Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone

Sci-Fi

521

Following

128

Followers

Updates

2254

Likes

482

Comments

Votes

Project Summary

This project draws on two passages from Ovid’s Metamorphoses, both describing humans transformed into trees — not as illustration, but as inspiration for a scene in its own right. The discovery of a beautiful piece of bark during a mountain hike with my wife provided the ideal starting point. The kit I chose is a vintage Zaku II in 1/144 scale.

The first of the two passages is from Book I, where the nymph Daphne, fleeing Apollo, begs her father Peneus to change her form:

“….. A filmy rind about her body grows; Her hair to leaves, her arms extend to boughs: The nymph is all into a lawrel gone;…...”

The second passage comes from Book VIII, where the elderly Baucis and Philemon are transformed together at the moment of death — bark sealing their final words to one another:

“Old Baucis is by old Philemon seen Sprouting with sudden leaves of spritely green: ……., And saw his lengthen’d arms a sprouting wood: New roots their fasten’d feet begin to bind, Their bodies stiffen in a rising rind: Then, ere the bark above their shoulders grew,…..”

This diorama imagines a Zaku II, mid-patrol, seized by a sudden and rapid metamorphosis into bark. The cause is deliberately left untold — the scene is concerned only with the fact that it is happening, not why. The mecha shows only minor wear and tear: this is not an abandoned machine reclaimed slowly by time, but an active one undergoing an unexpected transformation.

Its legs have already been absorbed into the tree — only two broken fragments of a leg’s connecting cable remain, snapped off and emerging from the bark. The skirt armor has started its transformation, shards of bark protruding between the skirt gaps. The shield at its side is more advanced in the transformation, the wood having taken over it’s lower part. Vines emerge from the bark and slither along and over the Zaku’s arms and upper body, pinning it down the way roots seal over anything in their path. The shoulders are also covered, like vegetation hands holding it down. The mecha cannot pull free; it is being covered, so the transformation can continue. Still, in a futile attempt, one arm tries to lift what’s left of the body; the other reaches out, its hand open, fingers spread, in a call for help that will go unanswered.

Using natural bark, moss, and lichen, this piece is inspired by Ovid but also pays a small homage to a recurring theme in Tomino’s Gundam saga: nature reclaiming what humanity has taken from it.

Followers

5 L

MS D

3S DH

Back to contestant profile

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 1

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 2

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 3

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 4

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 5

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there! 6

Sci-Fi

79 days ago

Cristian Carlone

@cristiancarlone | Sci-Fi

Metamorphosis week 9, ep. 60 - Almost there!

Ciao! The journey on this incredible competition is getting closer to its end. The photos are displaying the creation at almost its completed stage.

Every part has been weathered and checked.

The closing out steps I’ll show in the coming days will be:

- A final matt varnish coat

- Painting of a display base

- Taking hi-resolution photos/video

- Upload the final photos and video

S
STUDIO93543 days ago
The wooden base turned out great :p
- CC
  Cristian Carlone42 days ago
  Replying to STUDIO935
  @studio935, thank you! Nothing bears the real material!
J
john_n_porter79 days ago
I like the background story and then you have great detail in this build…..
- CC
  Cristian Carlone78 days ago
  Replying to john_n_porter
  @johnnporter, thank you so much! I’m not a classic literature buff, but I like that specific poem from Ovid, so I tried to transpose the metamorphosis into the Gundam universe. And yes, I love detailing…..
S
studionaiya3d79 days ago
I liked the transition
- CC
  Cristian Carlone78 days ago
  Replying to studionaiya3d
  @studionaiya3d, thank you for the appreciation. The intent was to give that sense of transition from metal to wood. I’m glad you liked and it means I was able to provide that.
ZH
Zeon Hunter79 days ago
Love it !! I hope to do a diorama with a similar theme some day
- CC
  Cristian Carlone78 days ago
  Replying to Zeon Hunter
  @zeonhunter, thank you so much! You should totally do a similarly themed diorama. Do you have a similar legend or literary work to inspire you?

Followers

5 L

MS D

3S DH