Before the rise of the Internet.
Before the "Star Wars Kid"
Before the "Halo Kid".
There was "Conan Boy"...
When I was a young fanboy. I liked the Lord of the Rings and that type fantasy but it was a little too poetic for my pre-teen attitude. It felt "girlish" with magical wizards and elves. I liked warriors in heavy armor splitting skulls back then. I had no need of story or fancy writing. I dug CONAN! I started reading the Marvel comics in the late '70's and became barbarian obsessed. When I compared Conan to Gandalf's gang, there was no contest. Conan would of cleaved Frodo and Sam on day one just for being too whiny.
In those broad sword and battle axe days, I decided to make my own in the summer of 1981. They were some of the first "real" props I ever made. The Frazetta design influence is not too subtle. Looking back, my materials haven't changed much. I used stuff around the house, re-purposing everything. The axe handle was a broom stick, the medallion on the shield was a cooking pot lid. Not pictured was a custom sword with a hilt made from a tennis racket and door knob. In time, a full costume was created including a chain mail shirt of tiny hoops made from dry cleaner wire hangers.
For the most part, these things hung on the wall but when the Schwarzenegger movie came out, there was many a time that axe was swung around the room while the Basil Poledouris soundtrack blared.
Sh@t......that feels like yesterday. That chain-mail took so many man hours!!
ReplyDeleteLook at that face! You're not just an actor, you're an ACTOR!
ReplyDeleteYou really transformed that broom handle --the area where the blade is attached is great. Also, that shield! Did your mom wonder where her pot lid had gotten to?
I wanna see that chain mail.
I once transformed a broom handle and my sisters' windbreakers (one blue; one red -- one at either end of the handle) into flags that the marching band girls carried. And then I twirled it in the yard, and we lived on a fairly busy street, so more opportunities to show off what a loser I was & am. I'd like to say I was a little kid when I did this, but I think I was in high school, and actually in marching band, but in the boring-non-twirling-musical section.