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  • Arthur Adams’ Art
  • Pop Up Paint Night Parties
  • Murals
  • The Artwork
  • The Toy Collection
  • Contact
  • Colorin'
  • A Custom A Day.... 2015 365 days of custom figures
  • Arthur Adams’ Art

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

A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 35 - Marvel Legends Aurora by Raynir

2/5/2015

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Aurora is the most recent figure that Raynir has created for me and the first piece of his as part of the A Custom A Day project. The irony of this piece is that although it is the most recent, it is the first piece that introduced me to Raynir's work without me even knowing, his unique photography style later tipped me off to this fact since he tends to post triptych photos of his work on his auctions with a full on front pose and two flanking angular shots next to it.

Aurora and her twin brother Northstar have been depicted a couple of times as ️toys before in their matching black and white costumes in Toy Biz's 5 inch line, Aurora was made in the 4 inch Marvel Universe line in 2014 yet Northstar still awaits release as part of the quickly failing Marvel Infinite line and lastly as fan poll prototypes still awaiting release in the Marvel Legends line back in the early 00's, when Toy Fare magazine was still in print, however this, her second costume has yet to appear in plastic form produced by any toy company.

I stumbled on Raynir's work while searching the net for customs of characters in costumes that I wanted in my collection. I always loved this costume for Aurora, and when I saw it rendered in plastic I HAD TO have it. He nailed it! The only problem was that the auction that she was listed in had ended with a winning bid so she was no longer available. I took a screen cap of the finished piece and held on to it hoping to one day have someone recreate her for me. Several months later I purchased my first piece from Raynir, a custom DC Universe Classics Katana figure. This too was a recreation of an eBay auction. This time I was a part of the bidding but stopped because the winning bid got too rich for my blood. I reached out to him to ask if he would recreate Katana for me for the amount of my losing bid and he agreed, making her the most expensive custom piece in my collection and I own over 5,000 loose action figures and over 350 customs. (Hence the ability to share this project with you.)

Since Katana, Raynir has created a dozen or so other custom characters for me, including almost all of the main female members of the Legion of Super Heroes from the 70's that Mattel failed to produce, but more about the another day. His work has a factory produced quality to his paint jobs. They are clean, smooth and fit in seamlessly with my existing collection.

I knew I wanted him to make me this incarnation of Jean-Marie and he didn't disappoint. Although she uses a Donna Troy body from the DC Universe Classics line as her base she ties in seamlessly with my existing Marvel Legends line. Now I need a Sasquatch to pose her with. Do you see how this hoard thing works? It's a vicious never ending cycle!!!

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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!!!

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