Big Daddy Doll (Bioshock 2)

Here is how I spent part of my day off work.

As seen in the Bioshock 2 Sea of Dreams trailer,

and the concept art,

Ever since I first saw the trailer, I thought it would be really cool to have my very own Big Daddy rag doll. Problem with mine is that it looks too new. Believe it or not, I couldn't find a dirty old baseball to save my life. In fact, I had a pretty rough time finding a baseball period. Wal-Mart was sold out of them, and said that since Summer was over (uuuh, it is only July!) that they wouldn't be getting anymore in until after Christmas. Finally found a brand new ball and sandpapered off all the markings. Need to figure out a way to make it look old and rugged. Thought about soaking it in a bucket of mud. If anyone has any better suggestions, let me know.

The other thing I need to fix on mine are the push pins. In the trailer and concept art they are actually metalic silver, with red paint on the tips. Since I can't find any metalic silver push pins, I need to find some metalic silver paint, then put a dap of red paint on the tip of each. I think this will definitely give it more of a rugged improvised look. 

The other issue is the weight. The baseball is very heavy compared to the hand made rag doll body (stuffed with dried corn and cotton), so it is extremely top heavy and wont hand from the neck like in the concept art, or from the arm like in the trailer. I'll probably end up filling his film canister backpack thing with lead weigths to see if I can get him to sit/hang better.

Yes it is awesome! It is one of those games where you can save anywhere, so time is no excuse! Go beat the damn thing Richard. Second one is coming out in just a few short months. Doubt it will be as significant as the first, but I am looking forward to it.

Johnny Ringo said:

and for the weight issue maybe consider replacing it's insides with something lighter - dunno how much of an effort that would be...

It would be easier just to use a tee ball I suppose, I cannot imagine what would be involved with hollowing out a baseball and refilling it with something else.

Thanks Sluggo.

Heh, just realized that there are probably plenty of people browsing this off topic section who have never played Bioshock, or even know what a Big Daddy looks like, so here is a picture of one from the actual game for comparison.

To give them a little background, they are the guardians of creepy little genetically altered little girls known as "little sisters" in the brilliantly rendered and depicted utopia turned distopia of Rapture. In the game the Big Daddys (lovingly called "Mr. Bubbles" or "Mr. B" for short by the little sisters) won't mess with you until you mess with them or a little sister they are escorting.

The little sister's job is to harvest ADAM, which is a bit more complicated to explain, in short it has to do with genetic manipulation and drugs, which ran rampant in the under water utopia the game takes place in. In Rapture, doctors were free to experiment with all sorts of questionable things in the name of enlightenment and human greatness, which is what the city of Rapture is all about. Ultimately, the citizens constantly using more and more of these drugs to manipulate and improve their bodies caused the minor side effect of gradual insanity.

The little sisters harvest the ADAM out of dead people, and the junkies that liter the place want the ADAM so they can get more powerful genetic manipulations, which is why they need a stout guardian. Once you kill a Big Daddy, you can choose to rescue or harvest the little sister, rescuing her results in a small reward of ADAM, and then she scurries away, now a fairly normal looking little girl because he body is free of ADAM. Choose to harvest her, and she turns into a limp dead slug of a thing, and you get a whole crap load of ADAM. The game has slight alternative endings depending on which option you choose the most.

In the trailer for Bioshock 2, we see the image of a young woman (which we can assume to be a grown up little sister) holding the doll I posted pictures of in my first post.

In other words ignore all this weird stuff I am talking about, and my silly looking rag doll, and play this game. It is one of those rare gems of a game that only comes along once every few years. Sure, it is just another silly first person shooter that really doesn't do anything new to speak of, but its backstory is so indepth it will suck you in. Another plus is that you only have to look into the backstory as dee as you feel like. If you only want to blow things up and kill people, then you can. But if you want to really take the time to find out exactly what Rapture was and what kinds of things went on there to turn it from an idealogically perfect capitalist society into a dark, damp, and bloody junkie ridden hive of anarchy, then you are free to do so.

Okay, now I get it!  Kinda...  Well, I'd heard the name "Big Daddy," but only in The Spoony One's video reviews.  He often has segments where he plays with action figures (a la Spaceballs), and one of them had Neo from The Matrix fighting this so-called Big Daddy, leading to this awesome line (in a Keanu Reeves voice, no less):  "Oh, no!  I'm getting sodomized by Big Daddy's drill!"  Nice to finally understand what that means!

And not that I entirely get it, but that's a good-looking doll.

Gaff, you've got to play this game. You seem the type that would really like the subject matter (of course, you've also got to have a stomach for first person shooters).

That "Oh, no! I'm getting sodomized by Big Daddy's drill!" line is pretty funny. The image of Neo having a Bouncer's drill run through him is rather satisfying.

Well, now my newly built Big Daddy resides on my shelf right next to my headcrab and my tribble. Not sure how well he really fits in with them though... Once I get the weight issues worked out, I think I'll hang him back inside my TV cabinet, not really in full view, but just where observant people might spot him and either think "Oh cool!" or "What the hell? Why do you have push pins stuck in a baseball sewn onto the body of a ragdoll with a cork screw for a hand?"

Sluggo said:

It is all about the nicknacks, my man... Just a little touch to highlight my dorky-ness.

Ah, it is great to have this place to go to where people understand me. ;) Great to know a few fellow citizens of Dorkdom.

I have been wanting to pick up that Hot Wheels die-cast NCC-1864 for a while now, but have been hesitant to spend the money. It isn't that expensive, but having owned a die-cast Enterprise D since way back when TNG first began, and having long lamented the fact that there was no die-cast Enterprise A or earlier or any other die-cast ST  vessels to be its companions, I am really having to hold myself back from getting both the NCC-1864 and the NCC-1701 refit, which may just open the door to more madness as more ships are made. If either the Excelsior or the NCC-1701 E are made, there will be no holding me back...

Actually, I know they make plush-style baseballs that look quite a bit like real baseballs but are very light. If you can't find anything like that at Wal-Mart, try a sporting goods store.

bioshock2f@n said:

really nice big daddy doll, im going to make one myself, what did you used to make the body, aswell as ataching it to the baseball, also how did you attach the rope/arms? like ive seen heaps of people make the doll with an actual baby doll body, they just took out the head and limbs, though im not to fond on that. i would really like to make a body that looks like the one you have mad?

I made the body of my doll out of scratch. I just cut a patten out of cream colored cloth and sewed the two parts together, then stuffed them with dried corn and cotton. I couldn't find a decent doll body at any of the hobby stores, and while it looks really good in the trailer and in the concept art, all the dolls made by other people who used the actual doll body looked kind of weird, so I just decided to make my own. In the end I think it looks a lot better than those others do.

The rope arms are just one piece of rope that I had sewn into the body. Attaching the head was the hardest part. I just sewed the cloth of the baseball to the cloth of the body, which ultimately ended up being rather limp. So I took a nail and hammered it into the baseball and rigged it to the back of the body behind the oxygen tank (film canister). If I had it to do over again, I think I would nail a cork to the bottom of the baseball, then sew the cork into the body. 

C3PX said:

 I couldn't find a dirty old baseball to save my life. In fact, I had a pretty rough time finding a baseball period. Wal-Mart was sold out of them, and said that since Summer was over (uuuh, it is only July!) that they wouldn't be getting anymore in until after Christmas. Finally found a brand new ball and sandpapered off all the markings. Need to figure out a way to make it look old and rugged. Thought about soaking it in a bucket of mud. If anyone has any better suggestions, let me know.

Nice jorb on the dolly!

Also, I totally went through this same experience last summer when I was looking for baseballs to cut up for homemade steampunk googles for our Halloween costumes.  (Instructables.com)  I looked at three Walmarts and 4 Goodwills and came up empty.  I finally found some softballs- which were too big, but I used them anyways.

One Sports department Walmart guy was really surprised I was shopping for baseballs.  He was pretty sure they just didn't sell.

xhonzi said:

 He was pretty sure they just didn't sell.

What has this world come to?

I've heard "they"'re actually considering rewickering the song "What's more American than... I am!" to replace the lyric "What's more American than Baseball?  I am, I am I am!" with "What's more American than Warcraft?  I am, I am, I am!"

Okay, maybe I made that up.  It wouldn't be so bad if it was "What's more American than BioShock?"

This thread is a bit of a relic, as it predates the days of every thread being shamelessly driven off-topic. Ah, memories of days long past...

It's not too late!

Yeah, I knew it was destined to be driven off topic eventually the minute I saw it resurface.

Now all you need is this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B003707YUY/ref=nosim/cheapassgam08-20