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Raving Toy Maniac Presents

Bottleimp's Customs

 

Bottleimp can be contacted at [email protected]

 

 
Captain Atom

I hadn't planned on making a custom of this character until I had read an article about how the Captain, along with other Charlton superheroes, were not going to be produced as toys due to legal reasons. So I decided to face the arduous task of stealing-- er, BORROWING Casimir's recipe of a Starman body with a slightly altered Superman head. However, I likes me Captain Atom shiny, says I, so after painting the body a flat blue-gray, I brushed a thinned-down glaze of iridescent white over the metallic areas. I think it gives a nice sheen without being too distracting.
 


Dr. Fate
The original sculpt of Dr. Fate is fine (we'll excuse the long monkey arms), but the paint job is all over the place. It almost seems like the manufacturers were looking at the comic book style guide instead of the cartoon (the yellow boots and the more cerulean blue outfit). So I decided to do a simple repaint with more accurate colors. I also gave the helmet and amulet the same iridescent treatment I gave Captain Atom.


Animal Man
Why the producers decided to go with B'wana Beast instead of Animal Man, I'll never know. Buddy Baker is made from an Atom with sculpted hair, goggles, and a rad '80's stylin leather jacket... or was it early 90's?


Bloodwynd
What an awful name. Sounds like a digestive condition one would get after eating too much fast food. Anyways, I know next to nothing about him, but I thought that the JLU could use some more minorities on the team. And at least this guy doesn't have to suffer the insult of having "black" before his name (Black Lightning, Black Vulcan, Black Panther, etc.). Anyways, I used a Green Lantern for the base, and added a craft store jewel for his blood gem and a Batman cape with a sculpted Dracula collar. I left out the jewels on his arms and the gem-studded garter belt because I liked the more streamlined look. Plus, what's with the guys wearing garter belts thing? That was a disturbing trend in the characters of the early '90's...


Captain Atom
Casimir's inspiration to use Waverider's head for Captain Atom was
too good NOT to steal-- so here's Cap 2.0, much closer to being on-model,
which I made for a private commission... although I just might have to make
myself one, it looks so darn good.


Atom Smasher
Though I don't really like the way Mattel has abandoned new figure
sculpts in favor of painting costume details on more generic bodies, I do
like how this has enabled them to release a wide variety of characters from
the cartoon at a presumably lower cost to them and the consumer. However,
this practice doesn't work if the integrity of the character design is
sacrificed in order to make a buck. Case in point: Atom Smasher. While the
character is depicted in the cartoon as never being less than 8-10 feet
tall, the action figure is the same height as many of the other toys already
released. My solution was to take a Martian Manhunter (which is TOO big,
strangely enough) and re-sculpt the chest, legs, and arms, and add a
resculpted head from a Hasbro Batman. It's too bad that Mattel didn't want
to take the time to similarly retool the existing MM mold (which would have
also yielded a more in-scale Amazo), but I guess that's the whole reason
that we customizers do this sort of thing. Incidentally, check out Iron-Cow
Productions for a super-huge 10-inch Atom Smasher-- it's pretty sweet!



Starfox
Elongated Man figure with sculpted hair and wristbands. The collar, flared shoulders, and emblem were made with vinyl.


Captain America
B ody from an Amazo, lower legs from a Flash, and the head is a Green Lantern with the nose, mouth and jaw sliced off and replaced with the lower face from a Superman. The gloves, boot cuffs, and mask wings are sculpted, the belt is vinyl and plastic, the star and the A are cut vinyl and the shield was donated by a Super Hero Showdown Capt. America.

Luke Cage
Green Lanten on an Atom Smasher body. The afro, headband, wristbands and boot cuffs were sculpted. The chain came from the straitjacket that came with the Batman/Two Face 2 pack, and the collar was cut from an Undercover Bruce Wayne Jacket.

Black Knight
Red Tornado with helmet, gloves and boots sculpted, random plastic was used for the buttons on the cape, and the sword , belt and scabbard came from a dollar-store toy knight.

Namor
Sinestro with sculpted wristbands, bare feet, and cut plastic for the ankle wings.

Iron Fist
Mattel Nightwing with a sculpted mask. The sash came from an animated Spiderman Dr. Strange, and the signature collar was made with styrene, epoxy, superglue, and a lot of swearing.

Black Widow
Justice Lords short-haired Wonder Woman figure, with sculpted hair and wristbands and a vinyl collar

Angel
Body and hair are from a Starman, and the face was a reshaped Superman. The wings came from a Hawkgirl.

Iron Man
Aztek figure with legs from a Steel figure. The head was totally resculpted, and some sculpting was done on the torso and shoulders. The belt buckle is cut styrene.
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