One Nerdy Life to Live: 2020

Ever since the early 1990's I have enjoyed the stories told by Marvel and DC Comics. I have always loved the Merry Band of Marvel Mutants, the X-Men, the most and started collecting comics at a young age, then buying toys. Toy Biz was the only maker of X-Men and Marvel toys. So when their line of costumed Marvel Famous Covers hit the shelves in 1997, I became less of a toy player and more of a toy collector.

I was 12, and I decided that these would be my collectible toys, of course, I had to open them and pose them on the shelf, but I thought, "What's the harm? They will still be in great condition when I'm older." The first two I bought at the Hills store (I still think Hills had the best toy department ever!) in Latrobe, PA were Wolverine and Green Goblin. Then I had to have the "special edition" mail away Aunt May. The line ended in 2000 when the 2-Packs of X-Men movie versions and comic book versions of Storm, Wolverine, and the Toad were released. I purchased as many as I could, then I had to find the rest of the series as I got older, on E-Bay. Hasbro started a DC line of 9" figures shortly after and I came to find out that they were all being made in the style of an earlier toy line from the 70's called Megos.

Custom Iceman by Jeff Adams
(My first ever custom figure!)

So what was I supposed to do when I was finally done collecting the line of toys? (There were 33 Marvel Famous Covers and 12 Hasbro DC 9" in all.) I decided to start looking for customized figures in the lines I came to admire so much. I happened upon an online chatroom, and I cannot for the life of me find it again now, but I talked to a custom figure creator, named Jeff Adams. I commissioned him to make me a custom 90's version of Iceman, one of my all-time favorite X-Men and I paid $85 for the commission. But when I received the figure, I thought to myself I really can do this myself.

Other Purchased FC's, Laura Croft, Power Girl & Dazzler

SO I set out on a mission to learn the customizing tools and skills of this small trade. I started to find spandex fabric, and buy loose Famous Covers action figures to start my own customizing process. I downloaded costume patterns from other custom FC sights and set to work on my first custom action figure. I joined chat rooms and Yahoo Groups that worked on customizing toys. To start, I decided to make Sauron, one of my all-time favorite X-Men villains. I designed his costume, painstakingly cut holes into the wrists of my figure, added hinges and set to put in the wings of the dastardly X-Foe. Most customizers use the heads from other figures to make their customs, so I set out to find a toy pterodactyl with a head big enough to add to my guy. To my surprise, I could not find one, so I then set out to mold my own head sculpt. It really wasn't my best but I enjoyed the figure and the end result. (Sauron has since taken a fall and I want to re-make him with better wings, which I have everything off, but not the time to complete.)

Sauron Vs. Rogue

Classic Cyclops and the "Classic" X-Men

Human Torch and the Fantastic Four

I then created another X-Men favorite Cyclops in his classic 70's suite, to go with my black costume Storm and brown suit Wolverine, it helped that the new custom Dazzler I bought went along with these costumes as well. I have since made or bought several more figures utilizing many parts from different toys, my favorite being my Juggernaut. I also started to dabble in my own website creation, way before I took any design courses in college, and came up with an early place to display my own Custom Famous Covers. (Check out my first site, Alex's Custom Famous Covers!). In 2013 I finished a Silver Samurai that I had the parts for quite some time, he looks pretty cool. I also completed an Elektra FC. I have 2 partials still in the works, the Blob and Hellcat, which to this day are unfinished products... Maybe after finally publishing those piece I will feel more motivated to create like I used to? Or maybe this facet of my life has run it’s course.