Oni / Buhal'ra (Southeast Asian / Pacific) Yautja

Isubomo

New Member
Hello everyone! Thank you so much again for the warm welcome! It's really an honour and privilege to join you all, fellow Yautja enthusiasts! :) Just wanted to share this experience of mine with all you wonderful people. Sorry for the wall of text coming your way!

My fascination with the Yautja began of course when I saw the Original Predator on betamax. From then on I was hooked. I love Arnold, but deep inside I was always rooting for the Jungle Hunter. Then came Predator 2, and it dragged me further down the rabbit hole ;P I wanted more...then came AVP, requiem and predators, and though a lot of critics weren't too amazed by them, I didn't care, YAUTJA on the big screen...I took it all in :)

My "1st" build was actually about 17 years ago, back in '99, for a University parade. Still looking for those pics, but suffice to say, it wasn't the most flash of costumes. But I loved it and loved making it. I always promised myself I would do a better one in the future, and I guess that 'future' is now or never ;P A few weeks ago I started brainstorming, which Predator should I make? They're all great, but see, I love making my own characters based on a certain IP/universe, then putting my own personal twist on it. I.e., I'm also a big fan of Star Wars, but I would never cosplay Vader or Boba Fett, i'd rather cosplay as an unknown sith or jedi, or as an unknown mandalorian, that way I could make up BG stories on my own for my characters, and not sort of embarrass myself because I couldn't pull off Han's signature wink. But that's just the way I am. So it had to be a custom. My very own Yautja :)

And for good reason too. See, I'm ethnically Southeast Asian(Malay race https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malay_race), but I call New Zealand, home. Being SEAsian, I'm short(not saying all of us are, just on average ;P). Like 5'6" short. Even if I plan to add a total of 4-5 inches to my suit, I would still be less than 6'0". When I told a friend of mine(he's 6'1") my plans of making a suit, he actually said, "That's cool, but how you gonna pull it off, you're short?" *sigh. But I won't give up!

Wreav posted a map of Yautja Prime before, and it showed where the different predators came from geographically. http://predatorium.com/threads/lets...ur-favorite-predator-in-any-form-media.20946/ . Pretty much like how we have latinos, blacks, caucasians, asians and of course malays around our world, why couldn't Yautja Prime be the same? I see the Elder predator and his crew(pred 2) as sort of latinos or afrikans. Scar, Celtic and Chopper, first time I saw them, thought "these young bloods are buffed as..." Like the pic showed, probabaly "Viking like danes". So, I thought, why couldn't there be like pygmy(sort of) malay warriors? :)

So my plan is to build, Isubomo, the Oni/Buhal'ra Yautja :p
ORBJqRW.jpg

Oni is Japanese and Buhal'ra is Filipino(warped) for Ogre. He's a Yautja from a place on Yautja Prime where the hunters are a bit shorter, but faster, and a bit more athletic too! Basically, he's like Manito (Ernie Reyes jr.) in the rundown, where he takes on the Rock or Mad Dog (Yayan Ruhian) in the Raid: Redemption(if you haven't watched this, you should! :D). Both small, but quick and deadly.
His Bio Helmet has elements and is a play on the traditional Asian demon/ogre masks.
84123FW.jpg

He's mainly a brawler, so he doesn't have a laser shoulder cannon as he wants to fight his prey up close and personal. No killing/hunting from cloaked and not much from afar(if there was it would be from a throwing ax or knife). So it's all melee weapons for him...his 2 wrist blades come out from the sides and in that position as this is more suited to his fighting style more, rather than just swinging it heavily around. He uses these like a baton (can extend forward and backwards, same length)and uses it to parry as well other defensive swings. The blade has Yautja design elements, but ultimately all his melee weapons will be based on early Philippine tribal weapons. (a lot of good inspiration source here! : http://www.fmapulse.com/article/col...lippine-islands-united-states-national-museum). The clothing will have Philippine/Pacific patterns on them as well as some other asian characters from his 'time' spent on the islands this part of the earth. His Armor, well, I'd have to say I defaulted to the traditional Samurai armor, purely because the pacific people/SEAns didn't utilize much armor in the past, and I wanted him showing of something 'Bushido' as well. Honourable Badass, kills only when needed and with a just cause. ;P His whole body will be full of tattoos as well, and maybe a little bit of Ta moko to honour the Pacific people he fought with. Some more early concepts of him, will be continously updating, right now, I'm just waiting for my Chavant to arrive so I can start sculpting the head, will post that soon once I;m happy with the progress! For now, thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed as much as I enjoyed writing it, have a good day everyone :D

Cheers and thanks!

tlU5nlj.jpg
 
Of your build skills are any where near your drawing skills this is going to be one awesome build. Love the design and can't wait to see it progress.
 
That is a really nice drawing, I am immensely jealous of your skills! I can't seem to draw a nice pose for the life of me. And there's nothing wrong with a shorter predator, nobody will question you when they are pinned to the wall with blades at their throat :D I love that bio, it fits so well with the theme. I demand more pictures!
 
That is a really nice drawing, I am immensely jealous of your skills! I can't seem to draw a nice pose for the life of me. And there's nothing wrong with a shorter predator, nobody will question you when they are pinned to the wall with blades at their throat :D I love that bio, it fits so well with the theme. I demand more pictures!

:D:D:D

I'll see if I can scan some more drawings Pyro! :)

I just got another horse riding helmet (for scrap, work at a saddlery) today..I'm thinking of using it as a base again (did the same thing when I made the 1st one back in college) for the mask sculpt..because Chavant here is really expensive >.< $36 NZD for a 2lbs one. To build the sculpt up, I'd probably still need atleast 10 - 12lbs of it if it's purely clay.. :(
 
Lol ;P

Sorry Lunatic, haven't started the sculpt on the mask yet..still waiting on some Chavant from my local supplier, says he'll have it next week… :( I'm itching to start it too!!!

BUT..I have finished my head cast, where I will sculpt the clay on. I did some rough calculations and overlays on photoshop last night on my head cast with the Predator 'head' that I want to base mine on. Turns out, I wouldn't be needing the old helmet I got the other day as a base.

Actually, have a question for you… I've never actually used Chavant before this, been using this local clay, quite cheap, but I think it's alright…It's Oil based as well, but I remember it being harder than when I opened up a pack again the other night. The question is, would it be alright to use the Chavant as the 'finishing' medium, to get more detail, with the local, cheaper clay used as the build-up clay/base? Plan to re-use the chant, so might be a pain to separate the 2 if I do use them both..

I'm just going by other peeps recommendations of Chavant being one of the best if you want details..

Anyway, here's a 1/6th scale figure I sculpted a few years back using the same local clay I just mentioned..
Do you think this is good enough for the head sculpt?
jedi_master_sibb__makua_by_nuts02.jpg
jedi_master_sibb__makua_by_nuts03.jpg
jedi_master_sibb__makua_by_nuts04.jpg



Keen to hear your thoughts, thanks a lot! :)
 
Uh ... well XD I've only used 2 clays so far, one being the type that you actually glaze and fire, and the other being Monster clay. However I'd say the clay you made that sculpt out of seems fine, especially judging from the detail of the wrinkles on the inside of the hand (great job on that btw) I'd say it would do fine.
As far as mixing the Clays ... personally sounds like too much work to recover the chavant clay XD so should you do it, I'd do it with the expectation of only getting half of it back.
And as far as the oil clay being harder than you remember it, I was wondering. Can you completely melt it? If so I'd probably check online if there is some type of oil you could add to make it softer? Just a thought lol.

Can't wait til you go Nuts on that sculpt XD
 
However I'd say the clay you made that sculpt out of seems fine, especially judging from the detail of the wrinkles on the inside of the hand (great job on that btw) I'd say it would do fine.

I think it would work alright too, and it only cost a fifth of what Chavant here costs..I'll prolly just use the Chavant on much smaller parts..Thanks so much man, means a lot coming from you! :)

And as far as the oil clay being harder than you remember it, I was wondering. Can you completely melt it? If so I'd probably check online if there is some type of oil you could add to make it softer? Just a thought lol.

Can't wait til you go Nuts on that sculpt XD

Yeah, you can. I've only melted a small amount though. Actually the other way around. It felt harder when I first used it before. When I was playing around with it the other night, it felt softer..still good though, but softer than Chavant Soft. Anyway, thanks again for the tips, hopefully, I'll have a little bit of something next week (taking the missus and the kids out on a camping trip this long weekend!), and hope I do ya proud! Cheers! :)
 
Finally got a start on the build! :) starting off with the head, about 2 hours worth of work, including building it up with foil and wrapping it with masking tape.. :D **warning: very rough WIP! ;P
Isubumo-Yautja-progress-04022016.jpg


I've sort of just slapped the clay on it for the meantime, I'll do some cleaning up later of course..just went with the flow and followed the contours on my face..but I wanted the dome 'spikes' to be a bit more 'spikey' and elongated, to give a more oriental look? Will gonna have to extend it more to the back, as I feel it's quite short still, but want to keep the overall size not too big compared to my head, so it would look much more 'real'...I love the size ratio between of the Elder pred in Predator 2, pretty much, making it fit perfectly with a slim torso.. :)

Cheers all!
 
This is looking good so far. The forms are nice. Looks like you need a bunch more clay. Have fun with it and keep up the good work.
 
Thanks spgfx!

Got a little more done last night.. adjusted the lower mandible, moving it closer to the inner jaw, making the lower half of the head narrower, which I wanted..(planning to make it more narrower even..) Started on the dome spikes as well, and even though it's still really rough, i'm happy with the direction it's going..(uneven) :D

I'm adding 2 more rows of bone-y protrusions before and after the main 'spikes' to make it more 'full'. The main spikes, especially the top 6 are gonna have some sort of webbing in between them, hopefully making it look more like a funnel.. My cheeky 2 year old was 'helping' his dad out and made that big gash, thinking of keeping it, sort of a battle scar..lol
Isubumo-Yautja-progress-05022016.jpg
 
Had little to do at the office ;P Superimposed the Bio artwork I did before over the head. I really like the shape of the Bio, so will try to apply the shape to the head as physically possible…found out wasn't too far off.. :D
Isubumo-Yautja-Bio-measure-05022016.jpg


Could probably elongate the back more, and try to trim down the lower mandible line, but I reckon it might get too big, especially on a guy who's only 5'6".. ;P
 
Will be interesting to see what it looks like with teeth. Looks a bit small, however may just be proportioned well to a smaller Predator ;)
 
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