Inflatable birds. You see art of them but it seems as if no one has attempted to have one produced. (Gryphons don't count as far as this statement is concerned.) Inspired by giant monster movies, Digimon, and a few too many spicy birds, I went about developing ORANGE COMET in May of 2019. They were originally a more modest design intended to be run via Phenod. And with that, they went back into the storage folder to await the fateful day when they'd be picked up for production.

In 2021 I decided that I should try to be more ambitious with inflatable designs and selected Garuda to be made. Distendedpoly modeled them over the summer and I talked to BeiLe about manufacturing the firebird in late October. This project was intended to be symbolic as well--I lost my job in June and had some ashes to rise from. That also meant I had to sell the bulk of my inflatable collection in order to afford this without cutting into my savings for a large nonessential purchase.

The current proposed modification will be the addition of another anchor point on the tail and strings connecting it to the anchor points on the wings to keep it from sagging when displayed. When the prototype reaches me in December and passes acceptance and fatigue testing, I'll open it up for public purchase. You'll be able to pick the size.

Artwork, Character © of me
3D Model © of @Distendedpoly
Manufactured by BeiLe Inflatables

"There's a thermal expansion joke in here somewhere."