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.

Shan Yu (Mulan)

Nice work gentlemen, you've found the Hun army

 

The upcoming Mulan Pop vinyls were announced a while ago now, and at the time of writing this post are still only seen via the concept art. Unsurprisingly, the range (only 2 Pops) did not include the movie's villain, the Hun leader Shan Yu. To keep with my trend of creating forgotten villains, I decided to customise my own Shan Yu to keep poor little Mulan/Ping on her/his toes.

Shan Yu has an intimidating physique, with very broad shoulders. To combat this, I was originally just going to use the clay to bulk up the Tobias Funke body, since I was using his head. However I happened to receive some secondhand DBZ Pops from one of my students, since he knew I customise. The big shoulder pad thingies on the Vegeta Pop, as well as his cranky stance, just spoke to me as being a better basis for Shan Yu's lower half. Serendipity, really.

Tobias Funke may seem like an unlikely candidate for Shan Yu, but my reasoning was pretty simple- I find sticking polymer clay to the vinyl difficult if it's just small pieces that can't be smoothed into the surface surrounding it. I know I could use glue for this, but I figured that if there was a Pop head I could work from, I may as well use it. Tobias has a moustache and hair around the sides and back of his head, not too dissimilar to Shan Yu. Sure I had to slice out the middle of the 'stache, as well as adding extra hair to both, but it was a starting point that I was comfortable working with. I've also saved his glasses in case of future custom jobs needing them, naturally.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- Tobias Funke (Arrested Development 116), body- Vegeta (Dragonball Z 10)

Biggest Challenges: The little brown dot between his eyes from the glasses.

How I'd Improve It: Finding a better way to camouflage the dot. From a distance, looking at him from across the room, he looks awesome. Up close isn't good enough for me though.

Hades (Hercules)

Memo to me: maim you after my meeting.

 

What's not to love about the God of the Underworld, Hades, in Disney's Hercules? He's scheming, he's well-designed and he's voiced by James Woods. Since we don't have Hercules Pops (yet), I figured Hades was another must-have for my collection.

One of my students recently gave me a double of old DBZ Pops for my birthday, since he knew I was a customiser. I'd originally tried to make a Hades head out of Fear from Inside Out, as he had that nice long shape to work with, but I really wasn't happy with how the flame hair turned out. When I saw Vegeta, I knew I had my solution and scrapped my previous progress. Cutting off his scanner revealed, to my surprise, no vinyl underneath. As such, I had to patch over this hole with clay.

The body on the finished product is completely different from its original form. The reason I chose this body was its pose, with the snowflake in hand that I could build a fireball around. As such, a lot of work went into his lower half, to create the toga and smoke tentacle things around his base. I'm pretty proud of how this outfit looks, with the folds and everything, the little skull broach...I just feel like this came out well and is quite recognisably Hades.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: head- Vegeta (Dragonball Z 10), body- Jack Skellington with Snowflake (Disney 114)

Biggest Challenges: The flames. I redid the head completely after failing too much with them.

How I'd Improve It:  Be able to take a better photo! The flash really doesn't do his toga any justice.

Vulpix (Pokemon)

Vulpix, I choose you!

 

I've loved Pokemon since I got Pokemon Blue and a Gameboy Pocket for my 10th birthday. I think I was born at just the right time, the Pokemon sweet spot, because I was old enough to enjoy it and grow up with it. In 1999, year 5 at school, I had an assignment on what I thought was the greatest invention of the millenium. Did I choose anything that has had widespread influence on our society? Yes, yes I did. Pokemon. I got an A, naturally.


My favourite has always been Vulpix. It's an adorable little fire-type fox with 6 tails. Vulpix can be calm, graceful, beautiful, but don't piss it off or you'll get a flamethrower to the face. I like that; I can relate to that seemingly innocent exterior. A couple of years ago I cemented my love for Vulpix with my first tattoo. Now that I've gotten in Pop customs, it seemed only natural to create this cute little spitfire.

I used Ghost from Game of Thrones because it not only gave me a pretty good starting shape to work with, but the white colour made painting an easier task down the track. For the tails, I put one layer of the six using the original tail as a support structure. I baked this, then proceeded to slice away most of the original tail before doing the back of the tails. If I hadn't done this, they would have been far too thick and ugly. I also added some little touches to give it personality, like the foot raised and the head cocked. I don't know about you, but I think it's just the cutest!

The Run Down:

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

Biggest Challenges: Making the 6 tails of Vulpix

How I'd Improve It: Getting the base colour a little different. Everything I tried to mix just didn't feel right, but in the end I went with what was closest.

Vanessa (The Little Mermaid)

Get away from me you slimy little...

 

I make no secret of loving Disney villains, particularly Ursula. Sassy, manipulative and powerful, she wasn't going to make any deal to which she couldn't adjust the outcome. Ariel was about to win over Eric, so she does the only logical thing- use her voice to pose as his mysterious saviour, Vanessa.

I bought an extra blue dress Ariel as the basis of my Vanessa, as much of their outfits are the same in terms of basic design. Once I removed the head, I used polymer clay to reshape the hair, given that Vanessa has a middle part, unlike Ariel's trademark swoop of fringe. I erased and redrew her eyebrows, removing Ariel's innocent expression. I pulled out both arms, trimmed down the vinyl to remove the sleeve of her dress, repositioned and repainted. I repainted her dress and added on the seashell necklace before putting the head back on. Pretty simple really.

I'm not totally happy with this one, to be honest, but it's a decent attempt at Vanessa.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: Blue dress Ariel (Disney 146)

Biggest Challenges: Getting the arms to not look like footballer player arms

How I'd Improve It: I'd have stolen the arms off another pop altogether, to avoid the difficulties I had with them.

Esmeralda (The Hunchback of Notre Dame)

God bless the outcasts

 

Although not a Princess, my husband and I always thought that Esmeralda is one of the sexiest characters from Disney. She is kind to others, is sassy to authority and has pole dancing skills. Esmeralda's so alluring that Judge Claude Frollo would commit genocide on an entire people just to find her. Don't worry, I've already got a custom of him planned, so he can continue to harass her on my shelf.

I had a spare live action Cinderella laying around, and figured that with a bit of work I could transform her into our favourite gypsy dancer. I had to trim down her braid, foot and parts of her dress; reposition both arms; add in the headband, jewellery, new clothes and a tambourine; and paint, of course.

I considered repainting her skin to be more olive, however decided that risking messing it up (remember, I hate doing eyelashes!) wasn't worth the reward of being slightly more accurate.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: Cinderella (Disney 138)

Biggest Challenges: Turning the puffy ballgown into a gypsy outfit

How I'd Improve It: I'd have found another way to deal with the front foot. I cut off the protruding foot, and tried to make that area look like a dress fold, but it's not as good as I'd have hoped for.

Matt (my friend)

A very special birthday present

I happen to share my birthday with one of my closest friends, a guy named Matt. Anyone who knows me knows that when it comes to birthdays, I consider them very important! I'm terrible when it comes to surprises, too, which is why I gave Matt his present back in May; I just like making my loved ones happy now, not later. It's our birthdays next week though, and I wanted to do something extra for him for the actual day.

I've only posted 2 completed Pops on this blog so far, but looking around my computer I can see another 4 that are in various stages of progress. Each one has been teaching and developing my skills at customising, for which I'm grateful, as I really didn't want to attempt to give Matt a shoddy Pop clone of himself.

I won't put up a picture of the man this pop is based off, for the sake of his privacy, but rest assured that it's a darn good likeness. The floppy sandy-coloured hair, the leather jacket and grey jeans...it's Matt alright.

The clincher of course was the trombone in his hand. The rest was easy- the trombone was the daunting part of creating this custom. It's his baby, and I knew that a super dodgy job would just irk him. Is it a perfect replica trombone? Nah. But for a paperclip and some clay, I think it's decent enough.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: Ron Weasley (Harry Potter 02)

Biggest Challenges: Definitely the trombone!

How I'd Improve It: Sanding the trombone. I was really scared about breaking it, so I didn't sand it smoother when I know I should have. I just didn't want to have to make another one!

Mother Gothel (Tangled)

Mother knows best!

 

 

Rapunzel's Pop was released earlier this month, with only Pascal and Maximus to accompany her. Now Disney Pops have a history of ignoring the leading man (sorry Flynn, they just couldn't get your nose right, I'm sure), but I was sad to see that Tangled's villain was overlooked. Mother Gothel is one of the more subtle Disney villains, as she uses manipulation of others instead of force. I can respect that. I thought it only fitting that she join Rapunzel on my shelf.

Last time I'd made a custom though, it'd been from a blank DIY. Mother Gothel's hair was clearly going to be the biggest challenge, and to get that looking right from a DIY was far too intimidating. This in mind, I started browsing existing figures for one who had a better starting point to work from. This actually worked out very well, as I realised that Merida from Brave could be transformed to Mother Gothel with very little difficulty.

Snip off the bow, reposition the arm, turn her belt into the sash, change the sleeves and neckline, and voila! Add a coat of paint, and a hero becomes a villain.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: Merida (Disney 57)

Biggest Challenges: None, really. Very easy custom. Painting the black into all the detail of the curls was time consuming though.

How I'd Improve It: I'm pretty happy with this. I guess I could have added a mirror or the magic flower to her hand to give her a recognisable symbol though. 

Queen of Hearts (Alice in Wonderland)

Off with her head!

 

In 2013 my Halloween costume was the Queen of Hearts from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. In April this year, my husband and I got married with an Alice theme. Suffice it to say, I'm quite fond of the story. Carroll's Alice novels are in my top 10 of literature, and I enjoy the movies greatly. Except for the Burton 2010 live action adaptation. That, I'm afraid, was a travesty. So when I saw that there were 'more' Alice in Wonderland Pops announced, I was excited at first, especially when I saw the Queen of Hearts on the list. That is, until I realised they would be Pops from the Burton version.

My heart sank. The disappointment I felt in being teased with the possibility of the Disney QoH prompted me to consider a custom. My time in the Pop community had meant I'd seen my fair share of custom jobs, but they seemed so expensive. I figured it was worth dropping $15 on a DIY female and giving it a shot myself. I mean, what was the worst that could happen?

This is one bad-ass woman. That's right, you'd better bow down and worship me!

When I made this, I didn't know much about Pop customising tricks. I did this custom with the head on the whole time, I didn't know to reposition the limbs and I didn't know how to give support to added pieces. I'm writing this with only a couple of weeks experience, and already I can see how much I've grown as a customiser. 

For my first attempt though, I think she turned out fairly well. I'm a pretty harsh critic on myself, so I am not blind to the flaws, but I have to be realistic. She was my starting point, and I'm proud of how I managed.

The Run Down:

Base Pop/s: DIY white female

Biggest Challenges: Painting on the eyelashes and eyebrows drove me nuts! I didn't have a superfine brush, and they just didn't want to look even.

How I'd Improve It: I'm not satisfied with the crown, as it's more a tiara (anything more just wasn't working for me on the day). Making a round, pointed crown, using wire as a base for stability, would be the approach I'd take if I had a do-over. I'd also reposition one of the arms, drill a small hole and give her the heart scepter.