I present a Vambee creature as described from the '90s video game, Brave Fencer Mushashi. I am not sure how many nowadays are familiar with this game, but it was when Squaresoft made Final Fantasy VII, VIII, and IX. The game actually came with a playable demo of Final Fantasy VIII. These creatures, if memory serves, were a sort of combination between a vampire and a zombie and people would transform into these things during the night. Your character would run into them randomly and it would appear as if they floated as they hunted their victims. Their theme song was equally haunting and disturbing, despite their cartoony appearance in the pixilated game graphics and artwork. Ever since playing the game when I was a kid, I wanted a figure. The game itself was actually quite taunting in that your character could "purchase" action figures of the villains and bosses in the game. This rendition of the Vambee is not an exact match to the game counterpart- it lacks the blue skin/fur coloration of the most common Vambees. There were also other Vambees in the game, such as flying green-hued beasts, ones that were on fire, and soldier-types that were bulky and pink. In my mind, I wanted to create the archetype, or original Vambee, that started the 'Vambee' disease.

This was an old '90s figure from the Spider-Man Vampire Wars action figure series. My brothers and I had many figures from the Spider-Man lines and this particular one had lost an arm along the way. For years it has been sitting in bin after bin until my brother located it once again. I first had to fix the broken left arm- its plastic ring had broken and the original plug to hold the joint together wouldn't budge. I was able to drill through the harder plug plastic and glue the ring back together. The joint was recreated for a time, but there was too much movement. Unfortunately, in my attempt to tighten the joint it became sealed, so the left arm is fixed in the extended position.

To match the arms of the original Vambee character, I extended to wing flaps from their original position to connect with the fingers. I also filled in the finger gaps to lengthen the wing. I used model magic and coated it first with elmers glue, and then with Mod Podge to give it that plastic feel and sheen. The claws were also extended and sharpened using model magic. The claws and feet nails were painted black to match the sprouting horns from the figure's back. I whitened the eyes and accentuated the nostrils to give him a more beastly look. In the photos below you will also see that I had a little fun using a blue LED light to simulate the blue skin of the original in-game models.

I hope you enjoy. It was fun to re-create this figure based on childhood memories. It is not 100%, but at least it is no longer a broken toy. Thank you for looking!