Megaman ~ Rockman

I love robots...

...so I decided to make Megaman (known as Rockman in Japan). The finished Perler art was a manageable size, and only required a few colours. (I was still waiting for the big Perler bead order to arrive). I used most of what remained of my Walmart beads to complete this guy...

A screenshot of the first Megaman for the Nintendo Entertainment System:

As an aside, I've always wanted to find a copy of The Settlers of Catan : Rockman version...anyone know where to find this? [See boardgamegeek.com]

Dragon Warrior III

After finishing the Phantasy Star characters, my big order of Perler beads had not yet arrived, and I was getting low on colours. I thought of another low-bit game that might serve well for small bead projects...Dragon Warrior III. This is another 1988 game that was later released on the Game Boy Color.

A great feature of this RPG was the ability to customize your adventuring party by creating your own characters from a range of character classes (male & female). So far, I've chosen to make Perler versions of five character types: the male hero, female warrior, male mage, female cleric, and female fighter:

If I get more time, I would like to create a few more...such as the jester and bard. Here are some screenshots of the Game Boy Color version of the game:

Phantasy Star Characters

After making the Luveno, I was hooked. So I decided to put in my own order of Perler beads. But what to do until they arrived?

I found some mixed beads at Walmart and a couple of peg boards. There were just enough colours for me to make the four main characters from Phantasy Star: Alis, Odin, Noah, and Myau...

Here are the four characters exploring the world of Palma:

The Luveno

So Doug came over one evening and brought his trays of Perler Beads all sorted by colour. I gave him a few bucks to cover him for enough beads to start my first project.

I got thinking about how much I loved those old school 8-bit games. My favourite by far was Phantasy Star on the Sega Master System. This 1988 game was way ahead of its time, and I remember playing it when I was in Junior High School. It featured the illusion of 3D dungeons and highly-detailed monsters. It had a great story that mixed both fantasy and science fiction. What I enjoyed the most was the ability to explore three different planets by hopping on various spacecraft.

Hence, my decision for a first bead project. The Luveno was a spacecraft that the Phantasy Star main characters had to find part way through the game in order to make their way to the third planet, Dezoris. Some screenshots...

Overall, the Luveno took about one hour to complete as my first Perler Bead Pixel Art project. The beads were able to fit on one regular-sized Perler peg board. Once all the beads were in place on the board, they were fused together using an iron. The results (on my ugly wall)...

From Pixel to Perler

So I have this friend Doug who calls me and says (in a giddy voice), "I've just discovered the most excellent geek hobby you can imagine...it has changed my life...go check out the latest pictures on my Facebook profile..."

Doug had discovered how to turn video game sprites into Perler Bead Pixel Art!

And so a new Geektivity was born!

Having been inspired by Doug's Perler renditions of 8-bit and 16-bit characters from Mario Bros, Final Fantasy VI, Zelda, etc...I started thinking about a particular room in my house. This room has plaster walls and the most awful "Granny" wallpaper you can imagine. I can't get rid of the wallpaper because it will tear off the plaster.

Solution = cover it with random stuff to hide the wallpaper...including Perler Bead Pixel Art.

If this sounds like an excuse to validate a geektivity...well I guess you're right...it is. And this is an activity that registers pretty high on the old Geek-O-Meter scale!

Below is a picture of the room. Note the Granny wallpaper, and the addition of some new Perler Bead Pixel Art: