hellpop

I posted this in the Marvel section, when his name came up, but figured I'd throw him in here too: Quasar! I don't make many Marvel customs, because they could be made obsolete at any time, and I'm more interested in filling out the ranks of DC Comics, as well as making various indie characters. That said, Quasar's one of my favorite characters (I think he's the most underrated character in the Marvel Universe), and I've always wanted a figure of him. And, honestly, I don't think DST's ever going to do him. So making a Quasar custom has always been on the back of my mind, but he didn't come together until Marvel Wave 31 arrived. That's when two pieces for this guy were released: Captain Britain's hair (the perfect Quasar hair) and Mar-Vell's chest. Add an Angel head, Mary Marvel's arms (though Marty McFly's will do also), some Ocean Master wrist bands, the Sentry's cape, and Ultimate Spidey's crotch and legs, and you've got yourself a Quasar! He's not perfect, unfortunately, because his chest symbol doesn't look quite like Mar-Vell's. My ultimate plan is to paint a C3 Alt Superman's cape blue, then use this decal here: But he'll do for now. Oh, the energy blast from the second picture comes from an Iron Man 2 figure. Fits on the bracelet just right. EDIT: Added a bit more about him at my blog here. EDIT AGAIN: I did, in fact, modify him, using the formula described above. Take a look: Sorry my flash washed out the symbol a bit, but I ended up painting over the decal edges up to the star, and I'm pretty happy with it. Here, by the way, is the decal I used, sized appropriately: Enjoy!

Ah, so that's what you've been using all those Starfires for! You're right, it is a great hairpiece; I can only assume they think it's too distinctly Starfire to reuse. But I think you've shown them otherwise.

Hey, I definitely plan on putting that on one of my many other Captain Americas to make an unmasked Cap. I bet we'll see that reused at least once or twice down the road.

I've been really, really lax about sharing my customs. Mostly because I'm lasy, and a lousy photographer. But I want to turn over a new leaf; call it an early new year's resolution. And I want to start with a bang, a simple custom but one I'm pretty thrilled with: Grendel! Special thanks to Luke314pi, who kindly printed the decal for me. You'll find that decal, along with a little bit more about my methodology, at my blog: Grendel

Found the new wave at the Disney Store while looking for the Heroic Age set. Picked up Constrictor, Thanos, and Yellowjacket. $9.50 a pop, which is high, but all three of those guys are high on my want list so I couldn't take the chance and pass them up. Constrictor's my favorite, since I've been waiting to get a Constrictor figure for about 25 years. The Ant Man mini went right in with my Minimates, BTW.

Well, I went in to my Disney store today, and not only did they have a nice display of Marvel items, they had the newest wave of Marvel Universe figures, so I picked up Thanos and the Constrictor (and will hopefully go back for Yellowjacket this week). Not only that, but I asked about the Marvel Heroes box set as I was checking out, and the person that helped me not only knew what I was talking about, but said that they were expecting to have them on Black Friday, if not earlier. Disney, as a company, is definitely aware that they don't have as large a share of the boy market as they do the girls; that's one of the main reasons they purchased Marvel. I suspect the Disney Store will become a big place for Marvel products in the future.

When I am looking for a base figure for a custom, the first thing I look for is elbow and knee joints that match the character. Then I don't have to worry about painting in that area. If that is not an option, I just open up the joints and paint inside them - I don't actually pull them apart. Same here. I try to never paint arms and legs beyond the tips, because I think it's hard to do, and there's always a worry about the joints sticking. Best thing to, if you're making a figure with, let's say, blue arms and red gloves, find a pair of blue arms and just paint the tips red. I'm also a big fan of using Sharpies whenever I can in lieu of painting. This works especially well with Minimate parts that have been painted, as opposed to being cast in plastic in that color. One big advantage with Sharpies is that it doesn't cover the detail that's already on the Minimate. The big drawback is that certain colors (yellow especially) are near impossible to do.

Thanks, everybody. BTW, I do have a spare Captain Marvel chest, if anyone would like to trade for it. PM me if you're interested.

Wow, I thought they were pulling back, not adding to their con schedule. Wizard, as you all may or may not know, has been going broke for several years now, and a lot of the cons that they've done (LA, Boston) were less then successful. But I think it's a good idea to have semi-big cons in as many cities as possible, as long as they don't step on the toes of established independent cons, like WonderCon or DragonCon. You know, I always thought a chain of Wizard World stores, where you could get all this nerd crap we like, would be a good idea. But I'm probably wrong....

Bought the other two sets I needed, the Fire Fighters and the Policemen, today. These really are cool little toys. The policemen set is probably the best value of all of them, because it comes with essentially an entire third Minimate, minus the head. So you can have two riot squad guys and still keep your patrolman intact. It has lots and lots and lots of weapons, an extra set of blue arms, and the extra riot outfit has almost an entire clear Minimate underneath. The Fire Fighters are nice, but there's really not much difference between the FF and the Smoke Jumpers set, just the colors. If everyone hasn't figured this out by now, you really do want to try and get the chief sets, because it's got extra unique pieces.

You know, I completely misread Boyd's original post and thought I had to throw something together today. Looks like I've got time to get things a bit more in order. Whew!

Okay, okay, okay, here he is: Like I said, not perfect, but he's recognizable as Quasar, and that's good enough for me. This is actually one of my favorite customs, because Quasar's one of my favorites (I think he's the most underrated character in the Marvel Universe) and I didn't think I'd ever unlock the code to making him. I'd eventually like to make him a little more accurate, but for now I'm thrilled with him (at least until a real one comes out!). Oh, the little blasty thing in the second picture is from an Iron Man 2 action figure. It's a bit big for a Minimate hand, but fits perfectly over the bracelet.

Was anyone else surprised that these are in the collectors aisle? I know it's a good idea to keep all the Minimates together, but I think they'd make more sense in the Lego aisle, where they might attract more kids and parents. I guess, on the other hand, they might get lost there.

Saw the new 2 packs at TRU this week. Shoulda picked up the Sentry, but I got some Wolvie origins Minimates on clearance instead. A guy's gotta have priorities, right? Anyhow, this looked pretty nice. The Cap that comes with Wolverine looks terrible, though.

No other BN customs at the moment, but I still have a ton of DC stuff in the pipeline. That's true... one of which is the one you did for me a few months ago! Post the damn thing so I can be a big braggy show about it!

Hmm, better get out the camera. I think I have enough Vertigo 'mates to do a wave.

And he's too nice a guy to pimp like this, but click on the "Minimates Factory" link in Luke's post above; you'll find a tutorial and several other posts for using decals. They are invaluable.

So is he a different character from the one in the Marvel Universe handbook, who fought Captain America and Ghost Rider? If so, I've never heard of him. Interesting that you used the Mad Dog coat and sculpted the scarf rather then using the Man with No Name one that has an attached scarf. Looks really nice, though. I couldn't tell the difference.

I think that's my exact one as well, now that I've made a passable Quasar custom. My runner up would be classic Nova/classic Quasar. Did you use existing parts for your Quasar or paint/sculpt? All existing parts: Hair: Captain Britain Head: Angel (I think from the Champions box set) Cape: Dark Avengers Sentry Chest: Captain Marvel Arms: Mary Marvel Bands: Ocean Master Crotch/Legs: Ultimate Spider Man (this is actually important, because the crotch has a little touch of red you need) Not perfect, but recognizable as Quasar (in the costume that Greg Capullo designed). His chest symbol differs from CM, but it's close enough. Eventually I'm going to try and make a decal, then paint the cape from a C3 Alt. Superman, but this one works just fine. I'll try to post a picture later.

This can be a smart thing to do. I sold my JLU Obsidian for about $85 dollars a year or two ago even though he was to be included in a new 6-pack... which then sat on Target's shelves until it was clearance for about $7.50. Ignorance was bliss... for me!

A What If? box set would be pretty cool 1. The Watcher 2. Fantastic 5 Spidey (or Venom Punisher) 3. Wolverine: Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. (or Lord of the Vampires) 4. Barbarian Hulk Gotta do the Original Marvel Bullpen as the FF!!! I think it's actually from the X-Men/ New Mutants annuals when they visited Asgard. There's an Art Adams cover that's a homage to Journey Into Mystery #83 that features Storm in that look. The What If issue features the what would have happened if they'd stayed. I agree, though, I'd much rather have Beta Ray Bill, Frog Thor, maybe Lord Thor and Thunderstrike. That's my Thor Thru the Ages box set.

Yeah, one of the nice things is that you can make a whole bunch of other minimates if you want. The Smoke Jumpers chief pack comes with an extra (clear) torso, so you can make an extra Minimate without using the suspenders torso if you don't want. On the other hand, I was disappointed to see that one of the special ops guys had nothing on the chest underneath the armor-- it's completely blank, at least on mine. But all the cool gear more then makes up for it. I also am kinda happy that they included generic faces; one thing I always struggle with in customizing is finding a nice face. And, since I have plenty of extra heads, I was able to diversify my firemen and SF troopers a bit. They're not all white guys any more! And I have to mention that the firemen allowed me to finally complete a custom I've been wanting to do for ages. I cut the gasmask off one, glued it to the Question's hat (with the hair removed, which was a bitch-- don't recommend it), and voila-- Wesley Dodds in his Sandman Mystery Theater look! Well, with a few other parts, of course.

I did not see a full case, but found nine 2-packs on the peg. There were 2 each of the police and Spec ops, one each of the four Firefighter sets, plus one extra FF set (I don't remember which of the four it was). This leads me to believe it is a fair split of two each of the six packs. Confirmation would be nice, though. I just saw these today at the TRU in West Lawn, PA (outside Reading). I think I saw a full case, and there were three of the Special Ops group and two policemen, so I think that may be the ratio, and I also think there were six total firemen sets. I picked up a Special Ops and Fire Breaker set, which I'm going to open momentarily....

I think that's my exact one as well, now that I've made a passable Quasar custom.

I've been toying around with him in my mind for a while, but I could never quite figure out how to do the boots. But those Wolvie ones are perfect; might have to give him another go (though mine won't be as good as yours).