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

A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 272 - Famous Covers Psylocke by 4:F

9/29/2015

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Nothing more than a haircut. It's still too long, I may cut it again but for some reason Toy Biz rooted it to her knees.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 271 - Famous Covers Black Widow by 4:F

9/28/2015

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Black Widow was released with a brownish, auburny tint to her hair. I wanted it RED like it appears in the comics so I took a Sharpie to it. All better.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 270 - DC Universe Classics Negative Man Power Effect

9/27/2015

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Sometimes it's the smallest things that keep a figure from being complete. Mattel did a great job getting the core Doom Patrol released. Outside of painting a second figure of him black, I thought a simple color printout was just as effective.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 269 - X-Men The Movie Kitty Pryde by 4:F

9/27/2015

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Kitty was an easy custom, I used brown paint to cover Rogue's white stripe in her hair. Done. The likeness isn't very Anna Paquin to begin with so why not have it not look exactly like Ellen Paige either.Look, I grew up in the 70's, my Wonder Woman figure looked more like Apache Chief than Wonder Woman so I'm not picky.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 268 - Marvel Legends X-Factor Marvel Girl by 4:F

9/24/2015

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Toy Biz did all four male members of the original X-Factor team in Legends scale but the lone female was left out as usual. I'm so glad that Hasbro is working so hard to release two females per wave to help fill in the gaps of teams and give us characters that have long needed representation in plastic form. Times they are a changin'. Jean uses a head casting of the Jim Lee Hush Poison Ivy figure from DC Direct. Her neck hole needed modifying but fits nicely. Her body is from a Marvel Legends Scarlet Witch. The rest is apoxie sculpt and paint. The Inferno X-Factor team is now complete.

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A Custom A Day....365 days of custom figures

9/24/2015

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 267 - Mego Kid Flash

9/23/2015

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I purchased this custom ages ago, way before FiguresToyCompany was even a thought and way before they rereleased remakes of the very expensive original Mego Teen Titans. He's made with Dr. Mego reproduction parts.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 266 - DC Universe Classics Green Lantern Turytt

9/23/2015

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Finishing off my custom Green Lantern collection is Turytt. He's another eBay purchase, I purchased him in a lot. I got a good deal last year on 4 GL customs and couldn't resist adding to the ranks.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 266 - DC Universe Classics Green Lantern Kraken

9/22/2015

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Kraken is another eBay purchase by an unknown artist.

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A Custom A Day.... 365 days of custom figures Day 264 - DC Universe Classics Green Lantern Hannu by 4:F

9/22/2015

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A fairly common recipe for this character, I used a movie Fantastic Four Thing. No sculpting required, just paint. I used metallic green to give him more of a DC Direct feel.

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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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  • 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