Ash Ketchum (Pokemon)

I'm going to be a Pokemon Master!

After making my Vulpix and Eevee, I'd had the idea to make some more Pokemon Pops. Having watched the anime since I was a kid, I decided that the iconic forever-10-year-old wannabe Pokemon Master, Ash Ketchum, would be a suitable choice.

For the head I looked though Pops with hats, to see if I could avoid having to make one myself. I ended up choosing Glenn from TWD, as he not only had a cap on, but also had a spiky black tuft of hair poking out from under it that was very Ash (though facing the wrong direction, I acknowledge). I repainted the hat and added spikes of hair sticking out on the sides. I was tempted to try to do the little lightning bolt makes on his cheeks, but decided that it wasn't worth risking stuffing it up.

The Governor from TWD had good clothing to form the basis for Ash's body, though there were obvious obstacles. It would have been nice to have been able to put a Pokeball in Ash's hand, rather than the machete, however pose didn't allow for this. I went through my box of dissembled Pops to see if I could just steal someone else's hand for this, but none matched the size and angle that I was going to need. As such, I just sliced off the machete and put the Pokeballs on his belt. I trimmed down the watch and wristband and used those as the tops of his gloves. I also added in the cuffs on his pants. Then it was just a matter of painting.

I'm quite happy with how Ash turned out. I think that any Pokemon nerd would be able to recognise who it is supposed to be, which for me is mission accomplished. In the future I think I'll attempt a Pikachu custom to go with him, probably out of the newly released GITD Gir, since the original one is a bit pricey. Let me know what you think!

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- Glenn (The Walking Dead 35), body- Governor (The Walking Dead 66)

Biggest Challenges:Trying to get some of the detail work done neatly, such as the logo on his hat.

How I'd Improve It: Fine details like the black outlining on his shoes. I still wish I could have found a hand that would have held a Pokeball nicely, too.

Blind Mag (Repo: The Genetic Opera)

Come take these eyes; I'd rather be blind!

Most of you may not recognise Blind Mag; she is a character from one of my favourite musicals, Repo: The Genetic Opera. It's a dystopian, gory, comic-styled masterpiece that prompts us to consider just how far medical (and capitalist) advances may go. Ignore what the critics say- this is a cult favourite for a reason. This is a world where organ repossessions are legal, and fatal, and Mag is the shining star representing Geneco to the world. Her eyes, which are biomechanical, are property of her employer, and upon leaving the company she loses all right to them. Played by Sarah Brightman, she is a hauntingly beautiful character, so one I wanted to recreate in Pop form, based on her climactic Chromaggia look.

With the body for this, I was originally planning on using Buffy's whole Pop, but her pose really didn't seem very Blind Mag to me. I decided to experiment with something new I hadn't done before; I sliced both Buffy and Jasmine through their torsos and glued them together as one. It had the arms and chest of Jasmine and the mini skirt, legs and boots of Buffy. This was very fiddly at first and took some trying, but once I wrapped the join with some clay and baked it for strength my Frankenstein creation actually worked out pretty well.

There were a couple of details on Blind Mag that I felt were important in helping her be recognisable from her Chromaggia scene, such as her feathery outfit, the OTT eye makeup and, of course, her distinctive Geneco-given eyes. For those with sharp vision, you'd notice I also added little things like the silver eye gougers on her index fingers. I'd considered whether or not I should do post-gouging Blind Mag, with the empty sockets and eyes on her nails, but I thought in the end that this would be more identifiable. Maybe it's an idea for a variant down the track, who knows?

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- Buffy (Buffy 121), body- top half was Jasmine (Disney 52), bottom half was Buffy (Buffy 121)

Biggest Challenges: Getting the body as one piece

How I'd Improve It: I'm happy with it. :)

Eevee (Pokemon)

Eevee, I choose you!

 

After making my Vulpix earlier, I felt inspired to turn GoT Ghost into another favourite Pokemon of mine, Eevee. If I ever have a daughter, Eevee is on the shortlist for names, so it seemed like a cute addition to join the custom family.


Unlike Eevee, whose pointed foxy face worked well with Ghost's, Eevee has a much flatter face. As a result, I did a lot of remodelling of the face. I ended up using the back of the original head as my face. I also needed to do a lot of work on the ears, completely creating new ones from clay to replace the little ones already there. The body at least was just a straight forward paint job, with only a little extra clay added to make more of the ruff round the neck.

Because I'd used the back of the head, I didn't have any eyes to work from. I ended up cutting off the eyes of another pop and glueing them on to get around this issue. You don't want to have seen my attempt at painting them on myself. I immediately felt a strong sense of shame. To give you a rough idea, it reminded me of that episode of the Pokemon anime where the Ditto couldn't get faces right. Scary...

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: Ghost (Game of Thrones 19)

Biggest Challenges: Face shape and eyes

How I'd Improve It: Make the ruff bigger, make the head a bit more smooth.

Shang (Mulan)

Mister, I'll make a man out of you!

 

In my Shan Yu and Hades posts, I mentioned the DBZ pops I'd been given to use in customs. Trying to think of who might work for the remaining pieces, I thought of Captain Li Shang, the love interest in Mulan. The clenched fists of Goku just made me think of the training montage, and subsequently put I'll Make a Man Out of You in my head.

I used the head from Grey Worm as it had the right sort of hair to be my basis for Shang. I repainted the skin tone and added in his little man bun. For the body, I used the Goku I had laying around. I added in the various layers for his clothes, including the cape. I was happy with how it was looking at the bake phase, but he randomly cracked in his cape, skirt and sleeves. I repaired this with more clay and rebaked a few days later, but it still didn't really cooperate. I've made a few customs now, and this was the first I've had cracking issues with, so I was a bit let down by it.

After how beautifully Gaston turned out earlier today, I have to admit that I'm disappointed with how Shang has turned out. Can I tell that it's Shang? Yes. Is it my best custom job ever? Not even close. But he's done now, and I'm glad of it! Hopefully my next one will be a little more cooperative.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- Grey Worm (Game of Thrones 32), body- Super Saiyan Goku (Dragonball Z 14)

Biggest Challenges: I'm not sure why, but the clay kept cracking for me with this one. I struggled not to rage quit.

How I'd Improve It: Redo it from scratch, and hopefully not have the clay cracking issues. I also don't like some of the aspects of the paint job, as they're details that are hard to read. I'd also have liked to have added his training stick in his hands, but their positions didn't make sense for a rigid pole's necessary angle.

Gaston (Beauty and the Beast)

It's over Beast! Belle is MINE!

 

Disney's Beauty and the Beast is my favourite Disney movie. It's a big claim, I know, but I received it on VHS for my 5th birthday, so it has massive sentimental meaning to me. Next year I'm even directing my school's musical of it. I think it goes without saying that Gaston is the heart and soul of the story. Belle's kinda cool, the Beast is fine, but the real star of the show is undeniably Gaston.

Gaston is a real man.What isn't to love? He's handsome, arrogant, misogynistic and positively primeval. He's just the sort of guy I hate in real life, but for some reason in this movie he's just completely endearing. And to be fair, he only wanted to save Belle from (what he justifiably perceived as) a hostage situation with a monster.

For Gaston, I used Prison Yard Rick Grimes for both the head and body. Naturally, I had to erase his facial hair, add the pompadour and ponytail and paint it all. For the body, his clothes were a decent starting point. I trimmed down some of the shirt details, like his pockets and buttons, as well as extending his tunic a bit. I also added to the boots, making them taller and adding the little fold over bit. Rick's wrist had a watch on it, so I decided to use this to make the edge of his gloves, rather than trying to trim it off and give him bare skin. Rick had a machete in his hand, which I decided to trim down a bit to turn into the dagger Gaston uses to stab the Beast in the back in the climax of the movie.

I'm really happy with how this turned out. His ponytail protrudes a bit, which means he can't fit in front of other Pop boxes to go with my other villains on their shelf, but this is recognisably Gaston. What do you think? Does he have a chance with the Belle Pops?

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: whole thing- Prison Yard Rick Grimes (The Walking Dead #67)

Biggest Challenges: Emulating his amazing handsomeness

How I'd Improve It: I considered adding in a little cleft chin, but I didn't want to risk wrecking it.

Pyramid Head (Silent Hill)

Sometimes it's enjoyable to see intelligent or manipulative villains. Other times, as is the case with Pyramid Head (also known as Red Pyramid), it's just about messing up the good guys. Another character from the Silent Hill franchise, I knew I wanted to have him join my Alessa. Pyramid Head doesn't need to say a word to be scary. He just lugs around his huge-ass knife, and will rip your skin off if he catches you. Suffice it to say, don't let him catch you.

I was originally going to use the bottom of a junk Pop's head in order to have stability for the neck connection, but I ended up scrapping this idea early on, as it just wasn't condusive to getting his head the right shape. As a result, I made it completely from scratch, using nothing but clay and some al-foil to help pad the insides to keep the shape. I did the clay in two stages: first to construct the shape, then a second round to add the details. I'm really glad I decided to go ahead and do the grates on his head the way that I did, rather than trying to paint them on. The texture looks really cool in person.

I ended up using part of the junk head anyway though, as I wanted Pyramid Head to be taller than your average Pop (he stands a good 8 or 9 feet usually). I glued the original body's feet onto a platform made from spare head, filled it in with al-foil for shape, then wrapped it with the clay for his butcher's apron.

I carved a little hole through his right hand and used wire to secure his knife to it. His knife is almost as tall as he is, so I knew that having something sturdier than just clay or superglue would help keep him together.

Aside from the work on Alessa, this was my first time really experimenting with paint to create some cool effects. I used about four different colours in various layers on the helmet to help create the right sort of look. The tan colour on the apron was originally just going to be my base coat, but I ended up really liking the way it worked with the grey underneath; it looked like his clothes were weathered, which helped create the illusion I wanted, so I kept it as is. Blood, of course, was a necessity. Again though, I wanted it looking more naturally and smeary, not cartoony with defined edges.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- made from scratch, body- Alcide Herveaux (True Blood 131)

Biggest Challenges: The painting. Trying to get the right levels of rusty, bloody looking metal on him without making it cartoony.

How I'd Improve It: I'm happy with this! :)