Wirecutters are the most useful tool ever

Lessons I have learned while making HeroClix into minis for use in a Mutants and Masterminds game:

• Wire cutters are an excellent way to remove pesky superhero limbs.
  
• When snipping off limbs, hold on to the body, or else the little thing will go flying. (Somewhere in my apartment, there is a limbless torso of poor Jack Knight.)
  
• Never ever throw leftover body parts away. An unneeded head from projects past may be just the thing you need to finish a character later.
  
• making a small pool of Superglue in a sacrificial tin and dipping a figure's surfaces into it is a lot easier than trying to put glue on the figure directly from the tube, no matter how small the nib is.
  
• You will, eventually, get used to the pain of Supergluing your fingertips together.
  
• Well, sort of.
  

The fact that I may have to return my borrowed digital camera may logjam entries here for a while. However, this also means there will be an explosion of entries once I get my hands on a new camera. Stay tuned.

Coming soon...

In the works:

-Jason Todd as the Red Hood
-Jim Corrigan as the Spectre

Some others I'd like to do, off the top of my head:
-Arisia (adult version)
-Disco-Collar Nightwing
-Dark Knight Returns Batman
-Carrie Kelley as Robin
-Guy Gardner as Warrior
-Silver Age Star Sapphire
-Return of the Supermen Superboy
-Fire
-Ice

I feel like I should do some Bat-centric customs to celebrate the new movie. We'll see if this list can keep me busy for a while while my computer cleanses itself from a bunch of viruses it's managed to accumulate.

HeroClix custom: Kyle Rayner (old costume)

Name: Kyle Rayner
Made from: Rookie Northstar
Date: May 28, 2005




As soon as I saw Northstar in Franny's pile of Marvel HeroClix I knew I had to turn one of them into Kyle. The 90's hair is absolutely perfect.

Took quite a bit of fiddling to get that crab mask just right, though. Epoxy putty gets awfully sticky right before it sets, and if you touch it just the wrong way you have to start all over.

I suppose I could have modeled his arm guards and boots out of putty, too, but Northstar is already a pretty beefy guy and I didn't want to make Kyle any bulkier than he already was.

Custom HeroClix: Guy Gardner

Name: Guy Gardner
Made from: There's a Rookie Black Adam under all that clay
Date: May 2005




It's my goal to make all the major players in the Green Lantern mythos into HeroClix. (Well, all the ones that aren't already out there, anyway.)

I still haven't quite figured out how to do some of the more inhuman looking ones, but I'm not through with the human GLs just yet.

A lot of putty went into this one. The hair, the boots, the jacket -- the only way you'd ever know he was a Black Adam in a past life was if you recognized his "come and get some of this" pose.

I like putting this figure on a Rookie Hal Jordan dial -- a clix that'll come screaming out of the gate with Running Shot, but will go down with, well, one punch.

HeroClix custom: Star Sapphire (modern costume)

Name: Star Sapphire (Carol Ferris, wearing the armored suit from the 1980s)
Made from: The head is a Rookie Superwoman, the body is a Rookie Maxima
Date: May 2005



I have a metric ton of Superwoman figures in my collection. At first, I was just going to lop the cape off a Superwoman figure and work from there, but then I noticed that Maxima's boots bear a striking similarity to Star Sapphire's.

So off came both their heads. Maxima's head is molded to the cape -- since it was made out of that same soft plastic, taking it off was a lot easier than Superwoman's. After sawing a bit with an Exacto knife (one thing about customizing HeroClix -- you will go through Exacto blades like nobody's business), the two pieces fit together surprisingly well. It helps that Sapphire has that collar thing around her neck, but the tilt of her head doesn't look freakishly unnatural or anything.

The headpiece, belt, earrings, gauntlet and right boot cuff are all molded with epoxy putty.

Not too happy with her face, though. She looks properly pissed off, but sexy she ain't.

HeroClix custom: Kyle Rayner (new costume)

Name: Kyle Rayner
Made from: Rookie Superboy
Date: May 2005



I've heard gripes that Kyle's new Jim-Lee-designed costume is crap. The reason they cite is the fact that it's so similar to Lee's X-Men designs. Being a DC girl myself, I would never have noticed unless they pointed it out. And I still like it.

This one's just a repaint -- no clay modeling or shaping here, save sanding off the pocket details on Superboy's jeans.

I kind of wish he didn't fly so horizontally, though. If I had been planning it a little better I might have tried boiling the plastic to tilt his flying angle up a little bit.

Oh well, live and learn.

HeroClix custom: The Spectre (Hal Jordan)

Name: Spectre (J.M. Dematteis' hippy New Age can't-we-all-just-get-along version)
Made from: Rookie Cloak
Date: May 2, 2005




Simple, basic repaint. Just something to do while I was waiting for the coats of paint on Crazy!Hal to dry, really.

As a non-flier, he's a lot shorter than all my other custom clix. Makes him look unassuming and ineffectual.

There's something deliciously appropriate about that.

HeroClix custom: Parallax

Name: Parallax (or Hal Jordan, or Giant Yellow Space Bug, whichever you prefer)
Made from: Ultraman (unique)
Date: May 2, 2005



Considering how much I really hate all things Emerald Twilight, this one was a lot of fun to make. There's epoxy putty to build up his hair, shoulder guards, collar and whatever that circle thing on his chest was supposed to be.

Ultraman's dial is amusingly accurate, too. Put him up against an individual Green Lantern (even the veteran Hal) and he just goes to town. Swarm him with figures Zero Hour style, and he collapses quicker than you can say "arrow to the chest."

Supervillains are cute when they're reduced to a mere inch and a half tall. He just sits there on my computer, feebly attempting to be threatening: don't mock me or I'll release Entropy on your entire hard drive!

*patpat* That's nice, dear.

HeroClix custom: Katma Tui (animated)

Name: Katma Tui (as of her appearance in the Justice League Unlimited episode Hearts and Minds)
Made from: Rookie Kid Quantum
Date: April 2005



I absolutely loved Katma's character design on the Justice League cartoon. Really. Butch is a good look for her. Loving those Frieda Kahlo eyebrows.

This one was more to test my abilities carving off Kid Quantum's ridiculous epaulets and belt.

HeroClix custom: Katma Tui

Name: Katma Tui
Made from: Rookie Saturn Girl
Date: April 2005




My first custom HeroClix, a simple repaint. I wish there were more female Green Lanterns, honestly. The fact that Dave Gibbons is bringing a woman from Korugar to the Green Lantern Corps in the upcoming Recharged miniseries is encouraging, but I still miss Katma.

Looking at her now I can see she's in need of some retouches (she could really use another coat of white), but I'm still pleased with how she came out, especially concerning her eyes.

I play with action figures and I vote. Isn't that something?

Welcome to Green Is The New Black, a photoblog by Amy of So So Silver Age.

I'll be posting pictures of my custom HeroClix as well as the screwy antics of my collection of action figures:


Hal: I won't be controlled by you again, Parallax!
Spike: I think you have me confused with someone else...
Hal: Yellow Fear Monster! KILL IT KILL IT KILL IT!
Spike: Aaaaah! Get off me, you fucking loony!


Whether this is more or less healthy than writing fan fiction, I don't know.