Wes Custom: When teh ebil Shreddar attax!

[Wes]

So I've finally amassed all of the components necessary to do my zany Shredder custom! Preview pics follow:





I went with the Wonder Man base because a) the arms are flesh-colored, saving me the trouble of painting them, b) the head can kinda pass for a Japanese guy in this scale (kinda reminds me of the Silver Samurai, actually) and the red eyes give him a cyborg vibe (since I intend for him to be an "upgraded" Shredder of sorts, a la Cyber Shredder), and c)...



The head is pretty much small enough to work with any of the removable 2K3 Shredder helmets! Of course, the style of the movie Shredder's head means that his eyes are way higher on the head (hence WM's forehead staring out), so I actually intend to use the Feudal Shredder helmet. It's actually a bit tight, so I've dremeled the back of it out to provide him with more room -- should look pretty good.

Of course, right now I'm in the process of trying to get the smoke smell out of that helmet, so it's unavailable at the moment.

Originally I was planning to paint the suit pink a la Tournament Fighters, but now I'm not sure I want to do that given that I fully intend for him to retain his poseability and don't particularly want to put in the effort required to protect the joints. I'll probably just end up painting the body black to cover up the blue highlights (the base plastic is black and isn't highlighted at the joints, so no problems there) and giving him a pink cloth... human billboard type shirt. (I have no idea what those are actually called!) The original figure's bracelets and boots will probably end up silver, unless I decide to do some silver/black combo for the former.

I also plan to make him a new purple cape (plenty of fabric left over from when I made a cape for my Kong-to-Grodd repaint) -- this loaner from 1987 Shredder is just a placeholder. The new cape will attach to the Super Shredder shoulderpads, into which I may also dremel indentations underneath so that they can sit more upright on the body. I'll probably end up gluing the rest of the armor in place, but, like Piccolo's shoulderpads/cape combo, I want the shoulderpad ensemble to be easily removable.



Comments? Suggestions? Do share! That said, keep in mind that I'm not really looking to make this a terribly involved project and that I'm obviously not going for a direct interpretation of any one version of Shredder. This is just my take on the character given the level of effort I'm willing to exert and the parts available to me.