The Emerald Court Under Heaven

In figuring out the hair and how the hat will settle I’ve learned about ga chae (가채) wigs which were as fashionable as those worn in Europe by the well to do in the times of the long long ago.

I’m unfortunately becoming well versed in the dress of ladies from period K-dramas. I guess I can think of this as the balance to watching all the Japanese jidaigeki (“period” dramas) set in the Edo era.

I have come full on to hammering out a character fashion design for the giant dokkaebi and explore the many layers of a lady. I might not have a presence in the world of haute couture but I will amaze the eyes of anyone looking at this. I’m also giving up on the mini figures with how complicated this idea has become.

There is now inspiration for the outfit of the large female dokkaebi in the selection of appropriate hanbok (한복), traditional Korean attire, with a jeonmu (전무), a style of paper hat women wore on outings, that will cement any question as to where the army comes from.

The hat is going to be solid visual element as part of the figure. The major issues here are dealing with the figure’s horns and how the hair fits under it.

Going from the matsuri idea of an actual gate made me consider the overall size of the platform carried by the dokkaebi.

With some digging into imagery and Wikipedia I found hyanggyo (향교) , government-run provincial schools, and seowon (서원), private prepatory schools that also acted as Confucian shrines, which were chronologically appropriate and scale better for my mental build.

Understanding the weight of resin, and considering the general material fragility, I begrudgingly give Lloyd a nod on scale as I think more on this engineering problem.

Inspired by the torii gate of Japan, I dug a bit more and found the hongsalmun (홍살문) of Korean Confuciunism which are gates believed to be entrances into a sacred place. Adding one of these would give more support to the underside of the “mobile” pavillion while having the least footprint for the model.

Engineering a dream with the mists of the mind is easier said than done sometimes.

Knowing that the project system has issues with lengthy posts means getting chunks of idea down for future reference that has proven to be a good plan in avoiding mishap.

Addressing the platform started with images of traditional Japanese festival (matsuri) floats. As large ornate wooden constructs hauled on wheels by men on foot they are perfect to imagine scale for the drumming women I planned to have on the platform. The smaller dokkaebi came to mind again with the outfits of the line bearers, ferriers, draft humans(?) but would need different hats.

So as to make it easy to paint as a  subassembly and see more things on the completed work the structure would need to be open for the drummers. Keeping with the Korean theme I dug into imagery for historic architecture of various temples. I also considered about how much of a pain it would be to have someone scratchbuild for 3D printing. It would be painfully pricy for the cost of work done by whoever I ended up hiring to digitally weld all this insanity together.

I lucked out to find the files for a traditional Korean pavillion at a single digit price which helped me worry less about bankruptcy.

I started onto how the pavillions were painted and think I have made “a big boo-boo”.

I have been called a mad lad before in past review of my work, and presently I don’t think that’s an inappropriate description for this portion of the project.

It is the greatest capacity of the imagination which is the greatest blessing and the worst of curses while remaining the most awesome and wondrous of things.

As lightning from the sky, inspiration has struck to give the developing Koryo army new possibilities for a centerpiece to the army yet to be. As the Arabian Knights draws closer to its end, the land of eight million dreams gives birth to yet another thing in the world of mankind.

The giant from Grenadier has gone to being a proper giant dokkaebi in my mind. Returning to Craiyon for quick sketches, I threw out the text I thought would work. I wasn’t happy with the initial results, switched to using text prompt for Japanese oni and got better images. The concept of a platform seemed to prove difficult in translation for the ai results but I think I ironed out the majority of the issue.

Looking back to the goblins on the giant, I thought that it might be a good redirect as a story to make the giant dokkaebi mother to the smaller ones. There wasn’t anything from the folktales for or against it so I figured it follows The Rule of Cool. From there my mind wandered to creating female oni, with few useful results, but gathering a few images of female powerlifters which has yielded appropriate proportions and poses for 3D sculpting in future.

After the seeds of an idea were sown into a fertile mind the growth of a concept which may yield a great harvest occurred. I’ve found a designer on Myminifactory, Jovey, and now have great additions to my work to come. HATS!

Yes, it’s been covered before but these are relevant to my interest and build. The kitbash with these shall be as awesome as the Arabian Knights. I amplify this creator and hope that many more go to purchase their wares.

The army of figures has arrived recently I have ordered the appropriate movement/horde trays for them in the excitement. The figures I chose from the Perry’s is as follows

• Mounted Commanders
• Garrison archers shooting, knocking arrows
• Garrison infantry command standing
• Armoured Cavalry with bows
• Armoured Cavalry attacking with double handed flail / double handed crescent sword
• Heavy infantry advancing/charging with swords and round shields
• Heavy infantry advancing/charging with glaive (Hyup Do
• Shin Ki Jeon (multi- rocket propelled arrow launcher) and crew

I like the idea of peasant guerrillas as levy but the uniform nature of using the garrison troops appeals as I’ve done the disparate troop type with the Arabian Knights already. This will definitely be fun as I continue to work on the huge dokkaebi

More casual glances to the world of books has paid off. Another book of folklore has been found and this time it is a little bit more special. The image is of a second edition copy with dust jacket, I’ve procured mine as a first edition (numbered 357 and signed) that I love with all the illustrations it holds within.

This is quite timely as when I checked my post box the order I made of Medieval Koreans from Perry Miniatures had also arrived. I’ve just put in an order for all the MDF bases I’ll need to keep coherence for playing SAGA.

Thinking of how I might try and put together the idea for a proper large scale monster for this army is rather daunting but I believe that a point in the right direction may have been found.

Jumping from my project From the Dusty Reaches of Yesteryear I trawled a giant in the 1991 Grenadier catalog on page 7 for their Fantasy Warriors line. This is about the right stature and similar composition for what I envision a dokkaebi carrying samgomu (삼고무) perfomers on a platform over his head. Thankfully there are people out there (like Evil Bob’s Painting) that have painted this model so I can refer to them. Now it’s just time to get images together for better reference before hitting up a 3D sculptor for their trade.

By the mandate of Heaven the Emerald Court stands ready to walk upon its enemies in advance or retreat. In doing so the protection of the men who perform the will of the king is paramount that the nights after days of fighting are enjoyed in rest. Images as fearsome as the soldiers to adorn the shields and pavise have been found.

Banners to mark the brave men of the Emerald Court will fly proudly. Nothing can stop this force as resilient as the mountains and as relentless as the sea.

The Green Court has a great many creatures both great and small. Those things beyond plain human forms that make the realm more wondrous and dangerous have played in the minds of Clay Cyanide and will be created in resin to stand among the ranks of grand Koryo troops. (I’m very glad a coworker has just purchased a 3D printer)