Havok - Classic 80s outfit.

I wanted to do this one for a while, Havok has always been one of my favorite superhero designs, with simply black all over and that weird contraption over his head.

Alex Summers is the younger brother of Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, leader of the X-men. Alex is the free-spirited counter-part to the taciturn Scott. Indeed, Havok has often resented his brother's leadership. The one thing the brothers have in common is the sheer force of the super-power, and the permanent struggle to keep it under control and not be overwhelmed by it.

In the comics, Alex Summers is kidnapped by Larry Trask, who then proceeds to fashion a suit for him that will allow him to control his powers. Now that he con focus his power into devastating plasma blasts, he's given the codename Havok.

For this transformation I chose a figure I've used in the past for my Archangel custom, and that is Captain Marvel. I don't rule out using this figure again, I love that pose, and I think it also goes perfect with Havok.

 The head piece wasn't easy to make - keeping the bands symmetrical was the biggest challenge - but the concentric circles in the chest were even harder to make. I had to modify a compass so it would carry a small paint brush, and then get some practice beforehand on one of my guinea-pig figurines before I was ready to try it on Havok. I'm happy with the results, those circles look pretty tight. The jewel on the head piece was also a pain. I had to visit a million stores (both online and brick & mortar) before I found a gemstone that was just right.

I'm really happy with this custom, I love the effect of the simple black suit and the white circles in his chest. As always feel free to comment and if you like what I do please subscribe!

The Punisher - Alternative Urban Camo

The story has been told many times; war veteran Frank Castle is out enjoying a picnic with his wife and two children, when they're accidentally caught in the crossfire of a gunfight between two rival mafia families, and only Frank survives. With his wife and kids horribly murdered, he falls back on his war-time mindset (and toolset) and becomes obsessed with waging unforgiving war on all criminals.

Frank has been to the movies three times, with varying success. He was played by Dolph Lundgren in 1989, by Thomas Jane in 2004 and finally by Ray Stevenson in 2008. Stevenson's performance was my favorite, a pity it's contained in such a flawed movie as "Punisher: War Zone".

On the comics books Frank has enjoyed some great writing in my opinion. If you haven't checked out Matt Fraction and Ariel Olivetti's run on "The Punisher War Journal" then you don't know what you're missing.

I didn't set out to re-invent the wheel on this one, but I think the change in colors is very effective on this figurine. And it makes sense that The Punisher would need some sort of urban camo option in his wardrobe, doesn't it?

No milliput was used this time, although I did modify the rifle's barrel. The original is a bit shapeless in my opinion, so I gave it a new barrel made out of stainless steel, it looks a bit straighter.

Hope you all like it, feel free to send feedback or even a "like"! :-)

Shadowcat - Kitty Pryde - 80's costume

When it comes to X-Men, Shadowcat won't show up in many people's list of favorite characters - that honor usually goes to the likes of Wolverine, Colossus, Cyclops, Rogue etc etc. But Miss Pryde is one of the most interesting, well developed characters of the franchise. Introduced as a teenager joining Xavier's school, readers have watched her develop from literary foil (meant to highlight other main characters) to an essential member of the X-men, part of the heart and soul of any team she's been on.

I'm a big fan of the 80's get-up, that big-lapeled jacket with the baggy sleeves isn't like anything you'd find on a women's clothing catalog nowadays (don't even know if it has a name), but it makes Kitty look ready for anything, while maintaining an elegant, feminine look, accentuated by the sash.

When Eaglemoss did Shadowcat's cast, they went with a more contemporary look, and gave her the standard X-Man uniform. It looks good on her but doesn't get many points in the way of personality. I've tried to bring the old treads back.

For some reason I'm not such a big fan of the dragon, only thing I like about it is its name (Lockheed, brilliant!), so I decided to lose it for several reasons, the main one being that sculpting the baggy sleeve around the dragon was going to hurt the effect - badly. I did decide to complicate my life when I gave her back the swashbuckler boots that she wears in some variations, but I'm glad I did it, they came out great.

The sash was the most technically challenging part, I wanted it to have that windy, flowing look, and managed to do so by attaching the milliput strips to her waist and letting it dry with the figure leaning back. The mask was also a work of finesse, I'm really happy with the way it turned out.

Hope you like it! Feel free to leave comments and feedback, and as always thanks for checking out my customs!

Cyclops - 90's suit

Bit of a busy week, not only have I been working on the customs, but lately I've been trying my hand at Warhammer 40k, in a few days I'll put up pics of my Librarian in Terminator Armour.

Cyclops has always been one of my favorite X-Men. How cool is it to be able to shoot a ray through the eye of a needle at the other side of a football field. Scott Summers, AKA Cyclops, is one of the few mutants in the Marvel with omega-class powers - those optic blasts have untold power.

I get that Eaglemoss went with the current outfit for Cyclops, the one he uses in Joss Whedon's wonderful stint writing for "Astonishing X-Men", but that uniform was kinda boring. I always loved Cyke's 90's getup, with that Y-shaped suspender and double straps everywhere.

Wonderman was a really good choice to use as a base for this customisation, I haden't realised how similar this character and Cyclops are, almost exact same hair-do and both wear those ruby-red shades. Modern depictions of Cyclops have gone back to the slim figure he had when he was first introduced, but in the 90's they really beefed him up, so Wonderman's muscular physique will be perfect.

It took a lot of Milliput to make all the accessories, pouches, straps, etc. I regretted not setting those thigh straps closer together, I had to paint the space in between and it was a pain in the ass!

Thanks for checking my customs out, feel free to leave a comment!

Archangel

This entry kicks off my new blog, Iropan's Famous Customs! I look forward to sharing all my creations with the community and hearing everyone's comments!

Archangel is one of those examples on how important a character's design is. I only know bits and pieces of his story, and yet he's one of my favorite Marvel characters thanks to that spectacular outfit and that wild combination of blue and hot pink (ahem, magenta).

The original Angel made his comic debut all the way back in the beginning, in the first number of X-Men, in September of '63, as a blonde heart-throb with angel wings. He eventually has his wings mutilated, and is offered a Faustian deal by Apocalypse, who offers to restore his wings if he will become one of his Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Warren accepts and the resulting genetic manipulation tints his skin blue, as well as dramatically changing his outlook on life, to say the least. He gets new wings, and they're not the feathery and fluffy type, but instead new razor-sharp organic metal wings.

I know using the existing Angel figure seems like a no-brainer, but I wanted to try something more original, and take advantage of the very expressive pose of Eaglemoss' Captain Marvel figurine.

This was almost a month of work. A lot of that time went into figuring out how to make the wings. I finally opted to make them out of plastic, since it's lightweight and can be cut to shape with relative ease. For the arm of the wings I used Milliput, which serves to link-up the wings to the figure's shoulders. When shaping the wings I wanted to stay away from that square classic look (it's been done to death) and instead try for something with more shapes and a "metal feathered" look.