elhonez

Almost forgot the obligatory group shot...

The ulterior motive... There is one Iron Fist villain I can't bring myself to customize, because I think he deserves his own MiniMate. If Zach Oat is reading this, pass this on up to the top DST brass! I am talking about Constrictor, here. He buddied up with Sabretooth to square off against Power Man & Iron Fist as probably the most recognizable duo to do so in the original run. We've got FA Sabretooth, now we need this cat. And look at the precedents here... Firstly, plastic. He's got a Marvel Legends figure, a Marvel Universe figure, he was one of the last Secret Wars waves in the 80s, he's got a collectible statue, a Bowen bust, a HeroClix... Media - he's been in Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, as well as the popular browser game Avengers Alliance... Comics - he's a cover villain for sure, been up against heavies like Cap, Hulk, and Iron Man, and has been featured regularly in modern comics too. It's time, man! It would make a super-sweet MiniMate... he could come with coils to wrap around other MiniMates, like this Spider-Man piece... [Hail Ivan] OK, I'll get off my soapbox now. But seriously! Constrictor in 2016! Schlichting in Sixteen!!

H'ylthri The H'ythri are a race of extra dimensional plant-beings, I believe from K'un L'un. One was retconned to have shape-shifted to take Iron Fist's place, thus offering a nice excuse as to why he didn't really die at the end of PM/IF. So this is technically an army-builder. Sasquatch chest cap painted green, plus Groot, plus some ivy-textures printed out as shin and forearm decals, as well as a custom head decal. Steel Serpent Story-wise, probably the most significant of these customs. Decals for forearms/shins/chest on a Darkstalkers Demitri base. Cannonball collar. Elektra loincloth & Iron Fist bandana carefully painted green. I also used a FA Ryu set of feet to have a guide to carefully paint-pen the slippers on. Fans of the Netflix Daredevil series will recognize his chest symbol as the same that appeared on Madame Gao's drug packets.

"The Ninja" A hodgepodge of Foot Ninja & the dude from The Wolverine movie, with some black paint. And X-Force wrist & ankle bands, to simulate "ninja wraps." This dude was a powerful pawn of Master Khan. So I think I'm as bored with this theme as everyone else, so... On the 11th & 12th days of Fistmas... Hint for 11: The grand finale of the O.G. Power Man & Iron Fist culminated in the "death" of "Iron Fist." But in true Marvel fashion, it turned out not to be him. But an... army builder?? WTF? I made one, because I'm sick in the head. Who died in the last issue of Power Man & Iron Fist?? Hint for 12: This is the dude that everyone with any bronze age sense would immediately think of if I said I was doing Iron Fist villains. Superman::Bizarro, Spider-Man::Venom, Iron Fist::??

Yeah, agreed. Rufus is an odd figure. I suppose I could use Blob hands and paint a dark wrist band on.

Indeed, there is... http://drmcninja.com/ And it would be an easy custom. But Fistmas #10 isn't that cool.

Khumbala Bey And YOU are... the weakest link! Hulk parts, Thing boots, Rufus arms/head, Cap crew cut hair, Cable belt, Green Arrow. On the tenth day of Fistmas... Hint: It takes some stones to use a definite article in front of your name, especially when your name might imply "army builder."

Scimitar Mandarin hair, Akuma chest/arms, red gloves, Colossus boots, Daredevil legs (?), Phoenix belt painted white, vest painted red, face decal, a scimitar (maybe from one of the pirates? I forget). I was pleased with how this one turned out. On the ninth day of Fistmas... Hints: This guy is mega-weak, both as a villain and as my worst custom of the bunch. He was a last-minute addition, something I realized I could shoe-horn in if I cut some corners. I used Green Arrow's chest, for instance, but didn't even bother to trim the arrows off, because I didn't want to destroy a perfectly good GA figure for this mort. I think he comes from the same country as Scimitar here. His first name sounds like that campfire song, "___, my lord, ___" His last name is shared with that of a director known for making massive blockbusters of questionable artistic merit, but is spelled differently.

Think I know who... The "heroes" though are coming on another wave. Spoiler alert: I am doing "Iron Fist" from the last issue...

Yes! I'm happy now! Sorry, I promise I'll be less of a nerd when posting my next batch of obscure customs. But until then... Master Khan It's basically BSG Lucifer, with an X-Acto trimmed Skrull collar glued to his chest. Head/hands = Kor, Hair = movie Mandarin painted black. Plus a decal for the Skrull collar. EZ. On the... what, eighth? day of Fistmas, this s**t happened... Hint: The only other dude on this list named after a weapon. Only it's not a Japanese weapon, but one more associated with the Middle East. He's made a modern comeback of sorts, but of course I made his 70s look.

And because this: PWN! btw... Hint #3: the latest creation rhymes with "Faster Prawn." And was the first guess of the first day of Fistmas. Though it was the wrong image.

AOA Storm is GREAT.

Trap Jaw and Mer-Man are money.

Thanks Netglow! I'm also bothered by the nostrils a bit. That plus whenever I see him pictured, he's got some kind of manic smile. "Philip Phoenix," on the other hand, has got a pretty well-matched face with Kor the Klingon, said Hint #2.

Good man. I figured you were being generous... Let me know what you think. Again, I'll re-print the decal sometime, but my approach was: Deadman base, decals for the short sleeves, chest & belt, X3 Beast head, Snowbird hands, Colossus hair. X-Force boots. Sisko collar for the turtleneck. Warhawk On the seventh day of Fistmas, my ninja gave to me... Hint: OK, time for the big guns. If he were a movie title, he'd be Philip Seymour Hoffman & Joaquin Phoenix mashed up with... [*he's had a lot of looks - I'm looking for the classic / bronze age look]

Hint #3: He not only battled Iron Fist in Marvel Premiere, but also appeared in one of the early Claremont/Cockrum X-Men issues.

Hint #2: I used Snowbird's hands, because they approximated his skin color.

Picture? Actually boyd, this one didn't come out so well due to a printing issue. But the decals designs themselves are pretty OK I think... I'll re-print at some point, but it's good enough for rock n' roll right now.

Scythe, kusarigama and all. On the sixth day of Fistmas, my sensei gave to me... Hint: Colossus ain't the only dude in the MU with steel hard skin. There is another, who shares his name with a video game that may have been one of the launch titles for PS3. [EDIT: OK, turns out it wasn't a launch title. But it was an important early title from 2007]

Right? Now there's a guy who has gotten next to no love in the toy department... He's someone I refuse to customize on principle - important enough to merit his very own DST-crafted MiniMate. I think he's next in line after my current, long-standing "campaign" for Classic Falcon & Constrictor.

kusarigama, I just learned the weapon is called, btw. I heart Wikipedia. This is also used by a very obscure Shang Chi adversary, but that's for another time.

hellpop: hellyeah, and boyd: true dat on both counts. Excellent work. Pic & Clue tonight! In the meantime, if you want to make your own Scythe, Honez-style, think Chuck Norris-guy from TMNT legs & feet w/ shins trimmed, a red chest, Hand Ninja vest, flesh arms with bronze wrist bands, X-Force Wolvie head, and the hair of Tony Stark from some Iron Man I had a s#%t - ton of, prob the one that came with Stilt-Man. I took the belt from Zangief, just to have some yellow in there. The real magic is the weapon... a very carefully trimmed & glued mashup of GoGo Yubari's meteor hammer and a Foot Ninja's kama.

Hmm, I guess Cross was a red herring. Technically speaking, in that particular episode he was more mastermind than thug. There is... another. And he is definitely Iron Fist's foe.

BAM! Props to bigvis! Ferocia, in all her feral glory. Basically: Blastaar limbs, Feral cap paint penned grey with Eric Masterson's ponytail glued on, B&W Wolfman paws with a light coat of the same grey to blend, a G. Goblin purple torso base, decals for face, chest, belt. Oh, and Domino's shoulder pads. On the fifth day of Fistmas, my sensei gave to me... Hint: This dude was the ONLY costumed thug I didn't get to from this episode of Avengers: EMH, when I was doing the Power Man villains (first post of this thread). Coincidentally, this is very topical due to the release of Ant-Man this week, based on the same story from the comics.

Golden Tigers, street gear. "Leader" and "Soldiers", only because I needed to get to 12 customs for the whole theme here. Pretty simple stuff - I made heavy use of Zombie Biker jackets & boots, also a Marty McFly jacket. The chests with tiger pendants & jacket backs are decals. Now, onward and upward... On the fourth day of Fistmas, my sensei gave to me... Hint: Give your best wolf whistle for the only female in the bunch.