The Parasitoid Undead!

Worm Zombies

15 mm

Following infection by Gordius anthropophagus, a human victim slips into a days-long coma, only to awake ravenously hungry.  After days of savage, indiscriminate feeding, the higher nervous functions break down and the head lolls back as the parasitoid worm typically erupts from the neck or face.  The host body lurches to its feet again under its rudimentary control and the worm whips around voraciously seeking new hosts to inject its eggs into.

I was inspired to make these by thinking about the fungal zombies from"The Last of Us" and real-life horsehair worms, which are basically the hideous parasitoids that insects would make horror films about if they could.  As it is, their sheer horribleness is well-documented on YouTube.  Figures are Khurasan's "The Dead" and "The Raging Dead".

Kooky Tanuki!

Traveling Tanuki
15 mm scale

Tanuki, or raccoon dogs, are a common subject of Japanese folklore.  They're good-natured, even foolish trickster spirits capable of shape-shifting and disguise.  Traditionally, tanuki were often depicted in humorous art, wielding their preposterously large and prehensile scrotums as tents, hats, fishing nets, and many other useful items. While not including this particular feature, this sculpt from 15mm.co.uk. was still a cute, fun project to quickly paint up.

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And a sneak peek at a project I've just started.  It's what I believe is a... unique take on the "parasite" zombie concept.  Figures are from Khurasan.