Commissioned reference piece created by  sugarboy .

I was totally floored by Sugarboy's customer service and how well he depicted everything with his first work-in-progress regarding this piece. I'm extremely, extremely happy with what he created! Seriously dude, thank you.

The reference for this character has taken way too long to come about, but that's really my fault. I had planned to pay for the creation of a reference piece like this one about two years ago. For various reasons I decided to commission other artwork instead. But here it is, finally! Hooray!

One thing I must note (as I had in a previous Garon submission) is that I got the idea (and liked the idea) of barbarically dressed guns-and-blades-wielding dinosaur men from  kaa . While Garon has absolutely zero relation to Kaa's characters, the idea of a Sci-Fi-ish "barbarian dinosaur man" came from Kaa. So, I must give credit for the inspiration where it's due. That sort of thing. :)

Here is more background about Garon for those of you who are interested:

Sean Garon was a male human pilot who served in the interstellar Coalition Navy. Although mild mannered compared to his fighter jockey peers, his military record was promising. An excellent flight officer and mechanic, he flew into a few sorties that involved repelling pirate elements around the Outworld Colonies (though he preferred to fly the safer shuttles or transports). However, he had two personal flaws: a secret cowardly streak, and a lanky, entirely unimpressive body. Despite these flaws, Sean was also an aspiring artist and had a gentle mind filled with dreams.

Thinking it would keep his hair out of danger for awhile, Sean was given the opportunity to volunteer for a testing program at the Archduke Research Station, a military installation that experimented with new medicines and technologies that enhanced soldier performance. The project he volunteered for was simply called "Physical Moderation and Adjustment," and Sean expected his job to be easy, being poked over by doctors or scientists while he ate some good food and kept himself out of the combat zone. Unfortunately, he was wrong.

Imprisoned against his will with a host of other victims, Sean was injected and forced to ingest large amounts of many different drugs and compounds. Chief among them was Hyperxenorian 9-b, a powerfully mutagenic "super steroid" serum. Some of the drugs included synthesized saurian DNA from prehistoric Earth: its most major effect transformed Sean into a Tyrannosaurus Rex mutant over the course of a month. The 5'4", 142 lbs, brown-haired Sean disappeared. Irrevocably changed, his physical and mental characteristics completely flip-flopped: he grew to be twice as tall, became monstrously muscular, and his once non-existent aggressive and confident behaviors came to the fore.

The project turned him into a caged animal that endured all types of tortuous physical testing. Ultimately considered to be a freakish "chemical dump" among his fellow mutated subjects rather than a perfected super soldier, Sean was placed into suspended animation and slated for further testing at another research station. Miraculously for him, a pirate raiding party attacked his convoy, causing his transport to crash on a habitable colony world, allowing him to escape and somehow scrap a way to survive.

Now a vagabond named Garon Rex, he is a a freelancing "Beastman" demi-human who is shunned by the Coalition as an outlaw and reviled by most humans as a mutant. Not afraid to use guns, big blades, or claws to get his way, he sometimes acts as a warrior mercenary or bodyguard with different odd jobs.

Unfortunately the rejection of mutants in Coalition society has forced Garon to resort to working for various criminals, who are ironically among the few who do not mind giving mutants employment. Those who realized Garon's worth and potential gave the aggressive T-Rex Verric-Atha warrior's training as well, something which he gladly took with determined zeal. Verric-Atha is a combat philosophy that focuses on intimidation, brute force, and a revisitation of dependable melee weapons: a perfect match for Garon's giant physique.

The Rex's most favored weapons include a Ravager handcannon pistol for ranged combat (which is more of a normal sized pistol for Garon) as well as an alloy reinforced energy sword for melee combat. Coupled with Garon's immense strength, given enough time he can slice his way through a bulkhead with his sword. Additionally, a portable Shield-Generator-and-Sensor (SGAS) module fashioned into a gauntlet provides protection against most projectiles when he closes with adversaries. However, SGAS' limited charges at blocking projectiles has given the saurian wounds from time to time. Thankfully, Garon's body has enhanced regenerative capabilities and most properly treated wounds become practically invisible over time.

Despite being a monster, Garon is not one without a conscience. Having earned his own cutter-sized starship named The Stellar Bastion and not enjoying thoughts of senseless crime or harming the innocent, the dinosaur has begun to show a rebelliousness not enjoyed by many of his employers. Along with his mutant status, earning the enmity of two powerful crime lords, and becoming a wanted man by Coalition police forces, life among humans and aliens for Garon has not been easy. He hops from colony to colony, taking each present moment one at a time, questioning his purpose as he takes to the stars.

Garon's hobbies include obsessive weightlifting, tinkering with starships and engines, cooking (using "real meat and ingredients, not that processed goop crap or packed rations"), collecting digital artwork, and performing his own rough attempts at painting. Additionally, he often takes black market physical enhancement drugs, not just from a desire for more vigor and muscle gains but also from the fact that his massively altered body has simply become permanently addicted to them.

Currently Garon's personality is masculine, brash, and even unafraid, although he is not cruel by nature. There is a nicer side to him which tells that there is still the human Sean left in there.