In my June installment of "Notable Acquisitions", I mentioned that I had Monster Caesar Studios' bust of Tars Tarkas of Thark, Green Martian of Barsoom (aka Mars), sculpted and produced by Andrew Martin, on order.
Unfortunately, this was just about the time that the Canadian Postal Strike was hitting its peak, so a delay was not entirely unanticipated. What turned-out to be a four-week in-transit time was! But all's well that ends well--and it did!--and I can say with no reservation whatsoever that it was well worth the wait!!
Before moving on to a brief review, let me just say that Andrew is a consummate professional--not only as a very talented sculptor, but as a businessman. I contacted him yesterday (of course!) about my concerns re: the seemingly inordinate delay, and he was very forthcoming and accommodating. I can't recommend him highly enough!
To the matter hand. I don't feel a need to post images as what you see in the link above is what you get. This is certainly the most convincing, "realistic", and faithful depiction of a Green Martian I have ever seen. A two-piece casting-- bust and pedestal, it is the embodiment of perfection. Truly amazing!
Some might argue that it is a somewhat minimalistic rendition of the powerful warrior. And I would agree--to a point. But in so doing, Andrew, much as Burroughs in his literary creation, has given us enough latitude to let our imagination flourish, and personalize our depiction as we would like--and our skills allow. I plan to make a few mods to mine: the most obvious will be the addition of a Barsoomian war harness, virtually the only article of clothing on Martian warriors.
Before closing, I would just point out that there are no less than four Green Martian "hordes" on Barsoom, so we can certainly go above and beyond and depict a Warhoon or a Torquasian. BTW, for the curious, this is an approximately 1/8th scale bust!
I just received this piece, so rest assured more to follow shortly. Until then. . .
PS--Clean-up and pegging to pedestal. . . < 15 mins.!
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