Tuesday 25 February 2014

Red Riding Hood or Sansa Stark?

Standing at roughly 90-mm from head-to-toe, the Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon has presented me with a dilemma. I am faced with a choice of whether to paint her as intended in Red Riding Hood colours or carry out a miniature conversion and paint her as Sansa Stark (Game of Thrones).



Of all the Red Riding Hood miniatures in existence, I find the resin scale figure from Nocturna Models to be the most appealing in terms of the way she is sculpted and depicted. It is a reversal from the original fairy tale - of which the first known printed version was titled Le Petit Chaperon Rogue - so in the Nocturna Models version, Red Riding Hood is a grown woman while the wolf has become a pup. Speaking of the traditional way she is viewed, I found a wonderful illustration by Therese Larsson of this fairy tale character and decided to share it by re-posting her picture below.   

Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon (Front view, semi-assembled)
Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon (Back view, semi-assembled)
Little Red Riding Hood as illustrated by Therese Larsson

But such are the fantastic details of the Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon that I can also paint her as Sansa Stark in my re-imagining of a Game of Thrones character. That this figure is not clothed in the traditional court dresses of Westeros is not a problem because [Spoiler Alert Starts] Sansa was at one point disguised as Alayne Stone, the bastard daughter of Lord Petyr Baelish [Spoiler Alert Ends]. It won't be stretching the truth to imagine Lord Littlefinger as wanting to cloth Sansa in a sexy outfit. 

Pendant on Le Petit Chaperon's neck can easily represent the direwolf of House Stark

Although Sansa Stark has only wielded a cheese knife as far as I know (I just started reading Book Four of the George R.R. Martin fantasy series), in my re-imagining of Sansa I would want her to be able to protect herself, and what better way to do it then to arm her with Valyrian steel, more specifically a dagger from House Targaryen. To see if this was possible, I tried to re-model a Khorne Berzerker sword, which had a hilt sculpted like a dragon head, to look like a dagger (see below).   

Re-modelling a Khorne Berzerker sword to become a Valyrian steel dagger

If I were to proceed with the Sansa Stark option, I plan to remove the wolf pup completely and replace the leash on the miniature's hand with the re-modelled Valyrian steel dagger. Since the wolf pup will no longer be on the base, it stands to reason that the base will have to be shortened. In an unintended piece of realism, the awkward way she is holding the dagger would be reminiscence of how the lady-like Sansa Stark would hold a weapon - similar to someone untrained in using a dagger.

Possible conversion of miniature to become Sansa Stark disguised as Alayne Stone

I am still at two minds about which direction I should take the Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon. On one hand, I have always wanted to paint a miniature version of Red Riding Hood. Then again, I believe this model gives me an excellent opportunity to add to my Game of Thrones project. Accchhhh! Both options are appealing so I have to think long and hard before deciding.

http://shireworks.blogspot.com/p/nocturna.html

20 comments:

  1. Inspired, sexy and great work...so far!

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    1. Thanks Phil ... nothing much done on Le Petit Chaperon yet though. Just trying to figure out how best to assemble or re-model her. :)

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  2. Oh, you and your choosing. Simple purchase another and do both. Yes, I am that little devil on your shoulder. No, I have no idea where the other guy is... Muwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!

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    1. Heh heh XD ... I am guessing you have disposed of the other guy with your chaos cultist thingamajig!

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  3. Lovely model , i follow the work .
    Greetings .

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    1. Thanks for following my work Vincent. Any feedback is appreciated.

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  4. Oh decisions, decisions! Both would be great fun, but I'm going with Zab and do both!

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    1. Now there are two little devils on my shoulder! =)

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  5. That makes three votes so far on the: "do both" option.

    I agree with "the devil on your shoulder" Zab and "both would be fun" Michael.

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    1. Oops ... a third one just perched on me head! ^^

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  6. You could always sell the first on ebay to pay for the next. Oh gee, now it's a self sustaining hobby...

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    1. Yeah, I am sorely tempted to sell all my W40K miniatures (painted and unpainted) in the future to help pay the bills. (>_<) Cash is better than having miniatures that might never see the light of day.

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    2. Ha! Me too. This spring all my 40k gaming stuff is going away. What can't be shipped and sold on ebay will be sold at a 40k garage sale after I hit up my local stores with flyers.

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    3. Good luck with the ebay and garage sales! :)

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  7. Replies
    1. Thanks for the vote Lord AK. Yah ... I am leaning towards RRH myself as my first painting attempt on the Nocturna Models Le Petit Chaperon. ^_^

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  8. A vote for Sansa Stark here, but I am looking forward to see it completed whatever wuold be the final choice!

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    1. Thanks for the vote. =) I am tempted to do a conversion but I now most likely will do a RRH version as I could not bring myself to cut-up such a wonderfully sculpted figure. I hope I can do justice to Le Petit Chaperon and paint her well.

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    2. I told you I would liked whatever the choice :) I am waiting for the Red Riding Hood version and I am sure the final result will be awesome :)

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    3. You are too kind. ^_^ I really hope I can paint Le Petit Chaperon well and not spoil such a beautiful resin scale miniature.

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