Construction Bugman

Construction Bugman 
The bugmen were all a flutter about the passing
of Grasshopper Knight,
their Queen's favorite creation.
They expressed their sorrow as a hive,
wailing and rubbing their domed heads together.
This was a new and intense feeling for them,
as rebirth was as common as death...
but someone (or something) had blocked Grasshopper's
chance to project into a new body. 

Before she left for her shift at work,
CyMa logged into the bugmen's world,
her appearance offering some comfort.
Her speech was brief, and upon completion,
she had selected Construction Bugman
to carry the body of Grasshopper to its burial place. 
Construction Bugman was the best
builder in the hive. His prowess and proficiency
with tools almost made sure he
was point person on any building projects.
Without a word, he knelt humbly at his
Queen's opportunity, and
headed off for Pangea Island. 
It was crucial that when the bugman's body
broke down into hyper-nutrients (colloquially called Snot),
that it was buried in an area that would be
ideal for super vegetive growth.
You didn't want a giant beanstalk popping
up underneath a bank or a populated city area. 

Pangea Island, with its spatial remoteness
and gigantic plant inhabitants,
made the most sense.
Taking long a sword (to make short work of the vines)
and a shovel, he set out. 
Picking a spot in the brush about
100 meters from where the
Vector Portal deposited him,
Construction Bugman made
short work of the task.  
Exhausted but satisfied,
he took a moment to breathe his exotic surroundings. 
It was at that second a metallic clicking sound startled him. 
To his surprise, a young man sat perched
between two tree trunks,
lighting a rolled cigarette with a fancy lighter. 

"You don't look like a poacher." 
"I'm um...not!" Bugman stumbled, nervous. 
"Good. I kill poachers."
The young man held up his semi-automatic carbine.
"We don't need any imperialists or entrepreneurs
stripping this place for parts." 
He jumped out of the tree towards Bugman,
who backed up and kept his hands raised.
No telling what this kid was capable of.
"The name's Mandro DeLuka."
He offered without extending a hand.
"I've killed thirty poachers so far.`
Us Pangea Guerillas gotta protect the creatures here." 
"I didn't realize humans lived here!"
Bugman gasped, astonished.
Nothing in the vector web led him to
believe there were permanent inhabitants.
Mandro didn't come off as a native. Seemed too "western". 
While the two were chatting away,
they failed to sense they were being stalked.
The sniffs of an apex predator nearby were missed in their discussion.
Undetected by to the two chatty-cathies,
a gatoraptor exploded from the brush,
growling with teeth at the ready. 
Mandro froze, but Bugman calmly took action-- 
In a swift move he brought his sword down
(on its flat side) on top of the gatoraptor,
knocking it out cold.
Bugmen are particularly abhorrent
of needless violence,
especially towards other living creatures. 
Mandro, feeling embarrassed he had choked,
changed his tone.
"Thank you for not killing him.
Us Guerillas never take the life of an animal unnecessarily.
You have earned my respect. Come, let us have some saffo-wine!" 
Then they got drunk. 
It was Bugman's first taste of booze. It was great! 
To Be Continued 


--
About AFOTM March 2020 
Due to the Corona Outbreak,
and no new goods being shipped out of China
since the end of 2019,
Construction Bugman was a last minute
emergency edition that required a lot of elbow-grease. 
He started life as a childhood drawing
or as I call them, Old Heroes. 
Originally he was an alternate
version of Grasshopper Knight,
whom we met last month. 
I've been trying to find a way to do
many Bugmen for a long time,
but the path didn't really open up until the new
alternate CyMa head came to life. 
To make AFOTM March happen,
I had to disassemble A LOT of figures,
pulling together every spare material boy I had.
That's why there is a wide variety of base-body colors.  
The workshop has become a full
second assembly line, with construction
and dressing happening
at a break-neck pace (and often in cold winter temps).
Yes, it is a pain to put on each jumpsuit! 
And thanks to my sometime helper ;) 
Hope you enjoyed AFOTM March!