The Ninjinister's Custom Carnival

[Ninjinister]

I finally got some photos of my custom figures. A few of things to keep in mind:

1. I'm still very new to customizing... my first custom is barely a month old.
2. Yes I know, my camera isn't exactly the kind God would carry around, but it gets the job done. Either way, I'm not much of a cameraman.
3. Constructive criticism is welcome, just don't act like a turd. In other words, be polite about it. I know, I'm asking a lot for this place...
4. I didn't attempt to make these customs to perfectly reflect the characters they were based on, just made them to suit my own tastes.

Nightmare Raph
I'm sure you've all seen this... my first custom. I entered him into the recent custom contest, just for S&G. I didn't expect to win, or even come close; it was just a chance to do something new and different. Amazingly I got a whole vote, which is three more than I expected Anyway, it was actually a long time in between attaching Raph's head and the painting process, because I was too busy to go and buy some paints. I had started out wanting to paint his armour to be like the version in the cartoon, but I applied too much black to the white when attempting to mix it into gray and didn't realize until too late that it dried into a light black. Then I realized it actually looked kind of badass, so I decided not to attempt to remedy it.



Parts used:
1 Raphael (2003, Playmates) Head
1 Shredder (2003, Playmates) Body

Tournament Fighters April
My second custom effort... this one didn't turn out as well as I hoped. When shaving off the extra long boots, it didn't quite turn out right, no matter how much I sanded and filed and so forth. Oh well... I might be able to fix it at a later date. I know TF April was wearing slightly more revealing clothing, but the figure I used didn't have the belly for it... I think it looks all right like this anyway....



Parts used:
1 April, the Ninja Newscaster (1992, Playmates) Body
1 April, the Ravishing Reporter (1992, Playmates) Skirt

Mini-Mutants Super Shredder
I know what you're thinking... S, you retard, there's no Mini-Mutant version of Super Shredder! Only the 2007 movie and Shiva Shredders!

Some of you old schoolers may know that the Mini-Mutants were originally a line of very, very small figures made way starting way back in '93... think Mighty Max or Polly Pocket.

Anyway, some of the characters had different paint jobs than the full-sized ones... most notably was Super Shredder, who had blue and purple armour:


(Image courtesy of tmnttoys.com)

Well, I've always liked this version... he fit in well with Playmates' own first Shredder release... so I "upscaled" this Mini Super Shredder to standard size.



Parts used:
1 Super Shredder (Playmates, 1991)

Real Movie Star Foot Soldier
I never figured out why the Movie Star Foot Soldiers' suits were a greenish-gray when they were black on film. So, in my easiest custom, I shaved off the shuriken in his belt, sanded down the shoulder strap so it blended in better, and painted his entire costume black, touching up the bandana with a better red.



Parts used:
1 Movie Star Foot Soldier (Playmates, 1992)

Lost Season Splinter
Out of all of the screw-ups Playmates has done, I feel not making any Lost Season figures was one of the biggest. That entire season had so many opportunities for badass figures... and they were all wasted. I decided to remedy that for my own collection with something relatively easy... Splinter. It's actually not complete - I've got to do something that will allow me to strap the hat to his head or his back. Some day I'll think of something I can use to make a custom Ancient One to go with him....



Parts used:
1 Splinter (Playmates, 2003) Body
1 Foot Fire Mystic (Playmates, 2004) Geta
1 Hamato Yoshi (Playmates, 2005) Hat
My own old underwear (Fruit of the Loom, God knows when) Wrist and ankle wrappings

[Machias Banshee]

Hey, I like your Lost season Splinter!

And I agree, they could have done a Lot with the Lost season, figure-wise. I would certainly buy an Ancient one and (light up?) tmnt if it was good quality..

[Jester]

Nice work...I agree that LOst Season Splinter takes the cake.

EDIT: The Suped-up Mini Super-Shredder is also pretty wicked.

Could an OT Tattoo work to make an Ancient One??

[Ninjinister]

But Jester... the cake is a lie!

Thanks folks! Your support means a lot. I wish if Playmates had made a Lost Season Splinter, he would have come with Ancient One as sort of an "accessory" (obviously a separate figure, but would count as one since he's so short).

[Sarah]

as a Shredder fan, I really like your upscaled version of the mini mutants Super Shredder. the mini Shredder was one of my favs, but I always wondered why Playmates used those colours for it. anyway, I think your repaint is pretty damn awesome. and I like your lost season Splinter. Playmates should have done that fig. by the way, instead of using your old underwear, you could have used medical tape.

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Jester

Could an OT Tattoo work to make an Ancient One??

I actually thought about it... and although I'm not caring about the scale of these figures, I still feel Tattoo would be much too tall for Ancient One.

Originally Posted by Sarah

as a Shredder fan, I really like your upscaled version of the mini mutants Super Shredder. the mini Shredder was one of my favs, but I always wondered why Playmates used those colours for it. anyway, I think your repaint is pretty damn awesome. and I like your lost season Splinter. Playmates should have done that fig. by the way, instead of using your old underwear, you could have used medical tape.

Thanks! Super Shredder's actually the one I'm most proud of. And um... I never though about medical tape. I don't have any, anyway, but at least I could have gotten a hold of it. It sure would have saved all of the trouble I went through super-gluing the underwear strips onto him... I actually was thinking of using old socks but I couldn't find them.

[TurtleManiac]

that movie foot soldier looks awesome, cause their outfits were really black in the movies, not light green. you beat me to it lol i was planning to repaint my movie figures too, like the movie star turtles painting their wristbands, elbow pads, and knee pads brown like in the movies, though im not sure if the paint would go well on the rubbery texture. the super shredder also looks cool cause its like a blown up version of the original mini mutant which i also have. to ebay it is to get more spare figures for customs!!!....

[Topsu]

I like these customs, they look pretty neat. I also like the fact you've used several figures to do them, I myself am doing only my second custom, my first is less than a month old, and I've only used one figure and sculpted the rest.

Any other projects you're working on right now?

[notebook]

those are awesome. the movie foot soldier and super shredder are great.
i always wondered how the mini fig's colors would look regular sized.

how do you swap parts like that?

[Lil G]

Originally Posted by The S

I finally got some photos of my custom figures. A few of things to keep in mind:

1. I'm still very new to customizing... my first custom is barely a month old.
2. Yes I know, my camera isn't exactly the kind God would carry around, but it gets the job done. Either way, I'm not much of a cameraman.
3. Constructive criticism is welcome, just don't act like a turd. In other words, be polite about it. I know, I'm asking a lot for this place...
4. I didn't attempt to make these customs to perfectly reflect the characters they were based on, just made them to suit my own tastes.

Nightmare Raph
I'm sure you've all seen this... my first custom. I entered him into the recent custom contest, just for S&G. I didn't expect to win, or even come close; it was just a chance to do something new and different. Amazingly I got a whole vote, which is three more than I expected Anyway, it was actually a long time in between attaching Raph's head and the painting process, because I was too busy to go and buy some paints. I had started out wanting to paint his armour to be like the version in the cartoon, but I applied too much black to the white when attempting to mix it into gray and didn't realize until too late that it dried into a light black. Then I realized it actually looked kind of badass, so I decided not to attempt to remedy it.



Parts used:
1 Raphael (2003, Playmates) Head
1 Shredder (2003, Playmates) Body

Tournament Fighters April
My second custom effort... this one didn't turn out as well as I hoped. When shaving off the extra long boots, it didn't quite turn out right, no matter how much I sanded and filed and so forth. Oh well... I might be able to fix it at a later date. I know TF April was wearing slightly more revealing clothing, but the figure I used didn't have the belly for it... I think it looks all right like this anyway....



Parts used:
1 April, the Ninja Newscaster (1992, Playmates) Body
1 April, the Ravishing Reporter (1992, Playmates) Skirt

Mini-Mutants Super Shredder
I know what you're thinking... S, you retard, there's no Mini-Mutant version of Super Shredder! Only the 2007 movie and Shiva Shredders!

Some of you old schoolers may know that the Mini-Mutants were originally a line of very, very small figures made way starting way back in '93... think Mighty Max or Polly Pocket.

Anyway, some of the characters had different paint jobs than the full-sized ones... most notably was Super Shredder, who had blue and purple armour:


(Image courtesy of tmnttoys.com)

Well, I've always liked this version... he fit in well with Playmates' own first Shredder release... so I "upscaled" this Mini Super Shredder to standard size.



Parts used:
1 Super Shredder (Playmates, 1991)

Real Movie Star Foot Soldier
I never figured out why the Movie Star Foot Soldiers' suits were a greenish-gray when they were black on film. So, in my easiest custom, I shaved off the shuriken in his belt, sanded down the shoulder strap so it blended in better, and painted his entire costume black, touching up the bandana with a better red.



Parts used:
1 Movie Star Foot Soldier (Playmates, 1992)

Lost Season Splinter
Out of all of the screw-ups Playmates has done, I feel not making any Lost Season figures was one of the biggest. That entire season had so many opportunities for badass figures... and they were all wasted. I decided to remedy that for my own collection with something relatively easy... Splinter. It's actually not complete - I've got to do something that will allow me to strap the hat to his head or his back. Some day I'll think of something I can use to make a custom Ancient One to go with him....



Parts used:
1 Splinter (Playmates, 2003) Body
1 Foot Fire Mystic (Playmates, 2004) Geta
1 Hamato Yoshi (Playmates, 2005) Hat
My own old underwear (Fruit of the Loom, God knows when) Wrist and ankle wrappings

awesome! i love 'em! dont blame you for the underwear on splinter though. when i was like 8 and i used to play with ninja turtles toys, when somebody would get beat up i would use toilet paper to look like casts. it was pretty hot but i would get mad when they would rip, lol.

[Ninjinister]

Ultimate Drako

This is what I've been touting as my "uber custom", because it would take the longest time to make, and the most work - not to mention the fact that it's much bigger than anything I've done in the past.

Unfortunately, this also means I had a lot of trouble with it, too. The Ultimate Ninja head and leg were not able to be glued on in the position I'd hoped, which makes the entire package look a little wonky. However, I still feel it turned out all right for my first time kitbashing something on this scale.





Note that I didn't take the photos at work this time; this is because I stayed home today with a headache of epic proportions >.<

Parts used:
1 Ultimate Ninja (2004, Playmates) Head, cape, left arm, loincloth
1 Drako (2004, Playmates) Body, secondary head, right arm, right leg, tail
1 Ultimate Daimyo (2005, Playmates) Mask, War Staff
1 Vampire Succubor (2007, Playmates) Wings
1 Shredder (1988, Playmates) Left leg
1 Feudal Shredder (2005, Playmates) Claw
1 Movie III April (1992, Playmates) Time Scepter

[Slash]

Pretty cool. Any chance we'd see a bigger picture or a close up?

[Ninjinister]

Originally Posted by Slash

Pretty cool. Any chance we'd see a bigger picture or a close up?

When I get a better camera >.<

[IamtheKnight]

Damn! That is a sick figure! I was thinking of making one myself. Great job!