[Mordiganne]

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

No real purchases this time around that weren't custom fodder. Actually, I forgot, I did pick up an old Toybiz Warstar to add to the Imperial Guard, but thankfully I didn't open it once I got it. Not only is it undersized but the articulation sucks - the little mini guy (forget his name) doesn't even have arm articulation. No need to keep this, I'm going to return this and just make a Warstar custom. I did manage to find a complete Onslaught with Red Skull head at a local video game resale store. Like Gamestop, but not that chain. I'd previously bought a cheap ML Kitty Pryde, during an Amazon sale, just to get the Onslaught head so I already had that. At the price I got the complete Onslaught for (cheap!) I couldn't pass it up. Anyway, I don't have it in the pic because it's currently in pieces getting a paint job. Still more 2016 items to get, just no rush to get them. I had also talked about moving on to "Maximum Security" as a cosmic follow up to Galactic Storm. This story is an unmitigated disaster! While Galactic Storm was tightly edited and flowed very smoothly, Maximum Security is all over the place. Half the books don't have anything to do with the event other than having a pretty logo splashed across the cover. I got halfway through and gave up. It was too much of a clusterfuck to continue reading. Now I'm looking for what else I can find. I think I've read all of the top cosmic events so far, but I am well behind on anything recent. Although, from what I keep hearing about the current state of comics I don't think I'm missing all that much. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Destiny - Destiny could have been such a great character but was always more of a role player. Claremont tried to breath some new life into the old gal by having her diaries be part of a big plot that ran through his X-treme X-Men run but that plot ultimately ended up going no where. Which is a shame because while she was often background fodder in fights, she was still a key member of Mystique's Bortherhood teams. Her head had to be heavily modded to get the look I wanted while the cape is soft vinyl. Said it before, but these female bodies need more articulation! I ultimately don't mind Destiny on this under-articulated buck since she isn't a character that's apt to be in an "action pose" anyway. Since I have so many of these figures I want to use them up, so, I think I'll devote these bodies to female characters that are more likely to be static in a display. In that regard it works for Destiny. Besides, it's not many people who can even say that they have a figure of Destiny in their collection.

Bolt (Starbolt) - First off, I don't know if the guy's name is actually Bolt or Starbolt. I've seen it both ways many different times. Whatever you want to call him he's a fire thrower and a member of the Imperial Guard. A long standing character he's been around since the earliest Shi'ar appearances and has long been one of the Guard members that I knew I wanted to make first. He's pretty straight forward with sculpting for his flame burst design. The head was the trickiest part as I wasn't sure how I was going to do his face since it has no detail in the art. Ultimately I just sculpted over the face details and left a mouth gap as the design has. Marvel ultimately killed him in Realm of Kings, but that wasn't going to dissuade me. I need a Imperial Guard team for the Shi'ar cosmic section and that requires a Bolt figure. He's a fine addition to the Imperial Guard as the first completed (non-Gladiator) member. Have more planned but not sure how many I'll get to right away.

Hellcat - Hellcat is completely outside of any Avengers timelines I grew up reading so I don't know anything about the character. In fact, she's so far off my radar I had no clue that the Patsy Walker character from the Jessica Jones show is Hellcat. But, she's an Avenger so I wanted her in the collection. This figure was a nightmare to put together. Not only did I have to sculpt the ears on her mask, but I sculpted over most of the helmet (was a Cap Marvel head) and then had to figure out how to get the hair to not only attach to the head but attach properly. Then the whole thing had to be painted... Just a really annoying pain in the ass process. And then I had to paint yellow on to the figure which everyone knows is a chore all on it's own. Lastly I can't stand static ties or straps that cannot be manipulated so I removed them and replaced them with "straps" that I can adjust based on whatever pose I want her in. I've never seen Hellcat with any weapons in any art pieces that I looked up, but I liked what they did with the ML version giving her two batons, so I painted up an extra set of DD sticks and gave them to her. And with that, Hellcat is done. Another Avenger knocked off the list. Now just need a Tigra for the WCA team.

Smasher - I'll be flat out honest and say I have no idea what Smasher's actual powers are. I guess he hits stuff or something? I have no idea and frankly don't care enough to look anytime soon. Even though I talked about the serious void in Shi'ar figures I wasn't planning to make any right now. Not a one. But once I made Bolt I couldn't just have him and Gladiator, I also wanted to make another Guardsman that is often seen. I opted for Smasher, and really, I only made him now because the ionic Wonder Man base figure is perfect for the character (though I did give him new hands) and was cheap to get. Creating this figure took frustration to a whole new level! Even though I used another IWM figure for the base of Avalanche, this one, for some reason, would barely take paint. I had to layer the blue and white several more times than normal because it wasn't covering the plastic well. Then there was the sculpting! I don't know if the red things on his costume are supposed to serve any sort of function, but sculpting all that crap was tedious and annoying. Added some additional hair sculpt and his exspecs or whatever they are called. He fills a much needed role for my IG, especially since I'm not going to make any of the subsequent Smashers that came after this guy. Yep, there's other Smashers but this particular guy, yeah, dead. So, Smasher is there ready to do some...smashing, I suppose. I think I might make Hussar in the next batch. She's another mainstay for the team and should be easy to make. (Famous last words, I know!) Fortunately for most of the remaining Guard their designs are pretty straight forward and won't require a ton of extra work to get accurate looks.

Avalanche - One of the stories that really got me into comics was the Days of Future Past story that brought forth a dystopian future where not only mutants but heroes and regular humans were slaughtered by the Sentinels. Grim and dark, but it was a great read as a kid and I could never pass on a good Claremont story and this is one of his better ones. But that was only part of the story...the rest centered on Mystique's Brother of Evil Mutants' assassination attempt on Senator Kelly. A very underrated team of bad guys, even if they couldn't do anything right. Making Avalanche was a grueling lesson in sculpting and patience. I sculpted all the armor from scratch. That took a while since it all has to cure and dry before you can sand or paint it and I had to fix a couple of spots which added more time to completing this guy. That said, I think he came out really well. I already have a diorama in mind for this guy and the rest of the Brotherhood. While not the most menacing of villains, the Brotherhood did show in some key storylines in the X-franchise. Avalanche is a necessity for most Brotherhood lineups. Another member down, now just need to make a functional Blob and Mystique's first Brotherhood team will be complete.

Mystique - I had no intention of making Mystique since I already have the Hasbro one, however, as I was putting together her team to see how they flowed visually, I pulled out the Hasbro figure and put it next to the customs and was instantly reminded how horrid the official figure is. So she needed a redo to fit with the rest of the team in the worst way. I will eventually have to replace her hands with ones that can hold a firearm. Since I hadn't intended to make her at all this body was slated for another character that could utilize those hands. I'll swap them out later once I grab another figure that has standard grip hands- for now, these'll do. She's a straight Emma Frost with sculpt additions. I enlarged her chest and customed up her belt with the skulls and dangling things. No idea what that is called since it's not a loin cloth per se, but it took some effort to make. I've almost completed Mystique's Brotherhood team sans Blob who I will get to sooner rather than later.

Drax - I made Drax for two reasons: 1) I needed a last custom to round out the batch and with the parts I have on hand this guy was easiest to make, and 2) since Hasbro decided to cheap out and re-release the Guardians yet again with Drax being the only part of the set that was remotely creative, I wanted one without giving Hasbro an extra penny and rewarding that crap. And all they did was swap the thighs and lower legs! I didn't have any extra of the thighs Hasbro used so I used a left over pair from Thunderstrike instead. Even though I was making this figure to mock Hasbro's latest Drax, I decided to at least go the full 9 and sculpt gauntlets onto his forearms along with the leg swap to complete the look. The Iron Man legs are a little scrawny so I might add some sculpt to them to beef them up a bit. Not sure on that yet. One thing about those thighs is that they're very long making Drax way taller than the original figure. So if you want taller figures, use the thighs from Thunderstrike/Rage/Bishop.

Manta - Manta came about the way a lot of my customs tend to; while assembling parts for a planned custom an idea will pop into my head and the next thing I know I'm halfway through an entirely different custom than the one that I'd started. Manta came about that way. I was actually messing with parts to make Hellcat when I randomly picked up a spare Marvel body and started thinking about who I could make with it and the original cape cutout I made for Destiny but opted not to use. Next thing I know Manta was underway. Which served two purposes in that I got to put another extra Capt. Marvel body to use and knocked off another Imperial Guard member as well. She is pretty straight forward but I had to add sculpt to the head and fiddle with the cape to get the proper shape and to also have it look natural with her arms up or down. That's really not as easy as you'd think. Even though I hadn't planned to make any Imperial Guard members in this batch, the team is off to a good start, especially since I'm only making about a dozen Imperial members to start.