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New Figures, Old Parts: An Idea Thread


stack32

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With some of the discussion about BAFs and my own dissatisfaction with how a few of the recently announced characters were adapted I got to thinking about new minimates that could be made using only  parts that already exist. I'm thinking of characters/costumes that wouldn't be shortchanged by parts reuse, like Purple Man, rather than "close enough" versions, like the Red King or Mandroid. Here are a few of my ideas:

2008 Guardians of the Galaxy Drax. Drax is easy, just a regular body with knives for accessories, the ones from X-Force Warpath would work perfectly for what he was using at the time.

Classic Guardians of the Galaxy: Vance Astro and Martinex. Vance would just be the standard body with Cap's shield. Martinex would be the standard body with fairly complicated printing and probably some power blasts. I could see the argument that he could use new sculpted pieces but I doubt that would actually look any better.

New Warriors: Nova/Kid Nova, Namorita, Rage. Either of Nova's looks could be made using the parts from the Nova Corps Centurion. The blue and gold version wasn't quite correct before so that could be tweaked with a new head. Namorita could use the hair from ASM Gwen and, obviously, Namor's foot wings. I don't see Rage as being large enough to be bulked-up, so the familiar leather jacket piece as a vest would do the job, and maybe add the bracelets from Marvel NOW Thor.

Spider-Man Villains: Modern Electro and Tombstone. Since the modern version of Electro is a little more subdued he could just use the regular body and some lightning pieces. Throwing in the mask would be nice if the part was still available. Tombstone could easily be a new head on a suit since there's a hairpiece that works for him. With the collar from Morbius you could get the costume version like the current ML figure. They could probably make both looks with just one figure.

A-List: Astonishing Wolverine (Cassaday) and Classic Stealth Iron Man. Yes, these would both be redos, but the previous versions are quite old and Wolverine didn't have a mask. Wolverine would mostly be the MvC version with different printing (the costumes aren't exactly the same) and the NOW Wolverine mask since the shorter wings would be more accurate. The extra mask that hangs around the neck would be a nice addition. I'm torn on whether the boots would be better printed our using the usual Wolverine boot piece. Probably not a popular suggestion but it's my favorite (or maybe second favorite) Wolverine costume so it would be nice to see it get a good minimate. Iron Man would be the Classic Heroic Age/Best Of version in blue. Metallic blue paint would add a little bit of interest to the figure.

I'm curious to see what everyone else would come up with.

Edited by stack32
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I think stack is going beyond quick customs, he is talking about re-using tooling with new factory paint jobs.

Obviously, it's easy to reuse a suit body to make another suited character without "shortchanging" the character in most situations. And since most of the characters listed are fairly basic outfits, mostly accomplished by tampo, it's really just a perfectly feasible wish list. (Although I'm not sure how the two Richard Riders and two Sam Alexanders we've made were not accurate, and I think the Draxes we've made, while less green, make Drax the LEAST necessary comic Guardian re-do.)

But if the implication is that Red King and Mandroid were "shortchanged" by reusing existing armor pieces, I think that those parts are the reason those characters were possible. Most parts are tooled with the expectation or re-use like this, and rather than tooling all-new parts for 3rd-tier characters like Red King and Mandroids, we simply would not make them.

If the suggestion is that bare-bones characters like modern Electro and Tombstone should replace larger armored characters as a rule if the armor is not going to be 100% accurate, I think that's a mistake. The bulkier armored characters are appealing to kids and casual fans, not to mention collectors, and while new characters should always be attempted (see TRU 24 and 25), I think the bulky armored characters give the line much-needed visual and thematic diversity. In fact, I think we should make MORE bulky armored characters.

a78e8e6c-ff45-4e2b-b2a3-e0bb2db03068-166

 

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While Red King's minimate isn't a perfect rendition of his comic look (his look in the one picture I can find of him, anyway), I'm not sure how much new parts would fix that. It seems like a difficult look to translate. With the Mandroid, there's a pretty major contrast between the body and limbs, but I would have just used Sentinel boots and plain arm/thigh covers instead of the incongruous Hulkbuster parts.

I think the Novas we've gotten have been pretty good. The Richard Riders' gold paint could have been more vibrant, and the Annihilation one's helmet was a bit weird, though.

Gamora would be my pick for the least needed comic Guardian. DST should definitely redo her if they make the rest of the team, but at least she has her DnA-era costume.

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9 hours ago, BuffaloDelorean said:

While Red King's minimate isn't a perfect rendition of his comic look (his look in the one picture I can find of him, anyway), I'm not sure how much new parts would fix that. It seems like a difficult look to translate. With the Mandroid, there's a pretty major contrast between the body and limbs, but I would have just used Sentinel boots and plain arm/thigh covers instead of the incongruous Hulkbuster parts.

I could see that. I wonder if some Thanos boots would deliver a more 1980s Handbook appearance. Has anyone tried to emphasize the Man in Mandroid? I have not seen a mod liket this

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As Zach said, "a perfectly feasible wish list" is basically what I was going for as I find this kind of thing more interesting with some restrictions. So, figures you'd like that would require no new tooling and not be worse off for it. I guess I didn't do a good job explaining it. Or no one was interested.

Also, if there's confusion, I absolutely meant a design like the Red King is compromised by using the existing pieces. I understand why and don't doubt that something like what we've seen is the only way the character would be made but it is an example of a character design being forced onto existing parts. What degree of compromise people are satisfied with is up to them. I certainly wouldn't want to see DST not make bulky characters, I'd just like them to be as close to the comic design as feasible. Sometimes that may not be close.

As for Nova, this is the classic design I had in mind:

Richard-Rider.jpg.e0ec451c7799c82d72c16b2669742b6c.jpg

The waist and gloves are a little different than the Centurion that was made before and the shoulder pieces probably wouldn't be necessary. A brighter gold would be nice too. The uniform has definitely been drawn more like the minimate we have, especially the Centurions during the Annihilation era, so I wouldn't say it was inaccurate, just that a few tweaks would make a better classic Nova. Obviously that would only matter if other New Warriors were being made at the same time.

 

 

 

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I think Buffalo is right that the only thing that compromised the Red King design was that it is a Minimate. I think it's pretty accurate, not sure specifically sculpted parts would really capture the disproportionate exo-skeleton aspect of the suit, and I'm not sure it's an iconic enough look to be worth the effort. The Minimate may improve on it!

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On 8/14/2017 at 7:04 AM, BuffaloDelorean said:

With the Mandroid, there's a pretty major contrast between the body and limbs, but I would have just used Sentinel boots and plain arm/thigh covers instead of the incongruous Hulkbuster parts..

BD beat me to this post. Totally agree that the smooth Sentinel boots would have been the way to go.  Only new gloves would have been needed. This would be a good opportunity for an upgrade if it's ever re-released in any format, like say an army builder 4-pack...

(nevertheless, I bought four sets and distributed the extra ice parts to my Iceman mates. but I'd buy four more if re-done!)

Edited by elhonez
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I'll bite...

83267-168028-eel.gifThe infamous Eel... all standard parts. Hella complicated paint aps.

 

79825-137050-cyclone.jpgCyclone. Paint, long hair.

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latest?cb=20091110021020latest?cb=20161009043559

Speedball. Only non-standard part is the recent Pyro mask/goggle/hair combo.

 

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@Heinous, he used to.

@NerdyTrev- While all of your list overlaps mine, I'm not show all of them fit the premise. Trapster and Psycho-Man would likely need new parts, unless Darkseid's helmet is available for Psycho-Man. And most of Trapster's suits have that big backpack tank with hoses leading to his guns. (Although Pyro's flamethrower pack could do)
Constrictor is mostly easy enough, but his coils are mounted on the back of his hand, the tentacle gauntlets that exist now mount the tentacles under the wrist. So either they re-use old part and make them "wrong" or make a new part, which is what we're shooting not to have. She-Thing kinda needs a new chest piece that lets her look a little more female.. 

But Mad Thinker, Rick Jones, and Sharon's Ms. Marvel (in either red/blue or purple/teal) would work.

 

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I might be in the minority here, but I wouldn't be mad about a Darla Deering Thing. 

29217465083ea1891a96c20466b45ec7--comic-

Truth be told, now that Animated Medusa has happened, we could do an almost entirely parts re-use FF wave. Only Ant-Man would require new tooling for his helmet, But Darla, Medusa & She-Hulk could all be made quite well without any new parts.
Alas - I think their moment may have passed.

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Using the Pyro mask for Speedball hadn't occurred to me. It's not perfect but it would work pretty well, and since there's tooling for a cat they could make Niels, which would be kind of awesome just for how unlikely it would be.

Eel was another character I was thinking of when I wrote my initial list. Throw in some lightning pieces and you're good to go. I'd agree that Constrictor would need new hands for his tentacles, though he is high on my list of minor villains I'd like to see done. Mad Thinker is a perfect fit for the theme. Cyclone would work too but he seems like a character that is crying out for a whirlwind base (which could be reused for, uh, Whirlwind). Rick Jones is easy, I feel like he would need something to make him stand out. Maybe the red jacket, yellow shirt look with Nega-Bands would be enough.

As Nessex said, with the animated Medusa hair most of her comic looks would fit here.

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@DSTZach- I will happily take either.

21 minutes ago, stack32 said:

Rick Jones is easy, I feel like he would need something to make him stand out. Maybe the red jacket, yellow shirt look with Nega-Bands would be enough.

It's Rick Jones. Pair him with a Hulk and you're good. (but I like the look you described and the Nega-Bands are a must accessory) Rick's also IMO a good choice for a BAF.

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