Sonntag, 21. Oktober 2007

Overture

Dragons Custom Seite

A cordial welcome to my blog, were I am going to add periodically new pics and fanfics for my custom figures.

If you want to see the pictures in LARGE, just click them. And when I mean LARGE, then I mean LARGE.

I will always be happy about comments! :)

Anyone who has different kinds of questions, wants to tell me something in private or has any other thing to say to me, you will find an email function in my profile.

With those figures I do not follow any financial aims, and they are not for sale.

Its ok to link to this site- that would be nice advertising. But please do not link to single pictures. That is not fair, and in that case I would have to remove those pictures.
Its ok to save the pictures into your computer, if for no other reason then for looking at it often.
If so, please let me know, I would love such a form of consolation!

And now: Have fun!! :)

Fisto, the Norse



As Skeletor searched all over Eternia for objects of power, his troops plundered a village that was high in the northern lands. The village´s defenders did their best, but after a long bloody battle, they lost. Only one man still stood: A blacksmith, with great muscles and fists like thunder. He alone wiped half of Skeletors troops away, but was brought down by the superior forces.
The Clawful, a being from the deep seas led the troops. And in a terrible act of contempt for mankind, the Clawful cut off the blacksmith´s hands, and left with his troops.
But the warrior was not willing to die. The villages healer´s been able to sew ONE hand back to his arm. The other hand, the right hand, was too bad fragmented...
After recovery, the blacksmith swore revenge! With his one hand, he forged a giant fist.
A weapon that not even a thing like the Clawful could ever cut. With red hot metal bolts he attached the fist to his arm...
He packed his bag, took his war-hammer and left the village. To the south. To join the forces he heard of, those who stood against Skeletor. Those who could help him take revenge. And months later, when he arrived, he had concurred so many foes that his fame already reached the Masters.
The man they knew as Fisto, the mercenary from north!



Fisto is my favourite character. Since the 80´s. I did my best with him. And I always had seen him as a viking. The necklace he is wearing is the same that I have. I made it out of the parts of his armour that I cut off. His armour looks much more "real" now, then it did with the lilac stuff.
I sewed him a kilt. After I cut off his old loincloth I also cut off the brightwork he had on it, and the little bottle and bag on the backside. The kilt I sewed him was quite a challenge. Its not easy sewing a kilt for a guy who´s only some inches high. I sewed the kilt into his belt (like I did it with Skeletors cape to his armour) and so this piece of clothing looks like its ever been there. And I attached the bag, the bottle and the brightwork to his belt also.
I gave him shoes out of real fur. They look much more authentic now I think.
And I gave him a war hammer. I have the same thing here, 1:1 size, massive and weighing 14 pounds. I KNOW his hammer looks a bit...lame. But when I did those pictures I needed one, so I quickly made this. A better hammer for him and real legs for my Ram Man are things I´ll do sometime..

The ronin Tri-Klops




Word was given to the great emperor of the eastern empire that one of his younger Samurais is guilty for breaking one of the greatest taboos: The use of technology. And according to all laws there was only ONE punsihment.
To burn his eyes out.
And so it was done. With still hissing and burning holes in his face, the Samurai was brought to his cabin, where he had to heal, and as a Ronin would soon be sent far away from his emperor´s kingdom.
But the Ronin had plans.
Loosing his naturals eyes was one of those plans. Days before, he stole the three cursed gem´s out of his emperors personal rooms. Mystical crystals, that could give a man great power.
The Ronin opened a secret drawer, and placed a set of technology upon his head. The technology started to work. Wires and needles crawled deep inside his head, his skull and his brain. In agonizing pain, he fell unconscious.
When he woke up, he saw. Saw with three horrifying eyes.
He was now the Tri-Klops....!

These asian signs mean "Three" and "Eye"


These asian signs mean "Wealth" and "Samurai"

*****

Colouring him was the most difficult part. After I decided to paint his skin, I recognized what crappy idea that was. After alot of cursing I dealt with that.
I always saw Klops as an asian. His clothing and sword just screamed "SAMURAI".
And so the colouring started.

The Power sword- stainless steel


When the Scorceress of Grayskull faced the danger of standing alone against all evil troops, the ghost of the Castle spoke to her. It said, in greatest danger, a warrior will come. The promised He-Man will arrive and rescue Eternia.
The Scorceress ran into the deepest caverns within the castle, went deep inside the Power core- the crystal chamber- and prayed to the long dead elders that once lived inside these walls.
Her prayer was heard, and the Castle itself forged a sword. The sword disappeared and searched the whole planet for the one. The one who will be worth to hold the power.
The one that will become the He-Man!


The sword I made is actually the same every action figure helds when you open the package. I altered the grip as you can see. I never liked those "metal spikes" coming out. I split open the part where the sword should be placed in, and I cut the old sword in half- so I was able to put those parts in the middle also on my sword. That means, the sword looks the same from both sides!
Oh, and yes, the grip can still be twisted.

Mekaneck the scout


As a young scout wandered through the Eternian forests, he was caught by the Beast Man. In a horrible act of sadism, the Beast broke the scout´s neck. Slowly. Not to kill the young man, but to leave him there on the ground. Alive.
Days passed, and the young scout layed there, unable to move one muscle.
Short before he died, he was found by an Eternian troop and brought back to the castle. But no healer could help him. So he faced the fate of only communicating with rolling his eyes...
After months, the Man at Arms visited the helpless one. And made an offer: To restore ALL mobility. But with a big price. But the young man rolled his eyes for "Yes".
Weeks later he was given a new body. Mechanical parts as a spine made him able to strech his steel neck to long distances. But his own body it was no longer. A large computer that controlls the movements and a battery that powers everything is the price he pays. He always has to wear those on his chest. But from that day on he knew he was the one who could bring every secret from the evil troops into daylight. Known by his callsign: Mekaneck!



For this custom I split open the body and altered the mechanism. His neck now can go up and down and left and right without twisting his hip.
Paintjob was hell of work. I mean: HEY!! That guy is a SCOUT! No way he wears primary colours so that everyone can see him from long distances!

Skeletor- the evil warlock


As Randor´s half-brother who would sit on the throne one day, Keldor had always felt hate against his rival. Striving for power as he was, but his blue skin and his foreign facial features had always given him the touch of a stranger, unknown.
Although his mother died while his birth, Keldor always blamed his father, the king. And when he was old enough to recognize that only Randor could ascend to the throne, his hatred against the royal family grew into the endless.
Longer and longer he spent his days and nights in the librarys, searching for lost knowledge, until he felt the power of magic in himself one day. He had stepped into the world of the supernatural. So he continued his search for wisdom that no one lese had, to gain more and more power.
Many years the boy sat in dark cellars and read vorbidden books, until one day the power in his dark heart came alive. Endless was his joy as he uncovered how to open a path to his inner powers. And more and more tha gates to magic opened up for him.

Years past, in which he collected knowledge. Acting before his family like someone who wanted to see the world, his voyages been nothing more then the search for more and more might, magical artefacts and new sources to energy.

And when his spells made it possible for him to ensure the brute powers of fighters and monsters for his great aim, he began a mad dash against the castle of Eternis. His home.

His half brother Randor confronted him during the fight. And as the started to battle without any words, Keldor rammed the tip of one of his swords deep inside Randor´s knee.
Randor fell, in agonizing pain.
Victory before his eyes, Keldor wanted his opponent to die in brutal pain. And so he poured acid onto his face...

Duncan, an old friend of Randor, took in the same moment a shot against the acid´s weak vessel.
The acid sprayed away from the shot- and right into Keldors face, crawled inside his flesh around his whole head.
Slowly the driplets flooded his face, skin and flesh. Ate his nerves. Eyes. Everything.
Screaming in pain, his myrmidions took him away to their hideout. A cavern deep under the mountain with the snake atop.
Almost driven insane by the anguish, Keldor had instinctive contact to magic forces he never even imagined to have, or could reach under normal circumstances. His magical shriek of pain even reached other worlds, and a being...that heard Keldor.
In bargain for loyality, Keldor got into a covenant. The being ate the acid from the world afar, and all flesh that was left out- and inside his skull.
But Keldor did not die. His essence was obtained by the bones, and suddenly, magic eyes stared out of the dead eye sockets.

Since that day, a hood covered his skull, but he is not able to pull it so deep down not to earn his new name day after day after day: Skeletor. The evil warlock.



Oh the pics arent so good, everythings seems to be a bit yellow. Be assured: It isnt yellow..
Making him was stressy. Not even the colours (a magician MUST wear gold and black) but also the clothing. I removed his old plastic hood and sewed one made of velvet. The cape is made of the same. I sewed the cape INTO the armour, what was pretty nasty. Killed my fingertips. But now the cape wont ever come off!
Making the horns from the skull on his stuff go straight up was difficult. I heated the thing up until it was bendable, and then- I held it until the horns were stiff again. Another fingertip-killer.
The golden ribbons are there to make a connection to the 80´s movie version of Skeletor. I imagine my version like a mixture of the move and the 200x Skeletor.

Sy-Clone: The Storm Cut


1000 years ago:

The emperor of Anwat Gar was in despair. His Troops decimated, the barbaric hordes of the adjacent kingdoms were closing in.
Not the new powderfire, nor the magic spells of the magicians could slow down the enormous mass of murderously flesh wich someone, if able to bear the sight, could call an "army".
The enemy stood before the gates. The great City of Anwat Gar was short before its last defeat.
Then the magicians and inventors entered the great hall in the emperors palace, with a new hope in their eyes.
A symbiosis of magic and technology could save the empire!
A few days ago, a gravely damaged junk made it back to the Anwat harbour, the seamen reported a "storm, almost human in its behaviour". THIS storm was now considered to be found!
So the magicians set sail to find this storm, while the inventors started their work in the doubtful safety of their workspaces.
And the magicians found the storm! But the storm was wayward, unwilling to listen to the moaning and weeping. But then he was promised a human body, and that changed it all!

The Walls of Anwat Gar were on fire, as the junk entered the harbour. Just in time the magicians brought the bewitched bottle that held the storm to the inventors, who just finished their work on the mechanical man the wore a blurred print of the emperor´s son.

And the elemental storm found its body.
Arms and fingers moved, legs walked, and the hip...rotated!
Thankful for this body, the storm hurried like a cyclone into the enemies. And a few days later, the threat was no more. Anwat Gar´s newest warrior had won the war almost by himself.
And the people reveled this weapon, gave it the name Sy-clone and worshippid it like it worshipped the emperor once.
And the emperor was not happy.
The "thing" had won the war, now the thing had to leave!
A lie decoyed the Sy-Clone deep into the catacombs, where he was placed right next to a head-high bottle...full of powderfire!
The explosion collapsed the whole catacomb system...

To be sure of his own safety, the emperor ordered that never ever technology would be allowed in Anwat Gar! (An order that still was active 1000 years later, and was broken by a young Samurai)

******
Thousand years later: today
The examination site of Anwat Gar.

"Master! Please come quick, I found something!"
"What is it?"
"It looks like..a statue? But its maltreated, like somethings scratched away the colours."
"Not scratched. This lookes like the colours got..burned away or something.
IS this a statue? I see wires and metal! Did the statue just mov....*
"NO!! MASTER!! SOMEONE HELP! CALL HE-MAN! ANYONE! PLEASE SOMEONE HEEEEEL...."

I painted it with yellow and lilac colours- in three layers. And then I used a colour called "Mithril Silver" and drybrushed the parts I wanted to look like the colour would have been scratched off. Sounds easy, but took alot of time, because of the several layers of colour I made.
And the spikes in his blade and arms and legs are made from real stainless steel, so no colour there.

Trap Jaw the Undead


After the war between Skeletor and He-Man ended, the few surviving Masters and the Hordes of evil wandered alone across the planet. One of them was Trap-Jaw. Without Tri-Klops still being alive to repair the damages on his mechanical parts, Trap Jaw had to face the terror of being a living dead. Metal and technology animated the flesh, that was already long dead.
The metal parts rusted, the flesh rotted.
So he wandered across Eternia, until the day one thing would fall apart first:
Metal. Or flesh.


Heres the first custom I´ve ever made. Its Trap Jaw as I always thought he should be.
The colours arent shown here as the really look like. Flesh and metal look more different in real then they do on these pictures.

He-Man´s battle axe custom- stainless steel blades!


During the fights, Duncan often saw how He-Man had to use his sword in every situation. Neither fight or crushing walls, slaying snakes or breaking rocks.
That made the Master of Arms think. And so he decided to help He-Man with a new Weapon.
Taken from the best metallic crude ore, he fabricated almost unbreakable blades. He combined them with a mechanism that produced vibration in every swing of the weapon, to increase the effect, and vaporise whatever it hits.
He-Man was glad about such an worthful gift.
His very own powerful Battle Axe!

Yes, the blades are, like my version of the power sword, made of stainless steel.

Skeletors Two-Bladed Sword: Stainless Steel Custom


When the Universe still was young, the avatar of Chaos and the avatar or Order fought a battle for the control of all newborn life.
But as centurys passed, the avatars learned that they had the same powers- no one could win.
Aeons later, life began on the planet Eternia. Life spread. Life evolved. Intelligence grew. And still, Chaos and Order where watching. Then the life forged weapons. Swords. And Chaos saw its chance: The avatar forged a weapon, a manifestation of its own self, and threw it on the planet Eternia, so that the forces following Chaos´ trail could win and defeat all good- and Order.
But Order forsaw this plan and created an own weapon. Similar to the one that Chaos´ had build, and given to the armys following the good ways.

Thousands and Thousands years later, a wanderer appeared on those ancient battlegrounds. A man called Keldor, on a search for weapons and items worth his great future. He found the sword of Order. He found the sword of Chaos.
And for the first time, the two blades came closer, closer...and matched into eachother.
But nothing happened. Chaos and Order have been long gone. The power the blades held, had vanished. But still, as symbols of grandeur, worth the path that was ahead of Keldor.
His two-bladed sword of Order and Chaos!



As in the title said, the blades are made of stainless steel.

The Beast Man


The small village Ansorr right next to the evergreen forest had since it was founded always been ravaged by the dark Shadow Beasts, creatures lurking deep inside the forest.
The people of Ansorr were about to leave their home. Only a few days, and everyone would have been gone.
Karella, a young woman, daughter of one of the last residing farmers went to collect herbs, and came too near the dark trees that boardered the forest.
And so, Karella was taken away.

After weeks, she was found near the place she was last seen. Naked, her body bruised in unspeakable ways, and..pregnant.

The village Ansorr was new founded far away the forest, but in Karella the villagers always saw a memorabilia of the despair they had left behind.
But Karella´s problems were deeper. Much deeper. Inside her, the infant twisted, moved, and after twelfe months, she gave birth to a boy. That was not human at all.
The child had a hairy body, teeth that could rip flesh apart, claws and was almost as strong as a grown man. Karella was given the choice: Abandon the "baby", or leave. Karella, in her sorrow, did the only thing she could think of.
She went back to the place that was Ansorr once. The houses now were half demolished, claw marks in almost every wall. Karella placed the baby that screamed like an animal right at the place she once was taken away- and then she left...

Twenty years later the Shadow Beasts came to the new Ansorr. To reach it, they crossed the fields, spending the brutal daylight in self dugged holes. And they left no one breathing anymore. Only a woman was taken away alive. For the woman´s deepest horror, this was the second time the Beasts took her. She was brought to something that looked like an amalgam between a Beast and a man. And Karella recognized her son. And then, with a deep, gurgling voice, the being spoke.
"You left me, mother. But I forgive you. A beautiful human woman should not be seen with an ugly, grim and fierce thing like your child has been. Thank you, mother. You made me what I am now. Can you see? I am wearing the teeth of my father around my neck. Impregnate a human was his way to be considered as a grown up. His way into adulthood. Thats the Shadow Beast´s law. Killing him and wearing his teeth as my own symbol of power is mine. Are you proud of me, mother? ARE YOU PROUD????"
The last thing what Karella heard after the shouts of her son was the ripping of her own flesh, carried away in multiple directions at the same time...



Now, heres my Beast Man. There was not much adding to him I could do, but surely alot work. So I gave him hair. I needed two and a half tubes of superglue to finally flock (is that the right word in english?) him. Ov course I coloured him before. When you look closely, you can even see plaque on his teeth. Still he is fully moveable.
I HAD to do something with his collar. It looked horrible. Not bad as for it was, but not good enough after the flocking. So I made him a collar out of fur, and added the teeth he had in his old collar. I also gave him a new loin cloth made out of felt.
I´ve been months (really months) in search for this colour. I didnt wanted to have the original orange. My customs should look more realistic, thats my aim. And so I chose a more..."fur" looking flock. My Beast Man had to be seen as half man, half animal.
Sadly, the pics arent as good to show everything. You cant see the plaque on his teeth, the details in his eyes, or the details on his hands and feet. I need a new cam...

Duncan, the iron man


Duncan´s world was full of war.
War against other countries. War against Keldor. War against Skeletor.
But time has been merciless with the old champion, and he felt his age.
Now, he had nothing more to do then use his technical knowladge and his experience to help the young soldiers.
And even when word got to him that the King´s army had been brutally minimized by Skeletors troops, nontheless the help of the He-Man, Duncan could not do more then watch the mutilated and the dead return home.
And so Duncan made a decision.

Using the technique he had created to give the young scout Mekaneck a new spine, he forged himself an armor, capable of making him a strong warrior again!
Mantled by his old garment he wore back in the easier days were now clattering machines. Machines that bonded with his old flesh.
The damaged left knee? Coated by an exoskeletton.
The old muscels? Housed inside a battle armor.
The aching back? bypassed with a vertebral column.
With this gear around him he became a true tank in the battles, side by side with the changed Prince of Eternia, for to become once again a thorn in the side of his old antagonist Skeletor, no matter what face he was wearing now!

Was it at the beginning nothing more then a nickname, it quickly became the new codename for this old, new hero.
Duncan the armourer was now Man at Arms: The Iron Man!


A "simple" repaint?
Three layers of colour, and after I was finished and unsatisfied with what I saw, another layer. His garment looks alike the one of Mekaneck, with a purpose. Both are from the same army, only that one is a scout, the other´s a general.

The ramming man


A young mother layed on her bed in agonizing pain. About to give birth, she was in great need for help. The village´s healers couldnt help her, something like this they have never seen.
And then the baby broke his way out of his mother.

Years later, the baby had become a grown man. A big body with alot of muscles and shaped like a boulder. But since his birth, he was a rank outsider. No one had ever liked or trusted him. Children never played with him, and elders never talked to him. He was a paria since the day his birth killed his mother. He was lonesome. Desperately in need for friends.
Then the evil troops of Skeletor came to the village, about to plunder and burn everything. The young man defeated his home, even though no one ever treat him right. He was victorious!
The scout Mekaneck was near the village, and witnessed what happened. Soon he found out what he needed to know about this misterious young warrior.
Compassionate to this lonesome fate, Mekaneck asked the man to join him, and brought him to Eternis. Soon the newbie was given an armor fitting to his powers. A name fitting to his way of life. And friends. Compagnions.
Ram Man wasnt alone anymore.


A simple little repaint, nothing big. But this way I like it better.
As I did with my version of Orko, the colour for his red leather is something I did by myself.
And I know the trousers suck. One day I´ll manufacture him some real legs.

Stratos of Avion


Centurys ago, the ape-people from the great Eternian forests been hunted down, almost to a level of extinction. In this great danger they left the forests and departed to the mountains, where they found the ancient abandoned city called Avion. The ape-people founded a new life and a new civilisation up on that city in the mountains.
In ages, culture and religion grew, and the ape-people prayed to the giant hawks that lived on the mountain tops. So it came, that in a rite of initiation the young apes had to climb up to the mountain tops, and search for a recently decased hawk. Once that young one brought back the hawk´s wings, the elders implanted them into the forearms of the youngster. A painful process, but once the wings grew into the flesh, the ape child could call itself an adult.
As the ages went on, the DNA of the ape-people started to change. A small change at the beginning, but a great difference after a few thousand years. The apes grew wings of their own! Unable to fly, but to glide in the winds. And so, equipped with boosters, the apes started to take over the rulership of the mountain´s skys. The ape-people of Avion. And their great leader:
Stratos!



A repaint. The wings took alot of time. In my version you can see that the people of Avion are truely ape-men with wings.

Orko, the Wrath

Searching through the dimensions for new powers that could help him against the good forces, Skeletor ripped a hole into a dimension filled with magical fog, in which creatures lived made of living shadows. Skeletor abducted one of those shadows and put it into a coat made of dragon skin, that could give the shadow a form and keep the mighty force held inside.
In panic because of the sheer terror, being held in a strict form, the shadow cried out pure magic and destroyed a big part of Snake Mountain. The Scorceress of Grayskull heard that scream and rescued the shadow from Skeletors grip. But bringing the entity home...she couldnt. So she helped the alien called "Ohrrcho" grow acustom in his new world. But the shadow will always seek revenge..for the horror of being now locked in a form it cant change. Never. It is now Orko. The Wrath.




For this, I cut off his hat and took away his scarf. Then came the overall repaint, I chose the "fog" I wanted to add (didnt wanted plain white, I decided for something more "dirty") and added everything back together.