Purina Cat Chow

Not to be confused with Sabu (who doesn’t get anywhere near as much credit as he deserves for changing the landscape of wrasslin’).

This week’s proof of too much free time: Zabu.

I should have made a post-battle Zabu who–because of wounds received in combat–has to wear one of those cone-around-the-neck things from the vet. Actually…now that I’ve typed that I really want to go mod that.

Ingredients: Zabu’s base body is a D&D miniature Guenhwyvar slapped with liberal coats of orange and yellow acrylic paint. His big teefs were swiped from…from, uh…I have no idea. I’m guessing I went hunting through my giant bin of Mage Knight/D&D figures looking for some random beastie with big choppers. If you can eyeball what figure they’re from you’re insane.

BREAKING NEWS! We have a new bronze medal winner for least-work custom figure. Congrats to Zabu for edging out Conan and joining our silver (Grodd) and gold (Ursa Major) medal winners up on the dias. Hmmm, I sense a theme at work here. (Hint: none of them wear pants.)

The Savage Land might be the craziest f*cking zip code in comics. I offer as proof the above pic: blond Tarzan’s sabretooth tiger jumping off a cliff to tackle the mutated man-turned-into-hypnotic-pterosaur named after the badguy from Lord of the Rings. And it’s not even the weekend.

Random Zabu from around the interwebs:

First up, a Ka-Zar cover gallery full of sabretooth tiger goodness. Then we have a Calvin & Zabu cartoon, an essay of Zabu’s internal monologue and a jaw-dropping piece of Frank Cho art. Man, looking at that guy’s art makes me forget about all the bad stuff goin’ around these days…if he’s a good a person as he is an artist we should crown him King of Earth. Anyway, here’s another custom Zabu Heroclix.

Three Clicks of the Condor

Hmmm…nope, never read a comic with this guy in it, but DAYAM, that’s a pretty badass character design. He’s like the toughest emo kid ever. I dig it.

So anyway, this week’s figure: Black Condor.

I wonder if makeup is considered “uncool” in superhero circles? Domino masks, full face masks, masks with your mouth and chin exposed, walk into a secret superhero HQ wearing any of those and no one gives it a second thought. But covering your eyes and jaw in makeup…? My guess is guys like Green Arrow would bust your balls.

Ingredients: All parts of this mod were cobbled together from HeroClix figures. Base body was a Falcon (Sinister), head was a Professor X (Infinity Challenge) and random costume elements (chest emblem, bicep straps, etc.) were thin strips or index card shaped with an x-acto, held in place with a pinprick of Elmer’s and then hardened with a small drop of Krazy Glue. Mohawk, boot tops and shoulder thingies are small shreds of tissue paper rolled to shape between my fingers and then held in place/hardened with glue. Acrylic paint made the joint look presentable and a light coat of matte sealant took it home. Custom Black Condor dial here.

If anyone wants to know why I went with the modern version of the character over the original, let’s see what a GIS for “Golden Age Black Condor” churns up…

…yeah, that’s pretty magical.

Modern Black Condor in HeroClix action:

Other Black Condor stuff from around the web:

Eh, couldn’t dig up much non-comic stuff on this version of BC, though I did find a pretty neat custom Black Condor action figure.

The Kung-Fuiest Tiger of All

“El Tigre Blanco!”

Yell anything in Spanish and it sounds badass. “Los pasteles de mono!” Or, in English, “monkey cakes.” The internets: a place for learning.

This week’s false idol is ’70s Kung-Fu mofo Hector Ayala, better known as the original White Tiger.

The ’70s comic book landscape:

“We’re creating the first ever Puerto Rican comic book superhero!”

“Puerto Rican…? Not marketable.”

“How about if we cover him head-to-toe so no skin is showing…?”

“Nope.”

“And we, uh, we put ‘white’ in his name…?”

“SOLD!

George Pérez designed the White Tiger…? I had no idea. Thank you, Wiki. I’ve always been a fan of the sleek, simplistic look of the Tiger’s outfit–it stood out from the pack, led me to becoming a fan–and now I know why. Freakin’ George Pérez…outside of Jack Kirby, has any one artist created more A+ superhero costumes? That guy’s as talented as his shirts are loud.

Ingredients: All parts used to mod this badboy were HeroClix figures. Base body is Symbiote Spider-Man (Sinister), his right hand was lifted from Sidewinder (Ultimates) and the chimney was swiped from Robin (Icons). Costume trimmings (boot straps, necklace, left glove & eyes) are bits of index card shaped by x-acto, held in place by a pin-prick of Elmer’s and then hardened by an itty-bitty drip of Krazy Glue. Acrylic paint pulled it together and a light coat of spray matte took it home. Custom White Tiger dial here.

In the proud tradition of my custom figures, White Tiger’s debut game saw him annihilated in the first few turns. It happened so quick I don’t even remember who did the deed. Power Pack maybe? A custom HeroClix of that Bird-Brain guy from old school New Mutants…? I’m sure it was a worthy foe.

Other White Tiger stuff from around the web:

100% badass Deadly Hands of Kung-Fu cover gallery. Painted covers starring ‘Tiger, Shang-Chi, Iron Fist…you really should click that link. Custom Marvel Legend White Tiger, in packaging yet! Another White Tiger custom action figure (scroll down a bit). Cool stuff all, but how come no one’s ever done a White Tiger-themed coloring book?

Toyboy

“Toyboy” made me think of “boy-toy” and now Shawn Michaels’ entrance music is stuck in my head.

I CAN’T CONCENTRATE!

This week’s mini fig: Toyman.

I was never a fan of any of the comic book versions of this character. A fat guy with too many toys…? Yeah, I fight him every time I go hunting for new DCUC figures at Toys R Us. If I can beat him, Superman–FREAKIN’ SUPERMAN–shouldn’t have a problem.

That changed with the Alex Ross version of Toyman from Justice. Holy crap, I LOVE that take on the character! A silent, soulless grinning “puppet”-robot controlled by an unseen master? Just awesome, evil and creepy, reminds me of that scene from Poltergeist. That’s the version of Toyman I based this custom on.

Looking at the finished product, I regret the pose I gave him. My goal was for Toyman to have a “waiting to be activated/is he activated and just waiting to smash me?” look, but instead he looks like he’s waiting to catch a bus.

Ingredients: The jaw is lifted from a Plastic Man HeroClix (HyperTime), the hands come courtesy of a Dove ‘Clix (Crisis) and the feet were…hmmm, drawing a blank on that one. Definitely a ‘Clix figure with oversized footsies, which means whoever I swiped ‘em from was popular with the ladies. Know what I mean? *nudge, nudge, wink, wink* …sigh…blogging is lonely business.

Anyway, since the rest of Toyman’s body was so thin and mechanical looking, I harvested random bits of Mech Warrior figures (gun barrels, etc.) for his arms, legs and chest. The circular joints were chopped from multiple Moloid HeroClix (Critical Mass) and costume elements (vest, mask & belt) are bits of index card (three sheets thick) glued together with Elmer’s, then cut to shape and hardened with Krazy Glue. Acrylic paint was the near-final step (flat for wood, gloss for the “metal” & costume), then a coat of matte sealant took it home.

I opted not to add the dangling cable “puppet strings” to the figure. I started to include them, but they made the figure look too busy, messy.

Custom Toyman dial here.

Random Toyman from around the web:

Wicked Toyman MiniMate mod. Custom Super Friends Toyman action figure (scroll down a bit). Toyman & the Legion of Doom vs. the PowerPuff Girls (check the :43 mark for the Scarecrow’s finest hour). And finally, if you dig the Justice-style Toyman design, I can’t recommend the DC Direct Toyman figure enough…he’s fantastic. I have mine mixed in with my DCUC guys and he fits right in. Maybe the best figure DCD has ever produced.