Yeah, I based my customs off of the cartoon more so than the toys. In the cartoon there were no translucent parts. They just did that on the toys to show their bionic parts. That actually made the figures really brittle and they broke easily since they are partly diecast metal and then the translucent plastic attached they would crack and break a lot.

On a side note, it is a great cartoon that you should check out if you get a chance.




I don't know that they are better really just using modern parts. The vintage ones are still awesome and hold a special place in my childhood memories.

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I posted some quick pictures of the M.A.S.K. customs earlier in the thread, but I've since taken individual pictures of each MASK agent

M.A.S.K. Agents









Matt Trakker









Brad Turner





Bruce Sato





Dusty Hayes





Alex Sector





Buddie Hawks





Hondo McLean





Gloria Baker





Julio Lopez





Ali Bombay





Ace Riker





Scott and T-Bob

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V.E.N.O.M. Agents


Miles Mayhem





Vanessa Warfield





Cliff Dagger





Sly Rax





Nash Gorey





Bruno Sheppard





Floyd Malloy

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more greatness! so many cool builds!!

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Always excellent work, the group shots are so great.

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Almost done too! They look extraordinary! Please keep it coming!

Just wow.

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Thanks!



Thanks. Yes, just a few more agents left to make to have them all complete.



Thanks! I'm a big fan of group shots so I always try to include one when the groups are almost complete.



Thanks!

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Here is one that I imagine isn't incredibly well known but had a really cool cartoon, but not a great toy line to go with it

Saber Rider from Saber Rider and the Star Sheriffs

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another one i have to look up. he looks cool!

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It's a fun cartoon. Not the greatest ever, but the characters are pretty cool.

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So not true customs, but more modifications. I have been watching Robotech recently and came across some 4 inch Robotech figures released by Toynami. The sculpts are great and extremely accurate, but the lack of elbow articulation was killing the figures so I decided to add it. I'm still working on more characters but these are the ones I've done so far.

Gloval I did paint his boots black (they were white) and I painted his skin tone darker to match the cartoon as the original figure had his skin tone the same as Rick and Lisa. I also replaced his hands with open palms and painted them as he originally had the same hands as Rick which are actually gloves so they looked off.

Commander Gloval






Rick Hunter




Lisa Hayes

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unknown to me, but they look really good. i've seen people do less and still call their figures customs, and personally i think adding the technical arm articulation makes them "action" figures. that commander would look great on a cobra ship or air ship of some kind. the other 2 have a real speed racer look to them that i like.

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Oh man Robotech is a killer cartoon. Rick Hunter definitely gives off Speed Racer vibes though. It like lots of other 80s cartoons was Japanese anime first and imported to the US with dubbed voices. Big transforming robots fighting giant human like aliens....doesn't get much better than that.

The elbow process takes about an hour for both arms. I just consider it a modification as I didn't have to sculpt or paint much. I had to do some touch ups on some excluding Gloval which did require paint to make him more cartoon accurate.

Here was my process..

Excuse the mess on my cutting mat. Paint stains and all its there to protect my desk I work at even though I've messed it up pretty good too.

Here is the elbow process. It takes about an hour to do both arms.

Cut the arm at the elbow


Dremel hole in upper arm


Dremel out an indention for the lower arm to be able to move




Find donor arm for the connector (Marauders here)


Cut out the connector


Dremel down the connector b/c the Robotech arms are thinner




Cut a space out of the lower arm to accept the connector


File/sand it to make it smooth




Dremel a hole for the peg




Donor peg from MU figure


Trim the lower arm to fit and look better


And finish up


[/QUOTE]

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yup thats a lot! i have only mod the upper, then add an existing well articulated lower. i have a baggy with taken out pins, but i have been using only old plastic sprue for pins and melting my own "rivet" on the ends.

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