If you don't get the title, you're either (A) not big into Westerns or (B) not very old and decrepit like me.
This is a figure I had planned way back in 2000, and originally created using a Wild Bill I'd spray painted black, with silver highlights; he never really "took" for me, though, and that one ended up being turned back into a Wild Bill. But I didn't give up the idea of trying again.
Growing up as I did watching a lot of Westerns, I could never totally lose the "cowboy" thing. In truth I'm only marginally knowledgeable about the TV series, "Have Gun, Will Travel" and it's main character, Paladin, or The Man in Black (a sort of Old West mercenary gunfighter). In fact my knowledge is limited to commercials that ran about it, when it was being re-run on local TV...
But I digress. The character is only loosely based on him, as you'll see in the bio. First, pics!
Parts Used:
Head: Cross Hair
Torso: ST Wild Bill
Arms: ST Dusty w/BBI hands
Waist, legs: ST Recondo
Hat: Wild Bill V2
Duster: DTC Monkeywrench
Six-Shooters: VvV Wild Bill
Real Name: Kilpatrick, Richard
Birthplace: Plano, Texas
Richard Kilpatrick had a good life--he worked as an insurance claims adjuster by day, came home to a loving wife and adoring young daughter by night. Free time to himself was often spent adding to his collection of Old West memorabilia or practicing the trick-shooting his father had taught him from the time he was old enough to handle a revolver; he would exhibit this talent at various shows and rodeos in and around Texas several times a year. A friendly and good-natured man, he wasn't prone to have enemies...until he crossed paths with the Dreadnok Torch.
It was a simple enough thing, a fender-bender accident in which Torch's bike got a little banged up, with Torch demanding he "pay up" for the damages on the spot, and for a lot more than it was worth. Richard, of course, couldn't do that and offered up his information to Richard that insurance would settle it. Offended, Torch used the information to find the man's home, and burn it to the ground several days later. As luck would have it Richard Kilpatrick was not home that night, but his wife and child were, and died in the flames. To add insult to injury Torch left behind the information card with a simple note, "Mess with Torch, you get burned."
The loss of his family devastated Richard; it weighed him down, cost him his job and for a time, it seemed, would cost him his life. At the same time the message Torch had left burned within him like another kind of flame, burning up the man he had been and leaving behind something darker.
Six weeks after Torch burned down Richard Kilpatrick's life, a man dressed in black cowboy duds entered a known Dreadnok hangout. Five minutes later he alone walked out, leaving behind a bloodbath and a written message for Torch himself: "You destroyed my life with fire, took all from me that is good and left only darkness. That part of me will hunt you down, and you will never be safe in your little world again. Know that when you see the Man in Black, your time will be at an end." The message was signed...Paladin.
Never thought to try the Gung-Ho one. Hmm, future ideas there...
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