Birkin 1.5 mutations artwork and their origin?

[Graco]

Are these official? And if so, when did they first surface? I can't quite put my finger on it, but these just don't seem like fan interpretation. But I could be entirely wrong. Until about this time last year or so, I was under the impression that Birkin's mutations were incomplete and all that had been created was his basic and final boss forms. These also seem to coincide with the Salem and Golgotha concept arts which were supposedly incorporated into Birkin. Are these Capcom's final results or just intricately detailed fan work?

Here's the links. The images are too large to post directly onto the forum.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1270226_396907700435023_791773667_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash3/1264824_397935213665605_1306291715_o.jpg

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-frc1/812690_398204186972041_677518781_o.jpg

https://scontent-b-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/970114_349527688506358_938159878_n.png

[MiLØ]

Yes these artworks are official and can be found in Biohazard Archives book.

[Graco]

I love how the original Birkin mutations lost their eyes (which I find looks disturbing and unsettling) whereas the retail mutations were all about big huge eyeballs or eyeballs in weird places.

[Renard]

Ah, I've seen these before. I love how reptilian G looked.

The art is official but I don't think these are the final designs. They look very similar to the ones found in Bio Hazard Complete Disc, but there are a few differences. William was still wearing ripped-up pants well into his third mutation and his skin was still paler, unlike how it gets darker in some of the artworks. The gaping mouth and tail-like protrusion is still there though. I think there are bioflames images of Leon fighting the fourth mutation.

What's missing is the final fifth mutation. The enemy designer said that in 1.5, Birkin took over the train cars one by one as he tried to take over the escape train. So I think it's not that different from Birkin's final form in retail RE2. But I guess there's no art of it unfortunately. In a certain bioflames image I remember, it shows Birkin in is fourth mutation inside of a train car. With Annette standing by him. This could have been right before he transformed into his final fifth form.

[News Bot]

They are official. Drawn by Ryoji Shimogama. It is specifically concept art of Birkin's mutations in 1.5.

[BiohazardFE]

@Renard



Part of the Inflames batch. I haven't seen some of those before, very nice to look at them. I agree about the Complete Disc as well, right at the end of one of the videos we can see the reptilian style Birkin with what appears to be a tail, killing the Spider-Man. I suppose that would have been part of his "Birkin III".

[Accell]

Ah, I've seen these before. I love how reptilian G looked.

The art is official but I don't think these are the final designs. They look very similar to the ones found in Bio Hazard Complete Disc, but there are a few differences. William was still wearing ripped-up pants well into his third mutation and his skin was still paler, unlike how it gets darker in some of the artworks. The gaping mouth and tail-like protrusion is still there though. I think there are bioflames images of Leon fighting the fourth mutation.

What's missing is the final fifth mutation. The enemy designer said that in 1.5, Birkin took over the train cars one by one as he tried to take over the escape train. So I think it's not that different from Birkin's final form in retail RE2. But I guess there's no art of it unfortunately. In a certain bioflames image I remember, it shows Birkin in is fourth mutation inside of a train car. With Annette standing by him. This could have been right before he transformed into his final fifth form.

One could chalk the discrepancy in Birkin's appearance up to limitations in the PS1's hardware. Consider retail Birkin and how different his in game models look compared to the concept art -- in a funny inversion Birkin's skin is darker in retail BH2 and lighter in the official artwork. This is just conjecture, but perhaps Birkin was in some transitional form during the cutscene where he threw the man-spider. The room that takes place in looks way too small for a boss fight.

[BiohazardFE]

The room is the MO Disc hallway, it's pretty similar in both editions of RE2.



Although I'm not sure why Birkin would be there with Spider-Man, in retail (I think Scenario B specifically), he does appear in a hallway not far from the room, near the Moth room. So maybe a scene like that was included, you run into him and he displays power by killing the creature, then transforms. Much like the first encounter, when he appears from the elevator and pulls the bar off, maybe each transformation had a special scene beforehand. And much like retail, perhaps damaging him forces along the transformations. Who knows.

[biohazard_star]

^ There's these two backgrounds present in the 40% build which were eventually replaced with the ones used in the Complete Disk video cutscene. I assume Birkin was trying to do something to the blast door, which is why he was shown standing there. He probably lifted it open from the other side to get through.

[Graco]

@Renard

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Part of the Inflames batch. I haven't seen some of those before, very nice to look at them. I agree about the Complete Disc as well, right at the end of one of the videos we can see the reptilian style Birkin with what appears to be a tail, killing the Spider-Man. I suppose that would have been part of his "Birkin III".

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Maybe it's just the quality of the source, but he looks noticeably less detailed in-game than he does in the art which I find surprising considering how better detailed his model was in retail. The changes made to him in-game (1.5) when compared to his concept art don't seem for the better.

[BiohazardFE]

Well, both sources sadly aren't fantastic like you say. The 80% image was from the digital camera of "Mr.JP" and the second was from the Complete Disc video, which has poor quality even with a direct rip. But even looking at his first transformation in the 40% build, it's noticeably less detailed. Retail really ramped up the textures and details on the models. I don't know, from a concept to game kind of angle, I agree. But this could also be a transitional thing. They may have improved all the textures with the completion of 1.5 had it ever made it that far. We will never be able to tell from the 80% shots either, so I guess it becomes a waiting game again for all these small questions and observations.