Absorber
Heart-consuming jellyfish that can be found (always in pairs) inside the Cloud, Plant, and Crystal Castles in Konami's 1991 Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge Gameboy video game. Absorbers are not aquatic; they "swim" through thin air in a ghostly manner. In addition to inflicting a small amount of damage, each time you make physical contact with one of these gelatinous creatures the result will be a loss of 20 hearts. An encounter that goes badly can easily whittle Christopher Belmont's sub-weapon ammunition down to nothing. Between this specimen, and the whip-degrading Punaguchi, Dracula really knows how to ruin a vampire hunter's day.
Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, white glue, hot glue, plastic wrap, wire twist ties, and acrylic paint.
Dimensions*:
(* The numbers given are approximations, as the dimensions of this figure can vary depending on how the tentacles are positioned.)
5.3 cm/2.1 in. x 2.8 cm/1.1 in. (highest point x widest point)
Articulation:
Four points--each tentacle is bendable.
Time:
Roughly two days; November 5-6, 2008 (had everything gone right, it'd only have been a half day project, but I had trouble getting the transparent dome to come out the way I wanted and ended up making five of them until I got one that was marginally acceptable).
For comparison purposes, below are several images of Absorbers taken from various Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge media. The first is the official artwork from the Japanese instruction manual (rather Metroid-like, no?)--note that there are only three tentacles shown, compared to the four in the game sprite. The next two images are from the European version of Konami Gameboy Collection: Volume 4--this is significant because it has Gameboy Color support (the original game is gray scale, and the Japanese version of the compilation pack had Super Gameboy, but not
Gameboy Color, support). The animation I made by editing/combining the Absorber's three sprite frames and the complete screenshot is taken from the Crystal Castle stage (methinks Christopher is about to kiss his 41 hearts goodbye).
REFERENCES:
(In no particular order of importance.)
- Castlevania II: Belmont's Revenge (North American and Japanese versions) and Konami Gameboy Collection Volume 4 (European version) Gameboy video games and instruction manuals.
- Mr. Perfect's Castlevania Realm web site.
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