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
Malay race - Wikipedia), 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.
Let's Start a discussion, what is your favorite predator? In any form media? . 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
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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!
). Both small, but quick and deadly.
His Bio Helmet has elements and is a play on the traditional Asian demon/ogre masks.
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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! :
The Collection of Primitive Weapons and Armor of the Philippine Islands in the 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
Cheers and thanks!
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