Pony Modding

I would like to say that the whole blasé brony podcast didn’t have a lasting effect on either myself or Mark, however it has. It’s an illness that we are both suffering through together now that we’ve both accepted that we have it. Though the symptoms are embarrassing and there is no prognosis, I have faith that in time we’ll make a full recovery with some shred of our dignity left in tact.

It all began with Buttercup (or Butterscotch), the white plastic figure that I gifted Mark during the shoot of our first podcast. I little realized what I had set in motion, but once it was done the effects were swift and hugely contagious.

Mark started sending me horrible photos of his new plaything; the type of images that you’d unfriend someone on facebook for. Yeah, they were messed up in that way… but this is the langue people like us speak. Naturally I had to respond and thus the dialog of ‘Pony Modding’ began.

(that’s mayo.)

I went to Target and bought an Applejack figure.

This is the stupid cowgirl character from the show that Mark oogles over. I chose this one because she, unlike the others, was without a unicorn horn or wings… making for an ideal point of departure for the project I had in mind. Alas I came home and started shaving off her wavy plastic hair with a razor blade.

I sent Mark my progress shots… partially because I knew taken out of context, he’d think I had lost my mind :

Once he saw the mohawk mounted on top of where the hair once was he realized I was hacking the thing… and all acts of cruelty were forgiven :

This pony, is based on the war-horse I am riding in the illustration I made to promote our first podcast. I want to rip off the toy’s head and mount LEDs inside where the eyes are… to get that clean ‘fuck you laser’ effect.

Sadly, the silver spray paint STILL isn’t dry after nearly a month of sitting in the desert sun and curing… so I have moved on. There are a lot of little horses in the world.

At some point while I was at Maker Faire last month I woke up to this text :

…which inspired me to make ‘Velvetine’. Yes, I bought another white pony and took what we had been hinting at with Buttercup to another level. I gave her a proper leather thong, complete with a hole for her tail to fit through. No leather panties are complete without vinyl boots either! :

Can you spot where the unicorn Horn went? I can… :

And with the addition of a collar, I gave her some pretty eye-liner that she unfortunately messed up with her tears. :

Ain’t she perdy? :

I’m debating giving her some tattoos on her arms… and I’m trying to think of a good way to cover up the current tramp stamp on her hip so I can replace it with something clever… like a little dump truck or B-52 bomber.

Along side this project, Mark has been making a set of Blue Man ponies and a secret optic yellow one (that is suppose to be a surprise). He has also run into the same issue I am having with the paint taking forever to dry. That just means there will be more to show off in the future while we work this illness out of our systems.

I know none of this is electronic or has anything to do with robotics, but it’s fun and is a great distraction from all the other hectic stuff on the front burners of my life right now. I’ll post the epic progress I’ve made on the lower half of project L once I get the tip rotating. I’ll leave it at that. It’s going to be a great summer. =]