THE TWELVE AGES OF ULTRON - THE NINTH AGE (PART 1)
MECHA TEN STAND OFF...
THE TWELVE AGES OF ULTRON - THE NINTH AGE (PART 1)
THE NINTH AGE
In the ninth Age Of UItron
Joss Whedon gave to me
Nine blasters blasting
Eight ladies chilling
Seven spiders spinning
Six gaussed a-laying
Five Mandarins
Four brawling nerds
Three drenched men
Two mortal foes
And a Rocket in a Groot tree
--------------------------------------------
Tony Stark: "Make a move and we'll pop your toast..."
I liked the initial set up for this one so much, of the assembled Avengers preparing to blast Ultron, with their shadows cast upon the sand, that I decided that I wanted to use it as well as the subsequent shot where I've added in the concentrated frightfulness of their combined attack.
Facing off against the adamantium/vibranium (depending on your sources) robot are:
(Lower left to upper right)
Deathlok The Demolisher - Undead Cyborg from a future post-apocalyptic, dystopic Earth. Luther Manning in the original comic books (reinterpreted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mike Peterson) was recruited after death and became a half man/half machine soldier struggling against his programming to retain his humanity. On yet another alternate Marvel world (Earth-1298), Deathlok was an Avenger, but I'm including him here in this team more because I'm riffing off the Avengers Alliance online game, specifically selecting characters who are, or can be, rated as 'Blasters'.
Nick Fury (Junior!) Director Of S.H.I.E.L.D - Another Marvel character who's had so much to do with the Avengers that he should be counted amongst their ranks. He's not a playable character in Avengers Alliance but he's carrying two BFGs (a Coulson Special and one of the Age Of Ultron's Black Widow Hot Toy guns) so I'm certainly not going to be the one to say he can't play! I like, incidentally, that his guns are casting a rather lupine shadow...though perhaps that's just Deathlok being haunted by Warwolf. (Caution: Comic Book joke!)
The Invincible Iron Man - Founding (and funding!) Avenger Tony Stark bringing the pain in his Mk 43 suit from Age Of Ultron. (Yes, it would be even more wicked if he was wearing 'Veronica' Hulkbuster but that would kind of crowd out the piccy, and besides, there is plenty of HB hardarsery to come!
The Scarlet Witch- Wanda Maximoff, retconned from evil mutant daughter of Magneto in the comics to unrelated Hydra science experiment turned Avenger in the movies. About to lay some chaotic hex magic down upon the robot's shiny metal butt. She's not even Mag's biological daughter in the comics now, as Marvel further disentangles Quicksilver and her from the evil Master of Magnetism and the whole awkward deal of cinematic mutant rights belonging to Fox. Scarlet Witch was a later generation Avenger in the comics, arriving with her brother Quicksilver, after the 'original' team of Iron Man/Thor/Hank Pym/Wasp/Cap/Hulk reshuffled.
The Vision- Mighty cool android/synthezoid, created by Ultron in the comic books, but in the Age Of Ultron movie he has many Makers, including Ulty, Helen Cho, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and....J.A.R.V.I.S. I positioned him next to his comic book wife, Wanda, just so I could write, "Witch is cozy". He's carrying the Infinity Gem, the Mind Stone, on his forehead in the movie. Paul Bettany makes a very fine Vision in Age of Ultron, but I'll also miss him as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.
The Mighty Thor- Son Of Odin, etc. Brought to Earth by the technomagery of the Realm Eternal, Asgard, Thor is a very, very long lived meta-human whom the Vikings once worshipped as the God of Thunder. This particularly figure is a big 'un, larger than the regular Marvel Legend Hasbro figures that populate this shoot. So big that I had to have him kneeling down to jigger the scale....but how could I not include this Founding Avenger in the line-up?
Captain Marvel- Carol Danvers in best Kelly Sue DeConnick/ Dexter Soy "Space Aviatrix" mode. Carol Danvers, as a Marvel COmics character, has been flying around since the late 1960s, but only became Ms. Marvel in the mid-1970s, after an infusion of alien Kree genes. The character has a complex and uneven history but has frequently presented as one of Marvel's strongest female heroes. She gets her very own movie in 2019! Yeah, she's an Avenger, and a particularly feisty blaster.
Doctor Strange- Master Of The Mystic Arts, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. Not formally an Avenger, though he appears in the New Avengers comic title as one of the naughty Illuminati, the secret superhero club that tried to protect Earth from cosmic level threats. Benedict Cumberbatch plays him in the 2016 movie.
Hawkeye- "The city is flying! We're fighting an army of robots! And I have a bow and arrow! None of this makes sense!" Introduced as a villain in the Iron Man comics back in the 1960s Hawkeye was one of the early Avengers, eventually fighting alongside his old ally, also an early Iron Man villain, the Black Widow. Jeremy Renner made a pretty convincing Hawkeye in the movies, once he got past the whole "Mind controlled by Loki" thing in the Avengers. (To be fair, that had to happen to somebody!)
As for Ultron himself, the figure is an earlier incarnation from the comic books, featuring the specific Hank Pym mad beaky overbite design. (Pym has nothing to do with the Stark/Banner/Infinity Stone 'fluenced science experiment origin of the movie.)
The backdrop for the shoot is English Yellowstone plaster in its powdered form. I find it a good substitute for sand.
When setting up I asked my partner, Gail, to help me out by modelling a pose for Captain Marvel. She obliged, then succumbed to the lure of the toys and followed me back into the studio, promptly taking over the choreography for the Little People. So, figure wrangling by Gail Adams, ta very much.
THE TWELVE AGES OF ULTRON - THE NINTH AGE (PART 1)
MECHA TEN STAND OFF...
THE TWELVE AGES OF ULTRON - THE NINTH AGE (PART 1)
THE NINTH AGE
In the ninth Age Of UItron
Joss Whedon gave to me
Nine blasters blasting
Eight ladies chilling
Seven spiders spinning
Six gaussed a-laying
Five Mandarins
Four brawling nerds
Three drenched men
Two mortal foes
And a Rocket in a Groot tree
--------------------------------------------
Tony Stark: "Make a move and we'll pop your toast..."
I liked the initial set up for this one so much, of the assembled Avengers preparing to blast Ultron, with their shadows cast upon the sand, that I decided that I wanted to use it as well as the subsequent shot where I've added in the concentrated frightfulness of their combined attack.
Facing off against the adamantium/vibranium (depending on your sources) robot are:
(Lower left to upper right)
Deathlok The Demolisher - Undead Cyborg from a future post-apocalyptic, dystopic Earth. Luther Manning in the original comic books (reinterpreted in the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Mike Peterson) was recruited after death and became a half man/half machine soldier struggling against his programming to retain his humanity. On yet another alternate Marvel world (Earth-1298), Deathlok was an Avenger, but I'm including him here in this team more because I'm riffing off the Avengers Alliance online game, specifically selecting characters who are, or can be, rated as 'Blasters'.
Nick Fury (Junior!) Director Of S.H.I.E.L.D - Another Marvel character who's had so much to do with the Avengers that he should be counted amongst their ranks. He's not a playable character in Avengers Alliance but he's carrying two BFGs (a Coulson Special and one of the Age Of Ultron's Black Widow Hot Toy guns) so I'm certainly not going to be the one to say he can't play! I like, incidentally, that his guns are casting a rather lupine shadow...though perhaps that's just Deathlok being haunted by Warwolf. (Caution: Comic Book joke!)
The Invincible Iron Man - Founding (and funding!) Avenger Tony Stark bringing the pain in his Mk 43 suit from Age Of Ultron. (Yes, it would be even more wicked if he was wearing 'Veronica' Hulkbuster but that would kind of crowd out the piccy, and besides, there is plenty of HB hardarsery to come!
The Scarlet Witch- Wanda Maximoff, retconned from evil mutant daughter of Magneto in the comics to unrelated Hydra science experiment turned Avenger in the movies. About to lay some chaotic hex magic down upon the robot's shiny metal butt. She's not even Mag's biological daughter in the comics now, as Marvel further disentangles Quicksilver and her from the evil Master of Magnetism and the whole awkward deal of cinematic mutant rights belonging to Fox. Scarlet Witch was a later generation Avenger in the comics, arriving with her brother Quicksilver, after the 'original' team of Iron Man/Thor/Hank Pym/Wasp/Cap/Hulk reshuffled.
The Vision- Mighty cool android/synthezoid, created by Ultron in the comic books, but in the Age Of Ultron movie he has many Makers, including Ulty, Helen Cho, Tony Stark, Bruce Banner and....J.A.R.V.I.S. I positioned him next to his comic book wife, Wanda, just so I could write, "Witch is cozy". He's carrying the Infinity Gem, the Mind Stone, on his forehead in the movie. Paul Bettany makes a very fine Vision in Age of Ultron, but I'll also miss him as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S.
The Mighty Thor- Son Of Odin, etc. Brought to Earth by the technomagery of the Realm Eternal, Asgard, Thor is a very, very long lived meta-human whom the Vikings once worshipped as the God of Thunder. This particularly figure is a big 'un, larger than the regular Marvel Legend Hasbro figures that populate this shoot. So big that I had to have him kneeling down to jigger the scale....but how could I not include this Founding Avenger in the line-up?
Captain Marvel- Carol Danvers in best Kelly Sue DeConnick/ Dexter Soy "Space Aviatrix" mode. Carol Danvers, as a Marvel COmics character, has been flying around since the late 1960s, but only became Ms. Marvel in the mid-1970s, after an infusion of alien Kree genes. The character has a complex and uneven history but has frequently presented as one of Marvel's strongest female heroes. She gets her very own movie in 2019! Yeah, she's an Avenger, and a particularly feisty blaster.
Doctor Strange- Master Of The Mystic Arts, Sorcerer Supreme of Earth. Not formally an Avenger, though he appears in the New Avengers comic title as one of the naughty Illuminati, the secret superhero club that tried to protect Earth from cosmic level threats. Benedict Cumberbatch plays him in the 2016 movie.
Hawkeye- "The city is flying! We're fighting an army of robots! And I have a bow and arrow! None of this makes sense!" Introduced as a villain in the Iron Man comics back in the 1960s Hawkeye was one of the early Avengers, eventually fighting alongside his old ally, also an early Iron Man villain, the Black Widow. Jeremy Renner made a pretty convincing Hawkeye in the movies, once he got past the whole "Mind controlled by Loki" thing in the Avengers. (To be fair, that had to happen to somebody!)
As for Ultron himself, the figure is an earlier incarnation from the comic books, featuring the specific Hank Pym mad beaky overbite design. (Pym has nothing to do with the Stark/Banner/Infinity Stone 'fluenced science experiment origin of the movie.)
The backdrop for the shoot is English Yellowstone plaster in its powdered form. I find it a good substitute for sand.
When setting up I asked my partner, Gail, to help me out by modelling a pose for Captain Marvel. She obliged, then succumbed to the lure of the toys and followed me back into the studio, promptly taking over the choreography for the Little People. So, figure wrangling by Gail Adams, ta very much.