Ma Wing Shing's "The Storm Riders" comics is the greatest comic book series to ever come out of Hong Kong.  "Fung Wan," the Chinese title of the comic book, was first published in the early nineties.  After a decade of release, it continues to be published and have spawned several novels, video games, action figures (Dragon's Storm Riders figures), and even a full-length feature film.  In fact, the film did so well that ComicsOne from the U.S. bought out the distribution rights for a U.S. release which I'm sure most of you have seen.  The artwork of Ma Wing Shing is simply stunning.  I've been a big fan of the comic book series since it first published back in the early '90s and have always wanted a Wind and Cloud figure.  It hasn't been realized until now.

Challenge number one was finding someone with Cloud's likeness.  In fact, I tried to look for various heads to make him several times over.  Challenge number two was his sword.  I tried to sculpt it two or three times with Sculpey and sheetmetal.  It looked lousy.  Challenge number three was that Cloud had a great build and was very muscular in the comics.  The hardest challenge of all was his hair. Cloud had a very unique style of hair that could not be easily duplicated.  Who in the world has blue hair that frizzles all the time?  Facing too many challenges that I could not overcome, I finally gave up on making my Cloud figure.  So, I went out and bought myself an 8" statue of Cloud in Chinatown for about $40.  I had to have him one way or another.

That was over a year ago.

Of course, with everything, opportunity comes knocking when you least expect it to.  Though I could barely speak Chinese, I owned almost all of the original comic books from Hong Kong, written in Chinese.  I can't read Chinese of course, but Ma Wing Shing's artwork was an addiction that I could not overcome even after ten years.  So when ComicsOne republished the Storm Riders series in English, I went ballistic.  I bought 12 straight volumes (that was all that was available at the time) with a bill that was a little over $200.  I'm thinking ComicsOne felt bad for me because they gave me a little gift with the large order - a 10-inch letter opener of Cloud's "Ultimate Sword."  This is not luck.  It is destiny.

It is destiny that I complete Cloud.  I had no choice.  It bothered me day and night as I was constantly thinking of how to complete him.  Two months after I received the sword, I finally completed Bo Ging Wan.  The base body is Hot Toys' new muscular body.  The head is from the Sea International bodybuilder figures, which I modified to fit the Hot Toys neck post.  For his hair, I implemented a new hair gluing method that was brand new to me.  I initially planned to use rabbit pelt, but rabbit pelt was too soft.  Cloud has the frizzies in his hair and it always "stood up."  I tried several different methods before using this current method - hair layering.  This trick was actually picked up from a horse model maker.  There's a guy at my local flea market who makes excellent horses by clay, hand paints it, then adds real hair by gluing it on.  I watched how he did it one day and, sure enough, he glued them in layers.  One row by another, he slowly and gradually completed the horse.  It took me roughly two weeks just to finish gluing Cloud's hair in place.  His armband and belt is handsewn with pleather and studs were added for the extra fashionable look.  Now, I must complete his buddy Wind.  Look for updates soon.

I decided to swap out his cloak with a different material and color and here are the updated pics.  I still need to find a good head for Wind.  His clothing and accessories aren't difficult to find and make, but Wind looks like such a girly man it's hard to find a good sculpt for him.