New Stuff added in 2007 - I usually just announce new customs, but I'm always updating the site with new group pictures and non-custom Toybiz figures as I acquire them. Updates from previous years are at the bottom of the page Please check back often!
12-24-2007 - The original Human Torch was not the Fantastic Four's Johnny Storm but instead the android Jim Hammond who appeared in 1939's Marvel Comics #1. He helped form the Invaders during World War II with his sidekick Toro, Captain America and Namor. The custom is of the costume he wore when he was reactivated in modern times and joined the Avengers.
12-17-2007 - When She Hulk is not called to duty with the Avengers or the Fantastic Four, she has an active career as a lawyer. I had to make this custom after getting the Hasbro Marvel Legends Lawyer She Hulk San Diego Comic Con exclusive figure (that was a mouthful). Updated - made some glasses for her out of bent wire - thanks to Chad for the suggestion!
12-10-2007 - Neutron (formerly known as Quasar) is a member of the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. They have been allies and foes toward the X-Men, depending on the whims of their emperor / majestrix. Only 15 more guardsmen left to make!
12-03-2007 - Here's an older custom I forgot to list, the Titan god of time, Kronos. He's one of those cosmic beings that pop up from time to time (no pun intended). I was reminded of this custom after seeing the Target exclusive Cosmic Silver Surfer from the Hasbro Legends Icons 12" series, which really resembles him; if I hadn't already made my custom I'd be really tempted to pick it up.
December 2007
11-26-2007 - I am really happy that Hasbro made the BAF (build-a-figure) for their Marvel Legends Series 3 a Brood Queen. That was a great choice and an excellent companion to the earlier Marvel Select Broodling release (which came packed with a Skrull Warrior). To further compliment them, I repainted a pair of Brood (originally from the X-Men animated series) to better match the new figures. The sculpt on these old figures are quite good, it just needed a paint wash to bring out the details. Now I have a growing Brood Swarm.
11-19-2007 - Here's the Super Skrull, the.supreme warrior of the Skrull Empire, capable of using the powers of the Fantastic Four simultaneously in addition to his natural Skrull shapeshifting abilities and an additional power of a hypnotic gaze. He also plays a part in the Annihilation and Conquest series. Once I saw the new 5" Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer figures, I knew that the Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic figures (specifically their arms) would be great for this custom.
11-14-2007 - The Fallen is the first Herald of Galactus, predating even the Silver Surfer. He met his demise during the epic Annihilation series (excellent read btw). The follow-up, Annihilation: Conquest looks to be just as good.
11-05-2007 - The Lava Men are a subterranean race who were mutated by a demon into their present forms. They have hardened skins and are able to project heat. Recently a member of their race known as Ajaxis joined the Thunderbolts and later registered in the 50 States Initiative following the Marvel Civil War.
November 2007
10-29-2007 - A cursed Egyptian prince, N'Kantu the Living Mummy has been alive for thousands of years. Marvel Comics had a great run of horror themed comics in the 70's including Dracula, Blade the Vampire Hunter, Frankenstein's Monster, Man-Thing, Werewolf by Night, Simon Garth the Zombie and others. You can see most of them in my Supernaturals section. Have a Horrifying Halloween!
10-22-2007 - Since Halloween is right around the corner I thought it'd be a good time to show my custom of the original Ghost Rider, Johnny Blaze. I replaced the flames with translucent versions and sacrificed the "exploding" feature (so annoying) of the figure for more articulation and stability.
10-16-2007 - I really like to take the accessories from the Marvel Legends figures to improve upon the 5" figures. Here is my old Moon Knight custom with a new belt and weapon taken from his bigger counterpart.
10-14-2007 - No Avenger has had more costume changes than the Wasp I have just a few (of literally hundreds!) of her costumes in toy form.
10-08-2007 - M.O.D.O.K. is the "head" (sorry) of Modok's 11. He was originally a technician of AIM who was hyper-evolved by their scientists into a "Mental Organism Designed Only for Killing (or Computing)" and possesses great intelligence and psionic abilities. I basically swapped the arms and legs from the old Modok figure onto the new Marvel Legends BAF series 15 Modok to make him 5" scale.
10-02-2007 - When I saw that ebay seller/customizer
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10-01-2007 - CustomCon 18 starts today! Check out everyone's work throughout the week. I only have 1 entry (1 custom, really) to show this time around, the Armadillo! This former wrestler, Captain America foe and Texas Rangers member is currently part of the Modok's 11, a gang organized by M.O.D.O.K. for an incredibly difficult and dangerous heist.
October 2007
9-24-2007 - Hadn't planned on showing only re-done customs for this month, but since I've already shown two I might as well continue with my 3rd atempt at the Olympian and Avenger Hercules. I based this one on the recently released Hasbro Legends Herc.
9-17-2007 - Updated my custom Valkyrie, added new leg wrappings instead of my original badly painted-on attempt. She is a long time member of the Defenders and recently participated in the Asgardian battle of Ragnorok. The upcoming Hulk Legends Val looks pretty good, I might just have to get that one, even though it's 6" scale.
9-10-2007 - Here's a re-done Moondragon custom. I tried to improve upon the original version's paintjob. The old painted cape was also leeching onto and staining the figure, so I replaced it with a cloth version from the Marvel's Gold Vision figure. She's been a member of many teams, including the Avengers, the Defenders and the Infinity Watch. A powerful telepath and martial artist, she is currently featured in the Annihilation Conquest series with her lover Quasar.
9-04-2007 - Here's the last Age of Apocalypse custom for now, that universe's version of Wolverine - Weapon X. I didn't like the huge head the original figure had, so I switch it with another Wolverine, but did try to make the hair wilder.
September 2007
8-29-2007 - The Fall CustomCon 18 will run from Oct. 1st thru the 5th. The deadline for entering your customs is Sept. 3rd, that's right on the Labor Day holiday weekend.
8-27-2007 - In the Age of Apocalypse, Sunfire was literally "burned out" by his powers. In the regular Marvel universe he has also recently been altered into this form as Famine of the Horsemen of Apocalypse. For years I've seen some great AOA Sunfire customs made from 6" movie Fantastic Four Human Torches by customizers such as Jin Saotome, I'm glad Hasbro made some 5" versions that I could use as a base.
8-20-2007 - Here's Rogue, in her Age of Apocalypse outfit. The original figure had a great sculpt but the wrong hair.
8-13-2007 - When the first Fantastic Four movie came out in 2005 I had shown a repainted Invisible Woman for the occasion. In honor of this year's Fantastic Four 2 sequel, I've tried to improve upon that custom paint-wise as well as the her teammate the Thing! The original Thing figure was molded in bright orange and I wanted to bring out the cracks and details with a paint wash.
8-06-2007 - It seemed appropriate to repaint an old Carnage figure as his spawn Toxin! Since the symbiote was bonded to a policeman he is one of the few "good" symbiotes.
I also wanted to show the recent Spiderman 3 Sandman with all of his interchangeable "sand hands". You have to buy two different Sandmans to get the hands though. I've also re-shot many of the pictures in my Spiderman section, so give it a look.
August 2007
7-30-2007 - Just a heads up, hasbrotoyshop.com has their 2007 SDCC exclusives available now! I ordered a Marvel Legends Lawyer She-Hulk and Transformers Alternators Rodimus. Good luck!
If you are back (hopefully you got what you needed), here's a quick fixup of Hobgoblin. I added a wash to tone out the neon orange of the original figure and added the Spiderman Classics glider.
7-25-2007 - Here's a little bit of interesting Toybiz history that I picked up on Ebay a while back, the 2-part prototype for the unreleased Gene Nation member named Sack! He's not a well known character but it would have been a great figure, with a detailed inner skeleton surrounded by a rubbery translucent outer skin (solid here). Here's what he would have looked like had Toybiz continued with a third series of the Generation X line. I wonder who ended up with all those prototypes and painted masters from all the unreleased series?
7-23-2007 - Here's the O.G. (original goblin) the Green Goblin! I just painted his pumpkin bomb, gave him a new man-purse and modified the Marvel Legends Goblin glider to work with him. I'll be showing a few customs of Spiderman foes in honor of the new Spiderman 3 movie (I know I am a little late), I've also made a new front page group shot of Spiderman villains that you can see in the main page.
7-19-2007 - I bought a beautiful Phoenix custom figure from customizer Christopher on Ebay recently. His seller account name is Islayerv. A very talented artist, he has completely built several figures out of sculptey modeling clay; that's some phenomenal sculpting ability, especially in regards to the female form!
7-16-2007 - Once a ruthless businessman named Simon Garth, Zombie was killed then reanimated as a walking corpse through voodoo. Much thanks to Dave Harris for the brilliant suggestion of using a Resident Evil zombie figure for the base!
7-13-2007 - I have some time this morning to comment on everyone's work today (Day 5), I wish I could have for the earlier days, I did go through every entry on every day and enjoyed seeing all the customs.
Masters of Evil - again, it's good to see my favorite incarnation of the MOE made here by Mister Hyde. Goliath is the perfect capper to the series. Once an Invader - Dave Harris shines with these 5" Marvels. I've been following his work for a while and he really stepped up his game here, all well done and detailed. Hellboy - these look fun, like all the gear. Liz looks really cute. Odd and Obscure Captain America Foes - Adam actually completed all of the Death Throws with this entry - WOW! for this old-school Marvel fan this entry is just awesome
7th Kingdom - Great lion warrior, good original sculpting. 7th kingdom should just continue indefinetly with animal warriors, forget having to vote every year! Joes - I am always amazed by Alyosha's customs, though I don't collect GI Joes, seeing his work always makes me wanna. Cool job on that invisible Zartan and i really like that Zanya! DC's Most Wanted - especially liked the Catman, DC Direct are you seeing this? Peanuts - so twisted! looks like Snoopy's lost a few scrapes with the Red Baron. DC Superfriends 2 - very cute and clean paintwork New Gods - nioe character designs, imaginative interpretation of Metron's chair. paintjob really makes it look realistic. love the battle worn look of Barda. Se7en - Fantastic likenesses and presentation, this is customizing on a whole 'nother level! Just a grimey, gritty, moody feel to this work and very haunting.
The Fwoosh did a great job with their first hosting of the show, even on short notice. Thanks for giving customizers another day on the calender to look forward to!
7-11-2007 - The standout for Day 2 (no disrespect to everyone else for that day) of CustomCon 17 has to be Cal's Customs - the man just seems to hit a home run every time, it's no wonder he is so highly regarded. I also liked "Unsung Heroes" for the spotlight on these character (though Thunderbird has probably moved up to be a bigger player). Exiles was well done and that upcoming Thunderbird head sculpt looks great.
Day 3 shows some more of my favorite incarnation of the Masters of Evil by customizer Mister Hyde. GI Joes looked factory made, I've always wished I had the funds to collect that line, so many cool characters. "Marvel Legends Visual Suggestion" had a great Kang, you wouldn't have to feel bad about missing out on the hard to find Toybiz FF one if you had this one. Matthew K's the Hand is VERY scary, great paintjobs on these.
My entry of the SHIELD Mandroid vs. the Hydra Dreadnought was also shown today. I'm really grateful for the comments I've read regarding them on the Fwoosh, home to so many talented customizers and toy fans. Can't forget Joe Avecedo and Brian R's. kinds words on "The Buzz" as well as fellow 5" customizers Adam Hammond, Dave Harris and Ken of Mattman's too - you guys made my day!
7-09-2007 - Seth is one of the Heliopolitans, the Marvel Universe's Egyptian deities. He is the god of death and misfortune and has been a foe to Thor, Odin (who destroyed his right hand in battle) and the other Asgardians (Norse gods).
Don't forget - CustomCon 17 starts today. I particularly liked two entries - Matthew K's Nextwave and Kyle Robinson's X-Men, though all the work shown today was very nice.
7-02-2007 - Mindless Ones inhabit the realm of the Dark Dimension. Although the land is ruled by Dormammu (a foe of Dr. Strange), no one can control these brutish, unthinking destroyers!
July 2007
6-29-2007 - Saw the new Transformers movie on Thursday after I won a pass from a local newspaper contest. Really entertaining, the humor (sometimes raunchy) carried the first half of the movie, non-stop intense action the rest. I wasn't gonna get the toys before because of the new designs (I only bought the Real Gear figures) but I may have to now. A must-see!
6-25-2007 - One of the ancient Elder Gods, Cthon is responsible for much of the evil in the Marvel Universe. Through the Darkhold, a tome that contains much of his secret arcane lore (but ultimately corrupting the soul of any user), hideous creatures such as vampires and werewolves were unleased upon the world.
6-18-2007 - Giant-Girl (now known as Stature) is the daughter of the late Scott Lang, also known as Ant-Man. Inheriting her father's power of growth from exposure to the Pym particles she joined the Young Avengers and helped them to battle Kang the Conqueror, the future persona of her teammate Iron Lad.
I was influenced by customizers K & L Customs work when making this figure, indeed I tried to win their auction of their custom Stature on Ebay a while back!
6-11-2007 - I was going to show this custom on Memorial Day but my digital camera konked out. Here's Captain America's World War II foe Baron Zemo I. I based this figure off the one Toybiz made in the 6" scale from the Marvel Legends 14 series.
6-10-2007 - Besides being a Marvel fan I am also a huge Transformers fanatic and I'm really looking forward to the upcoming movie (7-04-07!), but the first toys that I have been buying from the movie line are from the Real Gear series of realistic gadgets that transform into robots. They are all really nice but I didn't like the cartoony images on the viewscreens of the camera, binoculars and camcorder figures so I made some simple mods. If you like them please feel free to download them here, I also made one for the camera (Spyshot 6). You gotta print them out on a color printer at 300dpi and cut and glue them on but I think it makes the figures look much more realistic.
6-04-2007 - As comic book fans know Bruce Banner is the alter-ego of the Incredible Hulk! I took the Hulk Classics pack-in figure made by Toybiz and shrunk him down to 5" scale with new legs (from a Spiderman animated Peter Parker figure) and a shortened waist.
Also, this year's new Summer CustomCon 17 runs from July 9th through the 13th. The deadline is June 18th. It will be hosted by the Fwoosh. Certainly looking forward to seeing some awesome customs.
June 2007
5-31-2007 - I want to close out May with a showing of a custom figure I bought off Ebay from one of my favorite customizers, eaglelegends. Here's the massive android Bi-Beast! He's battled the Hulk frequently over the years. Once again, Eagle shows his skill in crafting humungous brutish figures.
5-28-2007 - Sabra is a superhero from Israel. She first appeared in the pages of the Hulk and recently co-starred in the excellent Union Jack miniseries, albeit in a new uniform.
5-21-2007 - Spiderman received a gift from fellow Avenger Iron Man in the form of a new armored costume and so became Iron Spider-Man for a short time. After the fallout from the Marvel Civil War, he went back to his black costume instead of the classic red and blue.
5-14-2007 - Triathlon has 3 times the speed, strength, endurance, senses and healing of a normal person. He joined the Avengers as their 50th recruit.
5-07-2007 - Firebird was a member of the Texas-based Rangers before joining the Avengers. While posting this, I can help but think of the record heat wave we've been having here in San Francisco the last few days
May 2007
4-30-2007 - Here's Avengers founder the Wasp in her modern costume (as she is known to do however, she already has a newer version of that costume in the new Mighty Avengers series). Once again, I used a Marvel Legends figure as a model, this was based on her series 15 figure. I'll be showing a couple of new Avengers over the next month, check it out!
4-23-2007 - Taking a cue from her Marvel Legends Series 12 figure, I made a custom of X-23. She is a clone of Wolverine and current member of the New X-Men. She only has two retractable adamantium claws on each hand, compared to Wolverine's three but unlike him she does have toe spikes!
4-16-2007 - Zeitgeist is a mutant with the power to vomit acid. He was the leader of X-Force, unfortunately he and most of his team was shockingly wiped out in X-Force #116, the debut issue of Peter Milligen and Mike Allred's run on the book.
4-08-2007 - On Day 5 of CustomCon 2007 there was quite a good amount of Marvel 5" scale representation. Adam Hammond of Bad Black Cat customs had a well done patriotic entry of characters who became Captain America (such an appropriate theme for the times). Dave Harris again delivers more great characters from the Ghost Rider universe. Sentinel's Infernal customs certainly did not look like hell, on the contrary, his Avengers entry looked very sharp. NHM, like Dave had a sweet reworked Ghost Rider. I was lucky enough to be a part of the Zodiac Cartel entry, my contribution to the team were the two water signs, Cancer and Pisces. I feel fortunate to be able to work with Adam, Dave, Andy Rallis and Ken of Mattman's on this group project because I really respect and admire their work and because they are truly a bunch of great guys.
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CustomCon Spring 2007 is on! As always this event promises some great customs as seen already from Day 1 and 2. It's always fun to see what the customizers come up with, there's a little something for everyone to appreciate. Fellow 5" customizers Ken and Matt of Mattman's produced a great Avengers circa 1993 entry which brings back some great memories for sure, made with their trademark care and skill. |
April 2007
3-26-2007 - U-Go-Girl was the team's teleporter in X-Force. Although a fan favorite she, like most of her teammates, died in the line of duty.
3-20-2007 - I finally have some free time to show some new customs, I'll be showing the members of X-Force (not the Rob Liefeld version but writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred's incarnation) over the next few weeks. First off, we have the Anarchist, who can secrete acidic sweat.
3-12-2007 - No new customs yet, but I did get some more pictures of unreleased Marvel Toybiz figures from an anonymous sender. They include better pictures of Generation X series 3, Ghost Rider Caretaker and a really cool Iron Man playset. Also, I added bigger pictures of the X-Men Flying Fighters Jean Grey, Age of Apocalypse Sinister and Maggott (still need a better picture of Cyclops). Check them all out in my unreleased section.
March 2007
2-25-2007 - Joining Shriek and Demogoblin in Carnage's murderous crusade was the deadly Carrion (who could kill with either a touch of a finger or his red dust weapon). Along with the Spiderman Doppleganger, they were known collectively as Maximum Carnage. I hope you have enjoyed the flashback to the 90's these last few weeks. Although a much maligned era of Marvel history it is still one that I grew up with and is quite fond of. I probably won't have many updates next month since it will be a busy one for me though I am preparing a CustomCon 16 entry. Don't forget, the deadline is March 12th if you want to enter your customs. See you back in April!
2-19-2007 - Shriek joined with Carnage and several other psychotic villains in a killing spree during the "Maximum Carnage" crossover in the various Spiderman titles, starting in 1993's Spiderman Unlimited #1.
2-12-2007 - In the 90's Spiderman foe the Hobgoblin was fused with a demon in an attempt to gain more power. He eventually became known as the Demogoblin! I also took a shot of him "flying"
2-10-2007 - Here's the teleporter for the Mutant Liberation Front, the android Zero. They are foes of X-Force.
2-05-2007 - Bastion is a fusion of two of the Sentinels (Master Mold and Nimrod), the relentless robotic foes of the X-Men.
February 2007
1-29-2007 - Phantazia possesses energy and disruption powers. As a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants, she fought X-Force.
1-22-2007 - Fabian Cortez led the Acolytes, a cult that worshipped Magneto. However, he was secretly also a member of another group, the Upstarts, whose goals were to eliminate mutants as part of a competition for immortality - the master of magnetism would have have been worth many points indeed!
1-18-2007 - I made a small addition to my Bishop custom, basically gave him his mullet hair, which he was sporting when he first appeared in the 1991 from Uncanny X-Men #282.
1-15-2007 - Here's Sleepwalker, who like Darkhawk, made his 1st appearance in his own title in 1991. He only ventures out when his host, college student Rick Sheridan is asleep. His comic series lasted 33 issues, he's only made sporadic appearances since.
1-08-2007 - Even though it's a new year, for the next few weeks I'll be taking it back to the 90's, a somewhat maligned era of Marvel but still one I grew up reading. Though Darkhawk had his own series (beginning in March 1991 and lasting a respectable 50 issues) and even joined the Avengers, he all but disappeared for a few years until his recent appearances in Runaways.
1-02-2007 - Happy New Year! Hope everyone had a great '06 and will have an even better '07! As always one of my New Year's resolutions will be to try to show a new custom 5" scale Marvel figure every Monday or so, which I will be doing starting new week. Since I started customizing in 2002, I've always wanted to have figures of most of the characters from the Marvel Universe (especially from the old handbooks) and after more than 4 years I can finally see an end in sight. For now, I'd like to share some of my thoughts on the best toys from 2006, since there are quite a few polls on the various action figure sites (AFT, mwctoys and TNI for example). Thanks again for visiting my site and for the emails, as always I appreciate any and all feedback.
January 2007
Older Updates
2003 Updates - This was the year I started making customs from the rest of the Marvel Universe
2002 Updates - My earliest work, back when I was doing only X-Men custom figures
