INFINITY GOES BIZARRE

DESIGN PROCESS OF THE BAKUNIN ÜBERFALLKOMMANDO

An article by Gutier Lusquiños

ENTER THE ÜBERFALLKOMMANDO

The Überfallkommando is the Bakunin Moderator Corps unit dedicated to pursuing clandestine Aristeia! combats and all the illicit body modifications these involve. However, it is also employed by the Nomad Military Force in strike operations and riot suppression.

To be able to infiltrate the illegal Aristeia! circuits, these undercover agents undergo radically aggressive body alterations, becoming a Chimera, a human bizarrely modified to enhance combat effectiveness. They are usually accompanied by a group of Pupniks, illegal human-animal hybrids, genetically created for fighting and sex.

The Überfallkommando shows the dark side of the Nomads’ Bakunin society, where the most depraved passions for money, sex and adrenaline dominate the illegal Aristeia! Underground fighting circuit.

GOING BIZARRE

The Überfallkommando was a double challenge for the Infinity concept design team. With this unit they have to create the design for both the Chimera and the Pupniks, both troops without precedents in the Infinity range.

As background creator, I was asked for some guidelines to start this design. "You have complete freedom with this unit. The Black Laboratories have developed different types of Pupniks, with their animal origin as their only common feature. And, every Chimera is unique, so just remember they personify the concept of “weird”, a Chimera never goes unnoticed in a crowd.”

And then, the brainstorming started. Our graphic designer Carlos Llauger (a.k.a. Bostria) was in charge to kick-off with the Chimera, creating the first concept designs you can see in the Concept File-1. His first proposal (Number 1) was a masked woman, playing with the idea of an implanted gasmask on her face, claw hands and dressed with long clothes. However, the staff preferred an unmasked design.

Then, Bostria took the bio-technological way (Number 2) providing her with reptile-esque skin, clawed feet, bladed forearms and a horned head. This design, being really different, was radically split from the rest of the Nomad/ Bakunin designs, breaking the homogeneity of the army, so it was not taken. The horned head was a successful concept for a while, so Bostria designed different horned head versions, as you can see in A,B,C and D. In his search for the bizarre, Bostria even added some bondage features as you can see in A, but this idea was finally discarded.

At that point, the concept design team learned from Bostria’s designs that a female appearance was required and dressed with clothes/ uniform that linked her to the Nomad/ Bakunin forces. Then, concept design manager Carlos Torres took command of the Chimera design.

After few attempts, Carlos Torres made an animalistic design, an option used before in some Nomad female troops, as the Daktari, but now it was boosted to the extreme. Those previous designs have human faces with just some animal features such as ears and tail. Now, the challenge was to design a human-animal face that keeps the characteristic attractiveness of the Infinity girls. This ended up as the “Winter Vixen” the version you can see in Concept File-2. Its name comes from the main inspiration for this design, which was the arctic fox.

As the Chimera belongs to the Moderator Corps, she was dressed with some clothes common to these Bakunin units, such as the Moderator girls’ tight leggings and boots. Even her vest is a short variant of the female Moderator’s one, mixed with similarities to the long vest of the Morlocks. All of this, as well as the color pattern, will keep a stylistic link with other Bakunin troops.

Our other concept designer, Alberto Abal, was in charge of the Chimera’s Viral CC weapon. With this, we want to delve into the idea of an urban fighter, going beyond typical close combat weapons such as knives, swords or axes. We needed a weapon that fitted the “weird” concept of the Chimera, but would also help find a sexy pose for her. So, the final proposal was not a mere sword, but a high-tech bladed chain you can see in the Concept File-2.

The directives with the Pupniks were clearer: human-animal hybrids created for combat and sex. However, they provided a new challenge. Carlos Torres made the first design you can see in Concept File-3. The number 1 has a caprine superhero body, very suitable for combat, and probably for sex also, but, being so tall and straight, it was too human. So Carlos Torres made a new body design (2), shorter, with the head in a low position and bigger forearms and feet. These changes helped to dehumanize the creature, but it was still not enough…

As three different Pupniks were needed, other head designs were made. On the Concept File-2 some of them are shown. The “Predatoresque Alien” version (A) was rejected as it didn’t fit in the Pupnik’s human-animal hybrid concept. As the “Demoniac Billygoat” version (B) provided too much of fantasy look, we decided to discard it. The Warthog head (D) needed a voluminous torso to fit correctly, which could have made the Pupnik go out of scale, so it was also rejected. Finally, everyone liked the “Bad Ram” version, but it required bigger horns, not so streamlined, so, after a re-styling, it became the “Evil Ram” version you can see in Concept File-3.

Carlos Torres made a new design for the body, starting now from the “combat puppy” idea. As seen in the Concept File-3, this new torso was not muscled, shoulders were narrower and arms also became thinner with exaggerated forearms. This design was made for the Pupnik’s Evil Ram version. For the other two, the so-called Mad Fox and Wild Cheetah versions, these proposals were kept, designing a common body with different heads and arms.

The final step was just to dress them up with tight futuristic suits, taking and modernizing some ideas from the original caprine design for the Evil Ram version, and just paint them with the Bakunin color scheme. Finally, Nomads have their own fighting and not-so-funny animals!

All placed together in Concept File-4 and the Bakunin Überfallkommando is ready to be sent to the sculptor, Pedro Fernández, to turn the dossiers into reality.

The pose for the Chimera was suggested to the sculptor by the concept designers, as they know the style of the sexy Infinity girls. However, for the Pupniks, Pedro was totally free to decide which pose to give them, as we all know he has a special talent to sculpt beast men.

Once the first master copies of the Überfallkommando figures were cast, our painter, Ángel Giráldez made his magic with the brushes, the final result of which you can admire in the pictures. The superb painting skills of Ángel applied to these figures would require a complete article for them alone.

That was how the Überfallkommando was created, ready for conflict, but in the most bizarre way, real Bakunin style!

And don’t forget, if you want to know more, to keep connected to www.infinitythegame.com!