A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 148 - Toy Biz 5 inch Jean Grey by 4:F

5/28/2015

It took nearly 25 years but the fans finally got a Jim Lee Jean Grey in the Marvel Legends scale. The 5 inch collectors weren't as fortunate. Sure she was released in the Puzzle Zoo She Force assortment as a repainted Domino figure and again as a reprint of the Age of Apocalypse Battle Blaster figure but she never saw a release as a unique sculpt.

One was FINALLY planned towards the end of the line in the X-Men Flying Fighters line. Promo photos of the line were featured in Tomart's and I was scheduled to visit Toy Fair that year with a friend who knew the guys at Toy Biz. I (1997) was excited to be getting an insider's look at all of the upcoming Toy Biz 5 inch figures before the rest of the public. This was a time before the internet granted us instant access to everything, this was when you had to wait for a monthly magazine to deliver your news. I was going to see the Jean Hrey that would FINALLY finish Jim Lee's Gold team and round out the X-men. I was going to see the Maggott prototype also featured in the wave, a newer character but one that had a cool design for a toy so I was Excited to see he was also being made.. Then I arrived. The wave was there. Maggott was there. Jean wasn't. She had been replaced by Wolverine because female figures don't sell. I was less than happy, Jean would never see a proper release in this scale. So I had to make a custom.

She uses a Phoenix body with Domino's arms. I didn't do a great job sanding down her sash. She's not great but she finally filled in the hole left by Toy Biz all those years ago.

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A Custom A Day....

Since I began toy collecting as a hobby back in 1990 I have always had a need for custom figures. Toy companies begin action figure lines, begin to release individual characters to create teams and, more often than not leave them incomplete. Many collectors find that custom figures pollute their collection's authenticity by not being mass produced creations from the toy companies that created the preexisting toy lines. I disagree. I feel a quality custom action figure enhances a collection and help create a complete picture.

When characters are chosen for a toy line several factors come in to play. The character's current media relevance (if any), their most iconic look (they may have had multiple costumes through their sometimes vast histories) and gender. Female action figures tend to not sell to parents of the boys who are playing with them so a great many of the female characters are never rendered in plastic in the way the male characters are leaving holes in the collections.

I am a fan of the female heroes primarily so I have purchased and made quite a few "customs" throughout my years as a collector. I find it challenging (ok impossible) to get a smooth, quality finish to my sculpt work, downgrading the quality of my figure's appearance that I create so my custom work tend to be of a Frankenstein type nature where I use different parts such as a torso and arms from one figure attached to the hips and legs of another, and a different head with a full cost of paint to create my pieces. I also struggle with painting facial details on figures. The small areas, the eyes in particular give me the biggest issues. I prefer to reuse another head from a different character that will allow me to not have to paint the facial details since I am heavy handed and tend to paint in clumps rather than smooth, factory produced finishes that many of the customizers I work with can achieve.

Most of the figures that I have in my collection that have intricate sculpting and paint details have been created by other artists from around the world. The UK, The Philippines, Australia, Hong Kong, Canada and from several states throughout the US through personal communication or via eBay, which can be an outstanding resource for quality custom work. I've had the pleasure of meeting some incredibly talented artists through websites & social media. Over the past two years seeking out quality custom figures has become the main focus of my collection. Which is at over 5,000 loose pieces. As you will see over the course of this year this does not just affect super hero toy lines. I collect different toy lines spanning the 1960's through today covering cartoons, movies and television in addition to comic books. Some of the custom pieces I have had done wouldn't have been made as toys because of lack of consumer interest or based on licensing issues simply cannot be made in to toys. I haven't let that stop me from using several different toy lines to amass a complete plastic collection of all of the media I have enjoyed throughout my life.

I have decided to begin a project called A Custom A Day.... to showcase my custom pieces one a day, every day throughout 2015. If you follow me on social media or on this site you may have seen many of them before but with this project I will give a little background of each figure and its relevance to my collection. So check back daily!!!

A CUSTOM A DAY.... 365 Days of custom figures

A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 148 - Toy Biz 5 inch Jean Grey by 4:F

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A Custom A Day....

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