Mesmerizes are robust, horse-like creatures that can potentially be encountered in Squaresoft's 1999 Final Fantasy VIII Playstation video game. They favor open plains where they can gallop to-and-fro and graze as they please. Their thick coats also allow them to live comfortably in cold environments, so it is not at all uncommon to find herds of them milling about in snowfields as well. Mesmerizes are herbivores, subsisting largely on grasses, lichens, mosses, and similar fare.

In combat, a Mesmerize primarily relies on its unique, blade-like horn. This thin, sickle-shaped growth is incredibly keen, so much so that it can even slice through metal. The animal can slash with it in close quarters, cleave through the enemy with devastating galloping charges, or, most frightening of all, actually detach and fling the horn with a toss of its head, like a boomerang, to rip apart any opponent outside its immediate reach (the blade somehow magically reattaches itself to the Mesmerize's forehead when it returns from its flight). Should this edged weapon not prove effective against an enemy, Mesmerizes can also deliver crushing blunt force trauma via powerful kicks with their hooves.

It is possible to snap a Mesmerize's horn off during battle, which naturally decreases the animal's offensive capabilities considerably. Assuming the handicapped creature survives the fight, a Mesmerize generally regrows the structure in 1-3 weeks, depending on the severity of the break. In practice, however, damaging the horn is a technique that is seldom employed, at least not by intelligent creatures, because intact Mesmerize Blades are a valuable commodity on the open market. These trophies can be refined to create potent High Potions, Mega Potions, or Regeneration Magic. This makes Mesmerizes desirable targets for hunters and healers alike.

All attempts to domesticate Mesmerizes have, thus far, met with complete failure--the animals are simple too independent in spirit and prone to violence. Even a newborn colt, taken from its mother and weaned by hand, quickly becomes unmanageable and dangerous. Should anyone ever succeed in taming one, a Mesmerize would doubtlessly make an incredibly effective war steed.

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Materials:
Newsprint, tissue paper, white paper, white glue, acrylic paint, super glue, and plastic (transparent base only).

Dimensions:
3.2 cm/1.3 in. x 4.2 cm/1.7 in. (widest point x highest point)
(Excluding the horn/mane, this figure is 2.9 cm/1.1 in. tall at the tip of its ears.)

Time:
Two days: June 4 and 5, 2011. Later, on the 7th, I decided to add some fluffy chest hair to the finished figure in the same manner that I had previously done the mane and tail.