On Improving DCD Figures

Since I started working on this blog, I have done nothing but Marvel figures. The reason for this is the wealth of high-quality Marvel figures available. Marvel Legends has put out 17 waves, along with Classics series, box sets, dual packs, etc… I’ve identified something like 120 characters done, to say nothing of the duplicates of popular characters like Spider-Man. There’s a vast defined universe, and customs made from these parts naturally fit into it.

But I read DC and Marvel. Hel, 52 has me on an all-time high. I think the era of the Marvel Zombie is over, that readers follow creator excellence more than characters. So I have been thinking about DC customs recently. It’s actually easier to select a Marvel custom to do than a DC custom, because I’m not a perfectionist, a DoubleDealer, par example, so I like to at least start with DC Direct parts if I can. And DC Direct has a much better chance of scooping a customizer than Marvel does.

When Marvel Legends releases a figure, it is perfect. Well, perfect enough. But the sculpts are good, the articulation is always great… 9 times out of 10, it goes right on the shelf. The only custom I’ve ever done of a figure released by Toy Biz has been Cyclops in the Jim Lee uniform.

When DC Direct releases a figure, the articulation will be sub-par. They just aren’t interested in performing up to the standards of Marvel Legends. So when a Marvel figure comes out, I’m going to be happy with it, but when a DC figure comes out, I always want to improve it. But the perfect base for such an operation is almost always the DC figure, which means that DC Direct can announce some figure and ruin my plans. For instance, I have a Cammy that I was turning into a Donna Troy about eight months ago, when they announced Infinity Crisis Wave 2, featuring Donna Troy. And then Toy Biz released Wasp and Spider-Woman, better bases for the operation by far. But the point is that DC Direct releases some 20 waves of superhero figures a year! Styles differ, and half of those are Superman or Batman, but still! You can rule out as certain that Marvel Legends will never do a Thunderbolt character. But a character of equivalent obscurity, say, the female Dr. Light, could very well be put into plastic by DC Direct!

All this is a prelude to announcing plans to start adding posability to DC Direct figures to make a team that better fit with Marvel Legends. Actually, not Marvel Legends… I want to simplify things by working up to Mattel’s DCD Superheroes line.

The DCSH line features, from the top:

• a ball-jointed head
• ball shoulders,
• single-joint elbows,
• a hinge waist crunch,
• a waist swivel
• double-hinge or ball hips,
• swivel wrists
• a mid-thigh swivel
• single knees, and
• hinge and side-by-side ankles.

Generally, DC Direct figures have:
• ball-jointed or swivel necks, about 50/50
• ball shoulders,
• single joint elbows
• no waist swivel, which is the biggest rip-off since Webster,
• swivel wrists, about 50/50
• hinge t-hips
• knees, and
• sometimes ankles.

So, the conversion needs to graft on hips, a waist, leg swivels, and arm swivels. Everything else is academic. But that waist and hips will go a long way to making the figure acceptable.

I’ve decided to start with the modern Justice Society of America, partly because I like the book. Liked the book, really; it peaked around JSA 50 when Dr. Fate was fighting Mordru and Eclipso, then got boring (Gentleman Ghost is crap), then got violent and dark. But I can't help but be charmed by the Legion stuff. Also the DC Direct JSA wave of a few months ago demanded to be improved upon. So I’ll take these:


and turn them posable. I’m hoping the process minimizes paint, as it certainly maximizes construction. Having an accurate base figure can save a lot of time, taking out the need to spend hours duplicating the little idiosynchratic costume details. Instead I’ll just yank them off the original figure.

Review: Hasbro Blob

Ooh, I really like this BAF! I was very surprised when this was announced, because, you know, big fat guy. But the Blob is an important part of the X-Men rogues gallery. In the 90s cartoon, Blob would show up all the time, and he would not shut up! I hated him; and now I can recreate that hate.

OBQ (Out-of-the-Box Quality): 4 out of 5

This is the best Blob we’re ever going to get. A paint wash would make the cellulite more disgusting, but that would push it over the edge. He’s big and hollow and awesome.

CP (Customizing Potential): 3 out of 5

I’m only going to ever use Blob twice, probably once, but when you need Blob for something, only Blob will do.

Blob gives me the following customizing ideas:

• The Human Ton, from the Tick show. People’s old Geocities accounts have expired, and I can’t research this, but I think half the ToyBiz Blobs made in the old 90s X-Men line were turned into custom Human Tons. The new posability will allow the figure to prominently display Handy!
• Volstag. Mother-lovin' Volstag. But where would I find a sword worthy of the Lion of Asgard?

Blob was pretty cool in the Avengers: The Vault series, when the government sent Freedom Force in to quell a super-prison riot. He was throwing around super-strength for a while. But then Dr. Pym shrunk Orca with a touch, and I just couldn’t concentrate on Blob anymore.

Review: Hasbro Xorn

Ah, Xorn! Xorn has kicked off some efforts by customizers to finish off their Morrison New X-Men team. Maybe I’ll have to reread the Morrison era and be motivated to perform such an effort myself. For now, Xorn is neat.

OBQ (Out-of-the-Box Quality): 4 out of 5

Xorn is a pretty perfect sculpt. The paint could be better, as his chains are a bit muddy, but that’s a minor quibble. They did a removable helmet right: the helmet is right-sized, with an undersized (but good looking) head. So this is a great representation of Xorn, probably the best we could have hoped for. Were a more exciting character represented like this, I’d give it a 5.

CP (Customizing Potential): 3 out of 5


This is perfect for New X-Men uniforms, but that kind of means New X-Men Cyclops, right? Maybe X-Men Classics Wolverine could use these boots, and occasionally you’d see other characters, like Gambit, wear this uniform. But its really a Cyclops base. Since it’s the best Cyclops base ever, the definitive, it gets points.

Xorn gives me the following customizing ideas:

• New X-Men Cyclops
• New X-Men Professor X
• Modern Mr. Terrific, but I’m not going to use this base.
• Bob Harras Black Knight, but only the jacket and arms. Why would you wear a jacket over your medieval armor? I hate Black Knight.
• Superboy, but only the jacket and arms. I’m sure there are a lot of 90s costumes that this jacket, with its relatively thick jacket that can be sanded and sculpted, could be used for.

Review: Hasbro X3 Marvel Legends

I don’t have a lot to say about these figures, so I’m lumping them together.

Hasbro X3 Phoenix

OBQ (Out-of-the-Box Quality): 3 out of 5

It’s not bad. I just don’t want an X3 Phoenix, or an X3 display. Why did I buy the figure? Shut up! I guess I got it for the Blob part, but my Marvel Legends Completion bug is hideously ingrown. I guess I don’t mind having one figure that will live in a bin for every fourteen that represent a vital part of the ol’ 616.

CP (Customizing Potential): 2 out of 5

It’s a decent head, though the scale is a little small. I already have a Jean Grey head that I like in my customs, but this is both Famke Janssen and not a specific actress.

The body may be useful some day for something, but god knows what it will be. Maybe some kind of medieval girl? Which I don’t have plans for.

Review: Hasbro X3 Juggernaut

Another X3 figure. But I like this one.

OBQ: 3 out of 5

It has to be said, I don’t want an X3 Juggernaut. This will never be on my shelf before I paint it.

CP: 4 out of 5

This figure is a movie design, but seems to have been exaggerated to make it more comic-book-esque. I could use those legs for a large build male, like a Wrecking Crew type. There have been a lot of those builds over the years, especially from SOTA in their Street Fighter line. But they tend to have pants! So these spandexy legs will allow me to build a big guy without jeans.

I like that helmet too. It hasn’t fallen off yet, so it might adapt to other heads.
X3 Juggernaut gives me the following customizing ideas:

• Bulldozer from the Wrecking Crew.
• Stonewall, that old-man X-Men villain. Wasn’t I going to use Quicksilver as a Super-Sabre?
• One of those big guy DC villains: Sledge, Mammoth, and the like.

Review: Hasbro Ultimate Wolverine

This used to be Unified Wolverine, when X-Men Evolution, Marvel Universe Wolverine, and Ultimate Wolverine all wore the same clothes one week. But that lasted just the week, and now only the Ultimate version wears it. Anyway, I like the costume, and might want to make the Ultimate team one day.

OBQ (Out-of-the-Box Quality): 2 out of 5

This figure has the Sigma Six elbows instead of the Toy Biz articulation. The shoulder swivel is in the elbow, and the elbow only has 90 degrees of freedom. I was completely okay with these arms on Thor, but Wolverine doesn’t have that beef, and I find myself missing the double elbows. But its fine.

The face is horrible. Customizers have shown that there’s a good sculpt under there, but it’s got a horrible paint job.

CP (Customizing Potential): 4 out of 5

This will be great for doing the Ultimate customs… hell, I always find a use of black medium build figures. Also, where the weird arms detract from the figure, they give me another tool in the customizing box. If I had had this figure two months ago, he’d be a Cyclops right now. Moving the arm swivel down allows for shoulder pads to work here and not on traditional ML arms.

Ultimate Wolverine gives me the following customizing ideas:

• Ultimate Cyclops
• X-Men Evolution Cyclops (he has these little X shoulder pads that will glue right on)
• MACH-II, who’s black and grey, with shoulder pads

Goliath

Avengers month concludes with Goliath from the Busiek/Perez.

This might be my favorite costume for Hank Pym, and finishes off my Busiek/Perez Avengers lineup. Firestar, Justice, Goliath, and Triathlon; just fit those into your Avengers mainstays, and forget everything you ever read with Silverclaw, and you’ve got a good lineup.

This is mostly a Wal-Mart Giant Man, with some spraypaint and brushwork to get it blue. I sprayed the harness white and hot glued it into place. The harness is pretty rough where pieces were joined together, and if I had to do it over, I’d use white craft foam. Maybe I will redo it someday. But for now Goliath is ready to stand in the background, which is what I need him for.

I also need him to shoot a giant gun at Count Nefaria, but for that, I’d need to do a Count Nefaria.

Scarlet Witch

Avengers Month continues with Scarlet Witch! This is the ML11 version with some new pieces to make it not a figure that deserved to be recalled but we’re all glad we got it anyway.

There were some major problems with the ToyBiz Scarlet Witch, notably a paint wash that seemed to give her stubble, and legs that had no swivel. This happened with ML10’s Mystique, and is starting to turn up in Hasbro MLs too, and I hate it. A thigh swivel is a part of posability, and can’t be subtracted. Without making me angry.
So a year ago I tried to improve the Scarlet Witch figure by 1) sculpting a boostier with points, instead of painted-on detail, and 2) building in some thigh swivels using some fabric snaps. And that just didn’t work. Swivel joints are supposed to be child’s play to do, and I can’t master them for the life of me.
So this month, I cut off the hips and replaced them with Psylocke hips, legs, etc. It worked great! Psylocke as these true ball joints with enough clearance to take a coat of paint. I painted it up, and shaved a bit off the knees (cast in blue plastic) to help fight paint rub. I took off too much, though, and one of the knees broke, coming out as a thin ribbon of plastic. I’ve done this with two or three recent-issue ML females, and I guess that the plastic can’t be thinned if its going to get over the détentes.

So, to fix my fix, I grafted on the legs of a Charmed girl (Rose McGowan, I think, a head that will show up here shortly on something). These knees were flesh-colored, and went easily to pink.

I had this cool metallic pink I used, but it made the red look kind of shoddy. I went over it with a layer of Tamiya transparent red to make it consistent and make it smooth. Ever since I got these paints, they’ve been my crutch. Custom doesn’t seem to be coming together? Use some Tamiya Clear! It fixes any paint job, turns a sandwich into a banquet, removes embarrassing stains…