Write-ups for our custom action figures and how-to tutorials
Yes, I made a Punisher custom, even though Hasbro just released a perfectly good Punisher figure as part of the third wave of (Return of) Marvel Legends. And it’s not that I dislike the figure that’s on shelves now – I love the head sculpt and just wanted to see it on a classic spandex-clad Punisher instead of the trenchcoat version we got.
Continue reading “(Return of) Marvel Legends Custom Classic Punisher”
Joe Amaro has posted some great shots of a couple of the customs he revealed at Power-Con – Robobot, the Ralph McQuarrie designed character that was originally intended to replace Orko in the Masters of the Universe movie, and Ram Man, which is Joe’s second custom of him. For Robobot, Joe created a 3D model and then printed it out and painted it, while for Ram Man, he started with a Marvel Select Avengers Hulk and did a more traditional custom, using Magic Sculpt.
There’s lots of great shots of both figures, both in finished and WIP format, so be sure to click through!
If you’re a customizer, you’ve probably ended up with a custom with a wobbly or loose head. Maybe the existing socket on the head you’ve swapped in is too big, or you drilled out a hole in a resin head cast that’s wide enough to fit over the peg only to find it flops around like it’s on a bobble head. Because I’m a lazy customizer, I had around half a dozen “finished” customs that were like this. For some, the heads would flop around mercilessly. For others, if you knocked the shelf the heads would just fall off. Pretty bad – I know.
Faced with this situation, a pro customizer would use a two part compound like Apoxie Sculpt or Kneadatite, fill the socket part ways and attach the head – and before it was completely cured, would twist the head so it wouldn’t be stuck in one spot. (Or, as some of you will no doubt be thinking, a pro customizer would have drilled the right size socket to begin with…) But I’ve found a much easier way – with silicone sealant. This is the stuff people use for things like aquarium repairs (I think) and… ok, I’m not a hardware guy, so I have no idea what else it’s used for. All I know is that I use it to attach heads to action figures. It takes five minutes and is super easy.
In my Hasbro (Return of) Marvel Legends Wave 3 Mystique Quick Pics post I included some pics of my (very short on members) Freedom Force, and wondered what to do about the lack of a good classic version of Mystique. I also had a shot comparing Ibentmyman-thing’s custom Mystique head with the regular head – and as a stand-in I had placed the regular head on a female SHIELD agent that was handy. That got me thinking – white gloves and boots, and mostly blue body. A few days later, when I picked up the figures again, an even better set of fodder presented itself.
Putting together a classic Mystique is isn’t that hard. For customizers just starting out and wanting to try something more than simple part swapping, this would be a good project, and one that will fill a gap in your Marvel Legends collection.
A short while ago frequent commenter wally2974 sent me an email asking me about how I made my custom Legion of Doom / classic Bizarro. Of course, I gladly take credit for it even though Ibentmyman-thing did all the hard work (he sculpted the Bizarro head).
It was very flattering that wally was inspired by the custom enough to want to make one himself, so I asked him if he’d send me pictures when he was done. Now I am tinged with jealousy, since his version came out much cleaner than mine. It doesn’t help that he also has one of those very rare light blue colored Superman figures that never made it to shelves. Curse you, wally! 😉
Continue reading “Custom DC Universe Classics Bizarro and More by wally2974”