[Mordiganne]

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

Picked up a gang of fodder during the Hasbro clearance and added some figures that I hadn't purchased before for a variety of reasons. However, the prices were too good to pass up. So Chameleon (this guy is a really dull pos), Korg, Morales Spidey (only got him because of the painted back, now I can customize the first release into a different Spidey character - thinking some version of Kaine, but I don't know yet) and Jugolossus have been added. I actually had to read the X-Men issues to find out what the deal is with Colossy-Jugs there...pretty lame storyline, but again, he was really cheap, so why not? I'm over my "villains kick" so batches going forward will be more balanced. At least until I get the urge to do another custom theme. I already know what theme will be next, but going to put that off for a bit. I'm calling this the "metallic batch" since I'd, unintentionally, used metallic paint on every figure in the batch. Silly yes, but they're my figures so I'll call them what I want. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Storm (90's) - Storm is, of course, a classic character in the long storied history of the X-Men with a lot of great story arcs. Really she was just awesome leading a super hero team while having no powers. And then the animated series came out and her stupid, weird catch phrases almost made me hate the character. They made her really, really annoying in that show. But due to Jim Lee's iconic art, the character is a vital mainstay for the 90's team. This was originally going to be my outback era storm, but the body didn't fit that outfit design the way I wanted. However, it was almost perfect for her 90's look. A repaint in metallic white and her trademark cape in vinyl and she was pretty easy to complete. There's generally two designs to her cape: A 2-panel or a 1-panel. I went with the 1 panel design. Since I had to transition mid-custom from the outback design (she was already painted up in black) and make her Gold team look earlier than planned, both 90's X-teams are now almost complete. Just need a decent Jean Grey (I absolutely refuse to buy the one Hasbro made), a Bishop that has articulation (and doesn't suck) and a Colossus in the right costume. I took a pic of her sans head just to show off the body work - really came out nice.

Magneto - The Master of Magnetism is another one of my older customs that was redone with some better techniques than I was using back when he was first made. He got a hand swap with a pair that are more versatile, some sculpt work, and above all a sporty new paint job. Since his costume is supposed to be made out of metal fabric I gave him an all over gloss. Came out well I think. The last thing I did was to chop up and combine a couple of capes and give him a capiotomy (no, that's not a word) to replace that ridiculous "cape" Hasbro made for the figure. I would have gone with fabric but I can't sew, so made due with what I had. It works for me. My first custom was just ok...Now the X-Men's #1 villain is ready to cause some mutant mischief.

Puma - I still remember my first exposure to Puma in a Spider-Man comic I had as a kid though I have no idea about the plot of that issue any more. I don't know where Puma is these days (comic wise) or what Marvel has had him doing. I did some minor research when I decided to add the figure to my collection, but there's not much out there about this guy. The few write ups are sparse to say the least. Regardless, I wanted to have a Puma figure for my Spider-Man rogues. He was pretty easy to make. I wasn't going to go crazy with his fur sculpting, just added some to his forearm/elbow areas, sideburns, feet and the back of his hands. That was plenty. Oh, of course I had to add the long red fur to his calves - and a bit of sculpt on the belt, feathers & necklace to capture those parts of his design. Actually I did more on him than I thought. All in all, he's a character you don't see too often, and I'm glad to have him for my Spidey gallery.

Dazzler - I wasn't sure how the metallic paint was going to come out on her but I really love the look. Dazzler is part of what I call my "retail series" - extra hands, heads, accessories, whatever - though I don't make too many of these. If I was designing figures for retail release these customs are what I'd put together. To that end I made her an extra head (Nomad's) with sunglasses and a Siege Perilous accessory - not really liking this piece, I'll make a better one down the road. X-comic fans that have read Uncanny issue #247 will know why the Siege Perilous goes better with her than any other character. Because of her, and it, the outback team crumbled to nothing and ended that era. Once I get extra female fists I'll make her an extra "finger gun" hand to round out the figure. There's really two outfits for her that fit with the outback era X-Men. I happen to like this one better so made this first. I'll get to her other outfit another time.

Attuma - Seems every batch lately I have one custom that just irks the hell out of me in putting it together - still hate you Scalphunter! This batch it's Attuma. Attuma got a lot of play in the new Avengers cartoon. Outside of that the only thing I have with the character is some old comic that came in a two pack I picked up for parts. Think it's a Defenders comic, I don't know. I just wanted to make him because of the exposure he got in the cartoon. Also good to have a Namor specific villain. Anyway, even with all of the shades of blue that I already have I still didn't have an appropriate shade for Attuma's skin tone. So I went out and bought 3 more shades and none of them was a good match either! So, I had to take two of the new shades and mix up a good skin tone color for him. I cut up vinyl for the head, chest and waist pieces. After attaching the chest and head pieces to the figure I hardened them but left the rest of the vinyl flexible to not hinder his movement/posability too much. He came out well, but this guy was a pain to make!

Batroc - Batroc is nothing more than a glorified acrobat which is why they always made him a joke in the comics, but he's a traditional Cap villain. So much so that he warranted a spot in the MCU. I still think he's pretty lame but I wanted more Cap-centric villains in my collect than just Hydra. Pretty standard custom with another Nomad head. He came out well and Hawkeye's archery hand makes for a decent mustache twirling hand (even if he can't reach the stache - if only they made double jointed elbows for the males in this scale...). Yeah, not much else to say about this guy...

Storm (outback) - Since my first outback custom was converted to the 90's costume I still needed an outback Storm. So I bought another body and got to work. Luckily I hadn't attached the cape to the other Storm before I decided to go ahead and make both of her figures that I wanted to make at the same time. So I was able to trace out a second cape. I saved the template this time so I'll have it in case I need it for other figures in the future. Anyway, she was really simple given that I'd already gone through making her the first time. Since I was painting her in all black it was much quicker this time around. So, she's done in her outback garb. Seeing the head on the figure I might end up replacing it. The hair doesn't quite mesh with her outback look.. Now I just need to do Psylocke's armor design and my outback X-Men will be complete!

Stingray - Although Stingray is one of the much lesser known Avengers, I've been wanting to make this guy for the longest time! I really don't know why, but I just find his design insanely cool. I again went with a Bowen design for the metallic, high gloss, red and white. Looks boss on him and really captures the "armor" look, since he's supposed to be in an armored suit after all. And since he is supposed to be wearing armor, I sculpted on a faceplate rather than just going with a skull-mask design - which makes no sense given it's supposed to be body armor. I had to figure out a good way to do his wings that looked right and were also functional, and I couldn't think of how I could pull that off at first and cloth was out - just wouldn't have captured the look I wanted. Then an idea hit me and I started planning him out in earnest - ended up putting over 100 lines on those wings. 100! I also wanted them to fold a certain way with his arms down, so had to spend time working them into the shape I wanted with them down. I ended up scrapping the first head I made and put together the current one. I just didn't like the look of the first one enough. I had the design right, but it was just...off. This one came out much better. I really dig this guy. I'm thinking he's worthy of my "Custom Top 10", but I have to figure out who to bump from their slot. Probably Vertigo but I have to think on that one.