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Hot stuff!  Fire Fan  Burning up!



Gigantic, flaming wheels that can be randomly encountered in Squaresoft's 1993 Final Fantasy Legend III (Japanese name, "SaGa III: Jikku no Hasha") Gameboy video game. Ages ago, these unnatural entities were created (as an undesired side effect) after the working of a potent magic by a now-forgotten arch-mage. As one would expect, these rolling terrors are masters of all things fire and greatly feared for the destruction they leave in their wake. Unopposed, a single Fire Fan can quickly reduce a good-sized forest, or town, to ashes in an hour. Unlike their weaker brethren, Tires and Wheels, Fire Fans don't take heavy damage from ice-based assaults, in fact, they enjoy resistance to all special attack types ("Strong Against All" ability). Mages and their repertoire of tricks are little more than a temporary annoyance to a Fire Fan, as they can easily render them mute, preventing the casting of any spells ("Silence" ability). Their blazing forms are magical in nature and cannot be extinguished by immersion in water, nor by absence of oxygen--they will continue to burn merrily away in the deepest depths of the ocean or even in the vacuum of space. Yet, despite this, the solid wheel sheltered within the raging inferno can be physically damaged, and "slain", with traditional weaponry--however, it goes without saying that, unless properly protected, one is almost certain to be burned badly, if not fatally, just by being in close proximity to a Fire Fan, let alone engaging it in melee combat. In addition to its ability to fry just about anything (the "Glow", "Sunburst", and "Burning" abilities), by bounding high into the air, and then crashing down again, a Fire Fan can cause small, localized tremors ("Earthquake" ability). Fire Fans, not unlike the Bombs of Final Fantasy infamy, are also bitter losers and, if not finished off quickly, will destroy themselves rather than suffer defeat at the hands of their opponent(s)--immolating everything in the immediate area with a suicidal burst (Explode ability). Fire Fans also have the annoying habit of healing any injuries they sustain, over time, by melting, and then reforming, damaged areas of their wheels ("Selfix" ability)--anyone wishing to slay one must attack relentlessly, lest the blazing ring undo harm inflicted upon it and/or explode out of spite. Fire Fans are near top-tier monsters in the world of Final Fantasy Legend III, with the capabilities to prove it--anyone who underestimates them in battle does so at the risk of having their party of adventurers annihilated.

If a character devours the meat of one of these blazing monsters, he or she may transform into something else--what you turn into is dependent on (1) what class the character currently belongs to, (2) the character's elemental affinity, and (3) the experience level of the character. Regarding class, a monster that eats Tire/Wheel/Fire Fan meat will turn into another monster, a beast into a monster, a human/mutant into a beast, a cyborg into a human/mutant, and a robot into a cyborg. All of the variations in this family of rolling incendiaries are (of course) naturally aligned with the element of fire, and thus, so is their flesh--a "fire" character that devours said meat will remain "fire", an "air" will become "earth, "earth" will become "water", and a "water" will turn into "air". Your experience level also affects the transformation in that the higher the character's level, the more powerful the resulting thing you turn into will be (i.e., a robot "air" character, at level 24, would change into an "earth" Brain cyborg after consuming the meat, however, the same robot "air" character, at level 22, would instead transform into a weaker "earth" Commando cyborg). The monster class, to which Tires, Wheels, and Fire Fans all belong, cannot equip weapons or armor, but they can use magic.

The enemies Tire (450 HP), Wheel (665 HP), and Fire Fan (859 HP) all share the same game sprite. As the original Gameboy lacks the colors to provide adequate contrast between monsters that use identical artwork (as is commonly the practice in video games), the three varieties of spinning infernos are indistinguishable in appearance.



Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, white glue, hot glue, cardboard, and acrylic paint.


Dimensions:
6.9 cm/2.7 in. x 7.5 cm/3.0 in. (highest point x widest point)


Time:
Roughly one day on December 14, 2008.


Fire Fan photo collage.


Fire Fan mid-construction photo.



For comparison purposes, below are several Tire/Wheel/Fire Fan sprites from the Final Fantasy Legend III Gameboy game. The first is the original black and white monster battle image and the second is a colored variant I made. The bottom three are animations of the Tire/Wheel/Fire Fan player sprite (which is what you see if one of your characters transforms into one and/or you encounter a Tire/Wheel/Fire Fan NPC in a town) from the front, back, and side--all of these were colored/animated by me.

    


         



REFERENCES:
(In no particular order of importance.)


  •   Hardcore Gaming 101 SaGa article.

  •   Final Fantasy Legend III Gameboy video game and instruction manual.

  •   RPG Classics Final Fantasy Legend III bestiary.

  •   Various GameFAQs Final Fantasy Legend III game guides.



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