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.

[Lil G]

thats real good. i would buy that if they sold it at stores. you should keep on making customs.

[Ninjinister]

I'll give you your due praise if you give me your Mystic Fury Mike.

[Blade Raider]

I like it. Can't wait to see the finished figure

[Wes]

Thanks, guys!

Lil G: Oh, I'm too lazy to do customs that often -- I've still got two on the table that I've been working on since about this time last year. Painting just saps my will to finish anything, so I'm hoping that minimizing it will keep me interested!

Ninjinister: Ha! I was actually quite glad that I remembered I have him. I was all sad after I mangled my Battle Nexus Mikey because my 2K3 Turtles were without a Mike... and then I found one of his weapons and was like WAITAMINUTE!!! My 2K3 Turtles are four once again.

BR: Hopefully that'll happen sometime before 2010!

[notebook]

thats an interesting custom. i usually don't like marvel legends-type stuff, but that's a good base and it goes well with the cape and super shredder armor.
i like the blue/black costume. i would somehow get rid of the w...
anyway, very promising.

[cynic-al]

Oh, it looks nice, but why don't you try a paint wash in the "metal" areas to give it a rusty look.

[tOkKa]

-->> O' FK

[Wes]

Thanks for all of the encouragement, peeps!

So I went to the trouble of getting a Magneto body so I could swap in some more metallic legs... but now that I've done it, I see that Magneto's lower legs are a tad shorter than Wonder Man's. Lemme know what you think...


http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/shredwip/legcomp2.jpeg
http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/shredwip/legcomp3.jpeg


http://www.wesoteric.com/toyimg/shre...ightcomp2.jpeg

It's the height comparisons that really kill me -- granted, Wonder Man wasn't the tallest figure to begin with (and DCUC figures are generally taller than MLs), but still.

Would you guys stick it out, or go hunting for longer legs?

[Candy Kappa]

I think the height is nice

[Nelson]

I think it's nice, too.

[Jester]

I like the legs too. Height be damned!

EDIT: Wes, do you want a Wonderman to NECA TMNT size comparison shot?

[oldmanwinters]

Wes, I love your customs of those super-obscure characters from TMNT lore!

[Wes]

Do I detect a note of sarcasm, OMW?

[oldmanwinters]

Very good look, Wes!

[Wes]

Originally Posted by Optimus Primer

Lookin' rad! I think just the wraps on their own with some shading would look great, but going all out and painting their pads brown and eyes white might be cool too...

Oh I definitely prefer the colored pads, so I'll leave those alone! Wraps I may paint different colors for different Turtles -- not sure how that'll shake out, but I'm thinking I won't try to match the colors with their signature ones. Black for Leo gives me a kinda Rise vibe, so I'll probably stick with that for him. Might pull inspiration from Rise for the others. I like the idea of white/off-white for Raph, and for Mikey I'm pondering mismatching them with neon fuchsia and blue in a callback to his plastron stickers/tattoos. We'll see.

[TheCanadiandrome]

wooohooo he's back lol