[Mordiganne]

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

I added figures of the grey Beast and yellow Yellow Jacket to the collection. Probably going to swap out the gold Yellow Jacket on display for the yellow. Now that I have it out of the package I like the yellow a lot more than the gold.. The Beast is going straight to storage though. No need to have him out on display. I'm nearly done with Secret Invasion and the series, save a few outliers in the various tie-ins, is a hot mess. I'm not all that keen on finishing it, but I intend to finish it only because of the way it leads into Dark Reign which I've found much more enjoyable from the bits and pieces that I've read so far. Though I have found a few interesting characters that I will be making customs of in it. Not many, but there's some. I finally took my Commander Steve Rogers figure out of the package, but, he's really only there to hold the shield. I'd been debating getting the Hasbro Cap figure that had the 'stealth' shield for a while now just to have that version of the shield. But then I thought, why waste money when I can just paint up my own and call it a day. Hellcat & Sersi needed some fixes/touch-ups and Spider-Man is a QEC that I'm using as a teenage Spider-Man. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Superia - My first exposure to Superia came from the Captain America story arc where she recruited a bunch of female super characters in some bizarre scheme that involved something to do with removing all males from the planet - or making them sterile, I forget which. It was an odd read, but it did introduce me to a wide variety of female characters that I was only vaguely aware of. Or, as in the case of Superia, had no knowledge of at all. Following that arc she wouldn't find her way onto my radar until decades later while researching AIM characters to add to my collection. Superia is a very basic custom with a very basic color scheme. Painting on the lines was more tedious than anything, but she came out well. AIM frankly isn't all that interesting to me so I never put much stock into them. To quote EMH they're "science geeks". As an offshoot of Hydra they hold a little more appeal, but still, it's not much of one which is why I bundle them with Hydra on the shelf. That plus they don't have many unique members that tend to last the test of time. Other than a Scientist Supreme I don't know of any other AIM specific characters I want to make.

Kraven - There's not much to say about this Kraven custom. The original figure from Hasbro was damn near perfect except for one minor thing that annoyed me every time I looked at the figure... Since I'd finally gotten one of my custom shelves completed (have two more to make) I started taking the Hasbro figures from the storage box to figure out who I'm going to display and who will stay in storage. When I pulled out Kraven I was instantly bother, again, by his tri-tone legs. From a production standpoint I get why Hasbro had to make them how they did, but from an aesthetic standpoint that bugged the shit out of me and had to be fixed since he would be on display now rather than hidden in a box. So I repainted his legs into something more palatable and also touched up the lion fur on the vest into a better color. He came out well and looks great. He'll be a nice re-addition to the Spidey rogues shelf.

Goblin Queen - Inferno was one of my favorite stories a kid. Claremont writing with Silvestri art, hard to go wrong there. And while I wouldn't know the full background on Madeline Pryor until many years later (since the internet wasn't even a thing back then) what I could follow from the story was very interesting at the time. Since she's from one of my favorite X-Men eras, I had to do the character justice if I was going to have her in my collection. This is my second Goblin Queen custom. The first one was pretty bad (for my standards) so I cannibalized her to make someone else knowing that I was going to redo the custom eventually. When it came time to revisit the character I remade her completely from scratch. The first time around I used a White Queen cloak and sculpted her loin cloth thing which left both stiff and inflexible. This time, I used vinyl for both allowing for her entire range of movement to be preserved. I gave her a new head with more dynamic hair. Although I notice her hair has a bit of a Peg Bundy thing going on. That's because I had originally sculpted the hair on an altogether different head then swapped it last minute on to this one which is a smaller head but a much better face. I might leave it, but if it bothers me enough it's easy to transplant it back to the original head I was going to use. I also sculpted her boot tops and torso attire along with the brooch which I enlarged slightly - previously I'd only sculpted the brooch. Since I'd already made her before, she came together much easier this time and the end result is much better. I'm going to have her near Sinister and the Marauders on the shelf for obvious reasons. Now I just need to find a scale baby to give her to hold and she'll be all set.

White Queen - I'm really against traditional villains being turned into heroic characters. It dilutes the pool of villains and often ends up ruining some really great classic stories. Unfortunately that seems to be all the rage at the "House of Ideas" lately; The White Queen is one such example. While I was stoked that Hasbro finally made the character, it really irked me that they made her in a modern version from the newer X-Men run where she'd joined the side of the angels. I prefer Emma Frost as a villain and a part of the Hellfire Club, so that's the White Queen I wanted on display and the one that I made. I started with sculpting her corset and gave her a bustier chest. I also sculpted the boots from the tops all the way down to the knees. Gave her a 'bob' style haircut and fur trimmed cloak after ditching the original one for something that better fits her look. I had to change her skin tone twice because the first attempts just didn't come out well. I finally found a color that I think would match her look as I envision her as a sort of pasty complexion. Very pale in other words. Repainted her face and she's good to go. Now I just need some more Hellfire Club members and maybe a Hellion or two. Definitely need to make a trio of Hellfire Club guards but I'll do them all at once when I get around to them.

Hussar - I finally got around to making Hussar of the Imperial Guard. She's another Guardsman that shows up here and there but doesn't fill any important story elements other than being part of that ridiculously large team. That said, she shows up often enough that I consider her a 'core' member. She was even one of the members that showed up in the 90's X-Men animated series - at one point helping Earthquake to take down Storm and Gambit. For as simple as she looks, Hussar had a good bit of sculpting to be done. I had to sculpt a larger forehead along with the fur on her forearms and calves. On top of that I also had to sculpt her long hair, though I probably could have accomplished the same thing without using sculpt there. In the end, sculpting was easier than chopping up plastic hair. To top her off I had to sculpt her hands for the three finger look and then I cut off part of her feet so I could sculpt the toes/toenails. That was a bit of a chore to get the look right. She came out well, I think, and fits in nicely with the rest of the Imperial Guard. It's a shame Hasbro is unlikely to ever give any Imperial Guard characters beyond Gladiator the spotlight. There's a wide array of Guardsmen they could make. I'm not sure when I'll get to make more team members, but, as with this batch I'll do at least two at a time to whittle them down quicker when I do.

Madame Webb - I only really know of Madame Webb from the 90's Spider-Man cartoon. Unfortunately, unlike the X-Men series, that old cartoon does not hold up to repeated viewings so I don't really get what her importance is in the Spider-Man world. I had actually decided to make this figure based on some art I ran across online when researching the Julia Carpenter Madame Webb. The art piece I found intrigued me enough that I wanted to take a stab at the character. So, this is how she turned out. Madame Webb was supposed to be in the previous batch but this figure took so long to complete with all the problems that I had put her aside until I could figure out how to get her done the way I wanted. Putting on the damn mask was giving me fits as every attempt wasn't working to hold the mask tight while I worked on sculpting the hair. I finally got annoyed enough that I glued the damn thing to her face to keep it in place so I could properly sculpt her hair which is not how I'd wanted to do it. Her long dress is a piece of vinyl which was incredibly difficult to make work with the body. I will say that I was able to attach and blend the vinyl onto the figure in such a way that I can't even see where the seem was between the vinyl and the body making all that effort worthwhile. So, now I have a Madame Webb for the collection. I still have to make her chair but I need some additional materials to achieve the look that I want and I haven't picked those up yet. Getting the figure done was more important to me since I can complete her chair whenever. No rush on that.

Black Ant - I've often thought a villainous counterpart to the heroic Ant Man was long overdue. So upon seeing the 6" Legends exclusive I thought he looked suitably "bad guy" like and checked out the history since I'd never heard of Black Ant prior to that. After researching I found what was largely a blank slate in terms of character. Other than he was a LMD of a previous Ant Man there was little backstory on Black Ant at that time. To whit I thought that character would be interesting as a reprogrammed member of Hydra (especially given O'Grady's dubious characterization anyway) and would fit in well with my view of the Marvel Universe. Little did I know that Marvel would end up going a similar route anyway - for whatever "Secret Empire" is - by making Black Ant part of Hydra. I picked up an extra Ant Man just to make this custom. The helmet had to be heavily modified to get an accurate look. That was the only real challenge to making him but it was a significant challenge and a lot of work. Other than that it was just painting up his outfit and making a mini-me version using a spare tiny Ant Man. Since they've gone way beyond ridiculous with the Mutants over at Marvel I've really been shifting my focus more and more towards the Hydra and SHIELD organizations. So, now that he's done, Black Ant will be posted with Hydra as part of their deep infiltration team.

Pulsar (Impulse)- Outside of Gladiator the vast majority of the Guard only show up "on screen" for only a panel or two. And like so many members of the Guard, Pulsar has two known names: Pulsar and Impulse. I'm more familiar with him being called Pulsar, so that's what I'm going with. As a custom he was very easy to make only needing sculpt for the oversize visor and a bit on the belt. What I did like about making this figure is that his costume gave me a chance to use some colors that I haven't had a need for before. That's one positive about all the various Imperial Guard members is that their costumes are often very colorful. Anyway, with Pulsar done, along with Hussar, there's two more members off the list. Only a half dozen more to go for my "core" Guardsmen to be done. Any I make after that are just gravy.