DC Universe Classics Custom Cosmic Odyssey Forager and Anti-Life Aspect Catchers

If you’ve known me for a while, you might know what a big fan of Jim Starlin and Mike Mignola’s Cosmic Odyssey I am.  As a comic book mini-series, it’s got everything: big hitters from the DC Universe, New Gods, the possible destruction of our universe, and tragedy on both a planetary and personal scale.  And, as I have suggested to my toy-collecting friends, DC Universe Classics is the line Mattel created so they could produce all the characters from Cosmic Odyssey.  Surely enough, Mattel has continued making them – in the Wal-Mart exclusive wave 10, they made Forager, and in wave 11, they made John Stewart. (I’m still partial to the Cosmic Odyssey custom John Stewart that Robokillah made for me.)

However, when Forager and Batman teamed up to defend Earth, Batman had Alfred put together a black costume for Forager that was better suited for Batman’s work at night.  So when I had the opportunity to pick up another Forager (thanks again to VeeBee for the first one!) I knew I would have to do a quick custom to get him suited up in black.

Forager

This was a very simple repaint to do – all that was required was to re-color black anything that was white or blue on the Forager figure, with the exception of the mask and shield.  I still managed to make it more difficult than it needed to be, because I couldn’t decide whether I just wanted to use a black Sharpie or actually paint.  There’s a little roughness to the black because I started with Sharpie and repainted black over it.  Using paint allowed me to get a flat black on the “cloth” parts and a glossy black on the “metal” parts.  Forager’s chest strap and shoulder pads are removable, making them even easier to paint.

Aspect Catchers

Integral to the Cosmic Odyssey story is the effort to capture Anti-Life aspects before they destroy four key planets that keep the universe from imploding.  Darkseid, who has formed a strained alliance with our heroes, provides them with these strange looking pop guns designed to capture Anti-Life. Armed with these aspect catchers, the heroes then split into teams to defend Earth, Thanagar, Xanshi, and Rann.

On a whim, I asked Ibentmyman-thing if he’d be willing to take on a commission to fashion some for me, and to my delight he agreed.  Here’s how he made them:

The main body of the aspect catcher is from ML Deathlok’s gun dremeled, which conveniently had similar features that only had to be dremeled into shape. The front lamp is from ML Iron Man’s chest beam. The handle is cut from segments of Deathstroke’s staff. The handle guard is a pen clip bent to the right shape that slid easily over the handle. I dremeled a hole into the bottom of the Deathlok gun so the handle glues in securely. The antennae are twist ties. Then I made molds of the handle, handle guard and main body and cast multiples of each out separately and then glued each of the final product together.

With the hard work done by Benty, all that remained was for me to paint them.  For the three wielded by Batman, Superman, and Lightray, I painted the bodies in silver, the handle in gold, and the beam in red and yellow, blending in the yellow in the center while the red was still wet.  Benty provided a clear aspect catcher tinted green (John and J’onn’s original aspect catcher gets destroyed, but John replaces it with a Green Lantern construct) that I touched up with some Tamiya clear green.

Since Superman doesn’t have a hand suitable for holding the aspect catcher, I attached it to his hip, like it’s seen for most of his part in the story.  I fashioned a loop using a slip knot with fishing line, and after several failed attempts to tie the other end around his waist, finally cut a small hole in his belt and glued the knot into it.

With a black-costumed Forager and four aspect catchers, all I really need to complete my Cosmic Odyssey collection is a DC Universe Classics Martian Manhunter (although the DCD Secret Identities MM is a decent stand-in).  But I wouldn’t turn away a Highfather, Metron, Lonarr, and hulking Parademon (with removable sections in his abdomen to show blast damage and his spine).  Are you writing this all down, Mattel? 😀