Coach's Customs: Claude Speed

Ain't nuthin' but a car thief (who must be stopped)

His name is never mentioned in the games themselves, but Claude Speed is the best known protagonist in the Grand Theft Auto series. Claude was the player character in "Grand Theft Auto III" and made a brief cameo in "San Andreas".

So Much for Tunnel Rat...

Goddamnit, Hasbro!

I've been working on this custom Tunnel Rat for a while, and you go and release a new figure! One that I actually like a lot (except for the lanky arms, but that can be fixed). So I'm left without motivation to finish him. Thanks a lot.

And O-M-G. Is that a little EOD bot accessory? Did somebody say "Battlefield 3 M-COM station playset"? 

I've actually got a pile of finished customs I've been meaning to share, I just haven't gotten around to photographing them. There's a neat little collapsible light booth at ThinkGeek that I've put on my Christmas list, that should facilitate better and more timely photography. I don't have room in my apartment for the abomination that is my current light booth.

Help Wanted: Tunnel Rat's T-shirt

After repeated requests for more customs, all I can say is, "I'm working on it."

Welcome to the jungle!

Fear not, got a batch in the works right now that'll make it off the table soon. Sigh... nothing ever seems to escape the table. I'm always going back and tweaking; I'm like the George Lucas of customs.

Anyhoo, I've got this G.I. Joe set coming up, among them Tunnel Rat. He's got an olive drab t-shirt right now, which may or may not have some straps or equipment covering it. Nevertheless, I'd like to paint a design on his t-shirt, just to make things interesting.

Thing is, I can't think of anything to paint on him. So any suggestions you'd have would be greatly appreciated. It'll be your little contribution to the finished figure. Drop me a line or post some pics in the comments. Keep in mind a few criteria:

1. Only a few colors (1 or 2 works best)
2. Fairly simple and recognizable. This will be quite small, and I have to hand-paint it on a 1/2" area
3. Subject in keeping with the G.I. Joe military theme. In-jokes and references to other media/properties are OK

Maybe Tunnel Rat's bio will help you with ideas. Good luck!

Coach's Customs: Ivan the Space Biker

With customs, "simple" and "straightforward" don't necessarily mean easy. Take Ivan the Space Biker, here. He's pretty much a GI Joe head on an Iron Man figure, but it's not as if I just popped a part of one and stuck it on the other.

Click for full size

Let's see… I had to sand and sculpt over the arc reactor on the chest, cut the neck peg off and replace with a new one that fits GI Joe heads, cut down and resculpt the stems of the new hands, sculpt the massive beard and sculpt the collar (barely visible under the beard, unfortunately).

Not to mention the head-to-toe silver paint job with Crom knows how many coatings of black wash and brown drybrush. The paint job was actually kind of fun; I didn't have to do a lot of sanding or sealing. So it was all my imagination and a paintbrush.

"Hey sexy."

Ol' Ivan doesn't fit a particular intellectual property… I just envision him as a hulking badass with a big gun. Maybe a steampunk Soviet soldier in power armor. In any case, the name comes from a concept version of Gordon Freeman from Half-Life. The resemblance is mostly in the big, bushy beard. I also had a character in Fallout 3 and New Vegas of the same name who was fond of power armor and big guns.

Ivan missed a career in pro wrestling

Sadly, no literal space biking, which would be cool. Also, no shoulder pads! I know, sacrilege. But how the heck could he rotate his arms more than 5 degrees with them? Homeboy's got a big gun to lift, after all.

Who's scruffy-looking?

My, what a big gun you have!

I also considered loading him up decal "tattoos" for the suit and bandoliers. But they seemed to detract from the beauty of the suit, so other than the faded red star on his chest (barely visible under the beard), his suit remains unadorned. 

Seems the photography works well enough that I can start getting other projects documented. I have a bad habit of scrapping them and going back to the drawing board. Got a few more on the shelf, and a lot more in production. More soon, I promise!

Prepare for the Future

In a distant wasteland, a lone wanderer approaches...

One of my weekend side projects is now complete. I'm in the process of making it presentable (i.e. I suck at photography and must spend a lot of time in Photoshop). 

If work like this continues, I'll have to get a photo-sharing account to upload everything to. For now, the images will be hosted here; hopefully I'll have everything up shortly.

I'm quite proud of how it turned out, and can't wait to share it. Now that I have some more confidence in my craft, I should be able to buckle down and get a few more projects and complete. More on that shortly.

Customize This!

This took me longer than I anticipated. Actually, my series of video game character action figures was supposed to debut on Game Brain a couple of months ago. What can I say, I've been busy. And one can only sit fussing over small pieces of plastic so long before insanity takes hold.

Though I've been customizing action figures for years, I've only just started getting good at it. I've learned a few new techniques that really increase the quality of my paint jobs and swap parts out. Because action figures keep going up in price, and parts from different figures are rarely compatible, customs can sit on the shelf for months before they have all the ingredients. The next big step for me is to learn sculpting: there's a special clay that cures into a plastic-like substance that takes stress a lot better than the Sculpey I've been using. But that's a whole new ballgame that'll take many more years to master.

I've really come to appreciate the amount of articulation Hasbro puts into their G. I. Joe, Star Wars, and Marvel action figure lines. Having soft goods capes and bendable items like holsters and harnesses are a big plus. It's nice to be able to buy a dull G. I. Joe figure and be able to use his accessories with Star Wars figures. Very rarely do I work on a custom using only one toyline for parts (unless it's a repaint).

So, all I need is a little more time to get my first video game custom photographed. There'll be another two customs hot on his heels, so be on the lookout. I have to get back to work now and get that second coat of paint on.