*sigh* -- I don't know why I always set myself up for disappointment. I had super-high hopes for the new MU figures. And while they're much better than MLS (except for Spidey, Surfer & Goblin, which suck compared to the MLS versions), they still have a long way to go.
I picked up a couple of figures yesterday on my way home from work, then I got my shipment from BBTS today -- and so far all but one of the figs needs some work. Luckily these mods took less than 15 minutes to make, total. Otherwise I wouldn't be able to show anything, since I've been severely hampered by my new work schedule. Gotta start budgeting more time for customs...
First up is Captain America. I ordered him from BBTS, but when I saw him in the store, I snagged another one, since the mold looked awesome. Then I got him home and realized he was a giant:
(that's my Brock Sampson WIP, btw
) -- I'll show side-by-sides with previous customs so you can see why I still like these MU figs despite their shortcomings.
So I chopped off the tops of his boots, and replaced his pea-head with one that looked loads better (the one from my original custom
) I also used the MLS shield, as I prefer the tighter straps on that one vs the "clip" on the MU version.
And now I'm really happy with him. But it sucks that I had to do anything at all.
Iron Fist had similar problems -- WAY too tall (more than 4.25") and that made him rather gangly looking. Top it off with the fact that he has no "fist" at all, and he was kinda meh. So I chopped out close to a quarter-inch of midsection at the belt (he was sporting an "8-pack", so it doesn't look that bad now that I chopped 2 of them off), and I drilled his neck hole a little deeper so he didn't look like such a giraffe. Then I gave him Hard Master's right hand so he could kinda-sorta close his fist, and I think we're done. I'll probably put a layer of transparent orange on his "flame" since I think it'll be better than the yellow.
Height comparison with "factory" Cap (Danny was as tall, if not taller than Cap out of the box.)
Folks have complained that Punisher sucks. I agree -- the giant-ass head looks horrible and the articulation blows (they used SW-style swivel knees instead of double-jointed ones.) I gave him a new head: a 21st Century WWII dude, then I swapped out his lower legs (right for left swap - cured the knock-knee syndrome) and finally I dremeled his lats a bit so his arms could come down to his sides easier. I still need to replace his freakishly-large hands, but haven't found suitable ones yet.
Iron Man (red & gold modern armor) is just stupid looking. I should have passed altogether on him and waited for the wave 3 classic look, which seems to be almost perfect. The proportions are horrible on this one as is the sculpt. He's going to be cannon fodder, since Tony Stark is a douche anyway. I think I'll "Battle-Damage" him someday when I get the time. But he doesn't even rate a pic this time around.
Lastly is Black Panther -- strangely, he uses the same basic mold as Punny (except for the lower arms & lower legs), so you think he'd suck as well, but I'm actually really pleased with him as-is. I may dremel out his armpits a bit someday like I did with Punny, but he's just too cool to screw with right now.
So anyway, I'll give these guys a B- for an overall score, considering they're a tad out of scale and have some issues. At least they're not SW-sized. It would be a big pain in the ass trying to make them taller - shrinking them is rather easy.
Oh, and here's a mostly-finished WIP that I made a while back - but after Kambei posted his, I wanted to fix mine up some more. -- That hasn't happened yet, since I still have to build some zebra-striped goodies. But I thought this was a cool shot:
He's all Chris Jericho with a Chap Mei vest.
Cheers!
