Toy Bender

Okay, I’ve teased it and now I finally have a couple of pictures of my first “custom” toy. First as a reminder, here’s the pile of puke version:

My stomach hurts. Now here’s my version (click to enlarge):

As you can see, I went with the standard Cobra red and black seen on classic vehicles like the Stun, HISS, and even the Night Raven (this is before I had heard that there ever was a repaint done in those colors). I removed the top catapult contraption. As much as I like catapults, it just didn’t look right on top of this vehicle. So instead, I put a HEAT viper up there. Nothing is scarier than seeing a giant gun wielding maniac dressed all in yellow, nor as deadly.

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I’ve never been that keen on customizing toys, especially older ones because I have a weird thing about “ruining” the past. I do like when I see really good custom figures, but overall it’s really not my thing. The other day I went over to a friend’s house and bought all of his old G.I. Joes and some other figures. Before you get excited, a lot of them were in bad shape and most of them were from the “crappy” Joe era of the early ’90s. Still, I got a few gems like a V2 Alley Viper.

Out of the stuff I didn’t think I wanted to ultimately keep, I fell in love with a cobra vehicle called the Parasite. It’s a Cobra troop carrier rendered in some of the worst and garish colors I’ve ever seen. Here, take a look:

I’m sorry if you puked on yourself, but you can blame Hasbro in the ’90s for that. I saw that this vehicle had potential under those ugly colors, so I took it upon myself to paint it a bit to give it a better look. Sorry, I don’t have any pictures so far, but so far so good. It already looks a million times better and I haven’t even put it back together. After I clear coat it, I think I’ll post some pictures.

Of course, the big problem with this is that it lacks stickers now and nobody does repro stickers for such an unpopular vehicle. I figure I’ll pick up some stickers from other vehicles and use them, because I think it will fit more of the feel I’m going for anyway. I emailed the “Mexican guy” everyone goes to for most of these sorts of things and so far no email back. Hopefully, he doesn’t think I’m some sort of secret agent or something.

I’ve found this project really fun. It’s almost got me wanting to buy more Parasites to repaint, to at least give these ugly things a second chance at life.

Image from: YoJoe.com

I like shitty comics. Not all shitty comics, mind you, but I’m the proud owner of many an issues of comics that are rarely seen outside of a quarter bin in a comics shop. The funny thing is that some of them are only considered bad comics if you haven’t read them like Micronauts. There’s plenty to love in the Micronauts series (both from Marvel and independent comic) what with a Star Wars-like space opera mix in with a lot of popular Marvel guest stars. The really horrible part of being a Micronauts fan is that there most likely will never be a series of figures based on the characters found in the Marvel comics. What’s that? There is a toy line of the Micronauts? Well the actual Micronauts toys that the comic is based on barely resemble the heroes found in the comics. That’s why I went ape shiat when I ran across this link the other day:

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For some reason I never put “He-Man” together with “Lego” in my nerdy man child mind. Thankfully, someone else did. Behold, the alliance of He-Man and Lego:

Bad ass.

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Over on the G.I. Joe forum Hisstank a fellow decided to share some pictures of two playsets that he made and they are simply awesome. What I really like about them is that he took the visual concept of the two most famous G.I. Joe bases (the first Joe headquarters and the Terror Drome) and created much larger (and more realistic) versions of the sets. Check this out:

G.I. Joe Headquarters:

While the G.I. Joe Headquarters is very obviously made up of a lot of Styrofoam coolers, you’ve got to give the designer major props for creating such a good looking piece from such simple parts.

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Fairly recently a Fwoosh.com poster made one of the coolest Transformers customs of all time. Combine one concept that’s cool, transforming robots, and one that’s ultra cool, a talking super car, and you get a Transformer named K.I.T.T.

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Lego creator Matt De Lanoy has blessed the world with an ultra cool Futurama creation. Check out his Lego take of the Planet Express:

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I’m not huge into custom figures, but there is the occasional one that gives me pause. Very rarely do I pop a nut over one, but seeing extremely well done Star Wars customs made in a World War II flavor is worth saying, “Holy balls!” over. These photos emerged last week and since I was in a state of hallucinations brought about by Scarlet Fever, I wasn’t able to enjoy them, so I’m posting a couple of my favorites here if you haven’t seen them yet and as filler. Hey, at least I’m honest.

Chewbacca

Apparently if Chewbacca was in World War II he’d start wearing clothes therby answering our burning question, “What does Chewbacca look like with pants on?” At least that’s the question that got me thrown out of a Star Wars convention. What really stands out for me with this Chewbacca is the gun. I just love how the detail was put into it to make it look like a crossbow, even though it’s machine gun that looks like it would exist in the ’40s.

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Over on Hisstank.com the ultimate in G.I. Joe customs was reveled. Behold, the Scalper!

The Scalper comes with an awesome set of accessories from a Wal-Mart cart full of G.I. Joe figures to a bag of McDonalds food and a laptop with eBay ready to go. Even better are the details that went into the figure. He’s balding dude with a ponytail and is wearing long socks with those retarded crocs that, if caught wearing them, you should be immediately be put to death. Oh god, this is the ultimate nerd scumbag and more dangerous to G.I. Joe than any Cobra foe.

Don’t expect to see this figure in stores, mainly because it’s a custom, but also because any scalper worth his salt would not let this figure into anyone’s hands at retail.

I think I’ve covered the fact that I love Storm Shadow more than zombies love brains, so my insta-love of this custom Storm Shadow should come as no surprise:

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I saw this on Bat-Blog the other day and I had to share. In total opposition to the My Little Pony inhabited by the spirit of Satan, I present to you the Batman inspired My Little Pony:

I have no idea where this custom came from or what insane mind spawned it, but that woman or exceedingly homosexual gentleman deserves a beer.

Thanks Bat-Blog

toy, toy collecting, eBay, My Little Pony, custom, comic book, Batman, DC

Every once in awhile a toy collector will rise above the rest and inspire us with some cool custom. The guy over at KingBotz.com has certainly done this, because he’s created one of the coolest Transformer customs I’ve ever seen. It’s a five foot tall Devastator made from Tonka trucks:

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In the first post detailing the G.I. Joe Hasbro showing at the San Diego Comic-con I showed you the amazing new figure offerings on tap for the 25th Anniversary line. In this short post I’ll share some pictures of some cool 25th Anniversary-like customs on display at the show, which were pretty cool in the “what might be or could be” sense.

First up is one of my favorite figures of all time, the Cobra Alley Viper. Others might make fun of the Alley Viper for his outrageous early 90s day-glo orange and blue camo combo, but those of us with taste look past those poor color choices at one of the greatest Joe figures of all time.

If Hasbro made this figure, rainbows would shoot out of my man junk.

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Who’s the one feline that almost makes Furries seem like they have normal tastes? Cheetara from Thundercats, of course. I ran across this custom Cheetara figure the other day on Toy News International (real link). This is one custom figure that makes me wish all the more they were doing a Marvel Legends style Thundercats line.

My only beef with the figure is that it has the same problem that almost all Marvel Legends female characters have, too much articulation on such a small body. Still, a lot of work was put into this thing so it doesn’t look as bad as some of the more hideous female forms in the Marvel Legends line. What really sells the look of the figure is the great paint job on the face along with her signature yellow hair. Meowww…. (sorry, I had to do that)

There is a little hope that we may see a return of Thundercats toys in the future. Now that there will be a Thundercats CGI animated feature film (real link), Warner Brothers will want to milk the franchise for all it’s worth. I can only hope that a new generation of children will be indoctrinated into the world of Thundercats. What’s not to like? There’s swords, mummies, flying surfboard things, and a spankable human cat hybrid woman.

toy, toy collecting, action figure, custom, Thundercats, Marvel Legends

This Lego creation is utterly fantastic.

Seriously, that’s a work of art. It perfectly captures the mechanical side of the bio-mechanical look of the Aliens in a way that really works more than it should. I’m not exactly sure why the Chestburster is tan, but the lighter color does help to highlight the individual Lego pieces a little more, giving you a better appreciation of what makes up this Chestburster. You’ve got to love how the Lego “blood” is pooling outside of the base too.

I’ve got to give this the official Toy Bender cool stamp. It’s too cool for school and thankfully, it’s summer right now:

For more pictures of this Lego Alien Chestburster, head on over to Brickshelf.

toy, toy collecting, Lego, Alien, Aliens, chestburster