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Madam/Cherry
Powerful, depraved sorceresses found in the Final Fantasy VI video game. They can be encountered inside the twisted halls of Kefka's Tower. While dangerous enough on their own, Madams are often found in the company of equally deadly allies: winged, cyclopean Veterans and Outsider ninja warriors.
Trivia
1. Madams are ranked at level 53. They have 8,150 HP (hit points) and 900 MP (magic points). Successfully defeating one of these lovely ladies will earn your party of adventurers 2,200 EP (experience points) and 700 GP (gold points).
2. Goggles, a relic that protects against the blindness status effect, can be stolen from Madams during battle.
3. Using the Ragnarok Esper, a Madam can be morphed into either three bottles of tonic, or a much more valuable Ribbon.
4. If Gau learns the Madam 'Rage' ability, he will be able to cast the magic spell Pearl in battle when using said Rage. Realm, on the other hand, when sketching a Madam, will be able to randomly use Pearl and Flare spells (if Realm has the Control ability, Ice3 and physical attacks will also become available, in addition to the two previously mentioned magics).
5. While technically 'monsters' as far as gameplay is concerned, Madams are human.
6. Barb-E, Dahling, Level 80 Magic, and Madam all use the same game sprite in Final Fantasy VI, but the color of the sprite, and the individual characters' stats and abilities vary (Barb-E, for example wears a yellow/orange dress, and is weaker than Madam). This sprite recycling is a commonly seen, memory-saving practice used in many RPGs (role playing games), although one has to wonder if it's not just laziness at times. Also, said game sprite was censored in the U.S. version of the game (the smoke coming out from the pipe was removed--the Nintendo morality police don't want you to get the idea of smoking from them).
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BACKGROUND:
Madams live shady lives and regularly partake in various unhealthy recreational activities. Drug and alcohol addictions are typical, with the smoking of opium being heavily favored. Instead of putting their impressive magical abilities to use for the betterment of humankind, they employ them for their own selfish ambitions. A typical Madam enjoys a life of leisure, taking what she wants, when she wants--and unleashing the full might of her destructive magic on anyone foolish enough to oppose her. Madams are particularly fond of owning and operating houses of ill repute (which they often staff with local maidens, forcing them into prostitution against their will). As a rule, they're vain, arrogant, and easily angered, but they also respond well to flattery. The best way to remain alive and unmolested in a Madam's company is to constantly remind her of how beautiful, intelligent, and powerful she is.
After the World of Balance was ripped asunder, all Madams were forced to attend to the whims of the insane, nigh-omnipotent Kefka, not by choice, but simply because to do otherwise would be suicidal. They find servitude galling and long to be free to return to their own hedonistic ways, but to do that, they'd have to slay Kefka, and even the power of all the Madams combined would be nothing compared to his might.
ABILITIES:
All Madams are highly proficient sorceresses that have mastered many potent spells. On the offensive, Madams can unleash devastating Fire3, Ice3, Bolt3, Flare, Meteor, and Pearl magics. They can heal themselves, or their allies, with Cure2, Remedy, Life3, and Regen spells. Supporting magic at their disposal includes Safe, Shell, and Haste. They can also render an opponent blind by blowing smoke into his/her face, via their 'Sightless' attack. Mastery of the arcane arts has given Madams immunity to a number of harmful status effects: Blind, Mute, Petrify, Death, Condemned, and Near Fatal inducing attacks can't harm them.
WEAKNESSES:
Madams are particularly susceptible to Poison attacks. This is no doubt a result of the natural resistance of the body being worn down by years of substance abuse. While extremely dangerous when they have a full supply of magic points at their disposal, these femme fatales become a negligible threat when they run out. Even worse, like many enemies in Final Fantasy VI, Madams will foolishly continue to try to cast spells when they no longer have the ability to do so (perhaps out of denial?), having depleted their magical energy reserves.
Materials:
(Madam) Tissue paper, newsprint, green paper, white glue, hot glue, wire twist ties, a Q-tip shaft, plastic, a rubber band, marker, ink, acrylic paint, and watercolor paint.
(Pipe) A toothpick, a cotton ball, newsprint, white glue, and acrylic paint.
(Fan) Manilla paper, cotton balls, toothpicks, graphite pencil, colored pencil, and acrylic paint.
NOTE: I hand reproduced elements from two different Ukyo-e style illustrations for the art on the fan--they're not my creations, although I did alter them a bit from their original forms. I took the woman from one piece of art, and added the tree/post from another. I'd give the original artists credit, but I don't know who they are. The two Japanese characters on the fan, above the woman's left shoulder, read "bijin" which translates to a "beautiful person [woman]" according to the NJStar Japanese word processing program. There's some lettering on the white pole too, but that's just gibberish.
Dimensions*:
(*Accessories in hands, head looking straight ahead.)
15.8 cm/6.2 in. x 13.0 cm/5.1 in. (highest point x widest point)
Articulation:
Three points. The neck is jointed where it enters the base of the skull, allowing upward and downward movement as well as rotation. The fan opens and closes. The smoke in the pipe rotates around.
Time:
Approximately three and a half days. Construction began in the evening on February 9, 2007 and concluded on the morning on February 13, 2007.
[Mid-construction photos of my Madam figure]
(A-B) These are photos of the basic head/hair sculpt that I completed on 2/9/07 and finished painting the morning of 2/10/07. At this point, I still needed to clean it up a bit and decide what to do with the eyes--I was debating whether to have them shut, partially open, etc. (C-D) Here we have the finished head. I completed the eyes, touched up the lips, and added earrings on 2/11/07. (E-G) These are shots of the partially completed body, with and without the head, from 2/10/07. Obviously the legs aren't complete at this stage, but I also need to flesh out and define other areas as well. The white stuff sticking out where the legs end is Kleenex. (H-J) The body is now complete, with the exception of the lower part of the dress, but unpainted. Although it's somewhat difficult to tell when everything is still newsprint, the shoes, arm wrappings, and upper part of the dress are all there. (K-N) Here's the body painted, which is where I ended work on 2/11/06. If you're wondering why I painted everything before making the bottom of the dress, the reason is that's it's almost impossible to paint legs inside a dress without getting paint where you don't want it (i.e., blue on the flesh colored legs and flesh color on the blue dress). It's much easier to paint them separately and then put them together later. The final photo in this row is a silhouette shot. (O-P) The drawing on the left is a pencil reference sketch I made, on 2/9/07, prior to beginning any sculpting/modeling work . I worked entirely from this drawing for the first two days. The illustration on the right is a painting color guide I made later. I didn't quite follow it to the letter, as you can probably see from the final product. The words above are the spells a Madam can use during a battle, I wrote them here, while fighting a Madam in the Final Fantasy 6 video game, so I wouldn't forget them for when I needed to write about them later in the 'abilities' section above.
For comparison purposes, below is an image of a Madam taken from the U.S. version of the Super Entertainment System video game Final Fantasy VI. Note that the smaller, inset photo shows the uncensored Japanese version sprite with the smoke coming out of the pipe.
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