Who Goes There

This custom Space Cadet was built for RYCA's show held at DesignerCon 2022 in Anaheim CA

The Space Cadet is a large resin figure that is partially hollow but is cleverly weighted in the legs for stability. My custom took inspiration from Drew Struzan's classic poster for John Carpenter's The Thing. Not having access to any reference images of Rob Bottin's ground-breaking visual effects, Struzan produced an evocative, iconic image that suggested terror but gave no warning to viewers as to what was heading their way. I decided to recreate the poster image, while hinting at some of the seminal body horror the movie delivers.

I built in a bank of LEDs, battery and a USB charging board. I replaced the figure's gloved hands with brass palms so that they could act as touch sensors to control the lighting. I sanded the inside of the clear space helmet to act as a diffuser that gave the appearance of rays of light. I also sculpted subtle light beams into the body of the figure. A flesh-coloured charging cable can be concealed among the tentacles, allowing the light to run continuously.

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