WIP: X-Factor Beast

X-Men month continues with a WIP of X-Factor Beast.

I love the multi-color X-Factor costumes, and I love Beast as a gorilla. So I want to do a custom of Beast in his X-Factor brown, but with fur (because dumb, pitiful Beast was a dragging, boring, trifling storyline that could not end, and I only read early X-Factor in reprints, mind you). I think he was in this state for something like 6 issues, but it’s a good look.

The idea was to put paws and a Beast head on Street Fighter Blanka. Looking over the two figures, though, I wanted the increased breadth of the ML4 Beast shoulders. Also, I remembered how the Beast torso came from the old Spider-Man Classics Useless Transforming Venom… so it would work for a furless custom. Also, I’ve had some experience with painting Street Fighter shoulder balls… it’s tough! That soft plastic is tightly put together, and it’s hard to sand in a controlled manner to get down and allow clearance for paint. So I cut into both Beast and Blanka at the pectoral muscles, and switched the two.

I wanted to keep the ankle swivel, as it works really well for croutching poses. I switched the Blanka feet with Beast feet, and cut room for the joint pegs to make the join… But these proportions aren’t working for me. It’s no longer simian, is it? Not to mention 8 feet tall.

The Beast sculpt, even the pieces built specifically for it, are a bit light on the fur sculpt. So maybe I’ll end up adding full Beast legs at the mid-thigh to fix the proportions. I dunno… but I will say I still like this face sculpt. It doesn’t work as an Avengers Beast, but as a 90s crazy Cookie Monster Beast, it’s spot on and so full of personality!