Origins of the Hendybadger - And the Winner is...

Several of you know about the Hendybadger mini my amazing wife commissioned for my birthday.
And you also know about the competition to win one of these minis.
All the details can be found >>HERE<<

So who won one of only 9 pirate badger models in the world?

Well, the winner is...............

Lets read their winning story first shall we?
This will be linked on this site as the (un)official Pulp City Hendybadger background story.

Hendybadger Origin Story

The story of Hendybadger’s origin begins long ago towards the end of the 17^th Century. Given the length of time since the outset of this tale, little detail is still known, but, what has been passed down suggests that it begins in a small town in Cornwall with a young man by the name of Ian. The rich maritime history of the area and the ever increasing exciting tales of pirate adventures on the high seas in far off lands meant that a life of a piracy always appealed to Ian (plus the promise of unearthing countless riches appealed). Word reached Ian’s hometown that captains often congregated in the port town of Falmouth in order to recruit able and enthusiastic men to form their crew and so at the earliest opportunity Ian hitched a lift with a local merchant and made his way to the harbour. Upon arrival, despite his inexperience Ian was inducted into a newly formed crew which would soon depart for the Lesser Antilles.

It was at this point during the story that the first of a number of what could be considered strange coincidences occurred; it turns out that Ian hadn’t been the only one to hitch a lift in the merchants cart, but of all things, a badger had stowed away on board. The inquisitive badger seemed to follow Ian as he made his way around Falmouth and often appeared at random times around the town. At first Ian thought nothing of it, later he became somewhat annoyed and attempted to chase the irritating creature away but eventually he grew to find it amusing. When the day of departure arrived, Ian climbed the gang plank to the brigantine only to find the badger awaiting him. Despite his better judgement, Ian decided to smuggle his new friend on board and stowed him away, below decks in the crew’ quarters. The decision to adopt the badger proved advantageous given that he provided Ian with companionship and even acted as a surprisingly effective guard for his stash of personal belongings when some of the less than trustworthy, light fingered sailors were lurking around.

Ian and the rest of the crew made their way to the Caribbean and despite plundering gold and valuables from a number of Spanish ships had a relatively uneventful time, until one fateful day when they made landfall at Tortola. It turned out that, unbeknown to the crew, their captain had knowledge of untold riches somewhere on the island. After some searching the crew were led to what appeared to be a small cave in a cliff face a little way up one of the paths ascending Mount Sage. Venturing into the cave they journeyed through a number of labyrinthine caves before they were ordered to start excavating a dirt wall at what appeared to be a tunnel with a dead end. The back breaking work in the uncomfortable conditions continued for hours until one of the picks sank through into what felt like a hollow area. The digging continued at an increased pace fuelled by the excitement of potentially unearthing something until an opening was formed which was sufficiently large to allow the men to venture through into an exposed chamber.

Ian filed through the newly created doorway and was amazed to discover a huge, high ceilinged cavern. Rows of seating lined an aisle leading down to a raised golden alter in what appeared to be a place of worship for an ancient indigenous people. In addition to the glorious golden alter were golden wall mountings encrusted with gemstones and equally impressive golden columns formed into the shapes of terrible beasts evenly spaced around the circumference of the room.

Once the awestruck men had got over the sense of awe and then the excitement at the realisation that they were to be rich beyond their wildest dreams, they were ordered to begin looting the untold riches that they had discovered. No one will ever be sure what caused it, whether it was their presence in this holy place, the removal of one of the icons, something Ian had inadvertently done or some other unknown trigger but before any one of them could react something stirred in the chamber, the earth began to rumble and the monstrous pillars began to rotate. Ian found himself positioned in the centre of the cavern and, as he raised his head in surprise was struck by an ethereal light being emitted from the eyes fashioned into the columns. Both Ian and the badger, which by this time would never leave his side, were frozen in what appeared to be a coating of solid gold. Whilst this may seem like a terrible fate to endure, it saved the pair from the crumbling rooftop which crushed the remainder of the crew allowing none to escape with their lives.

The collapsed cavern and the riches hidden beneath it went undisturbed until September 1871 when an earthquake struck the island. It was around this time that an American archaeologist was in the island who stumbled across some trinkets revealed by the quake. After some exploration, various treasures were unearthed, including a curious golden statue of a badger which appeared to be dressed as a pirate. The explorer didn’t consider the strange juxtaposition of a pirate badger amongst the contents of an ancient temple but decided that it would make a fitting addition to the newly founded museum of Pulp City.

And so it was, the golden pirate badger sat in pride of place within the museum for some time, until, over the years, interest in it waned in favour of new curiosities and it was relegated to the dark depths of the museum basement where it sat gathering dust.

It was recently that the final and perhaps most unusual twist of fate affected our hero. It began with the appointment of a new curator at the museum who, whilst surveying the building and its contents came across the myriad of old and forgotten items in the depths of the museum’s cellar. The curator decided that a number of these oddities deserved a place on the museum floor. One such item was the infamous statue which found itself positioned at the end of a corridor. Also displayed in this corridor was a large ruby like crystal which it was reported had been prised from the eye socket of a massive demon statue found deep within a long forgotten dungeon. The last item was a giant lens retained from the telescope of a famous observatory which had now been decommissioned in order to make way for a technologically advanced replacement. 

 

There is no evidence to suggest whether this turn of events was purely coincidental, had been written in the stars or was as a result of some intentional intervention by an unknown third party. In the early hours of a clear summer morning the sun rose over Pulp City as it had done every morning since its founding, but on this morning the position of the sun and the earth resulted in a ray of light shining directly through a window at the end of a corridor in the museum. This light fell on the telescopic lens on display but, rather than being magnified on to a flammable surface, was directed on to the ruby red crystal causing the end of the corridor to be bathed in a brilliant crimson glow. The statue reacted to this luminescence by transforming from a golden effigy of a pirate badger into a living pirate badger.

Many of Pulp City’s residents were alerted by the resulting commotion in the early hours of the morning at the museum, others were drawn to the area by the loud cry of “Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!” which could be heard in the area as a mysterious figure was seen bursting from the museum before fleeing, and the remainder were notified by the news reports over the coming days of a strange break in at the museum resulting in much destruction and the theft of one of the more unusual exhibits.

The first resident super hero to encounter Hendybadger in the days after his resurrection was Yuriko Kobayashi with whom he soon struck up a rapport given their common ground of having originated from cultures very different to those native to Pulp City. Despite this friendship forming from their chance meeting, the shock of being thrust into this new world several centuries after he last lived and breathed has left Hendybadger confused and suspicious to say the least. In his fragile state, his obvious superpowers and very public and mysterious appearance many of the local super heroes are keen to recruit his services for various tasks, some truly admirable and others more nefarious than others. Who knows who Hendybadger will decide to fight beside over the coming months…......

And the writer of this awesome story?

Possibly a close relative to the badger himself?

Hendie!!!!!

Congratulations Hendie! You have your very own Hendybadger!

I will contact you via email but if you see this first shoot me a message with your details.

(The Real) Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!!!!!!!