AWOL
40 Point Warrior
Warning: Kissing Chihuahua On Head Causes Sporadic Pooping, Urination, and Biting
Posts: 820
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Post by AWOL on Dec 18, 2006 19:08:31 GMT -5
Have you ever thought about doing some fantasy customs, like LOTR? You do excellent work, I'll bet you would do very well with them.
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 18, 2006 23:25:18 GMT -5
I tend to go the other direction, take fantasy figures and make them SciFi. I made Transformers out of Mage Knight back when that was the only clicky game available (and came in second in a tournament with my Decepticon army). ---Dave, currently splicing gold-base Luke and Vader together into the first supervillain of the 2020s, Triton.
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dvandom
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Post by dvandom on Dec 19, 2006 20:53:38 GMT -5
This is mostly SWvTF Darth Vader, but with the head replaced by SWvTF Luke Skywalker's (with a haircut). I removed the skirt and Dremeled off many of the details, but I left the fabric look. This is meant to be Triton in one of his more ceremonial outfits, rather than in his power armor. He's wielding the AstroSpear, which used to belong to WarStar (who is very tall, hence the AstroSpear looking smaller in his hands). Triton's natural power is electrical generation, and his left fist is sparking with lightning. To swap heads, I cracked apart the torsos of both figures, and reglued Vader's when I was done. Luke's head is a bit loose on Vader's body, though. Anyone wanting to do a similar swap (for Dagobah swamp purposes) might want to put a few layers of clear nail polish on the neck joint before sealing things up. The AstroSpear is built around Vader's lightsaber, and should hold together through use (although the paint job probably won't). The oval shaped bit is a Lego jet thruster with the Lego connector removed and the hole drilled all the way though. You should also be able to ID a modified Lego bit near the head. Styrene tube was used at either end, and a piece of sheet for the red piping part. The head itself is four pieces of 1/8" by 1/4" slab glued around a 1/4" tube core, filled in with Squadron putty, and then decorated with pieces of half-round rod. When charged, the AstroSpear emits an energy blade from the tip, but as of early 2026 the weapon is still drained after its last significant use in Conclave of Super-Villains #25. The AstroSpear does make for a more potent striker weapon than Vader's saber, but it also shifts the center of mass and makes Triton easier to knock over. I considered putting counterweights on the base, but finally abandoned the idea as a little cheaty. ---Dave
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Locke333
30 Point Warrior
"Don't mistake coincidence for fate."
Posts: 756
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Post by Locke333 on Dec 19, 2006 21:06:57 GMT -5
omg ur good
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 22, 2006 0:53:44 GMT -5
Explanation of construction in the image this time. Labyrinthe is the conscience of the Conclave of Super-Villains, essentially. He's mainly around because of his twin sister (who is pretty amoral, sadly). He's a mage who specializes in warping space...he once created an interplanetary teleport network by creating a sympathetic link to pieces of the Berlin Wall, he linked his spirit to the city of Montreal, and when he and his sister were banished from Earth, he pulled all of Montreal (accidentally) through the "Worldmaze" to Venus (which would've ended really badly for the Montrealers except that he and his sister also absorbed a LOT of power in the process, and were able to create a protective dome). To attack with the lengthened staff, you either poke the target with the butt of the staff, or twist the base instead of the upper half. Which may be cheaty, but it's not like I plan to use these kitbashes in a serious game. Especially this one...the head's liable to get knocked right off. ---Dave
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xanatos
30 Point Warrior
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Post by xanatos on Dec 22, 2006 9:19:33 GMT -5
Labyrinthe is my favorite.
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dvandom
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Post by dvandom on Dec 26, 2006 23:44:16 GMT -5
A two-for this time. I actually started four figures at once after opening my first packs of Marvel Attacktix, but the other two required the use of stronger (and longer-to-harden) putty, so they're only just ready to start painting. Maddie Chin is the daughter of 20th Century vigilante Black Opal, and she entered the life of the blind psychic martial artist Warden because her boyfriend was Warden's roommate. She eventually became part of Warden's support structure, and when he went missing she became part of the trio of women who alternated playing the part of Hellhound, replacing Warden as protector of Manhattan NY. (And, thanks to this storyline, the Batwoman thing in Batman Beyond utterly failed to surprise me. ) This figure represents Maddie during her time as one of Warden's semi-sidekicks, before she became part of Hellhound. Her special ability is now "Attackback (Warden)", I'm building him from Daredevil. I'm starting to think I maybe should have used the stronger putty for her hair, the contrast between the front and back is a bit noticeable. Kaliban started his life as just another genetic monstrosity living in the "Vivarium" section of Khadam, cannon fodder thrown at Lorenzo Archangeli, the man who would be a god, during the so-called "Pyramid Scheme". When the dust had settled and Archangeli taken off to find that being a god isn't all it's cracked up to be, Kaliban discovered he had acquired a mind, and the ability to speak, if only in iambic pentameter. He later learned to stop that, and experimented with other forms of poetry. Currently, he is Khadam's ambassador to Q'Nos (THE Minotaur of legend, come back and ruling the shattered remains of Greece and Crete), although he dresses a little nicer for that role. Another simple physical mod. I carved off the distinctive horn-hair of the figure (which is a pre-catman Beast) and replaced it with putty. Then I glued on a new belt buckle. His Rally now works on Khadam, not X-Men. ---Dave
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 28, 2006 3:12:41 GMT -5
The Green Knight, who formerly went by the codename Gawain until he got tired of people mixing up the two Arthurian characters and changed his name, started out as your basic brick. However, he's started to think he's turning into a homogenous mass of, well, blood. On the plus side, this has made him very hard to defeat, since he heals almost instantly, even from dismemberment (much like the legendary figure he takes his name from). On the minus side, this freaks him the HELL out. This was mostly an additive kitbash. I cut off the tongue and filed down the claws, but otherwise this was about using putty to add details. I tried to smooth out the lines of Venom's spider symbol with Squadron putty, but it didn't work as well as I'd hoped. Milliput was used to build up the helmet, elbow armor, forearm braces and boot tops. The hip pouches are actually gas jerrycans from some dollar store toy or another. I had to leave the underarm area unpainted to preserve the attack action, but some ink wash got into the workings anyway, so it's a bit gummed. ---Dave
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 28, 2006 21:48:17 GMT -5
Warden is a telepathic vigilante who was born without eyes. Not merely blind, he even lacks the holes in his skull for eyes. He can amp up his remaining senses (or dull them as needed) and do the same to others, so that a tiny nick from a sword feels like a gunshot wound. He uses telepathy to see through the eyes of others, and can instantly learn things from the minds of others, making him essentially the best martial artist in the room. Initially given missions by a mysterious Mentor, he eventually struck out on his own. At the stage in his career shown here, he has largely abandoned lethal weaponry in his mission to protect Manhattan (which, after the events of 1998, had suffered a large decline in population, but started to act as an attractor for paranormal criminals known as paragangers). To make the sleeveless trenchcoat, I took the skirt that I removed from Darth Vader in making Triton, and glued it around the figure's waist (the fact that Daredevil has no waist articulation helps). Then I used Milliput epoxy putty to create the ripped t-shirt (over the DD emblem) and the top part of the coat. A little blob of putty acts as the knot in the bandanna he ties over his eyeless face. Since he keeps his hair really short, I didn't build up any with putty, instead painting dark gray to represent short black hair. I edited his abilities to give Evade to NAC figures and to refer to Warden himself in the Fearless power. And unlike Green Knight, I didn't mess up his attack action, so he can goose people with his stick just fine. ---Dave
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Post by YodaBreaker on Dec 28, 2006 21:55:24 GMT -5
Wowza - it's amazing to see the master customizer in action. I particularly enjoyed your nonchalant description of cutting off Venom's tongue to make the previous figure
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 28, 2006 21:58:00 GMT -5
And I saved the tongue, just in case. Part of kitbashing is to keep parts bins of everything you remove that's still big enough to potentially come in handy later. Maybe it'll be a tail or a ponytail on some other figure. ---Dave
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Post by YodaBreaker on Dec 28, 2006 22:02:18 GMT -5
As you've already demonstrated by recycling Vader's cape! I'll be very curious to see where that tongue ends up. OK, that probably sounded all kinds of wrong.
I also wonder if the Sabretooth in the Marvel Heroes starter set would be enough like a Wookiee-like striker to fill in for the figure you had in mind for it.
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 28, 2006 22:23:39 GMT -5
Well, one figure I considered making from a Wookiee was Kaliban, and Beast was MUCH better. The other would need to be a weapon striker I could turn into a minotaur with a labris (two-bladed axe).
---Dave
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Dec 31, 2006 20:29:52 GMT -5
Solar Max is, as indicated in the image, the second to bear the name, the first being a hero in the 1980s and 1990s. This Solar Max has gravity powers, but has learned a few of the Sun-tapping tricks that the original Solar Max was known for. When JakZak graduated from the Academy, he inherited the name and alien-built armor of the first Solar Max, but I've built that armor several times now (as an action figure and as a HeroClix), so I wanted to do one of his non-armor outfits instead. For public appearances where the armor would be over the top, he has various uniforms that use design elements from the armor, such as the one shown above. I did almost no physical mods for this one, just trimmed back Luke's hair on this SW31(3) figure. And yes, there's irony in both Solar Max and Triton having the same base head. I modified the Rescue power to work with NAC instead of Rebels. Tony Drake's power is invulnerability. Nothing can physically harm him...he's survived having a small nuclear bomb phased into his stomach and detonated (although he spent months recovering from that). However, he still feels pain just fine, even if it doesn't linger after the initial impact (due to there being no injury). Rather than joining the premiere super-team on graduation, he instead formed the core of Superhuman Tactical Resources and Affiliated Field Experts, STRAFE (a blatant SHIELD homage). He works under Dan Tracey as one of the core team, although later on he ended up leading his own squad as more superhumans graduated the Academy and were recruited. He's built from an Imperial Officer from the Series 3 SW starter. I added the same buttons and shoulderpatch as on Grind, but no silver bar (which is a rank insignia). In theory, he should have a silver bar now that he leads his own squad, but this is Drake when he was still in Grind's squad. To alter his features, I cut off his sideburns, filed down his chin (just because) and then smashed his nose flat with pliers, cleaning up the results with a blade. I was worried it wouldn't work, but it ended up looking about right. I've traded for a Series 4 Imperial Officer, who I plan to turn into Tony's teammate Jason Teller. Unfortunately, due to the rarity of female figures in the line (and the total absence of female Imperial officers), their teammates Jen Kleinvogel, Lana Smith and CJ Brown are unlikely to get made. ---Dave
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dvandom
30 Point Warrior
Joe Attacktix Contributor
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Post by dvandom on Jan 2, 2007 21:17:04 GMT -5
Colonel Hendrick is an old veteran who was picked to head Superhuman Tactical Resources and Affiliated Field Experts when the North American Combine was putting STRAFE together with the intent of getting United World sanction for the team (the Eurasian Union's EUROPA team was also competing for the honor). He was horribly burned by the Mr. Strings-possessed Burnout and has since become more of a desk jockey with Grind taking over the field leader role. Thanks to medical paratech he's mostly recovered, but had to get a cybernetic eye and still has some cosmetic damage. This was a Captain Antilles from the Series 3 starter. I cut off his left forearm and used a peg, glue and putty to repose it. I also ripped off the Rebel helmet and lucked onto a nice replacement so I wouldn't have to sculpt one from scratch. It turns out that the helmets of the Best Lock military figures (they're a Lego competitor line) were a perfect fit. Just one of the troops under Hendrick's command, this is one of the newer guys recruited since STRAFE went online. The core troops of the team started out as veterans of SPIRIT (Super-Powered Information Retrieval and Investigation Team), a group mostly active in the 2010s while superhumans were starting to reappear. SPIRIT veterans didn't get along too well with the superhuman members of STRAFE, and tended to get rotated out or offered retirement as new troops were recruited. Getting UW sanction also meant STRAFE had to recruit from all member nations, another thing that the more ultra-patriotic SPIRIT vets didn't care for too much. NAC still dominates STRAFE, however, and Ray Lopez is from Texas Sector. Built from the Series 3 Rebel Trooper, with the same helmet swap I gave Hendrick. ---Dave
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