Protocol Snow

Shortly after I finished my first artwork modification of the SF4 Tournament Edition arcade stick, I set about working on my second design last September. Because my second stick was located in my Los Angeles home, I did not actually complete the project until last week when I returned home for Christmas break. I am now a proud owner of these two beauties!

The concept for stick #2 was inspired by how Taeyeon’s military hat and M. Bison’s Shadaloo cap looked remarkably identical. Since stick #1 was predominantly white, I wanted stick #2 to be black for contrast. #1 is still my favorite design as that shows more aesthetic sense, whereas #2 is just two people plastered on either side of the controller. I contemplated #2 for awhile because I was not satisfied with the design. However, the continuation of the Taeyeon theme and the link between the hats were irresistible.

A faint Shadaloo skull symbol menacingly lurks between Taeyeon and M. Bison. Unfortunately, it is very difficult to see on the print, which is my mistake as I made it too dark on the black background. The idea was to have a very subtle, almost hidden, skull in the background, and I toyed with the gray level many times to get it just right. Unfortunately, I should have brightened it a tad more for the printer. Here is my original Photoshop design.

The horizontal Japanese characters say “Aku no soshiki” aka “evil organization” representing Shadaloo. This name was created by Triumvir for their Shadaloo clothing collection. The vertical Korean characters say Kim Taeyeon (leader of Korean girl group SNSD). The X is commonly used in Asia to represent a collaboration.

Completing the modification is a custom dustwasher with “aku no soshiki” and the Shadaloo logo. I also replaced the stock white joystick top with a black mesh ball-top.

Working on these two arcade sticks has been a very fun project. It’s my first time doing mods like this and completing them was surprisingly easy, considering how daunting it appears. I encourage anybody who finds this interesting to give it a shot! I have already inspired two SNSD fans from SNSD fan community Soshified.com to make their own designs.

Kufuu:

myst:

For more information about how to mod your Madcatz TE arcade stick, refer to the links at the end of this post where I walk through the entire process from Photoshop templates to opening up the controller. I used the services of Tek-Innovations for the plexiglass, printed artwork, and custom dustwaster. Sanwa OBSF-30 black pushbuttons and black mesh ball-top were purchased from Gamingnow.net

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