muggs & Fizzy

Working hard on the Mighty Muggs. Unfortunately I ran out the brown I was using on Zoe's hair so I need to mix up some fresh to match. Fun.

I also took a break today from painting. I decided to freshen up the look of one of my favorite ponies from the original My Little Pony series, Fizzy. She was always super happy and a little clumsy. Pretty similar to Pinkie Pie I suppose. Anyway enjoy the updated version and a pic of her from the original animated series.

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I guess I'll be purchasing my next Battle Angel graphic novel from Kodansha. I'm a little worried about how the translation/localization sans Lillian Olsen will go... I really love Battle Angel. I guess all I can do is hope for the best come November.


I may go insane if the spine art isn't similar to the Viz editions. Twenty-four graphic novels that look great together and then Kodansha may make some crazy departure from that. I suppose Kodansha's version of the Sailor Moon graphic novels stay true to the Japanese rerelease... though it better be because they were both published by Kodansha in both Japan and America. I don't even know what the spines of the Japanese graphic novels look like for both the Shueisha and Kodansha releases.

-20 minutes later-

Okay... I guess because he departed from Shueisha after chapter 100 (Vol. 15) and went to Kodansha everything changed anyway. Whatever, as long as I get to continue reading it is what matters. On the upside I just got to see the cover art for Vol. 17. Woo! Woo!

What a boring post. Sorry about that. So have a mockup of a previous business card (never used) and a current one I am working on.

Front of "Carnival" business card
That is not a real phone number

Back of "Carnival" business card

Mockup for front of business card related to recent site and logo designs

And this is what Comcast has done to muh internets. I really wish there were other options in my area, but up until a few months ago the only choice I had was Comcast. AT&T are new to the area and I'm not even sure if they are available for an alternative option at this apartment complex. Isn't it neat how apartment management corporations can mess with your life in different ways?