Blah blah Sauron blah blah.
These were easier to write when I was off my meds.
Last week’s poll re-cap: With 19% you chose the classic Sentinel as the large scale character you most want made in Hasbro’s Icons line. Goliath came in second with 15%. In the polling, many that had not previously purchased figures from the Icons line stated that they would be more likely to purchase Icons if the it began focusing on giant characters that were in-scale with the standard 6" Marvel Legends. Obviously, there’s revenue potential for the now-failing line if Hasbro is interested. The ball’s in your court, guys. Our hard-earned cash is waiting. Besides, our children are eating too well as it is.
Make My Marvel! – Sauron
As a child, Karl Lykos was bitten by one of an ancient race of pteranadons while exploring the Savage Land with his father. He survived the ordeal, but as a consequence found that he was both able and needed to drain the life force from other living things in order to survive. Karl kept his affliction to himself, secretly draining energy from others without killing them. Karl eventually graduated from medical school and became a hypnotherapist, using his occupation to drain the life energies from his patients.
When the X-men brought an injured Havok to Lycos for treatment, he attempted to drain the mutant’s energy. From this incident it was discovered that draining a mutant’s life force would transform Lykos into a anthropomorphic pteradactyl. Though he maintained his intelligence, Lykos’s personality was twisted into an evil facsimile of his human self. The creature, naming itself Sauron, attacked the X-Men.
After several defeats at the hands of the X-Men and a foiled attempt to drain the life energies of Lykos’ love, Tanya Andersson, Sauron left the United States. The absorbed energies wore off and Lykos eventually returned to himself. Feeling guilt for what he’d done as Sauron, Karl fled to the Savage Land where he survived by draining the energies of wild animals. Some time later, Lykos encountered the X-Man Storm and, absorbing her energies, reverted to Sauron. He was defeated by her teammates and, as Lykos, became an ally to both the X-Men and Kazar of the Savage Land. Lykos transformed into Sauron on several more occasions, wreaking havok in the jungle until Beast administered a serum thought to safely rid Lykos of his transformations.
Lykos attempted to live a normal life, wedding Tanya. When Toad came to him, wanting Sauron for his new Brotherhood of Mutants, Lykos refused. Toad used a device of his own to forcibly transform Lykos into Sauron, who then drained Tanya to her death. Sauron made his way back to the Savage Land where he again encountered some of the X-Men. In absorbing the energies of Havok and Cyclops, Sauron was further mutated, becoming even more pteradactyl than man. With the help of Jean Grey, Lykos committed a form of psychic suicide, apparently taking the Sauron persona with him and turning the physical Sauron into nothing more than a mindless beast.
Lykos’ mind later returned, but the Sauron physical form was now permanent. He returned to America and ended up in the hands of the re-established Weapon X program. Sauron was subjected to several experiments that gave him new abilites, but lowered his intelligence. He continues to serve the program to this day.
In human form, Lykos has the abilities to drain life force from others, as well as hypnosis. When he absorbs mutant life energy, Lycos becomes Sauron and gains flight in his pteradactyl form. Following modifications made by the Weapon X program, Sauron can also currently expell energy blasts from his hands and breathe fire, the former of which allowed him to recently crispify the Black Widow extra good.
How to make it: If the choice were the most basic, classic version of Sauron, then the parts re-use is there. In many of his initial appearances Sauron was still drawn as basically a green human with wings, clawed hands & feet and a pteradactyl head. In that case, the torso, hips and upper arms & legs can be re-purposed from several standard male Legends figures: Silver Surfer, Bullseye, Nightcrawler, etc. The relatively modern, more bestial version, features elongated limbs and an inhuman musculature that would require all-new sculpting from the ground up. Then, the choice becomes whether to produce the character as a single figure, or as a BAF. "The Sauron Wave" has a nice ring to it, though aside from any artistic license taken with the figure’s wings, Sauron could easilly be a single-carded figure.
Which version of Sauron do you most want made for Marvel Legends?
Classic
Weapon X
Age of Apocalypse
*Some images courtesy of ComicVine*
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