[ultraman zoffy]

*First time posting in the Creative section, and I figured this is still a WIP at the moment. Let me know if this is the wrong section, mods...*
As much as I love my MU figs, I just don't have as much fun with them as my Legends figures, largely because of the ankles. Rocker ankles are my favorite articulation points on figures, and since it is sure a rarity on MU figs, I decided to try coming up with the easiest solution possible for adding rockers to any MU figure that didn't have them factory installed or have the easily convertible DCUC style ankles.
After researching all the different methods folks have used, I found that while they all worked well, most of them were fairly involved and usually required fodder parts from other figures or other external parts (like revoltech joints) to perform the mod.
After looking at stuff I had laying around my workbench, I grabbed a couple of my miscellaneous MU figs and fashioned ankle joints for them using 1.8 mm (about a 13 gauge) aluminum craft wire. I boiled and popped the feet off the figs and removed the disc joints from them, dremeled deeper holes into the shins through the original ankle hole, drilled an angled hole into the feet, pressed the craft wire into the foot, bent it at the ankle, cut it to the appropriate length, then shoved it into the deeper shin hole with a dab of Quakehold putty on it for a good fit. Took all of 5 or so minutes, and it worked AWESOME. =)
The feet on the figures now have a way bigger front and back range of motion, and the ankles are now rocker joints to boot. The gauge of the wire is thick enough to provide a good solid press fit into the feet and shins, and it is also thick enough to not get fatigued and snap off when posing. Even if it does, all you have to do is pop out the broken wire and replace it! Aside from the obvious stability the rocker ankles give poses, the wire joint also makes the poses very solid, as you can see in the photos where Spidey is on his toes throwing a punch. (NOTE: Spidey's right ankle got a little mussed up by my big dremel hopping while drilling, so I switched to my stylus for the other figs and they came out cleaner).
Although I'll probably eventually touch up the ankles with fixit sculpt or colored hot glue to close up the gaps a bit around the wire joint, it doesn't bother me at all aesthetically, and I'm having a lot of fun with the new poseability the figs have. I don't really have any qualms about modding my figs like this since I collect MU's to have fun with them as opposed to trying to sell them off, so I'll probably be "hobbling" the rest of my figs as time goes on. =)

Shin hole and wire joint installed in foot:


Close up of wire joint:


Posing fun:

[urmandj]

Nice.. looks cool! Can it be done to any figure? Say, a Hulk figure ?

[ultraman zoffy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by urmandj

Nice.. looks cool! Can it be done to any figure? Say, a Hulk figure ?

Yes! Any swivel hinge ankle type figure can be modded. I'll upload some newer pics of more figures that I've hobbled.

[ultraman zoffy]

More pictures, including some Legends figures that I've hobbled. On Hope and Mystique, you'll see that I used sculpey (unbaked, obviously) to fill in the gaps around the wire joint. I'm going to be doing that to all the figures I've modded eventually; just need to buy the proper sculpey colors for them all.