Smilepunk

This might have been the image that made me decide to jump headfirst in this gnomepunk blog:

This guy pulls together gnomishness, steampunk, and cool batwings, all in one groovy package. Enjoy!

I guess you can buy a Tic Toc Apocalypse - Bat Fighter Gnome on Amazon, but I first saw it on Multiple Personalities's awesome Flickr page.

Return of the goggles

Okay, let's bring this back into mainstream gnomepunk (wow, parsing minute distinctions already). Remember a week or so back when I told you that WoW had papercraft versions of their characters, including their totally kickass gnomes? Well, I wasn't lying:

Behold - the intersection of cutting-edge online fantasy roleplaying geekery and the nerdliness of paper modeling, a tradition that extends back to the start of the previous century. Thanks to the 3D modeling techniques used in designing video characters, it is actually a natural match from a technical standpoint. But who cares? It's just one more way to deliver the gnomepunk.

This papercraft gnome was found on ObviousWinner, some sort of pop culture site.

Change-up

Okay, let's switch things up. This guy brings the gnomepunk in a bit more light-hearted way:

His creator came at this from the robot angle, but in the midst of all the various little robots he made was this Robo Gnome. According to his press, he like to frolic in the rain.

That's right, he frolics. Until he unleashes those Spring-driven Stomping Boots of Doom!

Oops. Sorry.

This Robo Gnome and other robot creations of Lockwasher can be seen (and maybe purchased) at SoothBrush.

Spoooooky

What is it with all these gnomepunk artifacts? They tend to the scary, evil, creepy themes. Like this one:

Actually, these "Urban Gnome" variations on the traditional garden gnome come in a lot of different flavors. This one just looked the punkiest.

The Urban Gnome figures can be found (and purchased) at Vitaminliving.

Deeeeevil

I said that this week would feature some artifacts that you could actually get you hands on, and here's on that follows right up on the last feature. Not only does calling your villain a gnome make him more badass, but...

apparently if you want The Devil to be scarier, make him into a gnome! This figure was made by the wonderful folks at Playmobil for the Karstadt Restaurant chain. While Playmobil is a German company, the toys are sold internationally, and this figure's "International Name" is Devil Gnome. Because gnomepunk is far worse than mere endless diabolical evil.

This Devil Gnome can be found on Collectobil, a collector's and trader's website for Playmobil figures.

Eeeee-vil

When I was a kid, I read the Bantam Books paperback versions of the Doc Savage stories that originally appeared in pulp magazines in the nineteen-thirties. The heroic Doc, a paragon of human achievement, fought mad scientists, loathsome dictators, criminal masterminds, and nefarious schemers, all bent on taking over the world. But when the stories needed something really scary, you know where they went:

That's right - get lost, Lex Luthor! Take a hike, Joker! The baddest villain around is The Evil Gnome.

Okay, this sinister adversary was actually just a short guy who was into throat-slashing and remote decapitation, and not a real gnome. But that's the cachet of gnomepunk: it turns a little bad guy into major badass, with nothing but a name change.

This Doc Savage book was featured on the Groovy Age of Horror website.

Gnomes in the gnews

After that romp through female fantasy gnomepunk, let's take a bracing dip into the real world - such as it is. This week, we will be featuring gnomes either as they appear in the wider pop culture or in artifacts that you can actually own.

Let's kick it off with an Unsolved Mystery, as Robert Stack would call it:

Bigfoot with a gnome hat? Gnomefoot? According to 5 Magazine, this fellow was caught on film in the town of General Guemes, Argentina. After a bunch of fisherman heard noises and filmed this figure, they were "really afraid." As matter of fact, as word spread and more sightings were reported, the entire town was "covered in a pall of fear." Because, as we all know, gnomes are as scary as hell.

That's gnomepunk.

The 5 Magazine website reported this story.