Curse of the Werewhale

Despite how preposterous they seem (or perhaps because of it), werewhales enjoy quite a bit of popularity in fiction, art, and even heavy metal music.

The graphic novel The Curse of the Werewhale from Artgasm Studios includes four stories about werewhales. I particularly like Gugliotti's artwork for the story Arriuk Auminal.

Cover art by Chris Gugliotti

Werewhales also are mentioned in the Wereworld series of YA novels by Curtis Jobling.

Pop culture aside, these creatures also exist in real-world mythology. The self-proclaimed world expert on "whale-ish lycanthropy" is Lyonel Perabo, who's master's thesis about pre-modern Fennoscandian literature (available as a pdf from Skemman) includes a section on Sámi werewhales.

The creatures mentioned in the thesis are typical of real-world mythological were-creatures, in that they take on a full animal appearance, as opposed to the typical modern depiction of a creature that is halfway between man and beast.

I don't think that there are any miniatures of werewhales being made at this time, but WizKids produces the HeroClix Giganto (Avengers Infinity #G007), which would be a great representation of a modern-style werewhale.

This version of Giganto is green, which seems a bit odd for a whale, but perhaps it is a relative of the troll werewhale that is mentioned in Perabo's thesis.

The figure stands at a bit over 3½" tall, which would be over 21' tall in 1/72 scale. This would be approximately the size of the Giganto that appeared in Fantastic Four #149 as opposed to the much larger original beast from Fantastic Four #4 (who was killed with a nuclear bomb).

Take that comrade!

I haven't been writing much lately because the cold weather this last couple of months has put me into a state of hibernation. However, I plan to start posting more regularly again when the temperature starts to warm up around here.

Joulupukki

Last year, Finland inducted Joulupukki (aka Santa Claus) to their National Inventory of Living Heritage. The modern Joulupukki looks pretty much like the version of Santa Claus popularized by the advertising paintings produced for Coca Cola by Haddon Sundblom.

Joulupukki and his tontut.

However, there was a time when Joulupukki bore the literal appearance of his name—Yule Goat, and was said to have been an actual goat, or some kind of weregoat.

The concept of [were]goats bearing gifts is said to have come from the merging of Joulupukki with Nuuttipukki. Nuuttipukkit were Krampus-like figures who would make the rounds at the end of the Yuletide festivities. Some say they represent spirits to be appeased, while others say they drive off spirits who would otherwise overstay their welcome during the Yule.

Anyway, the Yule Goat is an appropriate subject for this time of year, but the post is really about weregoats (of which the Yule Goat is the closest thing in mythology that I could find).

There is only one weregoat figure that I am aware of. It comes from the Judges Guild City State Miniatures line. I'm not sure if there are any stats for this creature in any of the Judges Guild publications, but current homebrew D&D stats found on the internet seem to treat weregoats no differently from satyrs.

The Judges Guild weregoat happens to be one of my grail miniatures, but unfortunately Eisenwerk miniatures are near impossible to find. Thus I decided to make do with a proxy from the Ganesha Games Miniatures line produced by Alternative Armies.

This particular miniature is the mount from the Skeleton Undead Ram Rider (Hammer and Forge UDD007).

The creature is supposed to be a ram and not a goat, but the face is rather bovine, so it doesn't really look like either. I'll probably modify the horns to point backwards so that it is more goat-like, but I'm not sure there is too much else I can do about the head.

Walrus Giganticus

The giant walrus encountered by Sinbad in the far northern land of Hyperborea in the 1977 film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger was another creature animated by Ray Harryhausen.

A model was sold by X-Plus as part of their Ray Harryhausen Film Library line of resin figures.

The model consists of the walrus and a separate base with two figures that are roughly 1/72 scale attached to it.

I like the model, but I'd be hesitant about using it for gaming because it is made of polystone resin. If you need something for gaming, plastic figures from Safari Ltd or Schleich would be a better choice.

These figures are probably larger than the X-Plus model, but there's always a bit of leeway with movie monsters, since their relative size to humans is not always consistent on film.