A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 161 - ITW Super Powers Wendy

6/10/2015

ITW Super Powers figures, an enigma of the toy community. ITW or International Toy Werks is a rogue "company" that has put together two pretty extensive lines of custom Super Powers figures with custom packaging to help fill in the ranks that Kenner left dangling with the end of the original Super Powers line back in the 80's. Characters that never had a chance to sell at retail have been cast in resin and somewhat mass produced to create this line. I have only picked up the two sets of teen sidekicks made by ITW. Wendy, Marvin & Wonder Dog were from the first wave of the first set of figures released. This is notable because the first wave tried to replicate a power action by assembling the figures with elastic bands. The idea was that their arms get wound and once released their arms would "swing" simulating a punching action. The issue was that the bands they used were brittle and eventually broke, needing to be replaced. They solved this issue by using magnets to assemble the second assortment of the first wave. Today's figure is Wendy since she her name comes first on the Intel to the cartoon. I liked Wendy as a kid because she was voiced by Sheri Alberoni the voice actress who played Alexandra on Josie & the Pussycats.

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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 161 - ITW Super Powers Wendy

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A Custom A Day....

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