Marvel Select Thor Review!

Okay here's the start of my review. That being said, sorry if I faux pas!


Marvel Select, always a double edge sword. They either look great, and have horrible articulation, or they have good articulation and look like crap. I don't feel that they can blend the best of both words for the most part. Yes, there are some exceptions to the rules, but I'm generalizing.
Anyway, I'm looking at the Marvel Select Movie Thor. I've added some photos of the toy, as well as Chris Chris Hemsworth in the costume. I think they nailed his look. I love how this figure looks. The Hammer is great looking, and the paints help the overall look too.
But that's it, that's where my love of this figure ends. All that glitters is not gold. This figure would be good as a statue if it could properly stand, making it a great looking paper weight! I was worried about this just being my figure, but after seeing two of my friends as well as hearing other stories in reviews and boards, this seems to be the bane of this figure. It barely (if it does at all), stands properly on a base or stand with pegs in it's feet.

However the reason for this brings me to my next issue, ARTICULATION! It looks like this figure should be good, but it's clunky and awkward, and doesn't work properly. I don't think you are going to get too many dynamic poses out of this one. Especially when standing is such an issue.
I've seen customizers already dealing with the articulation problems by replacing the legs and hips for traditional ball joint hips and double pin joint knees. I don't think it's enough. If I could I would swap out the arms for DC Universe classic Aquaman's with the mail to get the ball joint swivel shoulders, the bicep swivel joint, as well as the pin joint elbows (I'd also have to work out something for the bracers and swap Aquaman's hands for Movie Thor's, blah, blah, blah!).
I also wanted to comment on the hammer. I found that a lot of copies of this figure has a bent handle for Mjolnir. This is because it's made with a really flexible rubber. I always look through stock to make sure the figure I grab is good for paint and etc. But I couldn't find one with a decent looking hammer. I ended up rectifying the situation by putting it in boiling water for 30 seconds to a minute, then holding it in place to shape while running extremely cold water over it. It's held shape since. I also did this to shape the strap to the way I wanted it to look.

Lastly I'll yap about the packaging. The look we have come to expect from Marvel Select with solid images on the side and back, that makes them look amazing for the collector who keeps them in the box and stores them on the shelf like books (I'm not that guy, I rip mine from their respective protective cases, so that I and the elements can ravage their visage!), but they do look good on the shelves that way. I will say this about the packaging, it goes back to what I was saying about Mjolnir. The packaging seems to crunch the hammer up in a way that bends it and causes it to hold that shape. Like I said, it's fixable, but not to the general consumer. It's not a huge thing, but enough to bug me.

It's a shame about this figure because it does actually look great.
Just like the deleted scenes from the movie, my Marvel Select Movie Thor is going to end up on the cutting room floor as custom fodder for a Thor with the ability to stand on his own, and just an overall better articulation.

On a side note: I posted this review on Figure Realm. I had a great reply from the well renowned customizer Stevid, with a good piece of advice. He posted:

Stevid - Sunday, May 29, 2011

You are right about the figure and that it doesn't stand well at all! First time I put him on my shelf with the rest of my Thor figures thinking I had him standing nice and strait and next thing you know he falls and knocks all the rest of the figures with him! What I notice you have to do is position his feet slightly down and have him leaning back a little and using the cape as a stand. But I have to say I do love the sculpt of the figure!

pulpyfiction - Sunday, May 29, 2011

I was going to talk about the cape but I was worried, I might be going on too much. Don't you think the cape is part of the problem too, like it's just too long? I think that's why it works as an anchor so well, but it doesn't help if you try to drape it right at the back of his feet. Like you're mentioning stevid, I think it only works if you drag it back and use it to hold the weight of the figure.
Good idea on the feet placement. That seems to be the only possible way to get it to stand for any time at all. Mine just won't even really stand unless he's pegged down on a stand. I've had some issues like yours where he's jumped and taken everyone around with him, only instead of a group of Thors, he took down my marvel movie avengers both actual released figures and custom! Argh!

Marvel Select Hulk - REDO! Custom Action Figure

I'm not a big fan of the Marvel Select Hulk, particularly for the atrocious head sculpt, the brutal paints, and the ridiculous articulation. Sorry if you love the factory release on this one, but I'm not. I did get my hands on one several months back for pretty cheap, and I had a couple of ideas for it. After seeing some customs using the select hulk, Raybot's specifically (if you haven't seen it check it out, his original head sculpt is crazy good!), I saw how there was some really good sculpting to the figure, and I wanted to take a crack at one.

So I took the solomon grundy head I had (I think it looks more like the 2008 movie hulk than the poor head sculpt put out by hasbro for the legends line), and I dremilled it to fit the massive select neck. I then went to town painting the whole thing anew! I used lots of dry brushed layers for the skin tones, and especially the jeans. I topped them off with a light white dry brushed layer to mimic denim. I also tipped the frayed areas in white to get that torn denim look seen in cutoffs.

Thanks for the views!

P.S.- I left a few extra pictures here as well.

New schtouph! Samuel L. Jackson Nick Fury

Recipe:
Head: McFarlane Shaft- cut off body, dremilled neck, and sculpted the eye patch.
Body: Neca Movie Spirit - Dremilled off buttons and shirt seam, and then cleaned it up with epoxy sculpt also changing shirt collar by sculpting it into a turtle neck.

Finished off it off by repainting it. I also gave it some dry brushed layers for extra tonal value in the paints.

I'm a fan of the Ultimate version of Nick Fury, and we know his look is clearly based on Samuel L., but I think he's done a good job in the films and he helps set the look of the books to the films. I also think it's cool he's getting his own Fury film so I felt I had to have one of these on my shelf. I have some more marvel movies customs I want to have posted before too long. so please keep an eye out for that, and kick my but if it takes me too long to get to them!

Thanks for the views!

Okay some side notes and commentaries...

So Here it is the first new custom I have posted in quite some time.

I really needed to get to the photos and photoshop treatment for this one for quite some time. He's been on the shelf with my Marvel Select scale stuff for awhile. I was going to post him and was all geared up, but one of those weird fluke things happened and glenwebman posted his using the same head, but with the marvel legends Ultimate Fury figure base. I really liked it so I ended up not posting mine in respect of his good work, and yeah I was a little bummed out, but I haven't had an online presence until recently and this is what I thought I would lead off with from stuff I need to post off my shelf... before I drop an entire line of customs I've really been working away on. But more on that later!

Lou Ferrigno Television's Incredible Hulk Final Version

As a kid, I would run home if I was out so I could watch Marvel's classic series, The Incredible Hulk. Playing the title role was the legendary body builder, Lou Ferrigno. In honour of this man-monster, I really wanted to make this figure. I know people have used similar recipes to make this guy, but I hope mine is different enough to stand on its own merit.

Recipe:
jakks pacific wwe wrestler body(unknown)
jakks pacific HHH head
jakks pacific ufc figure legs (from knees down)




I used this other figure from the Jakks line of wrestlers, I don't know who he is, but his frame is different from the HHH and Batista body type, his chest is bigger and I think it matches that of Ferrigno really well!
I carved and cleaned off the HHH head's beard and hair, sculpted bigger brow ridges, and eyebrows, and the mop of hair on his head. I didn't know exactly which era or style to model it after (as it did tend to change from time to time, between the show to the t.v. movies, and in different promotional materials), so I went a little shorter to honour the mego Hulk that honestly inspired me a bit to make this figure (yeah I totally had one, and still do!). I thinks that's why I REALLY wanted this figure to have material pants too!

However, I really wasn't happy with the sculpted hair. It just didn't make me think of the mop that Ferrigno wore...I wished I had a wig for him, then I thought, WHY DON'T I MAKE ONE?!!!
I took some fun fur and sized it up, sewed it to fit, gave it a dye job and a trim, and then attached it to the head.
Now I have a mop on my Ferrigno Hulk's head just like in the show!

I also gave it a new series of dry brushed layers, to wash out the colour like Ferrigno's paint. I think it was too bright and vibrant a green before in comparison to the show. I also noticed something in several photos. On Ferrigno's feet, when he wasn't wearing green coloured sock booties (yeah weird eh?), the paint had wiped off. So I give it some skin tones on the bottom to simulate where the costume paint had worn off, and gave him a bit of dirtiness on the balls of his feet. I mean the guy is walking around set with his bare feet. They get dirty.

I wish I could have got my hands on 2 fists, but I only had one to swap out with the original figure's open hand. The wrestler had wristbands on so I got rid of that and sculpted in the veins that should have led from the arm, through where the wrist band was to the hand. I was hoping to easily swap out the UFC figures
legs for the wrestler's, but this wasn't a simple swap. The peg holes between the knees and legs don't align, so I had to make that work using some persuasion! I also sculpted up the bottom of the legs from the UFC figure. They were okay for size scale wise, but they needed to be waaaaay beefier to portray Ferrigno's. I painted it with initial dark green primer layers, then dry brushed the lighter green up in several layers. The pants were from another old wrestling figure, and I tore them up a bit.

And as always thanks for the views!























Okay some side notes and commentaries...

I absolutely loved this guy! Having him on my shelf was a nostalgic wet dream! This was a custom I wanted to get to for some time, and had a clear idea of the steps to get to it. I had it all planned out in my head, and it was just a matter of getting the parts. This was going to be one of those customs I was burning to have on my shelf, but fate had a different plan...
So here's the thing, this past christmas I got an email requesting a commission for this custom. Unfortunately, I had a couple things on my workbench that were commissions, and it was really too close for comfort to get another custom done. So I did the unthinkable, for the first time I sold something out of my own collection. Usually I just remake whatever the client wants if it was something from my shelf, but being so time sensitive, it just had to be done. Kind of like handing your child over to a stranger for keeps, it was tough. However, it was for a HUGE fan of the classic show, and it was their christmas present from their family. They had always wanted a Lou Ferrigno Hulk figure, and I was told in a very nice thank you email, this figure is now treasured. I can only say thanks for the commission, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did...
I guess I'm just going to have to wait again to get the parts and start again... Then again after the hassle of trying to get them the first time, we'll see.

Machete! Pulpy fiction Styles!

Who doesn't love a little good cheese! Machete is full of it! I loved the movie and this was a must to customize!
So here is my tribute to Danny Trejo in his breakout role!




Machete!
After being betrayed by the organization who hired him, an ex-Federale launches a brutal rampage of revenge!

If you haven't seen this deliberate campy craft-work of director Robert Rodriguez, DO IT! It's an expansion of a fake trailer that was released together with Rodriguez's and Quentin Tarantino's 2007 Grindhouse. Machete continues in the B movie and exploitation style of Grindhouse. It's a hilariously action packed awesome film!
Obviously it's clear why I was inspired to make this figure!

Recipe:
Head original sculpt
TNA Wrestler Torso and hands
Hasbro M.L. Wolverine arms
A.O.A. Wolverine CROTCH
Spider-Man 2 Doc Ock legs
A.O.A. Sabretooth Feet
The vest is from another tna wrester's long jacket-cut and repainted
Machetes scratch built
The tattoos are all as accurate as I could get, and the one on the chest is done in it's entirety, for those of you who haven't seen it, it's a woman with a sombrero on.

Thanks a lot for the views!





























































Okay some side notes and commentaries...

First off, a secret. I had taken the pictures of with the bike, and him standing separate. You might not notice it, but I had done the standing ones first, and had forgotten to add his leather wrist bands. By the time I got the bike (borrowed from a friend and fellow customizer Jack Warp - thanks dude!) I had added them, because unless I did it was going to bother me.

Sculpting the head took awhile and I had to do part of the sculpt work and then wait for it to dry to work on something else. This is one of those hitches of how I usually work, and causes me to multitask. I usually have several things on the workbench at a time because of this, so while I'm waiting for paint or sculpt work to dry, I can be using my time to get to something else. In a lot of cases it keeps my work flow steady, but in some it causes half or partially finished pieces to float around the workbench until I get back to them... If I get back to them! :(

This is another one of those customs that was a complete labour of love. I was extremely happy with the results, even though the legs I used weren't my first choice, and the vest was made from a cut up trench coat I wanted to keep whole, but sacrificed it to the cause. I love this guy and I hope you folks do too.

I'm also really proud to say he was the featured custom of the week on the fwoosh November 2nd, 2010. You can check that out here: http://www.thefwoosh.com/2010/11/new-custom-tuesday-1122010
Thanks to the folks at the fwoosh, specifically Matthew K , that was a REAL Honour!

Movie Masters Ledger Joker - REDO!

So I finally got my hands on a Movie Masters Joker. I saw what a lot of people had done with this figure to help sell it more as Ledger, and I really wanted to try.
After opening the package and getting a good look at it, I suddenly realized how good people like idiotist, timshinn73 and missharleyquinn's customs using this base really were.

I felt the face needed some work so I built up the upper lip to the nose (corner of the nose toward the corner of the mouth - the smile lines or nasolabial folds) and the scar there, then the rest of the scar had some extra sculpting to add to it. I also reshaped the face, then cut (most importantly I dremiled back the hair at the part), and re-sculpted areas of the hair.
Then the head got a complete repaint. I added skin tones to the wrinkles and perimeter of the makeup as well under the chin and jawline, as well as added to the lip stick areas. I then when over the hair using a brown at the roots them going over with shades of green. Darker green as a base coat, then light ones dry brushed over top to catch a highlight look.
I also gave the shoes several dry brushed coats of different shades of brown and tan, to give them a more dirty look.
The head, as some of you may know either from owning this figure, or by reading reviews, is off kilter. I wanted to take one of the marvel legends style neck wheel joint and make a replacement, but I didn't have any to spare, so I replaced where the ball joint was and the depth to increase posability and give him more than one look.
I hated the hands so I took a pair of Spider-man 2 Doc Ock hands altered them so the pointer finger was separate to serve better as the trigger finger for some gun accessories. Then I gave them some purple paint coats sealing them off with a gloss finish to get the shine of the new gloves he was sporting in the movie.

I can't believe the time I spent on his cranium, mostly because of waiting for something to dry so I could sculpt something else or get to painting something else.

Thanks for the views!

Okay, a couple of side notes and commentaries...

So this is one of my favourite customs. I have to admit I love looking at him on the shelf, posed revealing the bombs in his jacket to a recoiling Movie Masters Batman.

I still really want to get my hands on a Movie Masters jail cell Joker as well. They are still pretty pricey so I'm keeping my eye out for the right deal, and then it will be mine! MUAH HA HA HA!

Uh, right... Anyway I had been waiting for a trade for this figure, and it just wasn't happening. In the meantime, motivated by a discussion I had with fellow customizer Whiskey Tango, I started tried my take on a Ledger style Joker using no Ledger Joker parts with what fodder I had.
Strangely enough just as I finished that up, my wife snagged me the original release of the Movie Masters Ledger. then I was off to the races!

I've had a couple of these heads sent to me as commission pieces since, and every time I really enjoy working on them, just as much as I did when I first got my hands on it.

In the beginning...

For the most part if you are here you know my work, but some folks may be looking for my artwork blog. I had been previously using this site to post on my graphic design and illustration projects, but I figure I have my portfolio site for that. So this is where I'm going to start ranting about what I'm doing with my customs, post some older customs I want to highlight, I might review a figure or two, and just plain spout off. I had been taking some time away from the whole custom figures scene, especially with my online presence due to work and general life busyness. I have a ton of stuff on the workbench, and I hope to be posting new stuff soon. Yeah some of my work is finished and just needs photos, and the old photoshop treatment. Unfortunately, I have some issues with my crap-happy camera. Long story short I should have new stuff up soon.
Anywho... In the meantime, I'm going take a look at some of my favourite customs and wax philosophic about them a bit.

Type to you folks soon!

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