D&D General Building a better Tiamat

[dave2008]

You are probably not surprised to know that I am a Tiamat fan. I purchased the recent WizKids Tiamat and it is great. However, I have also always loved the old D&D Cartoon Tiamat. I am also fascinated by the idea of a more horrific elder god/ primordial, Babylonian creation god chimeric version. So, I have decided to take an older, larger, and unfinished Tiamat mini of mine and modify it heavily to combine all three ideas into one ultimate Tiamat.

I will post the progress photos in this thread.

Project Ideas/Goals:

• A larger Tiamat mini
• Dragon heads in-line with larger red head similar to cartoon Tiamat
• 2 pair of wings
• Possibly 3 pairs of legs, one set possible smaller / vestigial
• Possibly 3 tails.

Inspiration Images
My Tiamats - the one on the right will become the basis for my Ultimate Tiamat

Inspiration Mini:

D&D Cartoon Tiamat:
I always liked how the red had was larger/dominate. I also like the large teeth on the red. This are dragon slaying teeth.

TSR Tiamat:
Old school look. I still like some of these designs better than the current generation. I also liked the description, though I wouldn't follow it explicitly:

WotC Tiamat

Babylonian Tiamat:

WotC Io - I liked the 3 pairs of legs

 

[SkidAce]

I envision longer necks for the heads, like a hydra, rather than short necks like a chimera.

 

[SkidAce]

 

[dave2008]

I envision longer necks for the heads, like a hydra, rather than short necks like a chimera.

I see something like that. I see longer necks than the Wizkid model, but quite King Ghidorah length. If you look at the white model the necks are already longer than the WizKid version. Since that will be my base I will not deviate to much from that. The black, green, blue, and white necks might grow a little in length, but not to much. The red neck will be the same length or a little longer, but thicker so that it is proportionally shorter.

At least that is what I am currently thinking. I hope to do some sketches this weekend and then post them here.

 

[dave2008]

OK, some more reference photos of the mini I am starting with. Like I thought, these show me that the body and legs are to small for the massive heads and necks of this mini and I am only making them bigger. I also will have some trouble getting a 2nd pair of wings in their and the tail needs a massive upgrade as well.

 

[dave2008]

Found this image of a 3d printed dragon head and I like the horns as a basis for Tiamat's red head:

 

[AnotherGuy]

Awesome! The vestigial legs and the 3 tails idea is just beastly.
It is great to re-imagine the monsters and surprise your friends in the BOSS fight.

 

[dave2008]

OK, I haven't forgotten this project, I just haven't had time to work on it. However, I came across this Wizkids "Aspect of Tiamat" below and it convinced me (along with my love for the '80s cartoon Tiamat) to rework my Tiamat so that it is standing on its hind legs. Now I just need some time to do some sketches! What do you think?

 

[StarFyre]

any update on this ? i have the same tiamat kit (the big white resin one). im planning to cut the body in half, extend it a bit, widen the front and fit the necks more like the D&D 3e/4e/5e art. where did you get that red dragon head print? i was going to resculpt a new red dragon head based on the 3e klauth image. still not a project im going to do for a few years

SF

 

[dave2008]

any update on this ? i have the same tiamat kit (the big white resin one). im planning to cut the body in half, extend it a bit, widen the front and fit the necks more like the D&D 3e/4e/5e art. where did you get that red dragon head print? i was going to resculpt a new red dragon head based on the 3e klauth image. still not a project im going to do for a few years

SF

It is on hold unfortunately - life is getting in the way! My plan is similar to yours, though I have thought about adding another pair of wings and legs (so the "limbs" add up to 5 pairs) and possibly multiple tails (though I have no good explanation for that).

Regarding the 3d print dragon head: unfortunately I don't remember. I didn't actually buy it, it was just something I found online. I plan to sculpt my own red read too. To be honest one of the reasons I put it on hold was my plans kept getting more and more ambitious (I was planning to re-sculpt all the heads at one point) and I think I need to scale back a bit.