Orc Raider custom

One done, this Orc being a lieutenant of a raiding party, so he'll be more likely to escape when things go sour and to bring bad news to his bosses.

A light outfit devoid of armor makes him more of a scout.

 I rather like the skull knee pads (thank's MU Kraven for the legs). Any name suggestions?

Quick pics of Orcs-in-Progress

I've got my hands on some Double jointed 10mm Revoltech (the plug fits nice and snuggly on the hole in the thigh of the Bolg figure. I'll have to sink the thigh socket so the Revoltech joint doesn't stick out so much (much like I've been doing to the lower leg.

The Frankensteined Orc on the left has had more sculpting done on his body and head. I've also filed his nose down slightly.

While the Right hand orc uses MU Karnak's body (nice and thin, A Spiderman body?) with a head swap so far.



I'm planning on getting some Alumilite casting substances and trying out casting of armor and gear once some has been sculpted following the guide on the joecustoms wiki. That way it'll be easier to make Orcs on MU bodies with the option to mix and match armor bits.

Destro making Arms-dealing money!

Some W.I.Ps AND the glory of the TMNT Pizza box Playset

Oh yeah I took these photos, better post them.

First up is a bunch of head swappable Armies of Darkness figures. All heads have been modified and made to easily pop off so I can mix and match the heads as I choose. This also means I can use any static knight head I take from a figurine (Papo, BBi, Epixx, Schleich) and make them compatible with these bodies. It also makes for easy decapitations in photos.

Here we have a modified Hobbit Orc and another Armies of Darkness figure customized. The Orc's torso was swapped out for Lando's Skiff Disguise, the Hobbit figure's neck was transplanted onto the torso and Zandar's scarf used and glued onto the shoulders. The head was given a bit of hair and some jaw extensions. The Knight uses a spare AoD body whose bicep swivel had broken (early figure sin the line had bad QC). So I used a spare pair of Henry the Red's arms and painted the upper arm's to match the blue and red. The head is from a Chap-Mei knight and his visor goes up and down.

Now for the works in progress. 2 Female adventures, a team who are vaguely inspired by Asterix and Obelix. I started these in early December and have been sloooooowly progressing on them. They still have a ton of work to do.

Finally on the right is an Orc in progress next to a finished adventurer custom, who may or may not keep the body armor, I might swap that out for a cloth tabard when I nail that problem.



Now for the Playset. Picked this up with post X-mas sale prices, and man it is a wonderful thing. Whoever designed this needs a pay rise. New Yaawk must be crawling with Ninjas.

New Year... New Hobbit figures!

2014, happy New Years to everyone who passes this page on the internet in their spare time. Now on to the biscuits.

Low and behold the Desolation of Smaug figures showed up in Auckland,New Zealand at a Farmers store (a nation wide department store in my country). Only 2 new figures in this assortment, Azog and Radagast. The rest of the wave mates are repacks from 2012.

Azog is a beautifully sculpted figure. He's big and comes with his mace. The paint work is imaculate on mine, cast in a medium grey plastic and a light grey dry brush all over the skin, add to that the metal on the boots and right arm bands along with sculpted tattoos and scars that are also painted and you get a lot of wonderful detail in a smaller scale figure, Bridge Direct rivals Hasbro with the  sculpting and paint. 

 

He's just a hair shorter than his son Bolg, They have exactly the same articulation and I wish they had ankle joints but alas. Also the hips on all the Hobbit toys are annoying and drive me mad. Mad I say.

He can ride a Warg well enough, they did show a white Warg repaint last year but who knows if that will ever see the light of day, so unless you feel like customizing one of 2012's best made toys, Azog will have to ride a brown Warg for the time being.

 Radagast is pretty neat, all lopsided with his outfit, two different shoes and his staff has a translucent Blue crystal in it. Sculpt work is outstanding though the underside is pretty blank. But he's not designed to have his coat off. I have one complaint and that is he has no ankle joints and his hips are annoying (though it is a little less annoying than it is on Orc figures).

He has a removable hat and bird poo, check!

So there you have it a brief look at these hard to find figures. I hope they sort it out for the 3rd film, the constant changes to the film have really messed up the toyline and it's not the early 00s any more. That Bolg figure was an early design apparently and was breifly seen pre-head ingury getting his head split in the Moria flash back in the first film. Now that design is totally changed for an average looking redesign done digitally in the 2nd film. Will we ever see a beautiful Smaug action figure toy? Will we see any Armoured Dwarf warriors or Elven Guard? What about those sweet Heavily armoured Orcs seen marching out of Dol Guldar and into the 3rd film?