Outpost 206

As I mentioned in last week’s What’s On My Desk update, this Flesh Golem is the first of three spooky season builds and I was absolutely thrilled to get this project wrapped up earlier in the week. Like my Orc Warrior custom, this was another sculpting-heavy build though there were some minor kitbashing elements involved. It also gave me the opportunity to use some of my cache of crafting beads that I amassed at various garage sales and Goodwills in the early part of the year and haven’t really done much with aside from my two early attempts at bead bots . My starting point was a Molten Man figure from the Spider-Man Far from Home movie line that I picked up on clearance for about $6 if memory serves. I wasn’t entirely sure what to do with it initially, but at some point, I looked at its texture and came up with the idea that it would make for a really great undead flesh-monster, like Gerogero from Final Fantasy VIII or a Faceless from XCOM 2 (my two main inspirations for this custom,

 As I continue to juggle multiple projects at once and (despite my best efforts to resist the urge) add new ones all the time, I’m kicking around the idea of making these quickie works-in-progress updates every Thursday. Over the course of the last few days, I’ve shifted my efforts from the usual ninjas and cyborgs (and cyborg ninjas) and whatever else was left over from last week’s What’s On My Desk towards three new projects that are more in line with the spirit of spooky season. From left to right we have: A fiendish Flesh Golem using a Spider-Man: Far From Home Molten Man figure I got on clearance months ago. Using parts from a Dollar Tree skeleton decoration and some organs and engorged limbs I’m planning to sculpt myself, my goal here is to create my first real monster kitbash (one heavily inspired by Gerogero/Fake President from Final Fantasy VIII). This will be a really fun one to paint, since it has a ton of recesses and textures that should really pop with some washe

  All the way back in August, I posted Part 1 of what I planned on being my first “premium” action figure customization but, as I’m sure you can guess by the delay between the kitbashing article and this one, the end result turned out to be anything but. Overall, was this a major learning experience? Yes. Was I way too overambitious here, having only started doing this for about six months with only a handful of considerably less complex action figure customizations under my belt? Yes. Were mistakes made along the way? Oh yeah. I was on the fence about whether or not I wanted to even follow up on Part 1 since I’m not at all satisfied with the final product, but then I had to remind myself that this blog is here to document my hobbies for better or for worse, and there will always be bumps (and disgustingly lumpy, brushstroke laden paint jobs) along the way. And since I made a Part 1, I feel like I’m obligated to make a Part 2, but this won’t be my typical after-action report where I

 When I’m gathering materials for future projects, it’s not often that I’ll see a piece and know exactly what I want to do with it but that wasn’t the case when I picked up this cartoony-looking Brock Lesnar wrestling figure for a few cents at a garage sale. I know right then and there that I wanted to turn Brock Lesnar into Orc Lesnar. How exactly I would go about doing that, I would figure out along the way. The first step after cleaning the figure was removing any of the visual cues that were decidedly un-orcy (to coin a phrase). After losing a hair vs hair match against my dremel, the figure’s head was further wet-sanded and to smooth it out. I hit the tip of his nose with the dremel as well to give it a flatter, more orc-like appearance. I didn’t bother sanding down the two lumpy indentations that it left in the nose because I figured that was a neat bit of texture. I already had the head’s features in mind when I began sculpting his ears and massive underbite out of milli

 Since we’re nearing the end of October’s second week, I should probably make an update on what I’ve been working on for my ongoing 31 Days of Customs challenge. Here’s a shot of all the projects (in various stages of completion) that’s currently on my desk: From left to right, we have: My mostly-complete Ninja Commando custom. I just need to go over his camouflage one more time and add a clear coat and I’ll finally be done with this cursed project. Another ninja (who I’m tentatively calling Blue Dragon Ninja or Aotatsu) that I kitbashed using parts from a handful of different 4-in Fortnite figures. I feel like I need to add some more details to his Ryu Hayabusa-esque helmet before I start prepping him for paint. The Orc Warrior. This was a really fun one and I’ll reveal more when I’m done with it, which should be soon. I applied a few washes the last time I worked on it and set it aside to dry. I just need to do some touching up, dry brushing, and highlights. A Dead Cells-inspired He

 You could probably consider this one another quickie since it was a relatively simple kitbash with an even simpler paint job. The objective here was to take three one dollar Final Faction action figures from the Dollar Tree and Frankenstein them together into what I hope is at least a $3.50 action figure. I wanted to go for a cyberpunk concept here and figured that I had all the pieces I needed to make what I imagined (halfway through the build) to be like a kind of security android for some oppressive mega-corporation. Here’s what I started with: Final Faction’s Steadfast, Steel, and Ruck. I knew I wanted to keep Steadfast’s torso/vest and robot arm, but how I would arrange the other pieces would take a bit of experimentation. One of the things that make the Dollar Tree’s Final Faction line a dream for beginner customizers like me is not only their $1 price point, but also the fact that they come apart incredibly easy. All you have to do is remove a screw or two from the back. If o

This being my 31 Days of Customs, not every project is going to be some big, involved production like a top-to-bottom action figure customization or a full miniature conversion. Expect a few quickies this month too and a Dollar Tree He-Man figurine provided me with the perfect fodder for that (see my article on the Dollar Tree Disco Skeletor ). The moment I picked this figurine up, I knew from the start what I wanted to do with it, and that’s redeco it as an homage to the mythical Wonder Bread He-Man figure. If you don’t know the legend behind Wonder Bread He-Man, the mysterious mail-away figure from the 1980’s, it’s probably one of toy collecting’s greatest rabbit holes. If you’re interested in the story behind Wonder Bread He-Man (aka Wundar aka Savage He-Man), I highly recommend Toy Galaxy’s video on the subject as well as the possible origin behind this collectible holy grail from Spector Creative. Backstory aside, here’s the piece right out of the package. After washing it i