Who Nears My Mountain?!
In 1970, Rankin/Bass released Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town, a stop-motion holiday special that not only gave us the origin of Santa Claus, but two top-shelf villains — The Burgermeister Meisterburger, and The Winter Warlock.
No icicles in the mustache means his breath was ice cold too.
Now, the Burgermeister Meisterburger, while a thorn in the sides of many citizens of Sombertown, was really just an out of shape, out of touch, humorless wannabe dictator grasping for power in the final, desperate days of his life. Waiting him out and working for reform is how the people of Sombertown dispatched that particular threat — and any similar threats that rose up and threatened their way of life. I applaud them.
This is what the skeleton of a warlock looks like.
But the Winter Warlock was different. He had actual power. He could call up a blizzard to cripple advancing armies. He could command the trees to ensnare invaders. With a magical crystal ball made of snow, he could see what was happening anywhere in the world. How do you defeat a near-omnipotent adversary like that? Simple. You show him compassion, understanding, and love. The wooden choo-choo train Santa handed the Warlock melted his icy heart forever.
A dental procedure known as ‘de-jawing.’ Very expensive.
But when you’re a channel that prominently features monsters, you tend to shy away from the caring, gentle, ex-villains who just want to commune with nature and use their gifts to benefit mankind. So, for our end of the year, holiday special…we went with the unrepentant, unreformed, icy-hearted ogre of a Winter Warlock in our diorama.
During the 2020 Paper Towel Shortage no trees were made.
In addition to sculpting and constructing an actual Winter Warlock art doll, we had to put together his lair atop the Mountain of the Whispering Winds. It involved creating some trees out of wire, glue, paper, glue, paint, and then more glue for good measure. And if you guessed the snowy base itself was also held together with bucketloads of glue, you win the virtual wooden choo-choo.
The Warlock’s mouth can be opened wider for louder threats.
Posing the Warlock on his base felt just a little like working on one of those old Rankin/Bass stop motion specials. Because aside from his bendable, wire frame, Winter Warlock also had slightly posable fingers — courtesy of the Cosclay we sculpted him with — and a movable mouth, thanks to a little hinge mechanism I experimented with.
Just looking at this photo makes me shiver.
The final beauty shots of the diorama tell the tale. The Warlock looks quite at home in that desolate environment, raging at passing clouds and talking to the trees. And any woodland creature or aquatic seabird that crosses his path should give him a wide berth. And, although we’re happy that Winter eventually chilled out and because a productive member of society, we still like to imagine there’s some small part of him that remains a cold-hearted monster that would turn you into a snowman and roll you back down the mountain just as soon as look at you.
For a confrontational loner, his sense of fashion is extremely glam.
And if you’re still wondering why no one tried that toy trick on the Burgermeister…they did. Santa gave the Burgermeister a yo-yo and, though it appeased him temporarily, he was back to his evil ways within minutes. He cared less about compassion and love than he did about vindictiveness and power. Always be wary of people like that. They’re the real monsters.
If you want to see us put this piece together, you can see the video at the link below.