[Mordiganne]

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

I picked up a Living Laser figure finally. It's ok, but yes, very pink. Not a concern to me but I know some folks didn't like it - also picked up a second to devote toward a scientist supreme custom I've been wanting to make. Did snag another rogue to check on the face paint. Another good application, so the head will be put to use. I've been binge watching Agents of Shield season 2. I'm way behind on the show (obviously) but I don't like waiting for weekly shows to air - and don't get me started on mid-season hiatuses - so I get full seasons and watch the episodes in a row. So, now I'm on AoS and while it's not an instant classic it does keep me entertained for 40 minutes at a time, so I'm enjoying it. Really helps to further my S.H.I.E.L.D./Hydra interest. In comic news, I'm still not fond of Civil War but so far SI and Dark Reign seem like pretty good story telling. I still have a mess of volumes to read but I'm liking it so far. I'm partway into Secret Invasion but made a sidebar into 'Secret Warriors', a Dark Reign tie-in dealing with aftermath from the fall of S.H.I.E.L.D. I realize that I'm reading out of order at the moment, but the Secret Warriors goes along well with my AoS binging so I'm good with that. This is a pretty good series with a nice S.H.I.E.L.D. team that will make for some good customs. Speaking of customs: Morbius is there because I finally got an extra head on the cheap and painted it up into, as Sideshow calls them, an "alternate portrait." I'll probably keep the "bloody" mouth head on display for a while. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Elektra - I tried to look up if there was a particular story related reason for Elektra to have a white outfit and I couldn't find much. But without really knowing what to look for, it's like a needle in a haystack. Even with the internet. Regardless, I did also look for art designs of her white outfit and the only major difference I could see are "bandage" like wraps instead of the smooth fabric of a spandex type costume. If there's a significance behind this I couldn't find it. But, I liked the "bandage" look, so I sculpted her forearms and the leg wraps to emulate that look. I also added loops to her sash thing for her sais to tuck into when not in use. I'd thought about giving her holsters but noticed that she normally just tucks the sais into her costume somewhere. Of course flexible ties on head and sash, the latter of which I created using vinyl and a Marvel sash since the original Elektra one is way too bulky. Lastly I removed the red band from her upper left arm since on most art she didn't have one there with the white outfit, only on the right. All-in-all she came out pretty well. There's not much more to say, custom wise. Other than sculpting It's just some white paint. One thing I will say is that because of the massive volume of hair on the head I had no idea just how ridiculously small Hasbro made her head until I cut the hair off one for Moonstone. She must have a brain the size of a peanut with that tiny noggin. Anyway, I don't know how much more time I'm going to devote to finding out the story behind this white outfit (because I really don't care all that much) but I'll see if I can find something when I'm bored.

Stryfe - I've said it before but I'm no fan of Stryfe. In fact, I'll straight up say I hate the character. I never liked him from his first appearance and none of his subsequent appearances made me like the character any more. He's a lame creation that should have died with the 90's. So, why did I make him? Simply because I said I would and I wanted to knock out another of the X-Men's major rogues (even if this panty waist barely applies). And I also wanted to take on the challenge of bringing his design to life in MU scale. So I made Stryfe complete with all the stupid pointy things Marvel stuck on his outfit. I can imagine him making lots of noise when he walks around in that big, bulky suit of armor. Like the Tin Man from the Wizard of Oz only without the charm. Since I had decided to make Stryfe so long ago I had bought and pre-painted a Nomad head months ago for whenever I got around to making this guy. I just finally got around to making a body and getting the character out of the way and off my 'to-make' list. Challenge completed. After a good deal of sculpt on the legs - sculpted in stages over two days to get his design accurate - and half a bottle of silver paint, Stryfe is ready to join the rest of the evil mutants on the shelf...and be forgotten. I have no interest in making any of his stupid team either. All of those characters need to be left in the past.

Yelena Belova (Black Widow) - Yelena Belova started as a very interesting counter to the Black Widow who operated as a pure villain. Then Marvel went and fucked up a perfectly good character, so I choose to ignore any official continuity that came after her becoming the new Black Widow. In fact, I like her working as more of a free lance operative that often contracts for Hydra as their top non-affiliated spy. She was a simple custom. Didn't need much done other than a paint job - the bare midriff isn't at all practical, but I'm going to go with it for now as I can always paint over it later if I feel the need. I added a knife sheath to her leg and gave her some widow gauntlets and a Scarlet J. head that I had chosen to use for the character ages ago. Finished her off with some extra Marauder armaments and she's ready to go. For now, and to go along with my created character history, I'll place her with my Hydra figures since I also have no idea where else to put her. I don't have a Russian operative section or anything like that.

Moonstone - For some reason I started reading up on Moonstone at random one day and found her to be one of the few lesser tier villains that Marvel hasn't completely ruined. I went with this design not because of her in Thunderbolts, but just because from her various looks I like this outfit the most. I wanted to try something a bit different with Moonstone since her design is so basic i.e. no challenge. To that end I decided to experiment with her hair and swapped the Dagger head with an Aurora head and took off all the hair. I then cut off what hair there is on Elektra's pinhead head and attached it to this one then sculpted in what was left without hair - which was a lot of head space to fill in! I just wanted to see if I could do it the way I envisioned. Not perfect, but good practice for next time. Since the base figure is white I just gave it a half paint job (for me) since I didn't have to worry about joint rubs. I gave her a nice metallic finish and glossed the yellow portions. Even though I now have a Moonstone I don't have a pressing need to make more of her Thunderbolts team. I was already planning to make a Satanna, but for a different reason. Might want to give Ghost a shot, though...time will tell.

Cannonball - I'm not the biggest Cannonball fan - or New Mutants fan either - so I figured if I was going to make a Cannonball, I should at least make one that will fit in with my current collection & interests. So, I made him in his X-Men uniform from when he was on the primary team during the Onslaught epic. I had to be really creative when it came to making this figure. I used all of the Hasbro Hydro Man in terms of the torso (except the head which I swapped with an ionic Wonder Man head). After flipping the water spout around I noticed it had potential as a blasting effect with some mods; the torso fits almost perfectly into the wider part that was the base. After adding some sculpt to cover the lettering, and giving it a complete paint job, it made for a perfect blast effect. At the small end, removing the body left a hole that fits my stands perfectly making display a cinch. But that only made for half the figure! I needed "normal" Cannonball as well, for when he's not blasting. So I took the waist and upper legs from a Cap figure, drilled out most of the t-bar and made a hole for the pin - that I'd added to the upper torso - to fit into. Now I can just pop the torso on and off as needed; and yes, it holds in place securely. Although next time I do something like this I have a much better idea than using the pin method. I used a Marauder harness and modified it to fit the Cannonball design. A little more sculpt on the chest to complete the harness's look and lastly some sculpt and pouches for the thigh belt. I put him through my paint process and he's all set and ready to blast away. Or walk if the mood strikes him. Speaking of the blast effect, I wish you guys could see the paint job in person. One of the best I've ever done! For now, I don't need any more Cannonball figures, or any other members of the Guthrie clan. Although at some point I'll probably make a New Mutants team, or maybe some version of X-Force (classic) instead, which will require me to revisit the Cannonball character.

Abigail Brand - Early on my only exposure to Abigail Brand, and SWORD, came from the Avengers EMH cartoon, but she was a memorable enough character that she stayed in mind after the show ended. I didn't know that she was an alien at the time of the show. I thought her "human" comment to Gyrich meant she was an android or LMD or some such. I didn't even know she debuted in an X-Men comic as those issues came after I'd dropped out of active comic buying. So the cartoon gave me a new character to look into. Since she came out during a really oddball time for Marvel she has another bizarre history that I'm going to drop and create my own. She'll still be the head of SWORD, but her adventures after Secret Invasion will be vastly different. Anyway, onto the figure, in my Marvel Universe she won't be an active combatant, but a genius level strategist who is primarily a planner and a brilliant commander. As such she wouldn't need action posing so I put her on a Marvel body to soak up one of the few I have left. I sculpted her knee and shoulder pads. I also trimmed the hair a bit from the head and re-sculpted part of it after adding her glasses. She's a bit shorter than I'd prefer, but I didn't think about swapping the thighs for a longer pair before I made her. Oh well. Her outfit tends to vary wildly based on the artist so I picked the one I liked best and went with it. I don't know if I'll make more than a handful of SWORD personnel and it'll be a long time before I even get to a second member of that outfit, so Brand will stand alone for the time being. Once I get some SHIELD agents created she'll tag along with them until I make her some SWORD subordinates.

Bengal - Bengal is another character that I knew next to nothing about. I just really liked his tiger themed outfit and wanted to add him to the collection in figure form. But I did read up on the character and found that he's another lesser tier character that Marvel has underutilized. From what I read he was fairly important during the Initiative but since I have largely skipped that tripe I'm again going to ignore what continuity there is and have my own backstory for the character: I like his origin as is, but after his first defeat by Daredevil (issue #258) Bengal becomes an assassin for Kingpin who sends him to Madripoor to further his training with the Hand. After a few years with them he then did a short stint at Taskmaster's academy, first as a student then as a trainer, before leaving for Central America on his first long term assignment for Kingpin. That was 10 years (comic book years) ago. Since then Bengal has primarily worked for the Kingpin overseas, destabilizing governments and removing rivals, only returning to the US when the Kingpin's other assassins are on long term assignments and he needs immediate wetwork done. Bengal came together very quickly since there is little sculpt work and only two colors on his entire outfit. What did take a while - outside of waiting for sculpt to cure - is putting the stripes on his outfit. I didn't go as crazy with the lines as some art I've seen, but I did try to give him good coverage. The holders for the sais obviously aren't part of his original design, but I wanted a place to keep the sais when he wasn't holding them. I was going to put them on his back but the thigh placement seems more practical for fighting. As I move on with the customs, delving into more of these sub-tier characters, and crafting new histories for them, is where my collecting focus is likely going to head toward. At least for the foreseeable future.

Wonder Man - . I'd been lamenting not having a classic Wonder Man every time I saw a custom of one. I never made one because I always had another character I wanted to make before him, especially with the already good 2-pack Wonder Man and his ionic counterpart, but now was the time to make him. Wonder Man's first appearance had long come and gone before I ever got into comics. Hell, I wasn't even born when he debuted, so my first exposure to classic Wonder Man came in a "What If...?" tale that I only half understood since I never knew of his original origin and death. But it was an interesting enough tale that I always remembered the character. Fast forward to my MU collecting and I always wondered if Hasbro would make a classic Wonder Man to go along with the 2 pack. Alas, the answer looks to be no, so it was up to me to put together my own. This started as another purple ionic Wonder Man figure. Obviously he got a full, all over paint job to go along with a new head and an extra set of hands. The helmet visor and adornment needed to be sculpted along with the ears, most of the belt and the circle things at his shoulders. No clue what they're called. The unmasked alt head also has sculpted on red sunglasses and was a full repaint of the purple ionic head. I had debated sculpting the boot tops, but since there's a few designs for his boots, including one with the oversize flaps, I just used a pair from a Cap figure. It was just easier. They had to be patched at the back as they're just a bit too small for the Wonder Man legs. Anyway, he's now done and no more classic Wonder Man envy. Glad he's finally in the collection. Now I just need a classic Swordsman to add to the classic Avengers team.