I need a few of the newer ones...to finish things off.. the last two waves..ILL BE CONTENT

The Universe is expanding.... (pics to follow in next post)

Finally opened up the TRU X-Factor exclusive set. It's a nice set, but doesn't really wow me, which is why I passed on getting it for so long. It was actually the most economical way to get a Mr. Sinister body which I needed for a custom. The other figures are just a bonus. While I really like the Apocalypse, the heroes are kind of bland. Iceman I hated the 'frosted' paint job and have taken it all off. He's now just a clear Iceman which works for adding him to an X team from the 90's run when he got full control of his powers. The previously released X outfit will take the Iceman spot for the team. Finished up Operation Galactic Storm so looking to see if there's another good cosmic event to look into next. "Maximum Security" might be a good follow up. I think part of it has to do with the ramifications from this conflict, but I'm not sure. First batch for the new year is done. Tarantula is there because I needed to fix up part of his costume design that was slightly off. Mary Jane is there because I finally gave her a belt almost a year later. Still need a Spidey mask logo for her shirt. So, new year, new batches of customs. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Dr. Minerva - Though she often would pop up on Marvel Cosmic character lists I had no idea who Dr. Minerva was supposed to be. Operation Galactic Storm filled in the gaps there and introduced a vastly underutilized character. Her and Atlas didn't do all that much in he story and given how it ended and their follow up appearance in the Surfer issue it seemed apparent that Marvel had something planned for the characters following the event's conclusion. From everything I've been able to find it doesn't look like they really followed up on the character's potential. Shame really as they could have been really good villains. She's a simple repaint with a head modded to fit the body. I also made her a scarf (I guess - no idea what that is supposed to actually be) out of soft goods. Simple, but effective. These female bodies also need added articulation. Hasbro stopped just short of making really useful figures. Nothing of interest to say custom-wise, but the character is done and added to the cosmic section. Another one down. Other than Korath I can't think of any more Kree I have a major want to make, so she's going to be the penultimate Kree custom for my collection - so far.

Dark Beast - One of the holdovers from the epic AoA storyline, Dark Beast was a really good character for a while. They went a bit overboard with him, but the retcon of tying him into the Morlocks was interesting even if it didn't quite mesh, without taking some liberties, with their established history. Ever since they came out with the last Beast figures I wanted to make a Dark Beast. Oddly enough I used a gray Beast figure to make the blue Perez Beast and a blue one to make the gray Dark Beast. Wasn't intentional, just happened to go that way - if you make your own do it the opposite, just swap the heads. I wasn't sure how to do the legs without a lot of sanding and sculpting to get his armored leggings look. So I shelved the character until I saw this parts mashup after google searching art for him. Custom wise he was very easy to finish, but putting the legs on was a chore. Colossus legs don't fit the original Beast T-bar so I had to crack open the torso to fix that, then I had to swap out the lower legs and sculpt the knees since they originally had knee pads that I also had to cut off. All in all he came out really well. Still have to make Nate Grey and a few select other AoA characters, but I'm not going to go crazy with this sub-line.

Hawkeye - Hasbro has put out a number of very good Hawkeye figures, in fact, I had no intention of making a Hawkeye because the produced figs were "good enough". But Hawkeye is one character that should really be "highly posable" and none of the figures they've made fit that bill. Frankly, he just needed an update, so it was time for a custom. Now, while I generally don't pose or play with my figures I still like them to have appropriate articulation since I do intend to make dioramas to display them in at some point in the future. So I used a JLCyke buck with various other added bits. I realize that he looks like the "Dark Hawkeye" but that's not what I was going for. Despite using the same head (which is the only extra Hawkeye head I had) he's actually a normal Hawkeye custom since I like the coloring of his WCA costume and wanted to emulate it for this figure.

Beta Ray Bill - This is the last "Thor" powered character that I needed to redo into a more appropriately scaled figure - Thunderstrike was the first I made. (Actually scratch that, still have to do a Masterson Thor, too, damn it.) Bill is part of the Cosmic Revival and one I had wanted to do for a long time. Really ever since the undersized Hasbro version was released. This guy was pretty fun to make. Swapped the original head, hands, belt and lower legs onto an Ares. Again I drilled holes into the back to fit the cape. I left the shoulder pads on the way Hasbro made it. I didn't want to, but it was just so much easier, and, since it's removable, if I want to I can make shoulder pads down the road and remove what's on the cape now. I added sculpt to make Bill's distinct leg armor and the disks. Painted up Stormbreaker and he's done. I am planning to make another Thor figure, but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Comic accurate Warriors Three and Baldur are next up for the Asgardians.

Gamora - I have to admit, I love Gamora as a character. "The Most Dangerous Woman in the Galaxy"! How can you not love that? Nice for Marvel to have a fem character that is proven to hold her own among the males. That said, even though I'm a fan of the character I never gave much thought to how ridiculous her "space bikini" costume is, mainly because I was never exposed to it much. Prior to Annihilation the last time I read something with her in it was the old Infinity stuff when she had the cross hatched body suit on. Then I saw the Annihilation outfit and really wanted to take on the challenge of making that in figure form. Once I figured out how I wanted to do the gold trim the rest fell into place easily. Though the hair doesn't fit quite right on the head. I probably should have softened it first then molded it to the head before painting, but, I didn't do it that way. Oh well, lesson learned for next time. Trial and error is part of the fun in making these after all. It was a good challenge and while I enjoyed making her I don't think I'd make another one. I'm thinking this is a one off custom. Definitely going in the top 20, "space bikini" and all.

Jack Flag - This is another one of those characters I knew next to nothing about. A cliché 90's creation he was born at a time when comic companies were throwing out anything they could think of in an attempt to have a new #1 issue every month. I only made him because I had an extra Cap Britain head and thought it'd make a good Flag after seeing him during War of Kings. A recent stop at Five Below yielded a stock of Star-Lord figs, so I picked one up to make this guy. Pretty standard assembly with the Star-Lord body, but I removed the arm stripes and chest logo. Added the stars and sculpted the helmet /mask on. I opted to go with short hair since I like the look better. He came out pretty nice. I'll probably fill out a couple more of the red trim Guardians team (mantis and bug for sure) just to have them. Eventually, no rush on that.

Strontian - While Hasbro has put out Kree, Inhumans, even Skrulls, other than Gladiator there are no Shi'ar in figure form which is odd since they're a cosmic superpower. Since I'm in a cosmic mode that had to be rectified. Most should know that Gladiator was designed to be analogous with DC's Superman. What some might not know is that they took that a step further and created Strontian (Xenith) as a counter to Supergirl. She's also the cousin, but she's a merciless, sociopath, that enjoys toying with her prey. I haven't read her in anything else, but she was really interesting as a character in War of Kings. The paint job came out really well and fortunately the sculpt work was light - rather annoying to be honest. Had to sculpt another bald head and pointy elf-like ears. I made her on a Valkyrie buck since I figured her to be a bigger than average. Character-wise I had to make her as part of the beginning of adding Shi'ar customs to my collection. Need to get Lilandra & Deathbird in the mix soon. The Imperial Guard is going to take forever to complete - and I don't intend to make even half the members!

Sersi - I only know Sersi from her time in the Avengers. She has a couple of interesting outfits while with the team and while the red and black is very snazzy I opted for her traditional green since I was reading Galactic Storm when I decided to finally make the character. I cannibalized an older custom (Goblin Queen - have a redo planned for her anyway) that wasn't very good so I broke that figure down an remade it into Sersi. I added sculpt to the arms, legs, hair and lower torso. Some paint and she's done. I don't know much about Eternal lore but having Sersi puts me one step closer to a complete Avengers team from the Galactic Storm period. I don't know if I'm going to make her leather jacket look since if I do I'd want to make the whole 90's team and that's a lot of leather jacketed figures to pick up. We'll see...

Group shot:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...pszf7vxx2s.jpg

Beta Ray Bill:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...ps8fcpvodj.jpg

Jack Flag:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...pssy5qirab.jpg

Gamora:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psc7bo8qkj.jpg

Strontian:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psr21nazrw.jpg
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psa0hk4ppd.jpg

Dr. Minerva:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psj28e7biw.jpg

Hawkeye:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psg9p5mqtz.jpg

Dark Beast:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psktxp7dbs.jpg

Sersi:
http://i465.photobucket.com/albums/r...psvetzxswb.jpg

Knew you'd pick him out. I only have 4, one of each variant.

Appreciate all the kind words! Glad everyone enjoys seeing them.

If you have a steady hand they're easy to paint around which is what I did. They look sufficiently crazy for Purple Man.

Oh yeah! I'll do whatever I need to to get the desired look that I need/want. For some costumes the only way to do that is to sculpt onto the figure. For instance, Sersi's costume needed sculpt added to get the right look.

Nice, Moonstone! I've still got to make a figure of her. Good job!

That's an odd thing to complain about. An Astral Strange makes perfect sense. The only other character I'd want instead would be a Wong and even then I'd still want an astral Strange.

I don't even collect MCU figs and I'm going to get 2 of them. I'm a big fan of the movie.

That's what I can do with one of these extra Ms. Capt. Marvels! A Dr. Minerva! I just need to find a head.

I'm not getting any MCU sets because I already have the comic versions I want. A better Rocket & a movie Groot to fit my BAF Groot would have been cool.
Just in case I will gladly trade my movie Groot for a EE comic Groot.

Autobot... I have an EE Groot torso you can have. It is slightly different. I used the hands, feet and awesome head on the EE Star-Lord for our comic Groot.

I don't do MCU figures (well, not yet anyway- maybe in a few years) I like the Astral choice. I also think they wouldn't have given us the villain with him. Makes too much sense, it IS Hasbro we are talking about here. Also, that is putting all the eggs into one basket, I see them storing it out so you buy extra figures you may not bought originally.

Also, I like Yondu as a choice. I mean we have gotten TWO Gamoras, a comic Groot, a new Rocket, and a new Star-Lord (by 'new' I really same just with white gloves) in the past few months. Makes sense to give us someone else. Also, Micheal Rooker collects this line so he will stoked.

I personally hope they do a movie line AND a regular line. I think they should do two packs from all over the MCU not just the current film. Even mix and match-why not. Just build a list of 20-40 characters from the films that have yet to be made and start pumping them out. Sorted.

We may see something NEW this weekend, fingers crossed. Should at the very least be able to see the current movie stuff in person, well via pics on the interwebs. Maybe the announcement of 3.75" build-and-collect interchangeable playset!???!!???!! Bit of a stretch, but a girl can dream.

Speaking of Hydra soldiers, here is something for UKMU: Marvel Universe AGENT OF HYDRA TRU Exclusive 4" 3.75 Action Figure 2009 Lot X4 | eBay

I would suggest Shanna. Still relatively easy to find and fits on the CM buck.


CCC.

Cheers.... the new ebay international shipping policy coupled with the weak pound vs. dollar puts me out of that race. Great deal and good looking out.

I do use that figure. As a vehicle specialist because of the figures high possible nature. The figure I love (HYDRA ATTACK TROOPER#12 comic variant) has next to zero posing potential. His long jacket/tunic/skirt part of his uniform prohibits seating and proper posing. (that was a lot of p's in a Paragraph)

I just scored a 1995 Toy Biz Terrax. After seeing how perfectly he scales and after getting the KINGPIN from the same line, I'm impressed. I don't need Kingpin or Terrax to be super articulated, Terrax just pretty much "floats" on a rock and Kingpin is doing well just standing. I'm sure he is about 2 years away from rolling everywhere in RASCAL mobility scooter.

I posted some pics of my Galactic Storm lineup a couple of pages back (with help from Pilk). However, I did cheat with a Piledriver as my Hawkeye/Goliath, Mutt for Rick Jones, and a IMII Iron Man for space armor.

I've been going through my Marvel collection and taking individual pictures with a VHACK to get a sense of scale for the Archive. Here is a preview with bunches more images in my collection thread. I didn't want to flood this thread too much.

http://118archive.com/images/118/mar...ron_man_43.jpg

Valentine's Day haul.... all new except for Vulture, Blackcat, Sandman,Doc Ock,and Chameleon.

Good stuff man, crazy that you had an Anti-venom prior to having a regular Venom!

That play set looks quite nice as well

He spent all of his Venom money on that Anti-Venom.

Yes I did..... I actually got AV, as I call him because we are bros now, AV and Kraven and Lizard and SCORPION for under £50 together. Crazy good deal. I'm telling you, January is always good to me.

That playset is awesome!!Don't touch it though- more of a "look-set" than a play set. It was an act of futility putting it together this morning. Took ages to do with no instructions. Got there in the end.

Also, there IS a Venom. He is hanging off the side in between Carnage and Doc. The KINGPIN figure is surprisingly good. After not having Spidey villains and then all of a sudden having them all (mostly-Hydroman, Hobgoblin and Shockerstill to get) I like them all. I love Kraven, Scorpion and Lizard the most. Kingpin, RHINO and AV are right there with them though.

I dont know you guys saw the Schleich DC figures but they are now selling marvel figures
Cap
Spidey
Falcon
Venom
Hulk
Black widow
Are all out now

Hooray I found a Walmart that has figures again!
It wasn't the latest wave though. It was the Spidey Noir one.

Are the figures still sparse over your end?

Same here but it's better than nothing though.

Our stores, at least as far as I am aware, have that wave also. Most have sold out of them a long time ago. I did stumble upon a rare Ulik and Ms Marvel figure here and there over the past Christmas shopping season. No sign of any wave since though.....

I wish I could find MUs at my local Wal-mart, since that's pretty much the only local store I can somewhat regularly visit.


Still, at least they have a good Star Wars selection(besides the lack of Rogue One Black series).