I recently stumbled across the last remaining evidence of some of my early efforts at customizing. Most of these are from 1994-1995. I’d been customizing all my life. I simply didn’t know it had a name until that point.
Bear in mind there was no internet or Photoshop back then. Everything you see here was done by hand with paint, an x-acto blade, and a color copier. And outside of legitimate Kenner parts, the closest thing to the right scale was Playmate’s Star Trek line. I think you’ll be able to see where some of those were used.
You can read the story behind Harley here.
Sadly, most of these have been recycled into other projects, or are otherwise lost to time. Of course, I’ve improved a little since then.
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- The first of so many Harleys.
A gift for my old pal Meghan, from our Swing dance days.
This was a Supergirl statue I obtained on eBay. I applied the paint. She’s pretty rough, but she’s all we had back then.
These are Kitty Pryde and Mystique, based on the “X-Men: Evolution” line and cartoon. I know I had made some others, too. They seem to have not been photographed. (I also remember starting a “costumed” Blob, but that didn’t get far.
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Easy: A simple parts swap. Little if any paint.
Basic: Some modified parts. Mostly a new paint job.
Moderate: New and modified parts.
Skilled: Lots of new and modified parts. “Frankensteining” often involved.
Advanced: All of the above, plus a great deal of original sculpting.
What did you use to make these xmen evolution figures? Been trying to find the right parts for a long time!
Oh, man, that was such a long time ago. I don’t recall the details. I think Mystique was built on a Storm base. Maybe. And Kitty…. I don’t remember!
Darn! Well you did an amazing job on them!
Thanks, David!
Hi! I think I’ve found the base you used for this custom if anyone asks again. The legs, head and torso are a match for Avengers: United They Stand series, Wasp figure. It’s what I’m going to use. It looks like the arms came from something else, which I’m still looking for. ^_^
That sounds about right. The timing fits, and I know I had some of those Wasp figures in use at the time. No clue about the arms. Let me know what you work out!
My first exposure to customising was with X-Men Evolution and remember these as some of the first I ever came across online! Clicked on this article with hope they’d make an appearance 🙂 I never did get round to making either character myself, but I recall picking up a Wasp figure specifically. Those arms are from a Dale Arden figure from the Flash Gordon series, IIRc. Hope that helps!
Yes, Dale Arden! That makes sense. Always had some of those lying around, as they were so cheap and plentiful at KB Toys. Thanks.
Thanks for the arms tip! I haven’t made a lot of progress yet, but this will certainly help!
Cas… I love your work, you know it… But these, these are just fantastic… Thanks for sharing.
Ha! Thanks! Sometimes you have to look back to see how far you’ve come.
It’s amazing to see that you already did this in the very years i was born. incredible.
also nice to see you improved even more over the years.
i use your custom gallery as examples when i’m looking for inspiration.
Thanks. Happy I can help inspire. But man, did you just make me feel old! 😉
Hello
Your work is very wonderful and great
I want to ask a question
Is kitty pryde currently available, and if so, what are the details, and if not, how do I find, like kitty pryde?
I’m sorry, I do not sell my customs. (And Kitty is so old, I don’t think this custom figure exists anymore.) But I am always happy to answer questions if you should try making your own.
Would you ever commission any of your custom figures for clients?
Sorry, I do not accept commissions.