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***** The Wrecking Crew -- Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, and Bulldozer *****
The Wrecking Crew (created by Len Wein and Sal Buscema) is comprised of super-villains—Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, and Bulldozer—whose first appearance is in The Defenders vol. 1, #17 in November 1974.
The Wrecking Crew are formed when Dirk Garthwaite—the Wrecker—is approached by Dr. Eliot Franklin in prison and asked to retrieve a gamma bomb Franklin had designed, with the intent of ransoming New York for millions of dollars. The Wrecker had formerly been a violent criminal who demolished crime scenes with his crowbar, but gained his power when he was mistaken for Loki and given godly powers by the Norn Queen. Garthwaite manages to retrieve his enchanted crowbar, and during a lightning storm tells Franklin and fellow prisoners Henry Camp and Brian Calusky to grip the weapon simultaneously. A lightning bolt then strikes the crowbar and transforms the four men into the Wrecking Crew.
They promptly escape from prison and in the course of searching for the gamma bomb are defeated by the Defenders and Luke Cage.
Over the years the Wrecking Crew have followed a very familiar cycle—escape prison, fight and subsequently lose to superheroes, and return to prison. The Wrecking Crew have battled the Avengers, Captain America, Iron Fist, the Runaways, Spider-Man, the Sub-Mariner, the Thing, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Alpha Flight, She-Hulk, X-Men and their main foe, Thor. When the Wrecking Crew first battle Thor, they are confident that it will be a quick victory. Thor, however, infuriated by the fact that one of the Wrecker's offensives has killed an innocent bystander, defeats them all in moments and critically injures the Wrecker.
The team is later chosen by the being known as the Beyonder to participate in the Secret Wars against a team of select superheroes.
The Wrecking Crew's most notorious act was to participate in the near-fatal beating of the hero Hercules during a siege of Avengers Mansion by the super-villain team the Masters of Evil.
This is the second set of customs of the Wrecking Crew I have created. The first were based on the original drawings from Sal Buscema and Dan Green (as seen in the first picture). This set is based on the cover of Thor 304 as drawn by Keith Pollard and Joe Rubinstein and the Bowen mini-busts seen below.
The Wrecker is built on an original Mego Type 2 body with LJN swivel arms; Type S gripper hands painted purple; belt and cuffs from CTVT painted purple; Castaway Toys purple boots; crowbar from Marvel Legends Wrecker action figure; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Wrecker with paints by yours truly.
Thunderball is built on an original Mego Type 2 body with LJN swivel arms; Type S gripper hand painted yellow to hold his wrecking ball and chain purchased on eBay; yellow pirate boots, yellow cuffs, and repro yellow Mego Robin belt from CTVT; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Thunderball with paints by yours truly.
Piledriver is built on an original Mego One Million B.C. body with CTVT Caucasian muscle arms; CTVT pirate boots and belt painted blue by me; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Piledriver with paints by yours truly.
Bulldozer is built on a Doc Mego tall muscle body with hands painted flesh tone; original Mego Conan belt and cuffs enlarged to fit and painted silver; CTVT 12" Evel Knievel boots painted silver with cuffs adapted from enlarged original Mego Conan belt; suit by me with chest piece an exact duplicate of the Bowen mini-bust; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Bulldozer with paints by yours truly.
Team Photo
Taking on the Mighty Thor!
(I have been using this background to take pictures of my customs for years and never has it been more apropos
)
Recently, I had the honor and privilege to meet the artist for the cover of Thor 304, legendary Marvel master Keith Pollard at the Great Lakes Comic Con. Here is a picture of he and I holding up a tabloid sized print of that cover which he so graciously autographed. I was also able to show him photos of my Wrecking Crew customs and thank him for the inspiration. It was a proud "geek" moment for me.
And, then I ran into Joe Rubinstein at C2E2 and he also signed it. Pretty cool!
This project took the better part of eight months from start to finish and if you would like to see additional photos of how this project came together, please check out this photo album on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/megowgsh...31070200277534
I hope you enjoy my customs as much as I do, and, as always, Thanks for looking!
Peace, Love, and Megos!
Austin
The Wrecking Crew are formed when Dirk Garthwaite—the Wrecker—is approached by Dr. Eliot Franklin in prison and asked to retrieve a gamma bomb Franklin had designed, with the intent of ransoming New York for millions of dollars. The Wrecker had formerly been a violent criminal who demolished crime scenes with his crowbar, but gained his power when he was mistaken for Loki and given godly powers by the Norn Queen. Garthwaite manages to retrieve his enchanted crowbar, and during a lightning storm tells Franklin and fellow prisoners Henry Camp and Brian Calusky to grip the weapon simultaneously. A lightning bolt then strikes the crowbar and transforms the four men into the Wrecking Crew.
They promptly escape from prison and in the course of searching for the gamma bomb are defeated by the Defenders and Luke Cage.
Over the years the Wrecking Crew have followed a very familiar cycle—escape prison, fight and subsequently lose to superheroes, and return to prison. The Wrecking Crew have battled the Avengers, Captain America, Iron Fist, the Runaways, Spider-Man, the Sub-Mariner, the Thing, Doctor Strange, Daredevil, Alpha Flight, She-Hulk, X-Men and their main foe, Thor. When the Wrecking Crew first battle Thor, they are confident that it will be a quick victory. Thor, however, infuriated by the fact that one of the Wrecker's offensives has killed an innocent bystander, defeats them all in moments and critically injures the Wrecker.
The team is later chosen by the being known as the Beyonder to participate in the Secret Wars against a team of select superheroes.
The Wrecking Crew's most notorious act was to participate in the near-fatal beating of the hero Hercules during a siege of Avengers Mansion by the super-villain team the Masters of Evil.
This is the second set of customs of the Wrecking Crew I have created. The first were based on the original drawings from Sal Buscema and Dan Green (as seen in the first picture). This set is based on the cover of Thor 304 as drawn by Keith Pollard and Joe Rubinstein and the Bowen mini-busts seen below.
The Wrecker is built on an original Mego Type 2 body with LJN swivel arms; Type S gripper hands painted purple; belt and cuffs from CTVT painted purple; Castaway Toys purple boots; crowbar from Marvel Legends Wrecker action figure; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Wrecker with paints by yours truly.
Thunderball is built on an original Mego Type 2 body with LJN swivel arms; Type S gripper hand painted yellow to hold his wrecking ball and chain purchased on eBay; yellow pirate boots, yellow cuffs, and repro yellow Mego Robin belt from CTVT; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Thunderball with paints by yours truly.
Piledriver is built on an original Mego One Million B.C. body with CTVT Caucasian muscle arms; CTVT pirate boots and belt painted blue by me; suit by me; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Piledriver with paints by yours truly.
Bulldozer is built on a Doc Mego tall muscle body with hands painted flesh tone; original Mego Conan belt and cuffs enlarged to fit and painted silver; CTVT 12" Evel Knievel boots painted silver with cuffs adapted from enlarged original Mego Conan belt; suit by me with chest piece an exact duplicate of the Bowen mini-bust; head re-sized from the Bowen mini-bust Bulldozer with paints by yours truly.
Team Photo
Taking on the Mighty Thor!
(I have been using this background to take pictures of my customs for years and never has it been more apropos
)Recently, I had the honor and privilege to meet the artist for the cover of Thor 304, legendary Marvel master Keith Pollard at the Great Lakes Comic Con. Here is a picture of he and I holding up a tabloid sized print of that cover which he so graciously autographed. I was also able to show him photos of my Wrecking Crew customs and thank him for the inspiration. It was a proud "geek" moment for me.
And, then I ran into Joe Rubinstein at C2E2 and he also signed it. Pretty cool!
This project took the better part of eight months from start to finish and if you would like to see additional photos of how this project came together, please check out this photo album on my Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pg/megowgsh...31070200277534
I hope you enjoy my customs as much as I do, and, as always, Thanks for looking!
Peace, Love, and Megos!
Austin
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