ThreeA ~ A.B.C. Warriors : Mongrol.

MONGROL SMUSH!!!

A (mis) interpretation :

Category : Cyborg.
Unit type: Mass production close assault cyborg.
Model type: A.B.C. Warriors.
Designation : Mongrol.

Manufacturer: The Ro-Busters Industries.

Affiliation: A.B.C. Warriors, 101st Airborne Division, United Americana (former), The Meknificent Seven (former); The Robot Islands Sanctuary (current). 

Height: 7 feet.

Weight: 5000 kg.

Power plant: Hydrogen fusion fuel cell x 5.

Armour type: Plasteel ceramite rare metals composite alloy - inner armour; armaplus ceramite composite alloy - outer armour; Luna Titanium Hyper alloy - cranium.

Armour thickness: 300mm - inner armour; 300mm - outer armour; 200mm - cranium armour.
Armaments : Cybork Body -  modified cybernetics, bionics implants  x 1; Bionik Arms and Legs - modified cybernetics, bionics implants x 2; Killkrusha Fists -  customised energy weapon x 2; Mega Armour - reinforced built-in bionic armour x 1; Mega Boosta - customised power booster x 3; Iron Gob - reinforced facial armour x 1; Da Zzap Kannon - customised built in energy cannon x 1.

1979. Arch Deacon Molotov Vaskhov succeed in a coup which made him the Cardinal of Eurasia Mars Advocate (MARSA) diocese. Caiedius, the previous Cardinal, is found dead in his bed, suspected to be poisoned. The discovery of oil in the North Sea lead Cardinal Vaskhov to mount a military invasion against Europa Union. After the fall of Euro City, the invasion cultimate in the Eight Hours War of which the Eurasian Frateris Templar, Frateris Militia and Adepta Sororita  army of Vaskhov succeed in occupying Albion City after eight hours of intense fighting culminating  in the decisive Battle of Holyhead. Prior to the war, Vaskhov has made a deal with the Cardinals of other diocese nations under occupation by the Ecclesiarchy of Mars, of which they remain neutral and adopt an isolationism policy. This is partly due to the political and economic issues cropping up within their own diocese nations after the end of the Great War, in particular the Anti-Mars Coalition of Terra (AMC) and the Independent Countries Group (ICG). The High Lord of Europa Union, key politicians, aristocracies, and military commanders are charged with heresy, executed and replaced. The population of Europa Union's hive cities, Albion City and Euro City are reduced to abject slavery, task to built a massive defence line which stretches across Atlantic, known as "The Wall" to defend the occupied nation against the United Americana forces. The discovery of oil gains the attention of the High Lord of United Americana himself, and the nation began to secretly fund the AMC forces within the hive cities and provide them with weapons, warbots and droids. By 1984, the United Americana, under the pretext of liberating Europa Union, but with actual intention of capturing the oil reserves for themselves, sent a landing force at Iouernia  sector, deploying waves of warbots against the occupational forces, of which the latter retaliated with their own warbots forces. As the war turned static, United Americana unleash the A.B.C. Warriors, a technologically advanced, cybernetic engineered cyborg soldiers on the various battle zones across Albion City. These cyborgs are manufactured by the Ro-Busters Industries, owns by Viscount Howard Quartz, itself a proxy corporation of the former mega conglomerate, the Rothchild Corporation. As exercised in the Great War, driven by profits and shares, another proxy Rothchild Corporation subsidiary, the Thurxton Industries, led by Viscount Richard "Dicky" Thurxton, supply equally advance cyborgs to the Eurasia diocese. These cyborgs are devoid of any intelligence, and have to be remote controlled by humans. The designer is Harry "Flash" Lowder. Down and out, he is about to destroy the prototypes when by chance Quartz passes by The Boneyard and in his own words, sees the potential of "these bastards:. He purchases the prototypes, design and patents from Flash for a nominal sum of 10,000 bucks. The cyborgs are used as expendable soldiers, cheaply produced, but designed to fight in any form of environments, and absolute resiliency against atomic, bacterial, chemical warfare, as abbreviated in their official category, the A.B.C. Warriors. 

As the war grinds on, eventually the much more numerically superior A.B.C. Warriors overruns their Eurasian cyborg equivalents and repulse them all the way to Megagrad defence belt. Howard Quartz has mis-calculated the war demands, forecast and production numbers of the A.B.C. Warriors and actual shipping schedule which results in the "premature" end of the war. The failure of Vaskhov lead to his assassination by his one of his own military advisors and subsequently an armistice is signed between the three nations. The rights to the oil reserves, neither Europa nor United Americana are unable claim for it, as another Rothchild Corporation proxy mega conglomerate, the Cordoza Corporation, immediately outmanoeuvred both nations in a series of talks, becoming the sole ownership of the raw resources.  A new Cardinal is appointed by the Holy Synod to rule over Eurasia diocese. The Eurasian cyborgs are re-programmed and shipped back to the Eccelsiarchy of Mars as hard labour while all ministorum priests under the late Cardinal are charged with heresy and executed.

The A.B.C.Warriors are designed and engineered by Quartz with maximum 10% organic matter and 90% cybernetics. He has the nickname "Mr. Ten Percent" because he believes that to qualify as a living organism, at least 10% organic, biological substance must be present. Howard himself has been cybernetic augmented to the extent that only his brain remained organic. He applies this design on all the A.B.C. Warriors artificial intelligence, that is all the cyborgs contain the living brain tissue which has been undergone genetic enhancement and modification. The organic brains are procured in abundance from Re-syk centres and Butcher's Bay penal colonies. Quartz calls this cybernetic brain, the positronic e-brain and patented it. All A.B.C. Warriors are highly autonomous, capable of making their own decisions and carrying out their objectives based on direct orders without any intervention from their more human commanders. The humans view these cyborgs as meat to the grinder while they lay back, enjoyed the "tasty" Soylent Green while sipping Café Fine coffees or get laid with the locals at the command quarters. The human commanders from both factions often find faults with these cyborgs, ranging from diverting from an objective to capture an insignificant hill of no military value to not filing in the line up fast enough. These "rogue" cyborgs are dealt with severely by their human commanders, who will disabled them on the spot, unlock the cybernetic enhanced brain and squash it with their boots on spot. The A.B.C. Warriors have a built in safety device which makes them unable to harm any human commanders.

After the war ends, Quartz has a fallout with Thruxton, whom subsequently rat him out to the High Lord of United Kingdom of Afrika, the equally cybernetic enhanced aging Führer, Idi Amon on Quartz's extra-marital affair with the C. Chaplin moustachioed beast's fourth wife, Eva Brown. Amon charges Quartz for tax evasion during a Terra High Lord Council meeting and demands payment for the forge lines and factories built in Eko-Lagos and Kongo hive cities.

Quartz balks, and to make good to the feared dictator, he decides to destroy all the A.B.C. Warriors and claim insurance money from it. All are destroyed outright, with the exception of seven. These remaining A.B.C. Warriors, having beating their safety device programmes and evolves further in terms of their artificial intelligence, escapes to the Northern Frontier of Apulia Sector, Accadia Corridor, Europa Union. They settle within one of the 1,300 islands in the Adriatic Sea collectively known as the Robot Islands. They become mercenaries for hire, and become infamous for undertaking black ops and covert missions. As years go by, they become known as the Meknificent Seven. Even Quartz hires them at one point to protect him from a bunch of his own creations from murdering him under the orders of Idi Amon, whom never quite forgive nor forget.

One of the Meknificent Seven is Mongrol. He is a former CO of an A.B.C. Warriors paratrooper platoon. He, along with another cyborg, Zippo, is the only survivors of the Operation Market Garden during a disastrous drop into Eurasian held Arnhem town, Gelderland sub-sector.  During the battle, a bolter round tore into Mongrol's head, destroying 30% of his skull and pulped a good portion of his brain. Only his head is left. His entire body is destroyed by a plasma cannon. Lara, a Scrapper whom is a former M.O.D. member and daughter of an executed robot tuner finds his head and rebuilt him in a undisclosed forge line. Lara uses Luna Titanium Hyper alloy she salvaged from a destroyed Caesar warbot and bolts it onto Mongrol's cranium, making it impenetrable to most forms of weaponries but she lacks the knowledge to repair the damage done to Mongrol's positronic-e brain although Lara made bionic reinforcement to it upon erasing all the viral contamination and deterioration. Lara refabricates a massive facial appliances which are bolted directly onto Mongrol's face and jaw, giving him a fearsome appearance of an ape, an extinct species said to be once found abundance on United Kingdom of Afrika. Mongrol's cyborg body is rebuilt using a composition of plasteel, ceramite and rare metals over powered exoskeleton, enclosed with massively thick and heavy ceramic armaplas composite alloy, reinforced with bionics. It enable Mongrol to withstand incredible amounts of punishment, shrug off hits from most energy and projectile based weaponries. The piston-enchased metal limbs of the armour give Mongrol phenomenal strength. It involves the use of built-in bionics and is very complex. Due to the increase in weight of the armour, Lara incorporates three power boosters into Mongrol, devices which are attached to the armour and generally increase the power available to the suit. This allows the Mongrol a better chance of getting to a fight quickly. Bionic arms and legs are rebuilt.  Lara adds a pair of power weapon in a form of fists, which  are  essentially an over-sized, armoured gauntlet that generates an energy field around it that disrupts any solid matter it touches. The technology is salvaged from the time of the Great War. Nevertheless, it is large and slow in combat, and so Mongrol must be willing to risk the blows of his enemy before he can strike back. The benefits of the power fists are that it increases the Mongrol's strength further, much as his armour and bionic limbs do due to the power provides by the mechanical servos that allow the power fists to move as Mongrol desires. The disadvantages of its unwieldy nature are often well worth the limitations, however, as the combination of the disruptive power field and sheer physical strength afforded by a power fist allows Mongrol to pulverize and tear apart armour plate from the most well-protected of vehicles, and to wound and kill even colossal monstrous creatures in close combat. Its brutal effects against more mundane foes goes without saying. Rounding up the rebuilt process is the incorporation of laser weapon within Mongrol throat. An extremely powerful weapon, the Zzap gun serves a role not dissimilar to a Martian lascannon during the time of the Great War in that it fires concentrated beams of energy effective against vehicles. It consists of a wire-bound tube and a powerful generator at the back end of it with a lot of customised parts. Although powerful, this weapon suffers from unpredictability and as such can vary to have such devastating power that it is stronger than anything in the Imperium, but some unlucky shots won't be strong enough to even scratch an enemy's armour.

Both of them are eventually caught by the Frateris Templar and sent to the notorious Unit 731 Complex , a covert cybernetic, biological and chemical warfare research and development unit that undertook lethal human experimentation based in Siberia parish. Lara is brutally experimented upon and died from the process. Mongrol, who was deactivated and unconscious, was subjected to a series of horrific tortured by the Confessors for information. The extent of the brutality suffered under the captors hand inadvertently awakens Mongrol consciousness, and upon seeing the mutilated body of Lara, Mongrol's anger activates himself and he breaks free of his captors. He immediately unleashes an unbridled act of furious brutality, a nigh unstoppable, rampaging juggernaut. He intentionally seals off the entire Unit 731 Complex and levels it to the ground with no survivors. Mongrol mounts the Eurasian complex commandant, Shirov Tsirinsky's head on a pike in front of the devastated scene and gives out a mighty roar which echoes through the frozen wasteland. He then picks up what remains of Lara and buries her. He mourns her death for seven days and seven nights, killing any Frateris Militia or Templars in sight. 

The sight of Lara's violent death, combines with his unstable psyche due to the pulped positronic e-brain, has reduced him to near bestial-like behaviour. Mongrol becomes highly wanted outlaw by both Terra and Eccleasiarchy of Mars occupied nations. He is given amnesty after being recruited by Hammerstein, another veteran of the North Sea Oil War, whom earned Mongrol's respect by defeating him in hand to hand combat. Mongrol's subscribes to the belief that he would eventually go to heaven and meet his beloved Lara once more, and this becomes the driving force of the metal ape in carrying out his duties. After being told by the virtuous Deadlock that all cyborgs have "souls" and only good cyborgs go to "heaven", a place which all sufferance and despair do not exist, he becomes determine to live a hero's life, hopefully died in a glorious combat and see his beloved again.

After the deadly covert mission on Mars of which the Meknificent Seven is hired to rescue seven Terran hostages during the Olympus Mons Crisis at the Holy Synod, Mongrol leaves the Meknificent Seven due to a misunderstanding and is duped into signing a contract to work with Pee Wee Barnes 'Death Circus' on one of the Robot Islands, Mekka. He plays the part of Iron Kong, a giant metal monster that would be defeated by the heroic Sparktekus in every show. So long has he been playing that role, Mongrol eventually forgotten who he really is. He is eventually located by Nemesis the Warlock, an anti-Chaos cyborg technomancer, and brings back into the ranks of the Meknificent Seven to help save the Northern Frontier from a massive incursion of techno-daemons and the Zombot hordes lead by King Thumb. After the event, Mongrol and the rest of his team members, under the command of Hammerstein further undertakes a series of covert operations, secretly sanctioned by the High Lords Council of Terra. Amongst these are the Black Hole Incident of which they plug into the Melchizedek network to prevent the corruption of the mainframe by the Queen Mortis. During their journey home to Scrapyard IV, their fortress headquarter and sanctuary, the treacherous Blackblood, as part of a wider, nefarious scheme, breaks the news to Mongrol that cyborgs simply go to the smelter rather than heaven, and as such he could never see Lara again. As a result, Mongrol turned to his 'father' - a screwdriver and attempted to destroy his own brain before being stopped by Hammerstein whom managed to talk some senses into him. Blackblood was severely reprimanded by Hammerstein for his act and began to suspect the former's real motive and intention. Unknown to anyone, Blackblood had been corrupted by the Dark Gods from the warp during the Black Hole Incident, and secretly serve the Queen Mortis from then on.

After saving Leviathan 1 from self-destruction during a mission, Mongrol follows the others to the space colony, Salem, to collect the Seven Seals needed for a ritual that would prevent the Heart of Darkness from consuming New Andria. In the event, Mongrol is freed of the power of speech, but as compensation, is bestowed with even greater physical strength, instant reactions and speed with the personality of a natural born beast. During the Temple of the Night Maras mission, Mongrol becomes entranced with a nymph called Morrigun, and becomes nothing more than her mindless (and overly protective) pet. It turns out that the nefarious technomancer, Viktor von Verbeden of the Red Corsairs is involved and wants Mongrol as a keep sake trophy as well as to use him as part of his expansionist plan. The intervention of the Ferrus Legionis vigilante group and Hammerstein thwart Dr. Doom's plan. A member of the Legionis, the Iron Man Ezekiel Starke, also fully re-stores Mongrol's personality and speech, reactivates long-dormant circuits, giving him back his original intelligence (and a taste for XL Macanudo cigars). He is still suffering from deep-seated emotional issues over Lara, and when her memory is mocked by a Shadow Warrior known as the Warmonger, Mongrol ripped him to pieces without hesitation.

As part of the Blackblood's scheme to eliminate the Meknificent Seven, he recounts the North Sea Oil War experiences and confesses that it is him whom reveals their locations to the Eurasians which results in their capture and Lara's death. Mongrol goes into a berserk fury. He is stopped by Nemesis the Warlock using techno sorcery. Once Mongrol calms down as much as he could, he states to Hammerstein that either Blackblood leaves the Seven or he will. However, the traitorous Blackblood has already planned and schemed ahead which results in the release from imprisonment and hibernation, Volkhan, the mightiest Eurasian cyborg and overall commander of Eurasia during the  North Sea War, from one of the Robot Islands. Volkhan has also been fused with daemonic warp entities, mutated into a multi-limb bio-mechanical monster. Mongrol fights with his team mates against Volkhan, severely damaged in the process. The Meknificent Seven, except for Mongrol, Hammerstein and Ro-Jaws, are annihilated in the combat. Blackblood is killed by Mongrol, choking him and severed his head before pulping it. Mongrol currently remains on Scrapyard IV with the remainder of the mercenary elite group, still answering to Hammerstein, maintaining his cherish memory of Lara and tries to keep the beastial, berserking fury within him under control. He is also given more responsibility and role within the group, in charge of looking after the remains of the late Steelhorn or the Mess, contain within a vacuum flask, a fellow member whom is reduced to a mass of molten metal of which only a small quantity of him is retrieved during Volkhan's assault. Another reason is because although the Mess still maintained sentiency, he is basically just a pile of goo, lacking any physical capability to communicate coherently, with the exception of Mongrol, whom ironically understand perfectly what the former physical remainder of Steelhorn wants to say, having established a psychic link with the beast. The Mess now acts as Mongrol's closest ally and advisor. Mongrol also forms comradeship with the New Andria's Adventure Kartel  collective and often assists them in repulsing any Zombots assault.  

 

..............................................................................................................................................................

ThreeA's Mongrol is one huge figure, but the joints are quite tight and once adjusted for posing, some of it would become "loose", like the fingers and the lower jaw, which slacks easily. Otherwise, it is easily one of my favourite robot figures. Mongrol is one of the characters from ABC Warriors, a long-running 2000 AD comic strip written by Pat Mills, which first appeared in "prog 119" in 1979 and continues to run today. Art for the opening episodes was by Kevin O'Neill, Mike McMahon, Brett Ewins, and Brendan McCarthy - who between them designed the original seven members of the team. Since then they have been illustrated primarily, though not exclusively, by Bryan Talbot, Simon Bisley, SMS, Kevin Walker, Henry Flint and Clint Langley. Admittedly, I "plagiarised" most terms from Games Workshop's WH40K rich universe and Lexicanum, the Orks in specific, for Mongrol's specs.

Happy Leap Year 2012.

I get up, and nothing gets me down.
You got it tough, I’ve seen the toughest soul around
And I know, just how it feels.
You've got to roll with the punches to get to what's real
Oh can't you see me standing here,
I've got my back against the record machine, I ain't the worst that you've seen.
Oh can't you see what I mean ?

Might as well jump. Jump !
Might as well jump.
Go ahead, jump. Jump !
Go ahead, jump.

Hey you ! Who said that ?
Baby how you been ?
You say you don't know, you won't know
until you begin.
Well can't you see me standing here,
I've got my back against the record machine
I ain't the worst that you've seen.
Oh can't you see what I mean ?

Might as well jump. Jump!
Go ahead, jump.
Might as well jump. Jump!
Go ahead, jump. Jump!
~ Jump, Van Halen

29 days of February. 4 years once. So here's dedicating Jump by Van Halen to everyone. The MTV still makes me laugh though, heh.

Neil Young.

Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.

Old man look at my life,
Twenty four
and there's so much more
Live alone in a paradise
That makes me think of two.

Love lost, such a cost,
Give me things
that don't get lost.
Like a coin that won't get tossed
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that's true.

Lullabies, look in your eyes,
Run around the same old town.
Doesn't mean that much to me
To mean that much to you.

I've been first and last
Look at how the time goes past.
But I'm all alone at last.
Rolling home to you.

Old man take a look at my life
I'm a lot like you
I need someone to love me
the whole day through
Ah, one look in my eyes
and you can tell that's true.

Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
Old man look at my life,
I'm a lot like you were.
~ Old Man.

I want to live,
I want to give
I've been a miner
for a heart of gold.
It's these expressions
I never give
That keep me searching
for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.
Keeps me searching
for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.

I've been to Hollywood
I've been to Redwood
I crossed the ocean
for a heart of gold
I've been in my mind,
it's such a fine line
That keeps me searching
for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.
Keeps me searching
for a heart of gold
And I'm getting old.

Keep me searching
for a heart of gold
You keep me searching
for a heart of gold
And I'm growing old.
I've been a miner
for a heart of gold.
~ Heart of Gold.

Come a little bit closer
Hear what I have to say
Just like children sleepin'
We could dream this night away.

But there's a full moon risin'
Let's go dancin' in the light
We know where the music's playin'
Let's go out and feel the night.

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.

When we were strangers
I watched you from afar
When we were lovers
I loved you with all my heart.

But now it's gettin' late
And the moon is climbin' high
I want to celebrate
See it shinin' in your eye.

Because I'm still in love with you
I want to see you dance again
Because I'm still in love with you
On this harvest moon.
~ Harvest Moon.

Compilation is not necessary "bad", particularly when one is not really acquinted nor into a particular artist who possesses a formidable range of albums and works which spans decades. Neil Young is one such artist. Practically an instituition himself, much like Bob Dylan and others of such likeness, it is difficult for me to really nail down the definitive works of his. Because of evolution. Artist with formidable creativity often redefine and explore their boundries from time and time again. So I took the opportunity to skim the surface of Neil's songs in the Greatest Hits compilation, released in 2004. Loves all the songs, and I can sense the changes in each songs from each decades of their release. But the ironic thing is, when I was at Red Box, the local KTV with former colleagues, I attempted "Heart of Gold", and to my surprise, the oldest member of those gathered there, said, "Whoa, Neil Young!". And I love to play "Harvest Moon" and listen it together with Esther for a nice, quiet night when the kids asleep.

Bruce Springsteen.

I was bruised and battered, I couldn't tell what I felt.
I was unrecognizable to myself.
I saw my reflection in a window, I didn't know my own face.
Oh brother are you gonna leave me wastin' away
On the Streets of Philadelphia.

I walked the avenue, 'til my legs felt like stone,
I heard the voices of friends vanished and gone,
At night I could hear the blood in my veins,
Black and whispering as the rain,
On the Streets of Philadelphia.

Ain't no angel gonna greet me.
It's just you and I my friend.
My clothes don't fit me no more,
I walked a thousand miles
Just to slip this skin.

The night has fallen, I'm lyin' awake,
I can feel myself fading away,
So receive me brother with your faithless kiss,
Or will we leave each other alone like this
On the Streets of Philadelphia
~ Streets of Philadelphia.

She'll let you in her house
If you come knockin' late at night
She'll let you in her mouth
If the words you say are right
If you pay the price
She'll let you deep inside
But there's a secret garden she hides
She'll let you in her car
To go drivin' 'round
She'll let you into the parts of herself
That'll bring you down
She'll let you in her heart
If you got a hammer and a vise
But into her secret garden, don't think twice

You've gone a million miles
How far'd you get
To that place where you can't remember
And you can't forget

She'll lead you down a path
There'll be tenderness in the air
She'll let you come just far enough
So you know she's really there
Then she'll look at you and smile
And her eyes will say
She's got a secret garden
Where everything you want
Where everything you need
Will always stay
A million miles away
~ Secret Garden.


Confession. I'm not an ardent fan of "The Boss", of which the nickname fans given to Bruce Springsteen, an American musical icon. I know he has a long time band called the E-Street. I just know two of his popular songs, "Dancing In The Dark" and "Born In The USA". He's immensely popular and sings about the blue collar workers most of the time. But the movies, Streets of Philadelphia (Tom Hanks, Densel Washington - 1993) and Jerry Maguire (Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding, Jr.,Renée Zellweger - 1996) gave me two of his most memorable songs, personally of course, Secret Garden and Streets of Philadelphia. Got both in singles format whilst in Perth. And the Secret Garden single contains an alternative strings version (I personally dislike the dialogue snippet infused version, which luckily not in the single), and most surprisingly, is the blistering cover of Aretha Franklin's Pink Cadillac.

Bryan Adams.

Love is forever - as I lie awake
Beside you
I believed - there's no heaven
No hideaway - for the lonely

But I was wrong - crazy
It's gotta be strong
It's gotta be right

Only wanted to stay a while
Only wanted to play a while
Then you taught me to fly like a bird

Baby - thought I'd died and gone to heaven
Such a night I never had before
Thought I'd died and gone to heaven
Cause what I got there ain't no cure for

Ooo it's so easy
What you do to me all night angel
I never loved - I swear to God
Never needed no one, 'til you came along

Here I come baby
It's gotta be strong - it's gotta be right
Only wanted to stay awhile
Only wanted to play awhile
Then you taught me to fly like a bird

Baby - thought I'd died and gone to heaven
Such a night I never had before
Thought I'd died and gone to heaven
Cause what I got there ain't no cure for

I feel fast asleep - I feel drunk
I dream the sweetest dreams
Never wanna wake up

Never thought it could be this way
No doubt about it - can't live without it
Never thought it could be this good
You made love to me - the way it oughta be
~ Thought I'd Died and Gone to Heaven.

Cyndi Lauper.

You with the sad eyes
Don't be discouraged
Oh I realize
Its hard to take courage
In a world full of people
You can lose sight of it all
And the darkness inside you
Can make you feel so small
But I see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
Show me a smile then,
Don't be unhappy, can't remember
When I last saw you laughing
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there
And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
(When I last saw you laughing)
If this world makes you crazy
And you've taken all you can bear
You call me up
Because you know I'll be there
And I'll see your true colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors
True colors
Shining through
I see your true colors
And that's why I love you
So don't be afraid to let them show
Your true colors
True colors are beautiful,
Like a rainbow
~ True Colors.

...before Lady Gaga, there's Cyndi Lauper and her outrageous makeups, hairdo and sense of dress. The epitome of 80s New Romantics I guess...But her hit pop songs are no joke. Catchy, nice and sweet.

Paranormal Activity 1,2 & 3.

The Paranormal Activity films are a series of horror films based around a family and the haunting of the house by a Demon who has been troubling the family for years. Each film is set in the style of hand-held found footage.
In the first movie, young couple Katie and Micah are terrorised by a demon that Katie believes has been following all her life. The film is designed to look like a found footage-styled film with Micah filming the paranormal activity in their household.
Part 2 is a prequel to the first film and focuses on Katie's sister Kristi and her family as they are terrorised by a demon. Kristi's husband installs security cameras into each room of the house and it records the terrifying activity in the house. The film is also shot with a hand-held camera.
Part 3 is set in 1988 focusing on a young Katie and Kristi as the demon enters their lives for the first time and terrorises them. It is filmed with a hand-held camera once again, but this time it's filmed by Katie and Kristi's mother's boyfriend who uses his video camera to capture the activity.

source : wiki.

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Finally watched the third movie of this spooky series. The stories all finally come together. Let's recap. In the first movie (2007), the story took place in 2006, based on found footage by the police, in the household of a young couple, Micah and Katie. They began to experience supernatural presence of a demonic entity. Kathy revealed that as a child, she had experienced the presence of an evil entity and believed that it has returned and followed her to their house. Micah, whom just got a video camera, set it up in their bedroom to capture any supernatural presence or activity (which did, and quite effectively too, as I was spooked). They consulted an expert on such matters whom warned them to get out of the house as he believed the entity was a demon as oppossed to a ghost, thus evil. Micah stubbornly decided to resolve the problem by himself. The movie ended with Micah being killed by a demon possessed Katie, and the last shot of her distorted face is indeed terrifying. The epilogue said that Micah body was found three days later and Katie's whereabout is currently unknown. An alternative ending was filmed with Katie being shot by the police when they entered the murder scene. The first movie was a box office hit and became sensational and spoofed many times over. Director Oren Peli focus on believability rather than action and gore. The dialogue was "natural" because there was no real script. The actors were given outlines of the story and situations to improvise, a technique known as "retroscripting" used in the making of The Blair Witch Project (1999). Also note that the characters' first names are the same as the actor and actress, Micah Sloat and Katie Featherston, as in The Blair Witch Project. The entire set was shot in Peli's own house, with some serious renovation. Peli also did extensive research into paranormal phenomena and demonology. The reason for making the supernatural entity in the story a demon was a result of the research pointing to the most malevolent and violent entities being "demons". The phenomena in the film take place largely at night—the vulnerability of being asleep because Peli believed that it taps into a human being's most primal fear.

Part 2 (2010) is a prequel, and directed by Tod Williams, with Oren Peli co-produced. It focused on Katie's little sister, Kristi and her family, and took place approximately three weeks before the occurance of the first movie. Kristi had given birth to a baby boy, Hunter. But no sooner, spooky occurance similar to the first film begin to occur. Also based on found footages, all the events were recorded by the various security cameras installed by her husband, Dan when a burglary occurred in their household at the beginning of the storyline. He also bought a video camera. Micah made a special appearance and was inspired by Dan to purchase a video camera. Katie appeared in certain scenes, and Kristi had a brief private discussion with Kathy about the supernatural presence they both experienced when they were young and what happened to their mother. When their servant felt something was not right and tried to ward off the evil in the household, she was dismissed by Dan. Meanwhile Ali began her own investigation after experiencing similar incidences, and came to a general conclusion that a demon was in the house, and maybe after the firstborn ie Hunter, due to some pacts. Nevertheless, after several incidences which, again, spooked the life out of me, resulted in Kristi being possessed by the demonic entity, Dan and his daugther, Ali, now convinced beyond belief, contacted the servant and performed exorcism on Kristi but at the terrible price of passing the demon to Kathy. This explained why a half burnt photo of young Kathy manifested in the attic of their house in the first movie. Everything appeared to be back to normal when Kathy shared with Kristi, who could not remember the entire incidence, that something was not right with their household. Three nights after Micah's death, the by then demon possessed Kathy manifested herself within Kristi's household, killed her and Dan. She then took Hunter away. The epilogue stated that Ali was on school field trip and came back four days later and found the bodies of her parents. The whereabouts of both Kathy and Hunter remained unknown.

In the uh, prequel of the prequel Part 3 (2011), directed by Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman, and again with Oren Peli co-producing, the story took place 18 years before the events of the first two movies and explore the origin of what made the demon going after the girls so relentlessly. It was 1988, and there's no digital, compact video camera yet, so old school VHS film camera was the order of the day. The story briefly began in 2005, however, with Kathy delivering a box of videotapes to Kristi, and a year later, as in Part 2 beginning, Kristi's house was burglarised and the tapes had gone missing (a fact retrospectively added as in Part 2, it was mentioned only the necklace Kathy gave to her was missing). I suspected that the burglary was caused by the demon, which in 1988, had manifested itself as Toby, the imaginary friend of a young Kristi. Kathy and Kristi lives with their mom, Julie and her boyfriend, Dennis. Julie's mom Lois made her appearance and seemed to be pestering her to have a baby which Julie refused. Again spooky incidences repeated itself like in the first two movies (and a particularly scary scene involving the babysitter and where the skeptical Julie was finally "convinced" about supernatural presence). When Julie and Dennis installed the camera in their bedroom (to make a sex tape), an earthquake occurred and interrupted them. Reviewing back the recording, Dennis noticed that the dusts fell onto an invisible entity. Encouraged by friend, Randy, Dennis began to place video cameras in the house to record any supernatural activity, which of course did. Throughout the movie, Toby the demon terrorized Kathy and Randy, and began to become aggressive as the story progressed. Dennis also read up a book about demonology whereby he identified the same symbol on a picture of women, which he initially saw scribbled on the wall of the girls' closet. Dennis explained to Julie that the symbol belonged to a witches' coven that brainwashed girls of child-bearing age into having sons, and then forced them to forget. Finally, after much anguish, the entire family fled to Lois's house, Julie's mom. Dennis was disturbed that Lois was dressing Kristi in a bridal gown and when asked who she was going to marry, she answered, Toby. Later that night, Dennis and Julie were awakened by noises around the house. When Julie did not return, Dennis went to look for her, only to realise that Lois was a member of the witches coven he read about in the book. A gathering was taking place with lots of old scary looking women around as well as an invisible Toby. Dennis was eventually injured by an already dead Julie, whom was hovering above the staircase and a possessed Kathy. As Lois stood over him, Dennis was violently snapped backward, killing him, by Toby. Lois, Kathy and Kristi then walked up the stairs to some unholy ceremony which was about to take place. The last word was Kristi asking a growling Toby to follow her.
It is said that a fourth installment of the series is set to be released later this year, around third weeks of October as usual.

David Fincher.

Two of the most memorable movies by David Fincher, the stylishly shot, ultra bleak noir thriller, Seven (1995) and Fight Club (1999 and based on the 1996 novel of the same name by Chuck Palahniuk), which has one of the most memorable twist in moviedom, but more importantly is its take on modern life pursue of spiritual happiness being replaced by a external signifier of happiness based on material pursuit, largely due to culture of advertisements. Alas, these are currently the two titles by the director which I absolutely adore, never getting tired of watching it over and over again, except maybe Seven which still terrifies me. The reason I now looked back at those two cult movies, is because I just watched his American remake of the late Stieg Larsson's novel of the same name, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Although gorgeously shot (and Rooney Mara - oh wow, although I still feel Noomi Rapace still represents a "stronger, feminist" version of Lisbeth Salander), feels just like another run of the mill movies which still entertains but lack the punch of Seven nor Fight Club.

Let the Right One In (2008) & Let Me In (2010)

Let the Right One In (Swedish: Låt den rätte komma in) is a 2008 Swedish romantic horror film directed by Tomas Alfredson. Based on the 2004 novel of the same title by John Ajvide Lindqvist, who also wrote the screenplay, the film tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Blackeberg, a suburb of Stockholm, in the early 1980s. Alfredson, unconcerned with the horror and vampire conventions, decided to tone down many elements of the novel and focus primarily on the relationship between the two main characters. The book focuses on the darker side of humanity, dealing with issues such as existential anxiety, school bullying, paedophilia and murder.

Selecting the lead actors involved a year-long process with open castings held all over Sweden. In the end, then 11-year-olds Kåre Hedebrant and Lina Leandersson were chosen for the leading roles. They were subsequently commended by both Alfredson and film reviewers for their performances.

The film received widespread international critical acclaim and won numerous awards, including the "Founders Award for Best Narrative Feature" at the 2008 Tribeca Film Festival and the European Fantastic Film Festivals Federation's 2008 Méliès d'Or (Golden Méliès) for the "Best European Fantastic Feature Film", as well as four Guldbagge Awards from the Swedish Film Institute and the Saturn Award for Best International Film.

Lindqvist had insisted on writing the screenplay himself. Alfredson, who had no familiarity with the vampire and horror genres, initially expressed skepticism at having the original author do the adaptation, but was very satisfied with the end result. Many of the minor characters and events from the book were removed, and focus directed primarily on the love story between the two leads. In particular, many aspects of the character Håkan, including him being a pedophile, were removed, and his relationship with Eli was left open to interpretation. Alfredson felt that the film could not deal with such a serious theme as pedophilia in a satisfying manner, and that this element would detract from the story of the children and their relationship.

A key passage in the novel details what happens when a vampire enters a room uninvited, an action that traditional vampire lore usually prohibits. Alfredson originally wanted to omit this from the film, but Ajvide Lindqvist was adamant that it had to be included. Alfredson was initially nervous about the scene. He realized in post-production that the sound effects and music made it "American, in a bad way", and had to be removed for the scene to work. The end result, which shows Eli slowly beginning to bleed from her eyes, ears, and pores, received positive notices from many critics. Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian described it as a "haemophilia of rejection".

The novel presents Eli as an androgynous boy, castrated centuries before by a sadistic vampire nobleman. The film handles the issue of Eli's gender more ambiguously: a brief scene in which Eli changes into a dress offers a glimpse of a suggestive scar but no explicit elaboration. When Oskar asks Eli to be his girlfriend, Eli tries to tell Oskar "I'm not a girl". A female actress plays Eli's character, but her voice was considered to be too high pitched, so it was dubbed with the voice of voice actress Elif Ceylan. According to an interview with the director, as the film was originally conceived, flashbacks explained this aspect in more detail, but these scenes were eventually cut. In the end, Ajvide Lindqvist was satisfied with the adaptation. When Alfredson showed him eight minutes of footage for the first time, he "started to cry because it was so damn beautiful". He subsequently described the film as a "masterpiece". "It doesn't really matter that [Alfredson] didn't want to do it the way I wanted it in every respect. He could obviously never do that. The film is his creative process", he said.

Let Me In is a 2010 American romantic horror film directed by Matt Reeves (Cloverfield-2008) and starring Kodi Smit-McPhee and Chloë Grace Moretz. It tells the story of a bullied 12-year-old boy who develops a friendship with a vampire child in Los Alamos, New Mexico in the early 1980s. Interest in producing an English version of Let the Right One In began in 2007 shortly before it was released to audiences. In 2008, Hammer Films acquired the rights for the English adaptation and initially offered Tomas Alfredson, the director of the Swedish film, the opportunity to direct, which he declined. Alfredson has expressed unhappiness about the idea of a remake, saying that "Remakes should be made of movies that aren't very good, that gives you the chance to fix whatever has gone wrong" and expressing concern that the end result would be too mainstream. Alfredson was initially asked to direct the remake, but he turned it down stating that "I am too old to make the same film twice and I have other stories that I want to tell." Lindqvist, in contrast, said that he had heard that Reeves "will make a new film based on the book, and not remake the Swedish film" and so "it'll be something completely different, but it's going to be really interesting to see." Matt Reeves was then signed to direct and write the screenplay. Reeves made several changes for the English version such as altering the setting from Stockholm to New Mexico and renaming the lead characters. The film's producers stated that their intent was to keep the plot similar to the original, yet make it more accessible to a wider audience.

source : wiki.
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Comparatively, prefers the Swedish version but the American "re-intepretation" is not bad either - more terrorising moment and less subdue. But the CGI effect ruins it. For me.

Glengarry Glen Ross.

Blake: You're talking about what.You're talking about... B****ing about that sale you shot, some sonofab**** who don't wanna buy land, some broad you're trying to screw, so forth. Let's talk about something important. They all here?
Williamson: All but one.
Blake: I'm going anyway. Let's talk about something important. Put. That coffee. Down. Coffee's for closers only. You think I'm f***ing with you? I am not f***ing with you. I'm here from downtown. I'm here from Mitch and Murray. And I'm here on a mission of mercy. Your name's Levine? You call yourself a salesman you son of a b****?
Dave Moss: I don't gotta sit here and listen to this s***.
Blake: You certainly don't pal, 'cause the good news is - you're fired. The bad news is - you've got, all of you've got just one week to regain your jobs starting with tonight. Starting with tonight's sit. Oh? Have I got your attention now? Good. "Cause we're adding a little something to this month's sales contest. As you all know first prize is a Cadillac El Dorado. Anyone wanna see second prize? Second prize is a set of steak knives. Third prize is you're fired. Get the picture? You laughing now? You got leads. Mitch and Murray paid good money, get their names to sell them. you can't close the leads youre given you can't close s***. You ARE s***. Hit the bricks pal, and beat it 'cause you are going OUT.
Shelley Levene: The leads are weak.
Blake: The leads are weak? F***ing leads are weak. You're weak. I've been in this business 15 years...
Dave Moss: What's your name?
Blake: F*** you. That's my name. You know why, mister? You drove a Hyundai to get here. I drove an eighty-thousand dollar BMW. THAT'S my name. And your name is you're wanting. You can't play in the man's game, you can't close them - go home and tell your wife your troubles. Because only one thing counts in this life: Get them to sign on the line which is dotted. You hear me you f***ing faggots? A-B-C. A-Always, B-Be, C-Closing. Always be closing. ALWAYS BE CLOSING. A-I-D-A. Attention, Interest, Decision, Action. Attention - Do I have you attention? Interest - Are you interested? I know you are, because it's f*** or walk. You close or you hit the bricks. Decision - Have you made your decision, for Christ? And Action. A-I-D-A. Get out there - you got the prospects coming in. You think they came in to get out of the rain? A guy don't walk on the lot lest he wants to buy. They're sitting out there waiting to give you their money. Are you gonna take it? Are you man enough to take it? What's the problem, pal?
Dave Moss: You - Moss. You're such a hero, you're so rich, how come you're coming down here wasting your time with such a bunch of bums?
Blake: You see this watch? You see this watch?
Dave Moss: Yeah.
Blake: That watch costs more than you car. I made $970,000 last year. How much'd you make? You see pal, that's who I am, and you're nothing. Nice guy? I don't give a s***. Good father? F*** you! Go home and play with your kids. You wanna work here - close! You think this is abuse? You think this is abuse, you c***sucker? You can't take this, how can you take the abuse you get on a sit? You don't like it, leave. _I_ can go out there tonight with the materials you've got and make myself $15,000. Tonight! In two hours! Can you? Can YOU? Go and do likewise. A-I-D-A. Get mad you son of a b****es. get mad. You want to know what it takes to sell real estate? It takes BRASS BALLS to sell real estate. Go and do likewise gents. Money's out there. You pick it up, it's yours. You don't, I got no sympathy for you. You wanna go out on those sits tonight and close, CLOSE. It's yours. If not you're gonna be shining my shoes. And you know what you'll be saying - a bunch of losers sittin' around in a bar. 'Oh yeah. I used to be a salesman. It's a tough racket.' These are the new leads. These are the Glengarry leads. And to you they're gold, and you don't get them. Why? Because to give them to you is just throwing them away. They're for closers. I'd wish you good luck but you wouldn't know what to do with it if you got it. And to answer you question, pal, why am I here? I came here because Mitch and Murray asked me to. They asked me for a favor. I said the real favor, follow my advice and fire your f***ing ass because a loser is a loser.

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Glengarry Glen Ross is a 1992 American drama film, adapted by David Mamet from his acclaimed 1984 Pulitzer Prize- and Tony-winning play of the same name. The film depicts two days in the lives of four real estate salesmen and how they become desperate when the corporate office sends a representative to "motivate" them by announcing that, in one week, all except the top two salesmen will be fired. The film, like the play, is notorious for its use of profanity, leading the cast to jokingly refer to the film as "Death of a F***in' Salesman". The actual title of the film comes from the names of two of the real estate developments being peddled by the salesmen characters (Glengarry Highlands and Glen Ross Farms).

Glengarry Glen Ross had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival where Jack Lemmon won the Volpi Cup for Best Actor. The film was not a commercial success, making only $10.7 million in North America, just below its $12.5 million budget. It was critically well-received with highly positive reviews by most of the major critics. Al Pacino was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his work in the film.

source : wiki.

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When I first seen this movie, I was startled and mesmerised by the vulgarity laced, ultra intense dialogues between the characters. I knew about the cast (the late Jack Lemmon, Al Pacino, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Costner opps I mean Spacey, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin and Jonathan Pryce) but nothing much about the director, James Foley, which I later found out through Wiki that he was the director of Madonna's MV "Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", "True Blue" under the psyeudonym, Peter Percher, as well as directed "Who's That Girl" (1987) and Chow Yuen Fatt's Hollywood second movie, "The Corrupter" (1999). Well, this movie was signaturely quite a departure from those two. Highly watchable and too close to comfort personally, cos being a formerly in sales, some of the unforgiving, run you down stuffs shown here are well, quite "real".

Whitney Houston.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012). One of the most iconic female R&B, soul and pop female singers for nearly twenty years, from mid 80s to early 2000s, has died at the age of 48. She won so many prominent music awards for some of the most memorable R&B songs ever sung, although from early 2000s onwards, she was beset by personal problems and struggles, leading to eventual decline.

Chloe & Dylan ~ Tin Hau Kong Temple.

Esther decided to bring the family to the temple for some prayers. I was abit apprehensive at first coz the place is practically an Ah Beng, Ah Lian central, like Genting....I know, I know. Politically incorrect, coz I'm one too. But it..is...just...so...boring. But the two precious kids loves it, we want some prayers for an auspicous start to the new year (amongst seas of uncles and aunties like those seen in Hua Hee Tai on Astro, Mom's current fav channel) and more importantly, we could catch up with Will, Karen and Johnny Boi, so we met them there so a really quick CNY catchup before they leave for Malacca the coming weekend.

Chloe & Dylan ~ KLCC.

Brought the family to KLCC. Busy with crowds as usual. Dylan just loves the fountains, so we decided to have breakfast at Dome. Both kids busy with the iPad as well. Having breakfast, looking at the scenery, fountains and having fun with iPad. They are better at multi-tasking than Esther and I. Dropped by Kinokuniya for books but couldn't find any which I had in mind - mostly graphic novels. Later, at Uniqlo. Ah Pek like me at a young to mid age range target market Japanese clothing store. Maybe I am too self conscious. But my self consiousness evaporated once I saw their Miles Davis tees collection. Grabbed two immediately. Where's Coltrane? Ah, then there's Garrett, absolutely nuts about their popcorn. Expensive but hey, once in a while, no harm I reckon.

ThreeA ~ Popbot : Blind Cowboy & Ghost Horse Set.

The wicked flee when none pursueth
~ Proverbs 28:1

A (mis) interpretation:

Name : Flint Westwood.
Alias : The Blind Cowboy; The Blind Gunslinger.
Age : Unknown.
Affiliation: Retinue, Order of the Ecclesiarchy of Mars (former), The Adventure Kartel; Independent.
Std. armaments : "The Seven Guns of Perdition" - customised .45 Colt Dragoon supernatural revolver x 7.
Abilities : Enhanced hearing, smell, taste, touch, awareness; supernatural marksmanship; supernatural reflexes; semi-immortality.


2001. Noctis Labyrinthus, Mars. The self styled Quadruplets of Apocalypse - Billy Bob, Bobby Joe, Jim Rob and Joe Roe - AWOL Martian sloggers now nefarious outlaws, responsible for un-calculable number of crimes and atrocities across the Red Planet, and have evaded the Arbites of Mars for five years. They are hiding out at one of the non-descript caves on the Central Plains after one of their recent murderous spree and looting. The brothers are notorious sociopaths with zero empathy, practises cannibalism and take particular joy in inflicting all manner of grotesque and gruesome torture upon their victims before dispatching them. In their temporary hideout, the four fiendish outlaws are dividing their loots and eating one of their latest victims - a six month pregnant woman. They are gloating and amusing themselves over the horrific acts of brutality they have just committed - attacking a farm, killing the owner and his entire family. A dusty red wind suddenly gushes and whirls around. The flames of the pit flutters eerily. The four of them instinctively stop eating and reach for their weapons. Someone or something is approaching the entrance. Like a mirage, shadow or silhouette, it slowly takes form in the dusty darkness of the cold Martian night - it's a rider on a horse. 'Who goes there?! Show yerself!', Jim shouts while the others take their stand. 'Death', replies the rider. 'Death?! Lookit 'im guys. This ain't no barn party with juicy belle to go ballin' with!', roared Jim as he draws his blaster with intention to kill. BOOM! BOOM! Two shots ring out and echo throughout the cave like righteous thunder. Jim stands there without expression as both of his arms are shot clean off before his brain could even register the pain. A lightning quick succession of two more shots ring out. BOOM! BOOM! Bobby is hit square in the chest, lifts by the momentum of the shots a good five feet off the ground and flies ten feet away from he is standing. Billy is blown into half. He could still sees his lower torso, upside down view, as his head hits the ground. Joe manages to shoot his Lasgun at the rider. The latter nonchalantly tilts to the left while the shot passes his right. 'Slow,' the rider said as he simultaneously shoots at Billy. BOOM! Billy's body bounces and hit the cave wall five feet away, bones shatter and internal organs turn into pulps. 'Whas tha...oh...shit..mah arm! Tha..that hurrrt!!!', Jim screams in pain. 'Shut up. Youse hurtin mah ears,' as the rider dismounts and walks toward him. Jim could see the stranger clearly now. A man, a cowboy, like from one of those cheesy western spaghetti flicks he watched starring Clint E. and J. Wayne when he was at a Schola Progenium, hundreds of orphanages run by the Ecclesiarchy as part of the breeding program. The man is wearing a typical cowboy setup, and has a hanky wraps around his eyes. 'Youse f***in blind?!', Jim blabbers deliriously. 'Please...take whatever you want...just...urgh...let me...liveeee!!!' BOOM! A round goes off at Jim's left leg. 'Momma!!!!', he screams, echoing into the dusty night. The man drags Jim to the flaming heath. He heats up one of the machetes lying around. The man seems to be bristled with anger as he sights the cannibalised body. He is feeling the pain and terrible death at the hands of the four hicks. The Blind Cowboy cauterise the open wounds on Jim's arms and leg to stop the bleeding. 'Ya know. Of all the hunted, ya' all tops it. Ah had been standing there listening to youse louse for an hour. Youse insects. Ah would wanna do somethin much, much more nastier than just shooting ya' all. But ah wouldn't wanna stoop to yer level,' the man says before he pistol whips Jim into unconsciousness. The Blind Cowboy ties up Jim, set him upon the Ghost Horse, and makes his way back to the Martian underground capital at Olympus Mons. 'Abashed the Devil stood...And felt how awful goodness is...and saw Virtue in her shape how lovely...saw, and pined His loss,' Jim laments in tears. 'Youse know Milton? Goodness gracious. What an inglorious basterd. Indeed though, do take comfort in the fact that even in your death, you would have enough moments to reflect your crime, in Hell, for all eternity. Which me think is enough time. Maybe after a little tit for tat of what youse done up 'ere, youse would be given parole and come back,' said the Blind Cowboy. 'And if youse still have a grudge with me then, do look me up. Coz' I'll be waitin' for yer sorry ass for the second time 'round and kick it back down there.'
All murderers, heathens and heretics of Mars are usually sentenced to one of the Nine Circles, the capital penitentiary but seeing the severity and atrociousness of the crimes Jim Bob and his three late brothers had committed, he is sentenced to atmospheric immolation instead.
As the Great War grinds on, the Ecclesiarchy begins to recruit individuals on covert mission to carry out bounty hunting on heretics across Mars. Designated as a Retinue of the Inquisition, these bounty hunters have extra-judicial jurisdictions and are paid handsomely. The Ecclesiarchy allows them to be privately contracted out to the citizens of Mars but must obtain official sanctions first, and if the price is right. One of the survivors from the Quadruplets of Apocalypse, a 14 years old girl, had hired the Blind Cowboy to hunt them down to avenge her family's death. At Olympus Mons, the Inquisition gives the Blind Cowboy one of the most challenging assignments yet undertaken by him - to capture dead, not alive - a certain Javier "the Fighting JC" Chigurh, a heretic whom had escaped to Terra. The Inquisition sources have located him at New Andria, Apulia Sector in Eurasia. The Inquisition expects the Blind Cowboy to come back with him or die doing it. He has no choice - one, 90% of the total bounty collected were to be kept as insurance and gets forfeited if he failed. He wants to save up with the eventual intention to re-settle in one of the neutral Sites under the United Space Colonies Federation. Two, a Kurz Bombe has been implanted into him, a tiny bomb armed with tracking device directly fed to the Inquisition, monitoring his every movements broadcast across space.
The flight is arranged meticulously and carries out by a disguised Luna supply ship. The Blind Cowboy is given two weeks to accomplish his mission. En-route, the Blind Cowboy's thought flashes back to his pre-Retinue years.
He is known as Flint. Flint Westwood. He was one those millions upon millions of immigrants from Terra escaping the oppressive governments with hope for a better future, known as the Great Migration, to Mars during early period of the Archduchy of Mars. The Mars government is founded by the first man to land on the red planet, J. Carter (later Archduke) in the late 19th century. The  promise of a new life away from the economic hardship of Terra attracted both the destitute and criminals to the Red Planet. Turned out life was harsher on the red dust ball. Planetary wide terra-forming had led to constant violent weather patterns such as storms and rains brought about by the atmospheric processing stations which turned the planet into one giant mud ball. After effect of the on-going terraforming process caused natural catastrophe such as earthquakes and mud tsunamis which claimed millions of lives each year. So were the prolong harsh Martian winters and giant dust hurricanes. Oxygen was lacking too. Most migrants were forced to take up near slave labour like jobs and reduced to near servitude social stature. Flint took up a multitude of jobs, including atmospheric stations maintenance technician, well-digger and ores miner. 
Mentally and physically tired, Flint went on the run when he accidentally killed his supervisor during an argument about his pay cheque. With hardly any existing laws then, Flint was forced to earn his living by becoming a highway man, joined other roving gangs, robbing merchants and attacking supplies routes for the emerging, lucrative black markets. He was a natural sharp shooter and developed a reputation for being merciless on his victims in Western Mars. Nevertheless, Flint would never harm women nor children, a code he strictly abides by. As the planetary environment begins to stabilise, and the economic reformations take off with prosperity in sight,  Flint opened his own moisture farm with the loots he has saved. Flint met a local farm girl whom managed to break through his gentler side and they married, resulting in three children. Retiring from being a smuggler, Flint settled for a more stable life. His business took off, as the Great Agrarian period begun and farm produce were traded to the populations on Terra. But the peace and prosperity were shortened the moment the Archduchy of Mars announced independence from Terra, resulting in the devastating Great War.
Following Terra victory over the Army of Archduchess Llana of Gathol, which effectively ends the Carter dukedom dynasty, Mars became a special administrative region officially called the Principality of Mars under the direct governance of Grand Duke Ulysses Paxton. Paxton administered the planet with an iron fist. Under his fascist government, Mars subsequently underwent political revolution and theocratic uprisings, primarily led by the self-proclaimed messiah, later founder of the Ecclesiarchy, Baldassare Giovanni. Citizens of Mars suffered tremendously. Anarchy and lawlessness resurfaced. When his wife and children fell seriously ill from a pandemic sweeping across Mars, Flint was on the way to get medicine when he was delayed by a group of outlaws. After ignoring Flint's plea to allow him to pass, he killed most of them but ran out of bullets and was seriously injured by the rest of the gang. By the time Flint made it back home, it was too late to save his wife and his children.
That's not the end of Flint's misery. Under a new law, all privateers on Mars were then required to pay tithe to the Ecclesiarchy government. Tithe collectors were sent after Flint, but seeing his conditions, the sadistic chief tithe collector took both Flint's eyeballs as payment in lieu of the sum owed instead. Flint, suffered from pain and blood lost, sutured both his hollowed eyes shut using dental floss. Flint then crawled about to look for a secret compartment and unlock it with a key he kept with him all the time.  Beneath the hidden vault, Flint retrieved a metal box which contained one of the most fearsome supernatural weapons made by mankind. Known as the Seven Guns of Perdition, it was stolen from W. Colt during Flint days as a highwayman. There was a travelling gambling set as well where the banker would eventually win and the losers would pay their losses with their souls. Flint had since traded it off to a sharply dressed, velvet coated gentleman named Bill Zee Bub whom came a knocking one fine night. The Guns of Perdition is said to have been personally forged by Colt from the shards of a broken blade once wielded by the Angel of Death, and contained part of his furious essence. The revolvers contained supernatural features - they are capable of killing almost anything, never misses, never leave the owner's possession, and never run out of bullets. Each shot is powerful enough to pierce warbot armours, inflicting fatal injuries, regardless of the circumstances and nature of his targets - humans, warbots, daemons or other supernatural creatures - with one caveat, that is if his intended target is righteous or virtuous by nature. The revolvers wouldn't not work on these individuals. It also augmented Flint physically and physiologically to the level of a superhuman as well as giving him a supernatural, prolonged life. Flint also developed supernatural senses, particularly heightened sense of hearing, much like echolocation and smell. It is said if he were to concentrate enough, Flint could hear broadcasting frequencies, blood cells split and clouds scrapping each other. He could also pick up scents several miles away and decipher them intricately. Through an ancient incantation, Flint uses it to summon the Ghost Horse, a skeletal draft horse. The Ghost Horse can be summoned anywhere, anyplace if and when Flint needs it. It is said that the Ghost Horse real name is "Old Billy".
After retrieving the revolvers, Flint wrapped the handkerchief used to clean the body of his wife and children and soaks the seeping bloods from the wounds on his eyes. After giving his family a proper burial and mourned them for seven days, Flint, consumed by vengeance and hatred, was ready and loaded. He took two final shots of whiskey and set off. Through superhuman tracking ability, he located the tithe collectors, slaughtered them, followed by the systematic killing of the outlaws whom delayed him. He then led a living as a bounty hunter. His clienteles began to call Flint the "Blind Cowboy" and this alias became legendary after the massacre at the Oakley Corral where Flint was outnumbered one to a hundred but succeed in killing everyone to the last person standing. After the establishment of the Ecclesiarchy of Mars government, the Arbites heard of the Blind Cowboy and recruited him under the Inquisition, as a Retinue to carry out hunting of heretics and the faithless on Mars. Such was the life of the Blind Cowboy which seems a long time ago. As Terra space harbour came within his "sight", the Blind Cowboy whispers, 'New Andria, brace yerself.'
It is a scene of carnage. The entire three squads of ANKOU Police Garrison are utterly destroyed, each double tapped by the Blind Cowboy. The N.L.C.S. special force unit moves in and meets similar fate. Baron Sydow watches with concern through the Eyes of New Andria. He looks in awe, at the Blind Cowboy's 100% kill-rate. The Blind Cowboy stands among the downed security bots like a spectre of death. He is holding Tommy close, one of the revolver place upon Tommy's temple, calmly asking for JC's surrender. The Hand of Fate glowed brightly. Fighting JC stands about ten feet away, bristling with anger. He may had defeated numerous Zomb horde, Zombots and all manner of daemons monstrosities, but this time round he couldn't find a breakthrough. The Blind Cowboy instinctively recognise in JC as a blessed one, of righteous soul and thus his guns would not be able to harm nor disable him. To engage into a physical fight against JC would be suicidal. The Blind Cowboy hopes for JC's surrender. Lil Shadow arrives on the scene, and hurls a small, square ball towards the Blind Cowboy, who instinctively shoots at it. The shot caused the square ball to envelops the gunslinger within a crystalized cube. The Blind Cowboy is suddenly encased in a Polymer Cube - high steam projectile device which instantly slows anything or anyone down to 10,000 fold. It renders the Blind Cowboy motionless and static. The Baron had given his daughter the device. Later, the Kurz Bombe is extracted out but the device blown up a medic after the procedure. The Inquisition of Mars are incensed at the blind gunslinger's failure but nothing could be done further as the N.O.M. carries out their uprisings across the Red Planet.
Baron Seth Von Sydow offers the Blind Cowboy amnesty and political asylum, with a condition that he will now serves New Andria as one of the protectors, like Tommy and the Fighting JC. He also agrees to compensate the Blind Cowboy ten times the amount of the forfeited bounty he saved on Mars thus far. The blind gunslinger agrees, and is released from the polymer cube. The Blind Cowboy is instructed by the Baron to see Tommy Mission in District 12. Tommy freaks out initially but the Blind Cowboy seeks reconciliation, shelter and the job which the Baron has tasked him with. Tommy is Kool and the Gang about it and initiates the gunslinger into the AK Collective, realizing the awesome ability and guns the cowboy possesses. Could worth something, Tommy unconsciously thought. Suddenly, Tommy nearly jumps out of his skinny jeans when the Ghost Horse materialises behind him, in the record store. 'Holy Ghost Rider! You got a tele-portation device too?!', Tommy shrieks in a high pitch, girlish voice. 'Teleporta? No. Could summon Ole Billy ere anytime, anywhere ah wanna 'im to be. Ah hope youse may accept him as well. Harmless as a dead Martian raccoon', the Blind Cowboy explains. 'Well, Poncho Villa. Here's the deal. You can either double up with JC or bunk in the gym. Either that or you may have to rent a place nearby. But the Band Aid horse gotta stay out coz it smells and I got a business to run here. No offense aight?', Tommy states his terms. 'None taken, sonny. Ole Billy can come and go as I wanna 'im to. Ah am fine wit just bunking on the floor anywhere. Just gonna get mah sleepin bag,' replies the Blind Cowboy as he grabs his stuffs and with some incantations, the Ghost Horse disappears into the thin air. A long awkward silence then resumes. 'Uh, want some thing to eat? Drink?', Tommy breaks the silence over the red couch. 'No whiskey around. Only liquor fits for ladies. But ya got coffee. Black as a black hole, please,' requests the gunslinger. Tommy bypasses the kopi luwak, and reaches for the instant coffee instead. Tommy surely ain't going to serve some expensive gourmet stuffs to someone he hardly know (or anyone for the record, except Lil Shadow). 'Why would you drink some beans which had been shat by wild cats? Serves me that, I put a slug in youse,' said the Blind Cowboy as he sips the instant coffee. Tommy just smirks nervously. With a Merle Haggard record playing in the background and over coffees, they starts to get acquainted and understand each other better. From that day onward, the Blind Cowboy "rode" with the AK team. Simmering tensions could be observed between JC and him, but they respects each other, with their own unique abilities and skills complimenting each other. On trouble free days, the Blind Cowboy would just sit outside Tommy's record store and plays a harmonica or banjo. The gunslinger and the skeletal horse also serves as great tourists attraction, a curio of sort, and a hit with Eastasian tourists. Tommy begins charging them for photos taking session. Tommy never enforces Bleak's decision to have a standard AK tracky uniform (which resulted in the acrimonious departure of Fat Drown's older bro, the Drown, due to the latter insistence to wear tracksuits only). After numerous, exciting and often life threatening situation adventures with the AK, the Blind Cowboy and Ghost Horse decides to say goodbye and set off from New Andria to, in his own words, 'explore Terra on their own. But we shall be backed one day when the time comes'. JC and him shake hands silently, a mark of respect between them, before the Blind Cowboy departure. As the Blind Cowboy on the Ghost Horse departs, he could be heard whistling the tune from "A Fistful of Dollar", riding into the sunset. He undergoes numerous adventures of his own and eventually earns a passage to the Leviathan 1 at Site 7, L3 where he got involves in a series of  deadly missions with Lady Sham and her army against her nefarious, immortal nemesis, the parasitic, possessed sock puppet, Samael "The Devil" Bridger. He would later return to New Andria sometime after the Robot Islands War.

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The Blind Cowboy. Simply one of the coolest 1/6th toys in hand. The horse made of polystone though, but the details outweigh the static stature of a statue, which I hate. Comes with stand alone figure or a superset like the one above. Decides to go with the superset. No regret.