Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

It's over Beast! Belle is MINE!

 

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney movie. It's a big claim, I know, but I received it on VHS for my 5th birthday, so it has massive sentimental meaning to me. Next year I'm even directing my school's musical of it. I think it goes without saying that Gaston is the heart and soul of the story. Belle's kinda cool, the Beast is fine, but the real star of the show is undeniably Gaston.

Gaston is a real man.What isn't to love? He's handsome, arrogant, misogynistic and positively primeval. He's just the sort of guy I hate in real life, but for some reason in this movie he's just completely endearing. And to be fair, he only wanted to save Belle from (what he justifiably perceived as) a hostage situation with a monster.

For Gaston, I used Prison Yard Rick Grimes for both the head and body. Naturally, I had to erase his facial hair, add the pompadour and ponytail and paint it all. For the body, his clothes were a decent starting point. I trimmed down some of the shirt details, like his pockets and buttons, as well as extending his tunic a bit. I also added to the boots, making them taller and adding the little fold over bit. Rick's wrist had a watch on it, so I decided to use this to make the edge of his gloves, rather than trying to trim it off and give him bare skin. Rick had a machete in his hand, which I decided to trim down a bit to turn into the dagger Gaston uses to stab the Beast in the back in the climax of the movie.

I'm really happy with how this turned out. His ponytail protrudes a bit, which means he can't fit in front of other Pop boxes to go with my other villains on their shelf, but this is recognisably Gaston. What do you think? Does he have a chance with the Belle Pops?

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: whole thing- Prison Yard Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead #67)

Biggest Challenges: Emulating his amazing handsomeness

How I'd Improve It: I considered adding in a little cleft chin, but I didn't want to risk wrecking it.