F. A. Q. - Frequently Asked Questions:
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(1) I want to buy your figures! Are they for sale? If not, will you make some for me?
No! This is my hobby and I only make figures for my own collection and for my own amusement. I work full-time and unfortunately don’t have time to do work for other people, even for profit. My free time is priceless, plus I don’t have the time and resources to track down the increasingly pricey and hard-to-locate base figure parts. If you want figures like the ones you’ve seen on my site, take up the hobby yourself and feel free to use my recipes!
(2) Where do you get the base figures for your customs?
Several places - eBay is a great resource for anything, not just Super Powers figures, although the last minute bidding can be fierce. Comics shops can also be a good source, particularly if they have a well-stocked used toy section. Check out comic conventions too. There are some online retailers that sell Super Powers figures, but they usually tend to be on the pricey side. And don’t be afraid to cultivate relationships with other toy collectors, who can be a big help. It also helps to keep an eye open for figures and parts from other toy lines that are compatible with Super Powers style figures.
(3) What paint, sculpting, and other materials do you use?
I use acrylic paints for all my figures, for several reasons. They’re water-soluble, they’re cheap (around a dollar a bottle), and they come in a wide variety of colors. I don’t usually use a primer, although a nice base coat of white is vital for painting bright reds and yellows. A couple of name brands to look out for are Folk Art and Apple Barrel. AVOID MODEL KIT PAINTS AT ALL COSTS! Enamel model kit paints, like Testors, are terrible for action figure plastic, usually never fully dry, and will leave your custom figure sticky and tacky for all eternity! Bad!!! Regarding sculpting materials, I personally prefer air-drying materials. I have little patience for anything that needs to be baked, fired, cured, heated, or mixed in two parts. The two materials I use most often are Crayola Model Magic (check the crafts section and the school supply section), and Das Pronto (an air-drying clay that I have only found in hobby shops). I also highly recommend a Dremel for sanding, drilling, buffing, et cetera (available at hardware stores or in a store’s hardware section). Fine grit sanding films are also good, and I frequently use a hot glue gun and super glue.
(4) What do you use to make capes?
I try to reuse original Super Powers capes when appropriate, but when that’s not possible, I use a Lycra type fabric, which seems to match the fabric of original Super Powers capes. I like to reuse the neck rings from the original capes, but I don’t sew at all, so I tend to put capes together with a little fabric glue. Lycra also has the advantage of not fraying along the cut edges.
(5) What’s the recipe for ________________ ?
Most of the recipes for my figures are probably pretty self-evident, but if you run across one that you can’t figure out, feel free to contact me at hammer2fall@hotmail.com
(6) Why don’t your newer custom figures have those custom backing cards with the funny captions like your early ones did?
I’m lazy. Actually, as much fun as they were, and as much as I like to think they set my site apart from other Super Powers custom sites, they just became too time consuming for me. But I may go back and do some more someday.
(7) Why so many JSA and related characters?
The Justice Society of America is my favorite comic book team and set of characters. I like them, I like what they represent, and I like the world they live in. I wanted JSA figures like crazy as a kid, so now’s my chance.
(8) How long have you been customizing figures?
Since my junior year in college, which is about 7 or 8 years now. Practice does lead to improvement.
(9) Why don’t you have a custom figure of ________________ ?
Two reasons (a) I haven’t gotten to them yet OR (b) I don’t like the character and I’d rather spend my time making someone I do like. For example, you will never see a Lobo custom Super Powers figure made by me :o)
(10) Do you have custom figures besides Super Powers stuff?
Yes, I have done some Toybiz Marvel Universe customs to fill holes in my collection, and I have also done a lot of Playmates Star Trek customs (mostly related to the original series). I have deliberately decided not to do any DC Direct style custom figures, mostly because there’s a good chance that any character I start will have been made and released by DC Direct before I can get finished. That DC Direct, they’re a prolific bunch (sort of the Stephen King of toy companies).
(11) Why do you use female figures from the Batman & Superman Animated Series lines? They don’t fit the Super Powers look.
It’s my desire, in making my custom figures, to remain as close to the look and aesthetic of the original line as possible. However, to do so strictly would mean that every female character I customized would have to have a Super Powers Wonder Woman as its base. The SP Wonder Woman, while a great figure, doesn’t lend itself to the look of a lot of female characters, and I personally think an army of repainted Wonder Woman figures would look boring - to my sensibility. I am personally of the opinion that the female figures in the Batman & Superman Animated Series lines are close enough in scale and style to be an asset to my Super Powers collection and not a detraction, and the visual diversity is nice. So using them is an artistic choice for me, regardless of how pretentious that sounds. And since these custom figures are a product of my time and skill, it’s my choice to make.
(12) Your figures look okay, but they’re kind of boring and old fashioned looking. Why don’t you jazz them up and make them all dramatic and exciting, like Bill Burns and those Iron Cow guys?
It’s an aesthetic choice. Super Powers were my favorite toys as a kid. I love the DC characters, I love the straight ahead representation of them, and the simple design of the figures. My goal is to capture that; to create figures that are as indistinguishable as I can make them, from the original Super Powers line produced by Kenner from 1984 to 1986. And that doesn’t really lend itself to dramatic poses, intricate detail, and anguished expressions (although I thoroughly enjoy the work of Bill Burns, the Iron Cow gentlemen, and many other online customizers).
THANKS to:
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My Mom - for buying me my first action figure (an 8 inch Mego Batman).
Petar Grulovic - my friend and site partner, without whom I wouldn’t have a web site at all.
Bradley K. Baron - always a supportive audience regardless of the weirdos you have brought to this site.
RedShoes60, MB a/k/a Toy Detective, Xenophon, and all executives of the Max Mercury Fan Club - toy collectors par excellence and good folk.
Fat Sal - a peer in this silly hobby.
Christy Preston Money - my own personal Dana Scully.
Miss Cathy Mellen - for whom the world is not enough.
Jamie Smith - a fellow traveler through a strange land.
Eric and Tash Acord, Warren Dotson, Christopher Hyer, and Gonzo - for being friends when I needed them.
Joshua Smith - for being my friend.