New Stuff added in 2004
12-02-2004 - Since it's pretty hard to find the Marvel Legends series 6 Brown Cable variant (based on artist/co-creator Rob Liefeld's art), i've made my own using the old X-Force Cyborg Cable and the shoulder pads from the more common ML6 Cable. It's an appropriate custom for the 2nd year anniversary of my website since that was the very first figure where i boosted the height with milliput, an early attempt at customizing before i started doing repaints/resculpts.
December 2004
11-30-2004 - Thanks to Mr. David Leighton for generously giving me a Phoenix base from the Marvel Legends series 6 figure. It looks great with the Dark Phoenix figure i bought from Great White Custom Figures and Design a while ago
11-15-2004 - Mentallo has limited telepathic powers (however, he is no match for telepaths such as Professor X.). He has worked with Hydra and frequently partnered with the Fixer (who is able to amplify Mentallo's powers through technological means).
That's it for this month, hope ya'll have a Happy Thanksgiving! See ya next month!
11-08-2004 - Radioactive Man was part of the first incarnation of the Masters of Evil. Like many former members of the villainous team, he is now one of the newest members of the Thunderbolts
11-01-2004 - I'll be showing three customs this month that i've had finished for some time but I was not able to show until now because of my busy September. First up is Killraven as seen in the one-shot drawn by Joseph Michael Lisner. He's one of the few survivors of an alternate future Earth after a Martian invasion. I've slotted him for the Cosmic Powers section.
November 2004
10-25-2004 - Some changes to my site, I've redone many of the pictures, alot of the early pics of my 5" Marvel customs were quite blurry due to them being taken with an older digital camera, they should be much clearer and load faster. I've retired the "Al's Other Action Figures" section of my site to focus on the 5" customs and figures for now. I've kept the "Unproduced Figures" and "My Collection" sections, they are now accessible from the main page. Customs in other scales can still be seen in the Custom Index section, but their group sections will back in the future once i do a revamp. Last, the Marvel Knights section has been combined with the Marvel Superheroes section
10-20-2004 - Here's some nice customs i bought off ebay from spiderrogue, aka the "Custom Couch": Rick Jones, (sidekick to the Hulk, Captain America and Captain Marvel) and Lilith, the "mother of all demons."
10-09-2004 - Now that i'm back home on a regular basis i am glad to be able to check out the CustomCon 11, thanks to those who checked out my entry, Marvel Universe Unfinished Business Series 4 and special thanks to Joe Avecedo for organizing the event. Some awesome work seen so far, especially from usual Con standouts Iron Cow and Doubledealer but of course i'm partial to the 5" entries, it's good to see that five (Inch) is still alive! I finally had time to update my site with all the new customs from my entry.
On Day 1 (Monday) of the Con, i had a bunch of new Captain America villains: French savate master Batroc, Serpent Society members Black Mamba and Cobra, the Red Skull's right hand man Crossbones and international terrorist and leader of ULTIMATUM, the Flag-Smasher
Day 2 featured these new customs by me, all Fantastic Four villains: immortal alchemist Diablo, time traveling Pharaoh of ancient Egypt Ramma Tut and Frightful Four member Trapster
For Day 3, the theme was the Masters of Evil, specifically the pre-Thunderbolts lineup, including: the inventive Fixer, massive Goliath and Screaming Mimi
Appropriate this near to Halloween, my entry for Day 4 were supernatural beings: formerly the ruler of Limbo, the demonic Belasco, the terrifying D'Spayre and wraith-like Deathurge
My last entry for Day 5 were the mighty Cosmic Powers. These galactic level beings are a much bigger threat than your average criminal! The In-Betweener is a agent of Lord Chaos and Master Order. The Stranger is as mysterious as his namesake, at times aiding Earth, at other times menacing it. Nebula clains to be the granddaughter of the mad Titan Thanos, but he incinerated her all the same, keeping her half-alive in a sort of living death.
October 2004
9-6-2004 - Arkon is the Imperion of the world known as Polemachus, a great warrior utilizing energy based lightning bolt weaponry. He rules alongside his consort, the lady Thundra
September 2004
8-30-2004 - I was hoping to have the Warriors Three from the Thor series done for CustomCon 11, but for now it looks like i'll just show the best swordsman of Asgard; Fandral the Dashing here and complete the team after the con when I get more base figures. I got the idea for this custom from seeing customizer totaltoys' version. I used a Buccaneer Batman body and swords and a X-Men Black Tom Cassidy head with the "plant growth" dremeled off. BTW I've heard the latest Thor issues have some major changes to the cast as part of the "Avengers Disassembled!" storyline, wonder if it's worth checking out?
8-23-2004 - Between watching the Olympics and working on my entry for the upcoming CustomCon 11 I've been swamped, so no new customs from me this week. This would be a great time however, to show off some more flawless Great White Custom Figures and Design pieces I got from him off Ebay: the second Black Widow, Dark Phoenix (she'll look great with the flaming bird base from ML6 Phoenix, just gotta find one), the Shroud (leader of the Night Shift) and Warbird from the Avengers
8-16-2004 - Thundra is a warrior woman from an alternate future Earth. Though she has battled and defeated the FF's Thing, she eventually came to respect and admire him before returning to her own time period.
8-13-2004 - Joe Avecedo.com is hosting CustomCon 11, the entry deadline for submissions is September 20th. I'll try to make my fourth consecutive entry, though it'll probably be a small showing, depending on whether or not I can get a few more figures done. Can't wait to see this year's batch of new customs!
8-09-2004 - Doombots are robots made to resemble Dr. Doom. Each are programmed to believe themselves to be the real Doom, except in the presence of each other or their creator. This custom came about simply because i had an extra Toybiz Dr. Doom lying around (1st version not the FF release, which meant it need some height boosting) plus i'm still peeved about not having a Marvel Legends Doombot.
8-02-2004 - Nekra was born with the unusual features of chalk-white skin and fangs. She eventually ran away form home and hooks up with the Mandrill. Later she becomes the lover of the Grim Reaper and aids him in his plans against Avengers Wonder Man and the Vision.
August 2004
7-26-2004 - Former X-Force leader, Mr. Sensitive, aka the Orphan, would look pretty good next to Doop (a digital custom of the figure that I want most from Marvel Legends series 6). I'd like to eventually make the other members of the team.
7-19-2004 - Hammerhead is a crime boss obsessed with the 1920's era of gangsters. I made him from a Star Trek Toyfare "gangster" Kirk body (legs were way too short and had to be lengthened with milliput) and a Molten Man head, (cranium enlarged with milliput). AFAIK, just from looking over my collection, there are no Toybiz released figures wearing a business suit! His tommy gun came from a Tomb Raider figure i believe, modified with milliput to look more classic gangsta style
7-12-2004 - Darkstar was a member of the Soviet Super Soldiers as well as the Champions of Los Angeles. She was able to tap into the Darkforce, the same dimension that Cloak, Ecstasy, the Shroud, Black Mamba and Blackout draw their powers from.
7-05-2004 - Hope everyone had a good 4th, it was very foggy this year in San Francisco so we couldn't see much of the fireworks. Anyways here's Nomad, aka Jack Monroe. He started out as the 2nd Bucky, partner of the 4th Captain America (The original Captain America was still frozen in a block of ice at this time).
July 2004
6-28-2004 - I've heard that the new female Captain Britain has a somewhat convoluted history. Still, while not having read the latest Avengers issues, i do like her costume design as well as the clean paintwork and craftsmanship on this custom by Great White Custom Figures and Design
6-22-2004 - The vampire Baron Blood comes from that classic Captain America storyline where Cap had to team with the old and new Union Jack to battle the blood sucker. He's off-model from the comics, especially with the huge feet, but i really wanted to make use of that Vampire Spider-Man base body
6-21-2004 - Thought i mostly customize Marvel 5" figures, some of you know i am also a big Transformers fan. I just came back from the Botcon 2004 Transformers convention, though i am pretty tired from driving there (Pasadena) from S.F. Will have a custom figure update later in the week. Strangely enough, i only bought 1 Transformer, a Gen 1 Gnaw (complete with box and weapons), a box of 20 energon cubes by unicron.com (very cool item) and a matrix on a chain and a lightup Autobot badge for my five year old nephew. Most of the dealer offerings i either already had, were too expensive or junky for my needs. Instead I found one table seeing tubs full of loose action figures and accessories, was able to quite a few figures i needed as well as custom fodder. Yep, i was the guy who flipped the tubs over to get to the figures on the bottom!
It was definitely cool attending the various panels and hearing Dan Gilvezan talk about voicing Bumblebee (though unfortunately I had to miss the Peter Cullen panel, i am happy they gave pre-regs an autographed Optimus Prime print). The best part of the show for me was seeing the display by Tony Preto: every Transformer ever produced spanning two long tables! This could be a permanent part of any museum and I'd pay to see it regularly. The city of Pasadena itself is quite lively, right across the street from the convention center they had an annual "world's largest exhibit of streetside chalk paintings," inside a newly built shopping "village." Some of the artwork even featured Spider-Man! Not a bad time at all for my first Botcon!
6-17-2004 - I am honored to be able to show some of the work of Ricky "Pisces" Ross of Great White Custom Figures and Design. He is a customizer whose talent I totally respect and whose customs i really admire. I'm really glad i was able to buy a few pieces from him including Black Goliath, Damion Hellstrom and Devil-Slayer. The latter two i have put into the Defenders section, and Black Goliath gets slotted into my Marvel Superheroes section
6-07-2004 - I have also updated the Avengers section with my previously announced customs of Jack O' Hearts, Jocasta and Quasar as well as a new custom of the aquatic Avenger, Stingray. Though primarily an oceanographer, he has aided the Avengers and Namor whenever necessary
June 2004
5-29-2004 - With Spider-Man 2 coming out, some might forget the old-school style Dr. Octopus. I took the Spider Power series Doc Ock, added the tentacles from the Spider-Man classics version, removed his loincloth (which had the added benefit of reducing his height slightly) and used a rubber band for his belt. Hope everyone has a great holiday weekend!
5-24-2004 - The Mad Thinker is a criminal genius who has battled the FF and Spiderman. He created the Awesome Android (coming soon of course - you can't have one without the other!)
5-17-2004 - Even though he has a snake-based gimmick, the Constrictor turned down membership in the Serpent Society, preferring to work alone. He's a part of my Supervillains section
5-10-2004 - Will O' the Wisp has been both ally and foe to Spider-Man. This was an easy custom, just a Ka-Zar head on a Molten Man body (which btw suffers from the "gold plastic syndrome" that some G1 Transformers had which makes the plastic brittle)
5-03-2004 - Didn't have time to make a new custom for this week because of the Wondercon convention here in San Francisco. I do have an improved Marvel's Gold Taskmaster. It was pretty good, but strangely had a third row of teeth painted. I fixed that and added a shield.
May 2004
4-26-2004 - Killer Shrike makes an appearance in the new Secret Wars series.
4-19-2004 - The original Mr. Fantastic figure from the Toybiz Animated Fantastic Four series seemed a little boring, so i replaced his old stretchy arms with the ones from the Marvel Legends version. BTW i finally found a Franklin Richards from the X-Men Onslaught series packaged with Wolverine, he fits in perfectly with his family
4-12-2004 - Shang Chi, the Master of Kung Fu (originally from the Marvel Modern Age line) was a pretty good figure, it even had a kickass tattoo! I gave him some milliput hair and a headband to make him more comic book accurate
4-05-2004 - Red Guardian, aka Dr. Tania Belinskya was an early member of the Defenders. She named herself after the previous Red Guardian who was a special agent for the Soviet Union.
4-02-2004 - CustomCon 10 was an awesome event. I've posted some quick comments to RTM and Delphi but i also have my comments here. Thanks to everyone who commented on my entry! Please keep checking my site for new customs every week!
April 2004
3-31-2004 - My last entry for this Spring's Customcon is the "Terrors of the Deep," the three deadliest enemies of Namor the Sub Mariner: the immense Orka, the scheming Llyra and the vicious Tiger Shark
3-30-2004 - From Day 2 comes the rest of the Guardians of the Galaxy team lineup, the strong Charlie 27 and the fiery Nikki!
3-29-2004 - CustomCon 10 began today! Thanks again to Casimir and the folks at RTM for helping showcase the work of some great customizers. There are quite a few first time entrants this year showing the work of seasoned pros. From my day 1 entry comes a Hand Ninja and a Ultimatum Terrorist, part of my "Villians Inc." section of Marvel Universe evil organizations.
3-22-2004 - Quasar uses his Quantum Bands in his role as protector of the Universe. He is the latest addition to my Cosmic Powers section
3-15-2004 - Martinex is another Guardian of the Galaxy, the last known survivor of the Earth colony on Pluto. His body is composed of a silicon-based organic crystal and he can project heat and cold though his body. I'm not that happy with this custom, but i needed to make one to complete the team. There's not a lot of clear crystal-like figures out there and the Toybiz Iceman is too small to use as a base figure
3- 07-2004 - Jocasta is a robot built by Ultron to be his "bride." She eventually turned against her creator and would sacrifice herself to save the Avengers. I repainted a light-up Psylocke and added new milliput "hair"
3-01-2004 - Guardsmen patrol the Vault, a jail for super powered criminals. This was mainly a repainted/remolded Guardsman from the Spiderman animated line to a more on model figure.
March 2004
2-23-2004 - Dracula starred in Tomb of Dracula, an awesome comic from the 70's. He also menaced the X-Men in one memorable storyline in which he attempts to make Storm his bride. Thanks to Robert (Brother Voodoo) of Plastic Knights for the base figure suggestion, a Monster Force Dracula. If i could make the Living Mummy and Frankenstein i'd have a pretty good Supernaturals section
2-16-2004 - AIM Scientists (Advanced Idea Mechanics) seek to dominate through technological means. They have unleashed three major weapons of war against the world over the years: the Cosmic Cube, Super Adaptoid android and MODOK (seen in my Iron Man section)
2-10-2004 - Hydra Agents form the backbone of the subversive organization Hydra.
2-02-2004 - Yondu, from the Zatoan tribe of Centari 4 saw his people seemingly wiped out by the alien Badoon, so he joined the Guardians of the Galaxy. Eventually he finds a settlement of refugees from Centari 4 and becomes their holy warrior.
February 2004
1-24-2004 - Major Vance Astro, future version of the New Warriors member Justice is another Guardian of the Galaxy
1-19-2004 - The Guardians of the Galaxy are heroes from the 31st century fighting the alien Badoon empire. Starhawk (The-One-Who-Knows), is the most powerful Guardian, a being composed of two individuals, Starhawk himself and his wife Aleta. This custom as well as my upcoming customs of Vance Astro and Yondu were inspired by the work of customizer/ebay seller totaltoyz
1-12-2004 - Werewolf by Night was scaring readers in the 70's after the Comics Code Authority lifted some of its restrictions on horror comics. He's my latest addition to my Supernaturals section. They're actually making a movie based on the comic, hopefully it'll be as good as the Blade or X-Men movies.
1-05-2004 - Before Jack of Hearts joined the Avenger he was a regular in the Silver Surfer book
January 2004
