What do you think is the most critical part of a great custom? What aspect of a custom do you feel has to be nailed in order to make a great figure?

For me I think part selection is most important. You have to try and make sure that every part fits the character of the figure your trying to make. For example if I made a Gung-Ho custom it wouldn't be enough for it to look sort of like Gung-Ho, but it has to feel like Gung-Ho, it has to capture his character. That's one of the reasons I really like Joes in alternate time periods/alternate realities. They make the customizer capture the essence of a character in a different way that goes beyond just resembling the character physically, not only that, they also show how a certain customizer may feel about certain characters.

What makes a great custom is totally in the eyes of the beholder and can be very personal. Can be any combination of things. I have see what I consider outstanding customs from straight repaints and simple parts swaps that have added a completely new dimension to a figure, to out-and-out scratchbuilt and sculpted masterpieces.

For my own customs, what makes one great for me, is when I finish one, sit back to examine it, and decide that I could not have done it any better.

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I think if I can look at a custom, someone else's or my own, and go "Yeah, I'd buy that." They hit that critical. Usually there is some overall uniqueness and/or coolness to it that simply isn't on the shelves. Part of that is parts selection. Part of it is painting. And part of it is the customizer putting their own spin on the design.

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Yeah, the "I'd buy that" factor. But #1 for me is that it should be play-ready. I want a figure that can stand toe-to-toe with a store bought figure.

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The talent to pull it off?

Okay, really, for me, and I agree with Kambei that something like this is totally in the eye of the beholder and can be very personal, but for me, it's the ability to turn out a custom that can stand side-by-side with production figures from Hasbro, and you can show a line-up of figures to someone that maybe has SOME knowledge of G.I. Joe but doesn't know every character, and he doesn't realize that there's a couple of customs in there. That's my primary objective -- to create a figure that "blends" as well as possible. Or certainly, is on a par with either creating an interesting new character, or coming up with a really effective version of an established character from other Joe media that just didn't get made as an action figure.

For me, creativity. As much as I love seeing customs with huge amounts of sculpting, or where people have adapted ARAH/new sculpt parts for use on 25th versions of the same character, what I really love is seeing when someone uses an existing part in a way I'd have never thought of. The "best use of a bad part" category in the JCAs was full of good examples of this.

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I'm with Darko.

I feel that the reasons why a person created whatever custom they did resonate with me. I know I create customs purely for two reasons: Either what I want has already been created, but in the wrong scale (usually larger 6" to 8" figures), or what I want hasn't been created at all.

The "I'd buy that!" is a great reason as well, but barring maybe a handful of certain Star Wars personalities, nearly every single figure that I buy, trade for, or am given, is used to be turned into something else. So that reason wouldn't really apply for me. That is, until the major companies actually make something that I want in my scale and they are fairly priced and available. A very tall order, as wishes go.

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I'd have to go with the "I'd buy the" factor too. If it's something that looks really well done and I could picture it at retail, I'd be all over it. There's many people that create factory looking figures. The paint needs to look smooth and as if it wasn't hand painted. The detailing has to be clean and not look like a mess. The eyes need to be straight and clean.

That's what I look for. That's doesn't mean that lesser quality customs are horrible though. There are many nice ones out there that needs a little smoothing out, but otherwise look great. It might knock it out of the "I'd buy it" factor, but it still holds a certain charm that makes it well worth the work put into it.

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I agree that final execution is good, and the total package is good. But I think the parts used is the foundation of the figure, and is what everything is built on. Its like building a house you have to have a good foundation. And I don't mean to say that there are bad parts and good parts, to me there's just the right parts for the right figure.