I was serching the 'net for a magnetic chess set and came across all kinds of themed chess set characters; The Simpsons, Star Trek, Muppets, Civil War, French Revolution, Baseball, American football, etc. It occured to me that it might be fun to sculpt my own chess set from plasticine and latex casts.
Some ideas that I had:[list]
[li]Cops and Robbers - I could have a pimp or a drug lord be the king and his ho as the queen. Some burly looking henchman as the bishops, then either sculpt individual scoundrals as the pawns or use a single cast for each of them. The knights could be ski-mask clad robbers with semi-automatic rifles and the rooks would be stubby guys with sawed-off shotguns.[/li]The king on the Cops side could be a “Mr. Burns”-looking politician and his bishops and knights would be “Boss Hog”- looking cops with mirrored sunglasses and a wad of tobacco in their lip. The pawns would look like skinny “Don Knotts” State troopers wearing a wide-brimmed hat with a tassle.
[li]Tan and Green Army Men - I think there might be enough individual characters already. I bought a package of all green men and have enough for all of one side. I would need to buy another package and paint the hats black for the opposing side. Also, they have a little trouble standing, I might have to wieght their foot pads.[/li]
[li]**World War II - Axis v.s. Allies ** - Hitler would be the king, Eva his queen, Mussolini his Bishop, Hirohito the Knight, etc.[/li]Roosevelt, Churchill, Patton and McArthur are all candidates for the king. Any ideas for a queen? Eleanor Roosevelt?
[li]Old Folks v.s. “Kids these Days” Old geezers in rocking chairs, with walkers, canes etc.[/li]Punk kids.
The Dark Lord and on his dark throne and all his minions vs. the good wizards, Elves, Hobbits, etc. I don’t know who would play the queen on the side of evil, however.
Republicans vs. Democrats:
Elephant pawns with Bush and his cabinet for the rooks, knights, bishops, etc.
Donkey pawns with Clinton and his cabinet for the rooks, knights, bishops, etc.
Wizard of Oz theme:
Dorothy as queen,The Wizard of Oz as King, The Scarecrow, Tinman, Lion, and Glenda as rooks, knights, etc. The Munchins as pawns.
The Wicked Witch of the West and the Winged Monkeys on the opposite sides; any ideas for the King, knights, rooks, and bishops?
Gawd. Try to figure out an Alice in Wonderland/Alice through the Looking-Glass set. There were red and white chess pieces already in the second book…what about the characters like the cheshire cat and the white rabbit and Alice herself?
Oy. Maybe a three sided chess board?
Oh, and don’t mind my abstract ideas…they’re mostly harmless.
Hey, we’re computer geeks - why not an EverQuest set? The white pieces could have Firiona Vie (the blonde elf on the box cover) as the queen, and little gnomes as the pawns, clerics as bishops, etc. The black pieces would have shadowknights for knights, necromancers for bishops, trolls, ogres, etc. I’d be great.
My mom and I once saw a chess set made out of salt and pepper shakers at a fancy-schmansy art store. Since then, we have been on a quest to find interesting salt and pepper shakers for a set of our own.
Alrighty–time to inject the necessary smart-arsery in here.
Porn stars vs. Fundies (you decide which is black and which is white )
Say, John Holmes and Traci Lords as King and Queen on one side vs. Oral Roberts and Dr. Laura on the other? I’m sure you can fill in the other pieces on your own.
I saw a pewter Tolkein chess set once. It was the coolest thing I’d ever seen. I would have got it if it hadn’t cost an arm and a leg. Oh, and if I ever played chess. Shelob was, indeed, the queen.
So, would that be a chest set?
I’d say a pop star set, but I’d have trouble deciding which group Michael Jackson would go under.
Hey, how about a chess set based off the Archon characters? I loved that game.
The book Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice Found There takes place mostly, as you said, on a chess board, and a cast list at the beginning is written like a chess board, showing every character is a piece (This can’t come out like a good chess board, so I’m putting it this way):
Hard to read this way, I know. “Haigha” and “Hatta” are the March Hare and the Mad Hatter, respectively. I imagine the lesser known characters could be replaced with characters from Wonderland if you wanted an Alice chess set (after all, what’s a Alice set without characters like the Chesire Cat, White Rabbit, and Alice herself?
I just thought one that could be interesting, since I’ve been reading the book: a Princess Bride chess set. I guess that Buttercup could be the queen on the “good” side, and Westley the king. I don’t know what else there could be, except for maybe on the “bad” side, the King could be Prince Humperdinck, and the pawns R.O.U.S.es. (Okay, so maybe that last one’s a stretch…)
