TMNT Custom Contest (Mark III)
 

Those of you that still attend school/college ought to be settled into your new routines by now, and there are no "major" holidays on the horizon besides Halloween, so this seems like a good time to start the third Technodrome Forums TMNT custom contest to me.



Da Rulez:

01. Entry is open to any and all registered members of this forum. You may not enter someone else's work for them--if you know someone who would like to enter this contest, but is not a member, then they must join before they can participate.

02. One entry per person. All entries must be "new" pieces and your own work. You cannot submit anything that you've finished days, weeks, months, or years ago. That said, I will allow the entry of anything you may have that is still a work-in-progress at the time of the posting of these rules.

03. All entries must be TMNT-centric. Any character or thing originating in the TMNT cartoons, comic books, movies, video games, etc., is fair game as far as subject matter goes. Alternatively, you can also create an all-new variant of an existing TMNT character (i.e., Lion Licking Leonardo) or combine an existing TMNT persona with a character from a non-TMNT franchise to create an amalgam (i.e., Shredder + Predator = Shredator). In addition to the traditional action figure, vehicles, play sets, busts/statues, accessory packs, 1:1 replicas, plushies, Lego/Megablok sets, etc., are all acceptable things to make--as long as it's something generally recognized as a toy collectible, I'm fine with it (ask first if you're not sure). Your custom can be a repaint, modification, recombination, partial new sculpt, 100% new sculpt, or any combination of these things--be creative! A single entry can consist of multiple figures, but remember that you're still restricted to the same image size limitations regardless of how many items are part of your entry.

04. One image, per entry, but you may combine multiple pictures together within that framework (i.e. a collage/montage of photos) if you so desire. The dimensions of said image can be no greater than 600 pixels in width by 800 pixels in height and it should be in JPG format. Entries shall not contain any content that wouldn't be found in a typical PG-13 rated movie. You can place text or watermarks on your image if you like. I reserve the right to edit the dimensions and file size/type, or censor the content, of any entry I receive.

05. Entries must be submitted to me via e-mail or private message, to which I will reply with a confirmation (I'm not online everyday, so give me a few days to get back to you). Once you submit an entry and I accept it, that's it. I will not substitute it for an updated version or a different one--so, make absolutely certain you're happy with it before you send it to me. You may post your customs in this thread, for the purposes of discussion/display, if you so desire, but that DOES NOT constitute submission.

06. The contest entry period will last for roughly six weeks (forty-two days), beginning on September 18, 2008, and concluding at midnight, my time (Eastern Standard Time, USA) on October 29, 2008. Anything dated after that cutoff point will not be accepted. No deadline extensions for anyone, for any reason, period.

07. The contest winner will be determined via a poll with all forum members, including contest participants, eligible to vote. In the event of a tie, I will perform a tie-breaker decision via random chance (die roll, coin flip, etc.). Contest entries will be listed in said poll in the alphabetical order of the participants' usernames.

08. This is just for fun/bragging-rights unless someone wants to donate a prize. Anyone donating a prize is solely responsible for mailing it to the contest winner, including any and all shipping costs, and MUST be willing to ship internationally if need be. A donor may not place any stipulations/conditions on the awarding of their prize(s).

09. Any participant caught cheating during the entry period and/or during voting will be disqualified and expelled from the contest. Examples of cheating include, but are not limited to: (a) Entering something someone else made and claiming it as your own work; (b) Entering an old, completed work and passing it off as new; (c) Individuals having, and voting with, multiple forum accounts; (d) Actively soliciting people outside the forums to join solely for the purpose of voting for your entry.





I will answer/clarify any questions/concerns people may have about these rules in this thread, unless, I feel your question has already been answered adequately above, in which case, I will direct you to read the rules again.

Dammit, the uber-ass custom I'm working on won't be finished (or even started, seeing as I don't have all of the necessary figures to kitbash yet) for months. Ah well, I'll enjoy seeing the entries anyway :lol:

Well, in the interim, why not try making something else for the contest, while you're waiting for those parts for your future project to come in?

Let's see if I can do another complete set of turtles and then not take pictures of them before the deadline again ;)

Well, because I honestly don't have access to anything to further my customs at this point... all that I have is an unfinished figure which some people have already seen.

You were doing a set of Samurai movie turtles weren't you? I don't think you ever showed us those, unless I missed them.

Yeah, they got finished with time to spare-- pictures just never got taken.

Still haven't decided whether or not to donate prizes for this one. I guess I have plenty of time.

The S: If it's still unfinished, that's all right, the rules allow for that (you just can't enter figures finished before the contest began). Nor does it matter that people already saw it, the entries aren't secret or anything.

Darth_CJJ: That's your call to make. If you do decide to, I'd appreciate it. You certainly went above and beyond the call of duty in regards to generously donating prizes last time.

You know what, what the hell. I don't really plan on winning anything. I'll just participate because this'll be my first chance to do so. I'll send you a PM when I have a chance.

Sign me up!

Thanks for continuing the custom contests Patraw. Now since my sculpts aren't finish if I were to finish one would I be able to submit it?

PS Shreddator is awesome.

I would like to sign up too.

too many rulez. y cant it be a completed custom u have, its still a custom contest. customs take time to complete.

Buffy/BigFoot/Shuriken/The S: Glad to hear you all intend to participate. There are no "sign-ups" this time around, but I do appreciate people letting me know they're interested in competing.

tmntfan617: Yes, the rules are fairly extensive, but they're all there for a reason. I guarantee you that, had some of that stuff been left out, I'd be getting even more questions than I am now.

In my opinion, submiting customs you've already completed kind of defeats the purpose of having a contest in the first place (what's the sense of even having a deadline, for example, if everybody is already finished before the contest begins?). The intent is to try to start everybody out on a more-or-less equal footing. I realize making customs takes time; you just have to be realistic about what you can reasonably accomplish in a 6 week period. All that said, some other time, it might be interesting to have a contest where everybody could submit the one TMNT custom they think was the best they ever made.

Ectocooler: Yup, any figures you've got started, but haven't finished, are fine for submission if you can complete them before deadline. You just can't submit anything that was finished prior to the date of my original post on the afternoon of 9/17/08.

I might get around to making my imaginary Shredator one of these days. Somebody else can use the idea if they want to.

Will TMNT Heroclix be ok to enter?

Yes, Heroclix would be fine--the more variety in toy types the better I say.

I must not be hip enough to know what a Heroclix is...

I know... Google it.

You're not missing anything :P

Hmmm...I might have something done before contest end.

think i'll play too. count me in, patraw.

aden/Blade Raider: Cool, glad to hear the two of you may participate as well!

I want real licensed TMNT HeroClix :(

Write the company that makes Heroclix (WizKids) and suggest it, or run it by Peter Laird. Who knows? It could happen.

And, for those of you that aren't familiar with Heroclix, here's some background info for you:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heroclix

Sweet, I'm in. I've been waiting for another contest to roll around to give me an excuse to do some customs I've had in my mind.

Last time, I went overboard and made like 10 customs. (Let me know if you want to see pics.) This time will be no different. I know I can only enter 1 submission, and I will make it clear in the end wich is my final decision. But these little contests give me a reason to "get away" from the real world.

Well anyways... It all started out with an idea...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...rd/TheBase.jpg
Yes, a self made NECA playset was in my future...
I needed some stairs for the entry into a NY style apartment...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...irstStairs.jpg
Hmmm...Those stairs are kinda big, these lower ones are more to scale.
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...Comparison.jpg
Now a railing and some posts... This is all cardboard so I need to primer everything before I start slapping paint all over it...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c.../WhiteWall.jpg
All white! I mean right. That will work just fine. You can see I kinda drew an idea of what I wanted with pencil at this stage.
PUT SOME PAINT ON IT! It takes time... and I wanted the right color... so I asked Raph...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...rd/RedWall.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...edGrayWall.jpghttp://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...SomeBricks.jpg
And that's what it looks like...
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...GroupShot1.jpg
This was my first diorama of sorts. It took all weekend with all the drying times, and I am constantly adding detail. I just added garbage cans, fake rats, and an address this afternoon. I learned alot making this, and would do things differently in the future. I want to go even bigger in the future, but with a 2k3 theme. If anyone else has knowledge on the subject, or have pics of self made dioramas, please share. One of my questions for now is does cardboard work better over that styrofoam posterboard stuff? The edge of mine started to wrinkle up when they got painted.

Anyways, I actually have pics of something I did while this was drying, but there is a limit of how many pics you can post...

thats awesome. i'd love to see more of yr cutoms.

Wow, thats pretty sweet Bigfoot. I'm lookin forward to seeing what you enter in the contest

Thank you.

Like I said, I repainted these 2k3 turtles while the Neca thing was drying. I painted them with a very cool shimmering metallic paint. It started out as a test just to see how the paint would stick, and then I started mixing up different colors. These are in no way supposed to represent or be an example of anything that already exists. I just repainted them but with quite a bit more detail than you would get from Playmates. Oh yeah, and the color scheme is a bit different, but they look awesome in person, so sparkly.
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...d/GayTMNT2.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...d/GayTMNT3.jpghttp://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...d/GayTMNT4.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...d/GayTMNT5.jpg
Thats right, a copper shell!

And here are some past figs...

http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...GroupFinal.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...mSplinter1.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...stomApril2.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...yShredder6.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c.../CustomPD4.jpg
http://i218.photobucket.com/albums/c...Comparison.jpg

A little *too* Raph: Glad to hear you intend to participate.

BigFoot: Cool, Mirage-style diorama. I think the stairs are the best looking element and match the NECA pieces pretty closely in style. The bricks and windows on the building face are a tad bit on the messy side--they need sharper and more defined edges. They appear to be just painted on--they'd look more realistic, and I think you'd find them easier to paint, if they were actual raised, 3-dimensional elements.

The interior of the corrugated cardboard is visible on your stair posts--I used to suffer from the same problem when I first started working with that kind of cardboard. If you want to get rid of that unfinished look, what you do is cut out a strip of paper, the width of the thickness of the cardboard, and then glue that around the edges to cover it up. Cardboard does have a tendency to wilt/warp when you paint it, as does paper, the best thing to do is apply thin coats and do smaller areas, rather than larger ones, at a time.

The psychadelic turtles are cool, I particularly like the blue/yellow Raph, because it reminds me of Mekka Turtle from the original NES game. I think a wave of turtles with those types of color schemes would be awesome.


And, here's what I've been working on:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19...s_progress.jpg

I still need to make the two pairs of smaller wings, which will go inside the shell, and clean up/add to other areas, but I'm getting pretty close to finishing the sculpting work. Should have around 33 points of articulation when finished (little is permanently connected at this point in the process).

Yay Sisyphus! You know, I wonder how he got his name. Maybe he's a dung beetle....

S, I'm pretty sure he's a Scarab Beetle.
http://www.seekingcenter.com/connect...0_scarab.p.jpg
but hell maybe you're right, his color always threw me off.
http://www.bu.edu/sjmag/news-cms/photos/Lanista.jpg
I wonder who came up with him.

Dung Beetles are scarabs. Besides that, I was kidding. As you know, dung beetles roll big balls of poo around. Well, Sisyphus was a Greek king who was punished to roll a boulder uphill for all of eternity, in the underworld.

Yeah I know about Sisyphus, but I wasn't aware that Dung's & Scarabs are the same thing.

wow bigfoot, those turtles look amazing painted red and blue. and those foot ninjas painted different colors are pretty neat too. who would have thought that the 2k3 figures just simply painted differently could look so cool.

The different coloured turtles actually remind me of these fellows:

http://ninjaturtles.com/toys/1997/donskim.htm
http://ninjaturtles.com/toys/1997/leocycle.htm

Hahaha, Pimp Daddy Splinter. That's awesome.

Patraw: Wow Sisyphus is looking good. Have you ever thought of doing figures larger than 1-2"? With all the articulation you give them they'd fit in great with the NECA TMNT if they were larger. You gotta do the other 3 turtles now since Don looked so good (and that playset on your website is badass).

All done:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19..._sisyphus1.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y19..._sisyphus2.jpg

Materials:
Newsprint, Kleenex, white/hot glue, wire twist ties, ink, and acrylic paint.

Dimensions*:
(* The numbers given are approximations, as the dimensions of this figure can vary considerably depending on how the joints are positioned.)
5.7 cm/2.2 in. x 3.2 cm/1.3 in. (highest point x widest point)

Articulation:
Thirty-six points total: Neck (2), shell (3), wings (4), shoulders(4), elbows (8 ), wrists (4), groin guard, thigh guards (2), hips (2), knees (4), and ankles (2).

Time:
Roughly four days: Construction occurred on September 18, 20, 23, and 25 (2008 ).


The S/VaughnMichael: I don't know what kind of beetle Sisyphus is supposed to be (I have the game, but not the manual, so I don't know if they gave any background story on him there, didn't find any info on GameFAQs in that regard either). My guess would be a Goliath beetle, but a scarab is certainly a possibility. The Japanese like to keep big beetles as pets, so my guess is that the design might have been inspired by that--they might have been trying to channel a bit of MK's Goro with the four arm thing too.

Ectocooler: I've made plenty of larger figures in the past, but Baxter is the only TMNT one (I think he's about 8 inches tall). I mainly make smaller figures these days because it conserves space, takes less materials, and I find if more challenging.

Yeah, Don is kinda lonely by himself . . . I should have made a mold when I made him, then I could have turned out all four pretty quick like. That's kind of the rub, I don't like sculpting multiples of the same thing, which the turtles basically are.

Just throwing my hat in the ring again... I've just begun construction of my entry :-)

I was wanting to make a Starlee figure and was wondering if anyone had some good pics of the toy that was going to be produced. All I found on Google were some crappy screenshots. Any pics posted in this thread or pm would be appreciated. Thanks.