BCR Mighty Muggs on the (exploded) brain

Posted by Gary Hodges at 3:35 AM Sep 01, 2008

Due to some very positive, very flattering feedback on the illustrations I did for our Bionic Commando Rearmed discussion (which you can find HERE), I was persuaded to do some more, this time of a few Bionic Commando villains. Click on through for a peek, BC fans…

Since I did Rad Spencer’s three gaming incarnations last time, it seemed only fitting to do the many faces of Gottfried Groeder, Spencer’s counterpart in the fascist Imperial Army and the man entrusted with guarding Super Joe during his captivity.

Of course, back in the day Groeder wasn’t Groeder at all – the NES instruction manual simply called him Giant Soldier (catchy) – but this was the dude retconned into Groeder, so I’ll play along. Like any 8-bit game, it’s hard to look at a screenshot and really discern much about a character’s appearance, and the drawing in the manual is even more bland – Groeder just looks like a big dude with a set of industrial bag pipes on his back. So really I concentrated on his 8-bit dialogue portrait, which just drips cheesy 1980s Japanese sci-fi robo shit:

Don’t get me wrong, I grew up on cheesy Japanese sci-fi robo shit. I love it. So here’s my fully realized interpretation:

(By the way: all of these can be clicked on for bigger versions.)

Whipping up BCR’s Groeder was much easier, thanks to Shinkiro’s amazing art. The only thing I added was some opposing angles on his claws, to reference a spider or scorpion’s appendages a little; I think it makes them look a little more unsettling. As unsettling as a Mighty Mugg can be, anyway.

Finally I decided to do the incomparable Master-D, also known as The Leader, also known as… well, since Capcom is shy about just coming right out and saying who he is, I’ll hold my tongue. But if you study the carnage in the following drawing, you just might be able to PIECE it together – BWAH-HA!

Here's one with a little less gore:

Finally, a wallpaper variation… enjoy.

Oh, and for the record: I have no relationship with Capcom or Hasbro. Just playin'.