Queen of the Underworld: Medusa's Secret Hideout

[Jovian the Conqueror]

And that's when the mix between normal hair and snake hair comes up as a genius solution: not only makes a bit easier to draw, but also looks drastically different from other interpretations of Medusa, making her more eye-catching, memorable and distinguishing her from the rest.

Ogre cyclops Medusa from the first Kid Icarus also had a mix of hair and snakes, but she had blonde hair if I recall? (And green skin).

 

[Klaymoor]

AND curly hair. Obviously they went in the opposite direction with her design in KIU XD

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

I was in a 3DS ripping mood, so I ripped Medusa. For some reason the textures for her face tattoo and eyes were broken so I spent several days fixing it.

Spoiler

and a more detailed view of my fixes. Not perfect, but better than nothing.

 

[Klaymoor]

Holy crud! Thank you so much Dalek_Kolt ! I really appreciate it! <3

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

And some size comparisons.

Spoiler

Also threw in some other 3DS characters I want in too.

Spoiler

 

[Klaymoor]

By putting them together we can see how weird Pit's proportions look compared to other KIU characters. xDu

 

[Sunny-Zee]

By putting them together we can see how weird Pit's proportions look compared to other KIU characters. xDu

... It’s his height, isn’t it? Just a few centimeters too tall, by my reckoning. I’m not talking about making him as short as (unless it’s a proper NES/GB throwback) or Koichi Hirose from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (can you believe he’s canonically 5’2”, yet he’s drawn like a small middle schooler, ala Yugi Motou?), I’m just making an observation.

 

[Klaymoor]

Yeah, but even if he's a little too tall, his overall design clashes with both goddesses. He has huge cartoony hands and feet, and his eyes are big, too (but that comes with the child/cute anime schtick)

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

Does anybody else remember all the hype Medusa got in the run up to KIU being released? If I can recall, she was once a more popular potential rep than Palutena. But when KIU finally came out, the support imploded.

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Does anybody else remember all the hype Medusa got in the run up to KIU being released? If I can recall, she was once a more popular potential rep than Palutena. But when KIU finally came out, the support imploded.

*sigh* Yeah, she had that going for her... until the Uprising-originals like Viridi, Magnus, Phosphora, and fracking Hades, all came in and stole the spotlight. KI:U-only fanbase is REALLY doing Medusa dirty like that.
I mean, she’s voiced by Cree Summer, the woman behind Numbuh 5 from Codename: Kids Next Door and Blackarachnia/Elita-One on Transformers Animated (Kid Icarus even got a mention on her TFWiki page, just so you know), so the disservice is just plain sad...

 

[Klaymoor]

The thing was that she was hyped up in the trailers, and then she had like... a cumulative of 5 minutes of screentime in the whole game. I think the game pushed the new characters a little bit too much. I already felt something was wrong when the Tempura Wizard was introduced, a total powercreep over the Eggplant Wizard (who got nerfed, BTW). It felt like "out with the old, in with the new" kind of thing.
And yes, Cree Summer is a legend of voice acting and no one ever mentions any of that when discussing KIU :v

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

I remember reading an interview Sakurai did with Iwata, where he stated he didn't want to do a Palutena vs Medusa storyline, which is fine, that's well within his rights. But then why include her at all?

 

[Klaymoor]

The bad thing about that is that we never see IN GAME what the heck happened between them, their backstories or anything, we only know Medusa wants revenge and that's it.

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

But then again, Medusa in KIU really was nothing more than a puppet created by Hades out of souls to distract everyone from the real threat.

 

[Sunny-Zee]

But then again, Medusa in KIU really was nothing more than a puppet created by Hades out of souls to distract everyone from the real threat.

Oh no, not again...

 

[Klaymoor]

I remade one of my earlier comics and made it a little bit more concise.

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

Oh no, not again...

In all seriousness though, what was up with Hades saying he created "that Medusa" out of souls? The game seemed really ambiguous on whether or not that was really Medusa we defeated.

Medusa was fine in KIU up until that point. I suppose it would be a bit like if in Super Mario 64 or Super Mario Galaxy, that after the very first face-to-face encounter with Bowser in the Dark World, they kill him off after you beat him and roll some fake credits. Then all of sudden another antagonist that was never mentioned before rips up the credits and announces that 'Bowser' was just an android replica this villain made to be their pawn, programmed with the memories of the real Bowser. Oh and this new villain was the one who really kidnapped Peach and is the true master of the Koopas.

I make this comparison because the reason Bowser became so iconic was because he wasn't treated like dirt.

Maybe I wouldn't have minded so much if Medusa wasn't so overhyped before KIU came out. I saw the Medusa's Revenge anime short and that was what drew me to KIU. I wrongly assumed that was what KIU would be like, thinking 'finally, a female main villain that looks promising'. But she ended up just being a springboard for Sakurai's own characters.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

I spent more time than I should have on fixing my ripped Medusa model.
Now her snakes have the proper color, her tattoo is properly placed, her belt is red, she has gold trimming on her sleeve, and her cyclops form is up.

 

[Klaymoor]

*SQUEALS*
Thank you SO much! :D

 

[Sunny-Zee]

I spent more time than I should have on fixing my ripped Medusa model.
Now her snakes have the proper color, her tattoo is properly placed, her belt is red, she has gold trimming on her sleeve, and her cyclops form is up.
View attachment 242898

That is a most triumphant update, dude. Do you think Models Resource would update the model on their site with your fixes, or categorize it as a separate “custom/modified” model? Just asking.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

That is a most triumphant update, dude. Do you think Models Resource would update the model on their site with your fixes, or categorize it as a separate “custom/modified” model? Just asking.

Maybe.
I still have a few more things to tweak; Mainly the ratio between vertex colors and textures, some bits of the Medusa head, tweaking some alphas. I can try sharing a link to my model, if you don't mind using Blender 2.8.
Anyway, better closeup of her monster head.

https://i.imgur.com/vN2YloT.png

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Finally applied her normal maps.
I have no idea how her face rig works.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Incoming ban in five...four...

Anyway, going to try keeping the doubleposting down. Uploaded the Medusa model onto the forums here if you're interested.
https://www.vg-resource.com/thread-36233.html

 

[zipzapsparkle]

Can we use that for mmds?

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Can we use that for mmds?

I'm not familiar with that format, but if you can convert collada into mmds, you have my consent.
This might be helpful https://laboratoriesx86.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/c4d-maya-blender-convert-fbx-to-mmd/

 

[Klaymoor]

Thanks! Dalek_Kolt ! I'll check it out when I get back home :D

 

[Inoj]

Incoming ban in five...four...
View attachment 243279

Let me join you with this picture from KYM.

(I'm sure there's a Kid Icarus Image somewhere in the gallery)

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Let me join you with this picture from KYM.

(I'm sure there's a Kid Icarus Image somewhere in the gallery)

If not, well... (inhale, sigh) mama mia, they’ll have a field day with what you’ve created, Dalek_Kolt .

P.S. that was no mere double post, Kolt. That is a TRIPLE post, exceptionally rare by my observations.

 

[zipzapsparkle]

I'm not familiar with that format, but if you can convert collada into mmds, you have my consent.
This might be helpful https://laboratoriesx86.wordpress.com/2015/10/13/c4d-maya-blender-convert-fbx-to-mmd/

thank you!

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Might be some kind of ultra blasphemy, but I also ripped Hades.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Long time ago I made a Medusa head icon. Decided to remake it in light of all my model ripping.

 

[Dalek_Kolt]

Decided to start doubling her polygon count in an attempt to bring her to the quality of the Smash models.
Also do you think she also has two tongues in her normal form?

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Decided to start doubling her polygon count in an attempt to bring her to the quality of the Smash models.
Also do you think she also has two tongues in her normal form?
View attachment 244001

Personally, I don’t think she has two tongues, that seems like it’s pushing the “monster” element further than it needs to (not by much, but noticeable enough).

Also, C-C-C-COMBO BREAKER!

 

[RetrogamerMax]

Decided to start doubling her polygon count in an attempt to bring her to the quality of the Smash models.
Also do you think she also has two tongues in her normal form?
View attachment 244001

Amazing! She looks even more gorgeous now.

 

[Klaymoor]

She has a single human tongue, it can (barely) be seen in one of her dialogue sprites. Pretty sure some of her idols show her with her mouth open, too.

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

Is it just me, or does she have tints of green and purple in her hair?

 

[Sunny-Zee]

Is it just me, or does she have tints of green and purple in her hair?

No, it is not “just you,” I saw it too. The tinting was another one of the fixes to the ripped model by Dalek_Kolt .
Also, seeing that it’s Halloween, I want to wish you all a good spook night. As a token of the season, here’s a disembodied “f***-mothering” vampire playing therapist for ghosts.

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

I don't know if any of you got the chance to read the manga Pygmalio. Whilst it has many things in common with the Kid Icarus series and is possibly both the father of Kid Icarus and Zelda, there are some interesting divergences, too. Kid Icarus Uprising for instance is so much more goofy in tone, and is rarely dark or depressing, with a jovial, happy-go-lucky atmosphere. At times, it felt like the first 9 chapters were an oversimplified parody of the plot of Pygmalio. In Pygmalio, however, so many characters die, sometimes in gruesome or heartbreaking ways. Be warned if you do read the manga: it can be quite graphic in places. In the French dub of the anime, some of the violence was cut.

There are also some interesting divergences with the way they handle Medusa, too. In Pygmalio she was far more central, and is incomprehensibly powerful and devious. In KIU she was marginalised and is almost treated with contempt.

 

[Klaymoor]

Medusa's hair is like a dark green-ish color. It might look black, but when I use the color picker in photoshop/krita it shows it's a very dark shade of green.

 

[Jovian the Conqueror]

Has anyone seen Wonder Woman: Bloodlines? It features in it an incarnation of Medusa voiced by guess who... Cree Summer! Though this Medusa is nowhere near as beautiful as Uprising Medusa.