Merry Christmas!

Well, it's December 21st and hopefully about right now my Secret Santa recipient over at HCRealms is opening his gift! This was a real labor of love as his gift is the first map that I have ever created that I've printed. I read my Secret Santa buddy was a youth pastor and I thought a Nativity scene map would be perfect. I whipped this up over a rainy weekend and Fitch at my local comic shop had it printed and laminated. I was so happy with the results! Hopefully I'll figure out how I will make this map available to the public! Merry Christmas everyone!

Handful of Heroes - Sabretooth

I'm been a big fan of Sabretooth since back in his cool Iron Fist days. He's a bad ass who knows how to look bad ass sporting a fur collar. We don't have the pimped out version of Sabretooth in miniature form so this figure is a welcome addition. It's hard to see all the detail on this translucent figure, so I'll need to prime him to see what exactly I have to work with. His fingers are very stubby and rounded at the ends so I am considered cutting off his hands and swapping them with the hands from the Ultimates Sabretooth.

Handful of Heroes - Spider-Man

When you have hands that big it's easy to climb walls, play basketball and get dates with girls prone to believing urban legends. What this figure lacks is details pronounced enough to survive the painting process. Good luck painting this figure.

Handful of Heroes - World War Hulk

This is one of my favorite figures of the set. I love the facial emotion. If I ever get a spare, I may end up painting this figure just for the sheer enjoyment.

Handful of Heroes - Gladiator Hulk

The Green Scar figure on the right is so damn amazing that honestly the Handful of Heroes Gladiator Hulk didn't really ever stand a chance. However this figure is clear green and one day will make a sweet Green Lantern construct.

Handful of Heroes - War Machine

An OK figure. I like the size of this model and I love the static pose. It's details are pretty shallow so I'm not sure how it would paint up and I'm not sure I'd ever attempt to because I do not feel this figure offers me anything over the Armor Wars version.

Handful of Heroes - Iron Man Mark I

I have no love for this figure. It barely has any detail and it offers nothing we didn't see in Armor Wars.

Handful of Heroes - Thing

I'm not sure what it is about The Thing that leads him to have so many different looks and styles for what is basically the same character year after year. The Handful of Heroes Thing offers a look and style that hasn't been offered in miniatures yet and I must say... I like this sculpt. I'll eventually paint this figure when I'm feeling a bit more adventurous.

Handful of Heroes – Captain America

That’s a big Captain America. If you want to paint Captain America correctly, there is a lot of shading, scale work and stripe work. This figure may look good painted; but it sure as poop won’t be me painting it.

Handful of Heroes – Cyclops

Let me clear the air on this one. Cyclops is my least favorite character of all time. That being said.... this figure isn’t half bad. But with that wide stance, he just barely fits on a base.

Handful of Heroes – Juggernaut

I personally think this one is a winner. I like his imposing stance. He’s smaller than Marching Band Juggernaut and Fantastic Forces Juggernaut, however I still feel he adds something to the mix.

Handful of Heroes – Green Goblin

Like Magneto, I can’t imagine why anyone would paint this figure for a conversion as he isn’t going to bring anything new to the table and Fantastic Forces offered some of the best quality figures that were produced.

Handful of Heroes – Magneto

"...because the room has been magnetized"
This figure is super plain. It has very little detail. It’s scale is not too far off but honestly painting this figure for a conversion isn’t going to bring anything new to the table.

Advertising Madness - Hulk #230 (1978)

I have my own comic book hang-ups and they cost me nothing.

Advertising Madness - Hulk #225 (1978)

Back in the day... When carbs could bring a feuding country together. You Skinny Maniacs! You blew it up! Ah, damn you! God damn you all to hell!

Handful of Heroes - Hulk

Just a little to small. Oh well... he'll end up a Green Lantern construct.

I couldn't resist me a big'ol Hulk ba dunk a dunk shot. That is a wide ass on the right.

Then turn around!

Stick it out!

Even white boys got to shout.

Banner got back!

Handful of Heroes - Venom

Nothing says evil like Glitter. This by far is, in my opinion, the best candidate for conversion. I plan on priming this one and seeing how it paints up.

Handful of Heroes - Nick Fury

My initial gut instinct was that this Nick Fury was too tall. Once again, the erraticness of Secret Invasion's scale creep somewhat muddies this. Maybe he's OK. Where's my Hypertime Checkmate agent for a quick comparison?

Handful of Heroes - Rhino

I'm digging Rhino. Classic costume... looking good. Plus Rhino should be easy to paint.

I felt based on the positioning this needed a top shot.

Handful of Heroes - Colossus

Colossus... one "l", two "s"es. Get it right... Steady

I hate spelling "Colossus"

Again, this is all just my opinion, of the handful I purchased this one shows much process. OK, he's lugging around the super-bricky. But the height is right.

Handful of Heroes - X-Ray

I had no idea this figure was X-Ray. Immediately thought he was Human Torch. He works either way in my opinion and is not a bad height either.

Handful of Heroes - Astonishing Wolverine

The most Astonishing thing about this Wolverine is the price. Like the previous Wolverine, just a hair too big.

Handful of Heroes - Wolverine

So here's what I intended to do... comparison shots of the new Handful of Heroes alongside their other gaming counterparts. 

Custom House - Punisher

A whaa? A Marvel custom!?! It happens. Being so damn picky is tough. I don't like unnecessary clear plastic. I don't like bricky. And I sure as shit don't like non-upright poses. The game is beginning, the forces are lining up and Punisher already is diving in a roll, gun a'blazing. Doesn't work for me.

The head was popped out and straightened. The legs are off an IC Henchman. Pretty simple conversion.

Custom House - Chameleon

Weird costume choices "bug" me too. The whole insect hybrid look for Chameleon annoyed me. And again, in my hands, a decent paint job. Under the Sony's lens... pretty crappy. How did I even get that blue paint on his knee and not notice it?

This was done a while ago. I'm guessing now, but I believe the body is Brainiac 5 and the head is an untouched Chameleon head. The cross-eyed look was brought to us by the original manufacturer.  

Custom House - Killer Frost

Let me get this on the record right now. I despised "the man's"  use of clear plastic for characters that weren't translucent or transparent. At some point before my death, I'll repaint everyone of these.

Killer Frost, three or four years ago this repaint was awesome. In the eyes of my Sony Digital Camera at 5 megs... it doesn't look so good.

My advice is to squint.

Custom House - Red Hood

First Post!

I've been thinking about having a place to "showcase" my customs. I've also been thinking about an ambitious modding project where I put out one custom per week based on a character that I read the week prior. The impetus tonight to get a site going is that I wanted to post comparison shots of the new Marvel Handful of Heroes alongside other miniature counterparts. However being a die hard DC fan, I couldn't let my first post be a Marvel post. So I dug up some old customs.

 

This is the ubiquitous Red Hood custom most of us have tried. The body is Black Mask. The cape is from a Robin. The helmet is the tip of a plastic paint brush.