Thanks Dennis!
Next is: Fantastic Four
For my Fantastic Four team display, I wanted the team in matching outfits, and really wanted to have all of them showing off their powers.
Johnny was already mostly good but he was not without issues. Some of the mods to the team were pretty simple, some were a bit more complex.
I’m pretty happy with the results.
Johnny Storm / Human TorchThis figure is just a MU supernova Human Torch figure, with a Vortious Customs cast head and a SHS stand.
The new head made me like this figure about 90% more than I already did. A fantastic sculpt and cast from Rodimus VTS.
A pretty simple start to the team.
Sue Storm / Invisible WomanThis is a MU Invisible Woman figure with clear variant parts mixed in and the head from the Nicole Kidman Golden Compass figure.
I had actually gotten the Golden Compass figure specifically to use the head for Invisible Woman, before Hasbro even announced that they were making one.
I just knew when I saw the head, that I really liked it for Sue. Especially after then seeing the really young looking head Hasbro gave their Sue. I like the slightly older looking head for her much more.
I always thought of Sue as kind of a “mother figure” in the Marvel Universe. Partly because the FF have been around so long, but also because I never really saw her as a “young hottie” in the comics (until more recently, but I’ve mostly ignored this). I also think it’s better to have a more mature looking Sue with Reed, who’s grey hair makes him look a bit older, and a little creepy to be with the young looking version Hasbro made. I just feel like this head gives her a much more classic FF look.
I chose to just add the invisible parts at the joints so that no painting would be required, and I can still swap the parts back around to have a fully visible Sue or a completely invisible Sue, and other variations in between.
Reed Richards / Mister FantasticIt took me a while to decide how to have Reed demonstrating his power. I didn’t want a huge piece that would make the figure extremely unstable while being displayed, and I also didn’t want it to make him look too much out of scale with the other figures. This pretty much ruled out using a lot of the parts from the larger figures, from the movie and Legends line and such. Plus I wanted something that could be swapped in and out without having to modify the base figure.
When I stumbled on to the old Toy Biz Figure Factory Mister Fantastic, it struck me as the perfect combination of what I was looking for. It shows him being able to stretch himself in odd ways and being able to increase the size of his limbs, without being too large or unstabilizing to the figure. I modified the pieces to just pop right in to his wrists and they can be swapped out with his original hands in just a few seconds. I may eventually try to find more pieces that can be added to him, but for now I am very pleased with just these, as they are a good way to display the figure showing off the character’s powers.
Ben Grimm / ThingI have always preferred the SHS Thing figure over the MU versions. The MU versions have gotten better, with the new legs on the Secret Wars comic pack version being better than the not-so-good pant legs on the first version, and I especially liked the Team Pack version with the upper part of the pants legs and the bare lower legs. It gave him the classic barefoot look that I like, without it looking like he is running around in his underwear. I also liked that the new version of the Thing had clothing (shorts) that were the same color as Reed and Sue’s outfits. I generally display Johnny while in “flame on” mode, so it’s not as important to me to have him in a matching outfit, as it is for Ben. Besides it’s usually easy enough to modify a Reed figure to work for Johnny.
To make my version of Thing, I wanted to put the shorts from the team pack figure, on to the SHS figure. To do this I took the team pack figure, removed his lower legs and bisected him at the belt line. The SHS Thing already had a joint at the waist line, so it was easy to just pop him apart. However his lower torso was rounded, where it fit in to his original waist piece. So I had to flatten this part out. Then I removed his hip balls from the top of his legs and shortened his thighs a little, slightly tapering the tops. I then hollowed out the MU Thing thighs, and inserted the SHS legs in to the thighs. They are held in by friction, so they can be rotated. They are very snug, so there is really no issue with them falling off. I attached the torso to the waist, a little paint, and finished.
FANTASTIC FOURAs always comments and critiques are welcomed, and thanks again for looking!
_________________
"Now I am somewhere I am not supposed to be,
and I can see things I never really should've seen,
and now I know why, and now I know why...
things aren't as pretty... on the inside"