Category: HeroClix custom sculpts

Card Art #23

April 15, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts begins with Origin’s Feat cards.

The next feat of the set is Dissent, another I forgot to include when I uploaded these cards to Heroclixin’:

Again using 2005 art by Barry Kitson from his run on Mark Waid’s reimagined “threeboot” Legion of Super-Heroes series. (It’s of newest member Invisible Kid being shunned.)

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Next time, Card Arts continues with another feat in Origin.

Card Art #22

March 17, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

The first feat of the set is Mercenary, a confusing feat with too much text to possibly fit an image. So on to the next, a feat I forgot to include when I uploaded these cards to Heroclixin’:

Element Lad is disintegrating a boulder into a gas. This was a difficult image to find; it’s not so common to see a character literally reduce an object to dust (at least not in my comics collection or easily on Google).

I’ve maybe used this feat once, ever. It could have some relevance today by being one of the few ways to “destroy” relics. But those things have been almost thoroughly sidelined by Resources, now. Disintegrate was never a great feat even in its day, anyway.

This bit of 2005 art by Barry Kitson is from his run on Mark Waid’s reimagined “threeboot” Legion of Super-Heroes series. It won’t be the last in this Card Arts series.

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Next time, Card Arts continues with another feat in Origin that got missed in my first go-’round.

Card Art #21

March 4, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with Origin’s battlefield conditions.

Man, Grant Morrison’s Big 7 JLA was good. So good that Mark Waid was able to run with the ball for the Tower of Babel arc that this Howard Porter cover came from.

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Next time, Card Arts continues with the last BFC of Origin.

Card Art #20

February 25, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

The fallout from DC’s Identity Crisis retcon was still fresh in early 2007, so it was an easy pick for this card (that was probably inspired by the storyline in the first place).

Art’s by Rags Morales, again. Man, that guy is good.

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Next time, Card Arts continues with the last BFC of Origin.

Card Art #19

February 18, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

Time to resume this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.)

Continuing with the Origin set’s BFCs. Next up is Protect The Innocent:

The artist is Denys Cowan, from his run on the latter days of Steel’s self-titled solo series in the late 1990s. It was definitely the best illustration in my collection for this card.

I rarely used this BFC, though. Despite my love of building fun teams, I heavily leaned more toward BFCs that screwed with opponents’ game. This one’s almost completely innocuous. And in this modern age of clix, a BFC that messes with pogs isn’t all that useful.

Or IS IT? Horde tokens are bystanders. This BFC can sweep ’em off the board as soon as they base you! And with no shot as respawning, either, as they weren’t KO’d!

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Next time, Card Arts continues with more of Origin’s BFCs.

My Custom Mods [mod 42]: WONDER WOMAN (Brave & Bold #018)

June 6, 2011 by rkjs·0 Comments

WONDER WOMAN (Brave & Bold #018)

Recently, I played a team I called “Diana’s Wardrobe,” in which I tried to fit on a variation of every costume Wonder Woman’s worn in HeroClix. The only clix’d costume not represented is her current one because no one actually owns that figure yet (it’s debuting at GenCon in early August).

However, there is one WW costume that’s never been done in ‘clix…and, probably, never will: the early-90s “club-girl” outfit she wore when Artemis briefly replaced her as Wonder Woman.

I’m sorry, but I LOVED this outfit, 1990s-era jacket and all. And since I’ve got two of the BB WWs, and they feel “low-powered” enough to represent this time of her career, I decided to do my own repaint/resculpt:

Used hobby knife and file to remove details like WW’s boots and lasso.
Added globs of E-6000 glue to her torso and upper arms to form the jacket.
Used more E-6000 glue, pulled out into strands, to form hair.
Repainted her skin in acrylic paint.
Painted on the jacket in acrylics.
Used Testors enamel for her hair and clothes.
Used a combination of black india ink and red acrylics for new facial details.

Not too bad. There are a few details I could stand to add, such as the yellow trim on the jacket, or more black strappy stuff ’round her waist, but I think I’m good with this.

Done late spring 2011. With this, I’ve not only got all of Diana’s wardrobe (save the yet-to-be-released convention exclusive Wonder Woman THAT I WANT SO BAD), but I’ve completed this series on My Custom Mods with a relative bang.

Next week, I’m starting a whole new feature…it’s along the same lines as this one, but different. Be here Monday to see what it is!

My Custom Mods [mod 41]: GATCHAMAN/Battle of the Planets!

May 23, 2011 by rkjs·1 Comment

Decades ago, as a wee boy, I watched “Battle of the Planets” every day at the Kinder-Care. To say they left an impression is a bit of an understatement. To this day, once every few years, I get Gatchaman fever.

Science Ninja Team GATCHAMAN: Ken the Eagle, Ryu the Owl, Jinpei the Swallow, Jun the Swan, and Joe the Condor. (Or, if you prefer: Mark, Tiny, Keyop, Princess and Jason: G-FORCE!)

Last year, after designing some dream dials for the characters, I decided to mod an actual Gatchaman HeroClix figure.

Required powers:

Stealth. Despite the bright colors, these Science Ninjas are masters of sneakin’ around.
Leap/Climb or something like it. They don’t get tied up easily.
High AV. Every one of them is an expert fighter who can take down a dozen Galactor agents with ease.
Range…but not too much of it.
Some sort of moving attack ability. They’re all great at fighting on the move.

I decided that OOTS Batman was the best choice.

His SP in particular very much approximates Gatchaman’s ability to come and go and attack with ease. Outwit isn’t a stretch, either; they’re Science Ninjas well-equipped with high technology.

For the sculpt, I chose another member of the Bat-fam: Robin (Arkham Asylum).

Here’s what I did to make the mod:

Cut deeper points on his cape.
Filed down costume details.
Repainted entire fig in white, red blue and yellow (’cause naturally, Ken the Eagle is the first one to make).
Encased head in a globe of E-6000 glue to make helmet.
Cut fig off roof detail.
Tried cutting blue translucent plastic to create glass “bill” visor. Didn’t work.
Tried this several times over a period of months. STILL didn’t work.
Added and sculpted some more E-6000 glue to make visor. Took a few tries.
Painted visor in translucent blue.
Painted helmet details.
Removed OOTS Batman from his dial; glued on newly-made Gatchaman.

Completed, finally, in late-spring 2011…just in time for that Batman figure to be retired.

For a while, this was expected to be the last of my custom mods. But just as I completed it, I also did another repaint of a costume I’ve long wanted in clix. Be here next time to see how wonderful (?) it is.

My Custom Mods [mod 40]: NOVA PRIME custom

May 16, 2011 by rkjs·0 Comments

V Nova (Supernova)

This dial best represents Richard Rider just prior to the events of Annihilation…right down to the mid-dial Hypersonic Speed. But it’s woefully underpowered for Nova Prime.

Outfit's wrong, too.

Fortunately, there’s a solution. Similar to my earlier Black Widow custom, where I took a Gambit dial to better represent her powers, I used Hammer of Thor’s Air-Walker to sub as Nova powered by the full Nova Force:

He’s got Power Cosmic to signify his elevated power levels;
He’s Hypersonic from the get-go and further down the dial, yet his opening Super Senses well-represents his less-than-full command of his new abilities. Indeed, ALL his powers fit his profile. And, most of all;
…he still has the Nova Corps keyword!

Not a bad stand-in! And, unlike the earlier Black Widow mod, having the right keyword ensures that I’ll actually use him.

Now I just needed to make the look fit the dial. Here’s what I did:

I already took Air-Walker off the dial and added a flight stand to the dial.
Painted entire figure in blue modelers’ paint.
Used E-6000 hobby glue to add on armor plating details.
Painted on gold enamel for said elements.
Painted in some final details (chiefly the white glowing chest emblems).

Completed mid- 2010.

Next: two Bat-allies become a completely urelated and un-clixed character.

My Custom Mods [mod 39]: AIR-WALKER (Hammer of Thor)

May 9, 2011 by rkjs·0 Comments

Whoa, it’s been WAY too long since I did one of these. Part of the reason is that I’m running out of mods to write about. But enough with the procrastination. Time to wrap up this, my first regular feature, by early June.

AIR-WALKER (Hammer of Thor)

There’s nothing that needed fixing on this sculpt. But this dial, though? I had another use for it. However, I didn’t want to waste this piece needlessly, so I came up with a plan to have my cake and eat it too:

Cut the entire sculpt free from the dial.
Glued an old-style flight stand to the dial in the sculpt’s place.
Cut and filed the clear “flight trail” base of the sculpt into a rudimentary flight peg.

Now I had a dial I could swap sculpts with: this original and another character’s who just so happens to thoroughly fit the dial as well. We’ll see him next week.