Alpha Flight custom figures

I recently put together quite a few custom action figures of my favourite Alpha characters. I started reading the original series while on my honeymoon last summer (a statement only a true nerd could make) and I've fallen in love with Alpha Flight all over again.
My first real exposure to Alpha was during their late '90s series, so I'm quite fond of Flex, Manbot, Radius and all of those characters (who have sadly disappeared from the comics), so I've included some of them along with some original Alphans.

I plan on making the rest of the main members of the team (Box, Madison Jefferies, Vindicator, etc)

These are all Marvel Legends 6" scale and fit in nicely with Guardian, Puck and Sasquatch. I haven't gotten around to taking a full group-shot though. I'd like to get Heather and Box done before I get everyone put together.

I'll start off with an older custom of mine, even though he is technically wearing his Astonishing X-Men costume: Northstar! I made him to use in my X-Men figure display, which explains the costume. I am thinking of making a figure of his husband Kyle in the future.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...rthstar-03.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...rthstar-02.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...rthstar-04.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...rthstar-01.jpg

Recipe:
Body: Bullseye
Head: Matt Murdoch head cast

The ears and X emblem were all sculpted on. I had to fill in some holes in his leg from the removal of part of Bullseye's costume.

Next up is his twin sister Aurora. I made her in her classic costume, even though it means she doesn't match her "brozair" 100%. I'll need to take some photos of the two of them together.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps1a1099aa.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps6679f849.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps3ec39425.jpg

Body: Ms Marvel
Head: Shanna the She-Devil head cast

I sculpted her ears and did a bit of hair sculpting. I also had to fill in some gaps that were left from removing the belt.


For Marrina I decided to go with her current modern teenage look rather than the old pixie cut and fish-scale bathing suit. I really enjoyed the 8-issue series from a couple years back, but they were inconsistent with her costume, so I combined a few looks.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps00568df5.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps17e9fe6f.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps23e188b1.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps5104aff1.jpg

Head: Power Girl
Body: modern Cheetah
Fins: cartoon Aqualad

I did some sculpting on the fins and wrist wraps and used a glittery paint to try and replicate her scales. I bought some cheap plastic plants at walmart and used the leaves to replicate the "living seaweed" on Marrina's costume. Replicating the sea turtle tattoos on her arm was a pain. It didn't turn out perfectly, but I'm happy with it.

Shaman is next. I was a bit worried about working on Dr. Twoyoungmen but I am quite happy with how it ended up. I saw someone else use a Loki figure as a base and it works very nicely I did a lot of alterations to the base, though, to try and make it match up to Michael's current/classic look.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps88a201fd.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps2b3132bb.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps559d28bc.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psf8ef5f1c.jpg

Head: Conan
Body: Loki
Hair: X-23
Hands: Street Fighter figure
Bag: Longshot

I did some sculpting to the thighs, chest, back, arms and hair. The belt and headband are all cut from pieces of thin styrene plastic.

Snowbird is another figure that made me a little nervous about tackling. I wasn't sure how I'd make her cape work, but I think i found a nice way to do so. The cape is a bit too long so she doesn't stand very nicely (she's kind of tri-podding) so I'm keeping her in a flying pose. I'm really happy with the paint job on her face.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps19b57cd6.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps14329017.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps530f47b2.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps28fc1411.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps1b6fd443.jpg

Head: Cheetah
Body: DC Dove
Hands: some DC figure

The headdress and cape are made with pieces of thin styrene. For the cape, I used the original shawl from Dove and glued on the styrene. I then sculpted over everything and smoothed it out.

I have six more customs to show but I will save them for next time.

Wow, those are fantastic!

My favorite part is :

Quote:

---

Head: Conan
Body: Loki
Hair: X-23
Hands: Street Fighter figure
Bag: Longshot

---

Because yeah, that basically sums up Michael Twoyoungmen.

I am extremely impressed and hope to see a Talisman figure among the next set!

Well done, all very good. How long did it take to do each figure?

I really want the Shaman and Snowbird though haha

Calbretto, those are awesome. You're a genius! (or at least a crazy artist, lol)

I have to agree that Snowbird and Shaman stand out as particularly great pieces, but all that you have shown so far are virtually flawless.

I say again; you're a genius!

Impressive... most impressive.

Those are brilliant! Cool.

Wow! Thank you for all the great responses guys! I'm so happy that everyone likes my custom figures. I've been customizing for a few years now and usually do one or two figures at a time, but for Alpha Flight I was inspired to get a huge chunk of the team done all at once.

K-M, I worked on these off and on over a couple of months (10 Alphans together in total). I usually would work on them while watching TV on the weekends or in the evenings. I'm not sure the exact number of hours that went into each figure. Aurora was probably the easiest to make, while Snowbird was the hardest.

Rplass, I definitely have Talisman on my to-do list.

Here is a group shot of my classic Alphans in case anyone wants to see the scale.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps61f52199.jpg

As you can see, there's a certain government employee standing with them. Good old Gary Cody.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps46b1104f.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psd1f17c08.jpg

Head: Starman unmasked
Body: Professor X
Right Hand: Star Trek movie figure
Glasses: Austin Powers
Podium: SNL Goatboy

This one I just did for fun. I had an extra Professor X body lying around so I slapped the unmasked Starman head on their and it looked just like Gary Cody. I added a pair of glasses from Austin Powers and he was pretty much done. The podium is an accessory that came with the Saturday Night Live Goat Boy figure from a few years ago. I guess Gary is my first Alpha Flight villain. :D

I mentioned in my first post that I love the '90s Alpha Flight series. A certain set of mutant brothers were my favourite characters in the book, so I had to tackle them. First up is Radius.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psd22e4a7e.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psa2a12da2.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps54a9f5f4.jpg

Head: Aquaman head cast
Body: black costume Wolverine
Legs: AoA Weapon X
Hands: random parts

The body for this figure was actually repurposed from an old custom of mine of X-Force Wolverine. Since he got an official release, I decided to take apart my old custom and reuse it for Radius. I went with his second costume since the first wasn't really a favourite of mine. The boot and wrist cuffs were added with craft foam. The top of his shirt was sculpted with apoxy sculpt.

We can't have Radius without Flex. I remember reading about Flex and his budding romance with Ghost Girl and really enjoying those books when I was younger. I really wanted to see the two of them get together, but I guess that will never happen since they've both been placed in character limbo.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps334e3942.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps5847662e.jpg

Head: Dark Knight Returns Office Blake
Body: Human Torch
Forearms: Street Fighter Cammy
Hands: Ripclaw

The forearms are a tad long, but I figure that's ok since he can shift the shape of his hands and arms. The Blake figure had a childish looking face so I thought he would look good as a teenager. I had to glue the ears back, though, since he had a bit of a dumbo look going on. I sculpted the hair, chest and shoulder armor and boots using Apoxy Sculpt. The leaf on his chest is sculpted into the chest piece, which took a bit of work to get right.

I have a few more modern Alphans to post next.

I thought it was ironic you combined Matt Murdoch and Bullseye for Northstar (who isn't in the group shot, I notice).
That may be the very first ever Gary Cody figure! :)

Did you mean Dark Knight Rises office Blake? I don't remember anyone who looks anything like that in Returns, but it's been a long time since I read it, so I don't know.

~ Le Messor
"Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time."
~ Sir Winston Churchill

You are totally right. It is Dark Knight Rises!

I will take a group shot of everyone (including the factory made Sasquatch, Puck and Guardian) eventually. I was planning on getting Heather done first, but with my wife being pregnant I'm running low on time to work on custom figures and taking photos of my stuff. I will get it done eventually.

Priorities, man, priorities!

Here are the last three of my Alpha customs (apart from a Puck figure I made a few years back that I don't like very much).
I didn't love the Scott Lobdell Alpha Flight from 2004, but I do like some of the characters he introduced. First up is Yukon Jack. I got the idea to use the Conan figure as a base from another customizer, so I can't take all the credit.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pse7b6b3f4.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps2616366b.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psc64be029.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pscf0ef2d8.jpg

Head: Lord of the Rings (I think it's Aragorn)
Body: Conan
Forearms and hands: Adon from Street Fighter
Loin cloth: cut from a Lord of the Rings Hobbit cape
Dreadlocks: Slash from Guitar Hero

I did some sculpting on the hair, leg and loin cloth. The necklace was made with some small beads from the dollar store. Jack's bone blade was sculpted from Apoxy Sculpt. Overall he was fairly easy to put together.

Puck 2 always seemed like an odd character to me. Her outfit was a bit outdated, even at the time the book was published. I can't recall if we ever actually saw a scene with her and her dad, nor was she resurrected after the team was killed in New Avengers. No one seems to care about her over at Marvel.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps2e7c6d3c.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps791af46d.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pse0f00647.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psb469ccc6.jpg

Head: Livewire DC Direct head cast
Upper body & feet: WWE wrestler
Lower body: Anime figure
Glasses: Final Fantasy figure

I used some strips of styrene for the strap on her shirt and to help build the lower part of her pants. I did a little sculpting on the hair and pants.

My last Alphan is Major Mapleleaf. His design is interesting, yet kind of boring at the same time. I like the inverted Mountie colours, but at the same time I find it a little bland. Sorry about the poor photography. I had trouble getting the shots because of all the white in his costume.

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psf6eb1f7e.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps186891b2.jpg

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps774ef3e8.jpg

Head: DC Direct Aquaman
Legs & arms: DCUC Jemm
Upper torso: DCUC Starman
Hands: random DC figure
Belt: Bullseye

He was easy to put together, but painting all that white was a pain in the butt. I sculpted the boots, gloves and part of his shirt. I'd love to tackle making his horse, but I don't know if I'd ever get that far along into making Alpha figures that I can get to the horse.

That's it for now! As I mentioned before, I have a lot more Alpha Flight characters planned. Box is already on the work bench, so he'll probably be the first.
Thanks for looking!

Loving the Puck II and the Flex figures.

In TOTAL SHOCK that anybody would make a Yukon Jack figure; I thought everybody hated him! And here I thought i was the only person who liked Jack. That turned out awesome!

Thanks! I like Yukon Jack too. It's not the most intricate design, but I like the look of the character.

I forgot to post this group shot of the "new" Alpha members:

http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps92c0d73c.jpg

Wow, well done. Really....amazing work.

Those are really marvelous (lol), Calbretto! Bravo!

Dana

Thanks for the feedback! I am really happy you guys like them. I LOVE Alpha Flight and have a ton of fun making these customs. Every few months I get the customizing bug and decide to make a little batch of 6 to 10 figures. I have been trying to include a few Alphans in every batch. I actually have a few more to post. I hope everyone likes them.

I've put together three more Alphans... well technically ONE Alphan, his alter-ego and a supporting cast member.


Madison Jeffries wasn't a favourite of mine from the original Alpha book, but I became a huge fan of his during his stint with the X-Men and the Science Team. I thought that Han Solo would make a good base for Madison. I did some sculpting on the hair and collar, but mostly this is a part swap and repaint. I'm really happy with how he turned out.


Head: 2-Pack Mr. Fantastic
Body: Han Solo
Lower legs: Winter Soldier
Leg pouch: random McFarlane figure


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psfce09efb.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps3cb8da1e.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps68c6efe6.jpg


You can't have Madison without his alter-ego Box. He was both fun and a pain to make. I re-sculpted the head, hand and chest and gave the whole thing a silver paint job, and added some translucent red paint for the metallic red sections.


Body: CnC Stel
Head: BAF Iron Monger


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps014096e0.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps0fd2827a.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psa6f2763b.jpg


Final member isn't actually a member, but the husband of one of the original Alphans; Kyle Jinadu. I enjoyed his character in Astonishing X-Men and the last Alpha Flight mini-series and figured Northstar could use his significant other.


He was easy to make, as he is mainly a repaint. I re-sculpted the bottom of the pants and in a few other places.


Head: DCD Aqualad
Body: Han Solo
Scarf: random Hobbit


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps9ede733c.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps0971d557.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps14702fdb.jpg

I hope you guys like them. My next few Alphans will most likely be Box (the original version), Vindicator and Talisman.

Here is a group shot of my team so far. It's not the best shot... Flex and Radius are pretty much covered by Box, so you can't even see the poor guys! I will take some better pics if you guys want. Let me know.



http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psxitybvzt.jpg

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Calbretto

Leg pouch: random McFarlane figure

---

I Lol'd at that!
I'm impressed by the sheer number of characters you have in there. Did you do any customising on the Sasquatches? Is that a Wizard Guardian? And the Snowbird and Puck - are they customs? I see her cape is different to my figure of her, so I guess she is. (The Snowbird as owl is not, unless you've done something with it that I can't tell from here.)

~ Le Messor
"A small measure of craziness mixed with a reasonable amount of eccentricity is an attractive alternative to conformity."
~ J. D. Boatwood

Thanks man! I'm glad you like my custom figures.

The Guardian is actually a Marvel Legends figure. All my customs are six inch scale. The only ones that I didn't make are Sasquatch, white Sasquatch, Guardian and Puck. Snowbird doesn't share any parts with the 5" figure either. The white bird that Puck is holding is actually the bird that came with the Marvel Universe Puck figure.

I actually did make a custom Puck a while ago but I put him away when they made an official Puck.

I haven't posted anything in a while, but I've made a few figures since my last post.


After making the Madison Jeffries version of Box, I knew I had to go back and make the original version. He is made from an Iron Monger BAF, with the a Terrax head. I re-sculpted the head and parts of the arms. I settled on the blue version of Box, rather than red or grey, as it makes him stand out on an Alpha Flight shelf that has a lot of red as it is. I'm really happy with how he turned out. I'm contemplating making a Roger Bochs figure to go along with him.


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psq4qudmn0.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...ps4uvazldl.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psu9pkwucv.jpg

I want to make every member of Alpha Flight, so that includes the "boring" ones like Rutherford Princeton III. Don't get me wrong, I do like the character, but visually he's more than a bit bland.


I made Centennial out of a DC Direct Kingdom Come Norman McCay figure, with the head from a Plan B soldier. I cut off the beret and sculpted hair, then painted the skin. I'm pretty happy with how he turns out. Now I'm one figure away from completing my Lobdell Alpha Flight team line up.


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...pswckj5vwk.jpg


http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...psbwh3mlh8.jpg

I have a couple more characters that I just finished off: Vindicator (finally!) and my favourite villain, Ranark the Ravager. I should have photos soon.

Those look cool. Thanks for sharing!

I can see the Terrax in your Box. Though... you used a BAF? That must've cost a fortune! :D

Also, why was Norman McCay wearing a beret?

~ Le Messor
"If I had thought about it, I wouldn't have done the experiment. The literature was full of examples that said you can't do this."
~ Spencer Silver on the work that led to the unique adhesives for 3-M "Post-It" Notepads.

As usual your work is exquisite! I love it. Nice job on Box, nice job on Centennial. I especially love the helmet on Box, came out great! :)

Both Box robots are very well done, good job!

Wait... so you used your BAF Iron Monger's head for one Box, and the rest of him for another?
How fitting. :)

~ Le Messor
"If I could not earn a penny from my writing, I would earn my livelihood at something else and continue to write at night."
~ Irving Wallace

Great Job!!!