[Mordiganne]

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


This batch started cosmic heavy, but that wasn't intentional. Just happened to shake out that way once I started grabbing parts bags and seeing who I was ready to make. I think it's a good mix. Looking at my list of characters to make I've still got about 250 on the list and that's before I start adding in other characters that I either discover, rediscover or see a new and interesting take on that I'll want to make as well. That's on top of the 280 or so I've already made just since the first ones I posted on here not to mention the ones made before that. Hm...suddenly I'm wondering when I'm going to stop. I have no intention to just make these into perpetuity. Anyway, in comic news I've been reading Wolverine comics of late. I started with the "Weapon-X series" from 1991 which I'd never read before. How I missed that all these years is beyond me. But I had an early onset of "Wolverine fatigue" so I got fed up with him long before I stopped reading comics. But I digress. I'm just at the beginning of Origins so hoping it continues to be an enjoyable read. Death Angel is there because I finally repainted the full wings from the Archangel figure. I keep them on this guy, and because I did the recent display changes it was a good time to pull him out for an update along with some others. Madame Masque is there for some touch ups and to finally give her a belt. Arno Stark is there because I noticed the factory red paint was fading, so I gave the gloves, boots and helmet a red gloss to shine them back up. Mandarin is there because I finally painted up the rings to match the pictured piece of art. Having them all the same color was boring. For the first time ever I got to use almost all of my metallic paints. And lastly the shields: the silver is the Vibranium disc Steve Rogers used when he first took on the Captain identity. I believe the disc was repainted into his first colored shield in the comics. The second shield is to replace the original that I made for the first Red Guardian custom. This one came out much better. So, anyway, onto the rest...


Neutron - As a character I don't recall ever reading Neutron speaking in a comic. He does, at some point, since the art piece I chose had him with word bubbles but I don't know the story. I've ever only seen him as background with a bunch of other random Guardsmen. I chose this design because most people do the ovals on his gloves and boots. I wanted to do something different, so of course I had to sculpt that detail on. I also sculpted on the belt. I went with this body because while Neutron is big, he's not Juggernaut big and I like to limit that over-sized buck for the characters that are truly massive like that. Glad to add another member of the Imperial Guard. I'm whittling these down at a much faster rate than I expected.

Absorbing Man - I made this figure based off an art piece I found online showing the Absorbing Man using multiple absorbed materials at once. I'd planned to make an Absorbing Man like this for sometime and I recently got a new sculpting compound and this character made for the perfect guinea pig to use it on. His left arm is metal from the ball and chain; the right arm is brick (w/ sculpted brick on arm and torso using the new Apoxy) and his lower legs are stone/ pavement. He came out well and I made him in such a way that I can still swap out regular legs and head if I choose, or swap bits from this figure onto another Absorbing Man. Lots of choices. Anyway, I might make another figure or two of this character in various transformed states before I wrap up this art project. Time will tell...

Union Jack - I know jack (no pun intended) about Union Jack. So, since the character is a blank slate for me, he's the fifth iteration of Union Jack in my MU. The Falsworths still existed, but there were two other Union Jack's prior to this modern version: One retired and the operative prior to this one was captured tortured and killed by the Zemos while on assignment in Argentina. This is still Joseph Chapman, but in my MU he's a former Lt. in the SAS who's undergone the U.K.'s version of the Project: Rebirth. This guy was interesting to make. I liked the modern look so I put my own spin on the design. The headset, chest harness and the grenades on the harness are removable. I added a little sculpt and pouches to the arms and used some modified Star-Lord type legs. The lower legs are a mix of someone's legs below the knee w/ Cap boots. Lose rocker ankles that way, but I wanted the look of the boots. Lastly sculpted on the knee pads. Not sure if I'll make any other "New Invader" characters. Maybe Spitfire, but that's a big maybe.

Oddball - "Oddball? He's a freak!" Classic line from a classic movie and every time I think about this guy that line pops into my head. Anyway, I ran across this character when looking at some random Marvel art online. This guy, 8-Ball and Orb all tend to come up together. Since I'm a sucker for off the wall characters I saved all 3 to make. Oddball was up first. I've only ever seen him in one other piece of art with some circus themed villains. I think they have a team name, but no idea what. So yeah, that's about all I know of Oddball. Custom wise he was pretty simple. Other than painting I only had to sculpt the little orbs on his costume. I don't intend to make any of the other circus people, but if the right mood hits me, I might...

Earthquake - This is pretty much a non-entry custom wise. I don't like Earthquake and only made him because I have a set number of Imperial Guardsman I wanted to make and he's on the initial list due to his appearance in the X-Men cartoon. Speaking of the cartoon, I always viewed Earthquake as small in stature because of that. So I put him on a first series buck and sculpted his stupid head. Since I was only going to do a dozen members of the Guard to start with, with this batch I'm down to only 2 left out of that dozen - likely Oracle & Mentor. There's plenty more to follow as I'm still making: Titan, Astra & Magique at the very least.

Forge - I have to say I'm not much of a Forge fan. No real reason why, he just always seemed like a throwaway character in terms of the X-clan. But he's also a staple so I wanted to get him made so I could move on to other essential X that I actually want to make. Even though I don't care for the character, I did enjoy making the custom. Forge has a number of display options but I started off with sculpting the headband and some loose hair onto the head - I added flexible ties to the back along with a simple ponytail. I sculpted the belt buckle and the pouch on his belt (can't see it, it's on the back of the belt). Then I sculpted up a "metal" right hand for him to swap out with the gloved one. Since the tasseled leather boots pre-date the Jim Lee design, I wanted to pay homage to that look as well as the Lee design, so I gave him two pairs of legs and the chest strap of pouches is removable. For his metal leg I sculpted a pattern onto both right thighs then added the holster on one. The leather boots go along with the early yellow & blue design so the holstered leg and plain blue left leg complete that look. Speaking of the boots, I wanted "real" tassels so I cut up a drawstring that came loose from a pair of lounge pants. For the Jim lee look the metal upper leg is bare with thigh straps on both legs and yellow boots. I could have used a Cyclops figure to make Forge and it would have been easier. But I honestly wasn't thinking along those lines when I made this. However, I know I wouldn't have made a different set of legs if I went that route. So there's that. I was planning to put him witht he 90's team, but changed my mind, so he's got the tassled legs and chest strap on and will go into the X-Men allies shelf.

Electron - Since Earthquake was such a non-custom, I added another Imperial Guard member to the team as recompense. I've been debating on how I was going to do Electron for quite some time. Finally I just went with my old stand bys: Trial & Error. I started with trying to figure out how to sculpt the crest. I ended up doing that in stages, building up and out equally until I had the overall bell shape that I wanted. After that it was a matter of cutting out the notches. I'll have to find a better tool should I ever make another Shi'ar. What I used is just too uneven. After that I sculpted the shoulder pauldrons by sculpting 4 separate pieces and combining them together on the figure. I found the perfect dark orange (Americana persimmon) to match his costume and went with a darker yellow to help balance that out with the black. He looks very Halloween-y.

Weapon X - Since I ran across the Weapon X mini-series I've been on a Weapon Plus/Weapon X kick. A lot of interesting reading there, and there's also a lot of complete and utter garbage. Marvel took a great shadow organization and made it a farce. But they do that with a lot of classic stories which is why I tend to ignore the completely ridiculous retcons these days. But I digress... after reading the series I really wanted a figure based around Barry Windsor-Smith's art. So I made a proper Weapon X using what Hasbro made. First thing I did was to glue the helmet onto the head. This isn't Wolverine escaping the facility, this is him fully under the thrall of Professor Thornton and the Weapon X program. Next I added wires to the various battery packs but I needed somewhere for them to go so I added a receptacle on the right of the helmet (should be over more but Hasbro stuck that tube there) and a small panel on the left for the other wires. To control the claws there's feed wires that run from his forearms to a third battery in the back. Lastly I added "hair" to most of the figure since Wolverine's supposed to be a really hairy bastard. Eventually I'll put together a Weapon X lab complete with staff, but that's a side project to this project and will be more of an "in time" thing. Someday...