The Return Of The Warlord...

Hi Di Ho!


Uff... It is Finally Done... 2 1/2 Weeks after the German Games Day in Cologne, Hundreds of Hours of Packing Out, Arriving, Dusting, Setting Up, Improvising and Borrowing Equipment we have finally managed to take some Pictures, Videos and Experimentally Documenting the Slayer Sword Diorama "The Return Of The Warlord - Two Sides Of The Medal"...:D... Yaaaaaay...

So, please take your seat, cancel your appointments, for the next 30 Minutes I will try to make your little break from Reality really worthwhile...:)... I recommend at least 1 big Cup of Tea and a Cookie to go through all of this, hehe...

It has been a loooong Journey after all and if my Monkey Brain is not tricking me I have spend around 2 years of planning and working on that one... The Idea developed from the basic Idea to Work with a Song Title once again, so I chose "Return Of The Warlord" by Manowar (hehe...:D...), but it quickly got twisted around through a lot of very different influences... I have Drawn a lot of Scetches before starting anything, then eventually I began to think about the Mechanical component, the Viewpoints, the Characters and the Details...

It is not easy to describe all the thoughts behind this thing, even harder to explain what exactly it "does", so please have a Close Look at the Two Videos We made to start with...

360° View accompanied by Some Sweet Music...

The Mechanism And Melody...

Welcome back...^_^... I think it is best to Describe the Diorama with a little Tale, so it stays interesting for you to read...

The Life Scene:

The Warlord. The Piper. The Money. The Flower. The Carrott. Each stands for a certain aspect that is needed to Plan, Maintain and Execute War. The Piper is the Propaganda, that tranquilizes Consciousness and Critical Worry. The Money finances the War, buys New Weapons and lubricates certain processes. The Warlord is the Brain that makes sure that War is Guided in the Direction deemed necessary. The Flower is Sweet, makes an awful thing taste great and lures people calmy and softly into damnation. Last scene of all, That ends this strange fellowship: the Carrott. Being the Stick that ferociously beats the foe, this Aspect executes the Will of it´s Masters, dim and dull, chewing his Carrot, marching one Step after another closer to the Edge. It is a Sunny Day. The Villagers are all ever supportive, eagerly throwing flowers in front of the Iron Hooves of the Steam driven Horse. An early Nuthatch found the Worm that it will now happily feed to it´s kin. The Children are trying to get a glimpse on the Glorious Procession in all it´s Shiny Pride. It is a Good Day, an Important Day. Bagpipers Play the Tunes of War. War is Coming.

The Death Scene:

The Warlord has returned. His Endevours were a Great Success, for many foes have been slain by his hand. He bravely fought with his sword. His Duty for Country and Crown is now fulfilled. He died a glorious death on one of the numerous Battlefields. "Come back with your shield or on it.", some have said. Now he is finally rested on his Cart that brings him on a last Parade to display his glorious Victory for everyone to see. A Medal has been rewarded to him for his braveness. The People from the Life Scene have now changed, they have been de-Humanized into Objects. The Bagpipes lie in the Mud, ripped open to release it´s last Whistle into the Night. Money is of no Value when you can´t buy Bread that has not have been Harvested, not even planted on the fields. The Banker has lost it on his way into the Cold Waters in which he was thrown in for supporting the Warlord. The Flowers are long rotten, the Fruit and Vegetables now turned back to Dust. Men, Women and Children have died, leaving others back. The Rain has started some days ago and doesn´t seem to end. The once bright Future is now rattled, uncertain like the Flip side of the Medal.

The House: The House itself is build as an metaphor on Life and Death as well... If you look at it with a little bit of imagination you might be able to recognize the different parts as Head, Breast, Stomach and -well- maybe also it´s Butt where the Chimney is... At first, Home is enclosed and safe, Warm and Protected through the Roof, the Wooden Floor and the cosy Furniture... War destroys homes as it destroys Humans, so the House on the Death Side is Burned, the Wooden Floor came crashing down giving it the appearance of a ribcage, the Rain is coming in from Outside, it´s Cold and the home is cracked open, so the Little Orphan of War has to seek Shelter underneath the Eating Table...

Some Crazy Details to Look at: The Composition on Both Sides is absolutely Balanced... The Weight is exactly the same for both Scenes (had to do it in order to allow the Mechanism a smooth spin without one side being "overweight"...)...

In addition, the Composition is More or Less the same on both sides with an Element standing for it´s Counterpart on the other Side... The Death Side can be seen as a kind of a Dimensional Reflection of the Life Side...

The Colors in the Life Side are Warm while the Death Side sports a Cold Palette... I achieved this Effect by using a Yellow and a Blue Foundation Color and using Yellow for the Light and a little bit of Green for the Death Highlights... This resulted in a somewhat Nightmarish Atmosphere, an unreal, spectral Procession in which the Characters appear more like Ghosts then like Mourning Villagers...  

The Little Boy is the Son of the Bagpiper, they share the same Medieval Cap...^_^... I have decided to get rid of his Sister, because she was Stupid (with that idiotic Mega Ribbon of hers... that´s just Wrong...)... Pieces of her Vegetable Sales Stand are used to barricade the Door in the Death Scene...

The Life Scene includes a lot of Details that represent Life (surprise, surprise...), e.g. Vegetables, Eggs, Children, Warm Colors, Flowers, Happiness, Music, Flowing Water and so on, while the Death Scene shows decaying Elements, Burned Wood, Rain, Dirt, Trash, Rotten Fruits, Skulls, Broken Weapons... There is an Orange in the Life Scene that is a Homage to the Godfather Films... Whenever there is an Orange involved something terrible will happen shortly after...:D...

The Scenes are not ment to represent a Continous Scene (the "Return of the Warlord"...), but a Different Reality in Another Dimension... The Scenes are more likely to take place at the same time...

Hope that was not too much for your Monkey Brains and that you get some of the ideas behind it...:)...


A bit about the Mechanism: As long as the Melody is playing you are supposed to Curb the Curb. I have found the Melody after a nearly impossible journey through a couple of Children Toy Stores in Berlin... I was close to giving it up after an unholy hail sermon of "Happy Birthdays" and "Wedding Marches" until I have finally discovered this one stored in the "Rock & Roll" Section...


 

In case you missed it... The Diorama is obviously a critical comment on War as a subject in Wargaming Dioramas, that we see mostly, in the past, presence, hopefully not so much in the Future. It shows what War means, what it brings, that there always is Shadow where you see Light, always another Side of the Medal. No Victor without the Defeated, no Win in Victory. Everyone loses.

Now some Experimental Ways of Presenting Miniatures... Let´s call it the Juju Slider of The Before and The After... :)... (I got the Idea after seeing some B & A Tsunami Satellite Footage...)...


Juju Slider Of The Before And The After Front View


Juju Slider Of The Before And The After Back

Please feel free to check out the CMON Links and to leave a Comment over there as well...:)... Thank you very much for your Time indeed...:)...

So this is the Vote Link to the Life Scene...

And This Is The Death Scene...


Once Again, this would have not been possible without a little Help of a Whole Army of Friends, Supporters, Haters, Critiques, Commentators, Clowns, Mothers, Grandmothers and Monkey Workers... I want to thank you all...

Ben Komets ... Do I need to say more...?... My Painting Rabbi, Valued Guest of my Humble Painting Den, Best Friend in the World, Great Painter, Greater Human Being... This Work would not be finished without you, I am sure about that... No words can thank you enough... Together with Kevin "TIN" Kosse, we all are Part of this Project and I am very grateful that you helped me...:)...

Viktor Bauer und Jörn Bisse, for the Encouragement and Machine Tech to Drill the Design into Metal... Merci...

Valerié Bruere for countless Hours of hearing me Lament about Time Constraints...:D... And for the Catacomb Experience (also Romain...), that was a Huge Inspiration for the Death Scene...

My Best Friend Adam for Solving Tech Problems like Bill Gates on Steroids... Thank you, man...

Fabrizio Rusto & Matteo Murellifor being who they are...:D...

Rafael García Marín aka Volomir for giving me some valueable input at the GD France... Keep Reaching for that Freifick, Brother...^_^...

Christopher Octive aka monkeyman for his kind Words at the German Painters Dinner... I am happy it inspired you...:)...

Christopher Nolan for Inception, expeciatelly the "Inception Making Of" where they described how they made the Spinning Set... I did nothing different somehow, just for Miniatures...

Stanley Kubrick for the ingenious Spinning Set in "Space Odyssey: 2001"...

Theme Time Radio Hour by your Host Bob Dylan for the Best Show to listen to while painting... Obladi, Oblada...

Studio Ghibli for everything they have ever created... The Best... If Inspiration was like Candy, Ghibli would be the Sugar Coated, Glazed Lollipop that will put you into a 10 year Coma after tasteing it...

The Hardofhearing Factory Workers in China, that have messed up my Melody Box so it´s sound fits perfectly into the Scene...:)...

The King Lizard...

Jose MPN (aka "The Don Of Miguel Hernandez") for his Hospitality in Madrid... :)... Greetings to Beata and Alfonso...

UdK Berlin, my University, Expeciatelly the Guys at the Wood Workshop and the Laser Cutter... Yes, it was relevant for my Studies... Somehow...^_^...

Games Workshop Germany for the two Painting Stands on the Games Day 2011... Extra Thanks to Alex Thieme for the Great Organization and all the Work... Well Done, Thank You...

I was quite surprised not to see me disqualified by Games Workshop for showing one of the rather controversial Product "Connotations" (War in Warhammer...) being portrait so directly... I am not entirely sure they got it right, though...^-^...

Battlefield Berlin for the Crackle Medium...

Berliner Zinnfiguren Kabinett for the Twisty Thing in the Spin Video... 

The Massive Voodoo Crew for the kind words at the Games Day, Roman, Raffa, Robert and all the Monkeys... Love you soooo much...

Aaaand of course a big THANK YOU to all my Friends, Foes and everyone I have not mentioned until now... :)...


... I am Going On Holidays on Thursday... See you in about 3 Weeks, Ughh Uggggh, Stay Creamy, Junglefriends...:D...


Ooh, Time to Sleep... Have a Wonderful Week, everyone and don´t forget to Eat at least One Orange... Fights Them Skurvies...:D...

Pa Pa Pa... Matt...