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Challenge of the Superfriends - The Legion of Doom

Banded together from remote galaxies, are 13 of the most sinister villains of all time - the Legion of Doom! Dedicated to a single objective, the conquest of the universe! Only one group dares to challenge this intergalactic threat - The Superfriends!

Iron-Cow Prod. is proud to unveil these 13 custom figures based off the classic Hanna-Barberra cartoon.

Lex Luthor

Don't get me wrong - I love the DC Direct Super Friends Lex Luthor figure. It's got a great sculpt, and has a very striking presence. Still, after reworking the rest of the line-up, I decided to finesse some of the details on this sculpt. The main change was repainting the face to simplify the amount of color used. The whites of the eyes are now gone, and the expression more closely matches the control art. The green areas of the costume are also repainted to better match the show. Sure, it's a bit nit-picky, but I'm much happier with this show-accurate version of the character.

Black Manta

As with my Lex Luthor 'custom', this is a simple repaint to make a fantastic sculpt look more show-accurate. The blues and yellows now better match the look of the original show, and gone is the silver belt buckle. Easy peesy, but what a difference it makes!

Cheetah

Cheetah is simply a repaint of the existing DC Direct Super Friends figure. The darker colors now better match the look of the show. I thought about adding in some better articulation to allow her to have more dynamic poses, but opted against this. I didn't want to distract from the smooth lines of an already great sculpt.
Captain Cold

Captain Cold was definitely a fun challenge. I began by reworking a DC Direct First Appearance Shazam figure, sanding down details on the original figure and adding new details using Magic Sculpt. The back of the hood comes from a Marvel Legends Hobgoblin figure while the googles were made using cut styrene. The rest is simply paint. It took awhile to get all the details sculpted just right, but I'm really happy with the results.
Brainiac

The ultimate computer genius is wearing tiny biker shorts? Okay! Anyway, to help add a bit of variety to the Legion of Doom line-up, I decided to rework a DC Direct First Appearance Flash figure as opposed to say a Super Friends Green Lantern. The FA Flash has a leaner body, and it works really well for Brainiac. The headsculpt is taken from a Marvel Legends Professor X figure, while other details were sculpted using Magic Sculpt. Looking back, I wished the sculpt was a bit cleaner, but I'm just happy he's done. While viewed by himself, he's a bit rough, but in a group he blends in nicely.
Sinestro

The Sinestro figure was another great sculpt by DC Direct that suffered a bit from am off-model paint job. This custom project is simply a repaint to make it more show accurate, and to correct certain details (namely the belt and the eyes). Similar to the Black Manta project, a little paint helps bring out an already-existing great sculpt.
Bizarro

Bizarro began as a DC Direct Super Friends Superman figure. I removed the arms and reworked the torso, to allow the arms to rest closer to the figure's side. The headsculpt was originally from a Street Fighter figure (drawing a blank... the guy with the yellow pony tail?). Unfortunately, that part was a bit undersized. I molded this and used Hydrospan to scale it up to the proper size. It was then reworked using Magic Sculpt to better match the control art. I then added in a new cape and the rest is simply paint. Bizarro am now ready to battle Superman!
Scarecrow

Similar to my Wonder Woman custom, I loved the original sculpt of this DC Direct figure, but I decided to add in a few of the missing details. I drilled some holes in the top of Scarecrow's hat and inserted picture wire to simulate the loose straws as seen on the show. The rest is simply paint to better match the look of the cartoon.
Riddler

Riddler is yet another repaint. The official DC Direct version has a great sculpt, but the overall paint was a bit too garish. Plus, they left off his eyeballs! This was a pretty straightforward repaint to help make the bigger better match its show counterpart.
Toyman

Toyman was a fun project to work on, without a doubt. He began as a DC Direct Sinestro figure. I used Magic Sculpt to create most of the costume details. While the headsculpt looked great primed, I became a bit frustrated with it once it got painted. For some reason, it seems a bit off to me. Still, I'm otherwise happy with how he turned out, and I might tweak the sculpt a bit down the road.
Giganta

Okay, this project proved to be a lot more difficult than I expected. I had hoped to rework a Birdman animated figure into Giganta. Gender-bending aside, it just proved to be too far off-model. At the last minute, inspiration struck, and I reworked a New Frontier Wonder Woman figure into the villainous giant. This worked out pretty well, as she now towers over her fellow teammates. The head is a reworked DC Direct Black Canary spare head, with the hair created out of Magic Sculpt. Magic Sculpt was used to create most of the other details as well. The feet were spliced in from a Kingdom Come Flash figure, and while they aren't quite the best fit, they're close enough until something better comes along. Overall, this figure is a bit rough, but she's done, and I might revist this project again at some point.
Gorilla Grodd

While I thought Grundy was a pain to sculpt, that was nothing compared to the Gorilla Grodd project! Grodd originally began as a Marvel Legends Smart Hulk figure. I sanded down most of the surface details and then began slice apart the arms and legs. Using metal rods, I repositioned the limbs to better match the proportions of a gorilla. The hands and feet came from various Hulk figures, and eventually everything was covered over with Magic Sculpt to bring out the other details. Grodd is a bit rougher than I hoped he'd be, but overall I'm happy with how he turned out. He's certainly a brick in person, easily outweighing the other figures in the set.
Solomon Grundy

Solomon Grundy is a reworked Ookla figure from the Thundarr the Barbarian line. The jacket is made from vinyl, and the rest of the details (boots, pants, cuffs, hair, part of the face) were sculpted using Magic Sculpt. It took awhile to create, but I'm really pleased with the results.

 

The Legion of Doom!

To see more of Matt 'Iron-Cow' Cauley's creations, please visit www.ironcowprod.com

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