Leonardo Custom Question

[NeutrinoStylist]

New to the forum! As my first post, I'm wondering whether anyone has made a custom figure of Leonardo as he appears below, but with a blue headband:

http://d1466nnw0ex81e.cloudfront.net/iss/600w/392/173921/8445491_1.jpg

Just wondering. It seems like it'd be a composite of largely non-canonical looks, but it's always been what I envisioned as the definitive version of the character. Upon researching this iteration of the character more thoroughly, it seems like Jim Lawson drew the character in this fashion more than a few times: http://tcplanet.thetechnodrome.com/JimLawson.jpg

Anyway, I was daydreaming about such an action figure existing earlier this afternoon and thought I'd check here to see if anyone's attempted this. It seems like you could make a pretty fair approximation simply by using a NECA Leonardo base, painting the bandana and somehow adding a chest strap. I'd love to see anything anyone's whipped up!

I'm pretty hopeless when it comes to customizing skills, but am hoping to eventually enlist someone to make me a few of these on commission. I want one of these on my shelf sooner rather than later. :tgrin:

[Plasticplayhouse]

hi and welcome!

what you're looking at there is a typical peter laird style ninja turtle. yes jim has drawn some similar in the past but that was early on when he was mimicing what kev and pete were printing at the time. now (and for quite sometime) jim has his own original style in which he draws the turtles. as seen here:
http://paneltopanel.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/TALES-OF-THE-TMNT-VOLUME-5.jpg

i have yet to see a good, legit pete laird style custom. i have considered makeing one myself, but i have a few other renditions i want to get through first. a custom like that is not going to be an easy one. it will pretty much have to be an entire sculpt/resculpt. the neca turtles, while eastman and laird style, are the earllier style of the duo and would not make the best of bases. what you're looking for is more of the later style from the duo (style mainly influenced by pete whether by his pencils or inks). i've been doing custom figures for a pretty long time now and i can tell you from experience, getting one custom figure like that, let alone all four, is going to be expensive. you're looking at somewhere between $150-300 per figure. like i said earlier, whoever does it will have to basically do so from scratch and that takes a LOT of time. not to mention you're going to want to go through someone who is good enough to achieve your goal. there are a lot of great customizers out there and many more that will offer to make one for you for less than what i stated, but can they capture "the look"? that is the toughest part.

there are two types of customizers. one who kitbashes (uses existing parts from other figures/toys, aka frankenstiening) and another who does a lot more sculpting/resculpting. for a project like this you'll want a customizer who is the later as there really is no existing fodder (parts) that best represents laird's style.

[NeutrinoStylist]

Awesome! Thanks so much for all of that information, particularly the clarifications regarding artist styles. I worked my way through the first 50 or so issues of the Mirage comic at some point, but my Turtles comics knowledge is pretty limited beyond that. I predominately followed the various TV incarnations.

I definitely get what you're saying regarding the difference between the NECA bases and the Laird art style. Ideally I'd like one that looked EXACTLY like that, but in the interest of financial feasibility (and ease of customization) I'd probably be willing to settle for a tweaked NECA custom that replicated the discussed costume elements if not the overall character design. Maybe at some point I'd come into enough money to commission high end "from scratch" customs but - at this point - I think the NECA version would hold me over. Hopefully that'll also make it easier to find someone to make them.

I definitely appreciate all of your amazing input. I think I confused a lot of stuff regarding artist renderings and am definitely thankful to have a better understanding of that. It'll be good to have that knowledge at my fingertips when discussing this stuff in the future!! :tgrin:

PS: I LOVE those movie turtles customs in your sig. The Movie Star Turtles were some of my favorites as a kid, but even then the inaccurate elbow/knee pad colors bugged. It's glorious to see them fixed up like that.