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Twisted Toyfare Theatre customs

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  • MegoCapnMike
    Veteran Member
    • Feb 22, 2012
    • 384

    Twisted Toyfare Theatre customs

    I saw something earlier tonight that got me thinking of the Twisted Toyfare Theatre comics. Got a couple of the volumes I have out and flipped through them. They have some good looking customs in there. I am just curious if anyone has ever really looked at some of these to figure out what pieces were put into this or that to make certain figures. Obviously a lot of them are cheap and quick figures made for a 1 or 2 frame bit here and there, but I am talking about some of their better made customs.

    Not all of them are completely made from scratch. Many appear to be kit bashing combined with custom sculpts and or paint jobs. For example, their original Silver Surfer was simply a naked and bald Thor figure painted silver. Later versions in the strip have him as a better more Mego looking custom figure with (I believe) a custom sculpt.

    Dr Doom in particular is one of their better customs and was a regular in the strip and also the figure that got me thinking about this. Doom appears to possibly be a kit bashed figure. But I am not sure what figures were used to make him. Looking through ebay, all the versions I see are either too big or too small and the hand sculpts aren't right. I don't think it is a shrink or enlarge deal either as the hand casts are different than the toys I see online. Anyone familiar with the series have any clue as to what was done to create this or any other custom Twisted Toyfare figure?
    Looking for:

    --Lion Rock "Mr Rock's" shoes/ boots (these may also be the same as the lion rock monster line boots)

    --Mystery Astronaught
  • HumanWolfman
    Type3Toys Has Transformed
    • Oct 5, 2011
    • 1574

    #2
    This is how it worked. ToyFare would commission an artist to make a particular custom. They would be told who and how it was suposed to look. When the figure was complete, pictures would be submitted for approval. There was usually a strict, short timeline in which to make the figure so it was received berfore the issue went to publication. They would usually pay a few hundred dollars for each piece. Long, long ago, I made several figures for them. Mysterio, Whirlwind, Moon Knight and New Black Panther were all early figures of mine made for ToyFare. I also made a Barbie as Emma Frost for their other mag, cant remember the name of at the moment. Although they are all fond memories, I cringe when I look at those early works when i compare them to whay I can create today.
    View My Customs
    www.type3toys.com
    or check here
    http://megomuseum.com/community/memb...5-HumanWolfman

    Comment

    • Captain Awesome
      Career Member
      • May 27, 2012
      • 559

      #3
      I think Vince Callaghan of Project Custom made some for them as well, if I'm not mistaken.
      Courage is being scared to death but saddlin' up anyway. - John Wayne

      Comment

      • HumanWolfman
        Type3Toys Has Transformed
        • Oct 5, 2011
        • 1574

        #4
        Originally posted by Captain Awesome
        I think Vince Callaghan of Project Custom made some for them as well, if I'm not mistaken.
        Yes he did, as did Charlee Flatt. Vince probablly did more of them than anyone.
        View My Customs
        www.type3toys.com
        or check here
        http://megomuseum.com/community/memb...5-HumanWolfman

        Comment

        • MegoCapnMike
          Veteran Member
          • Feb 22, 2012
          • 384

          #5
          Originally posted by HumanWolfman
          This is how it worked. ToyFare would commission an artist to make a particular custom. They would be told who and how it was suposed to look. When the figure was complete, pictures would be submitted for approval. There was usually a strict, short timeline in which to make the figure so it was received berfore the issue went to publication. They would usually pay a few hundred dollars for each piece. Long, long ago, I made several figures for them. Mysterio, Whirlwind, Moon Knight and New Black Panther were all early figures of mine made for ToyFare. I also made a Barbie as Emma Frost for their other mag, cant remember the name of at the moment. Although they are all fond memories, I cringe when I look at those early works when i compare them to whay I can create today.
          Thank you for the info. I always love hearing inside info on that kind of stuff. Behind the scenes trivia is always fascinating. All great customs as I recall from the issues. I always really like the Mysterio in the strip.

          But if I am not mistaken a lot of the customs (definitely not all but a lot) were just kit bashing. Not being a sculptor myself, I am just curious as to possible kit bashing I might be able to do to create some of the figures myself. Not exact clones of the Toyfare ones necessarily, but something close. Being a fan of the magazine, I thought it might be fun to have some more Mego-Ville occupants on my shelf to hang out with Mego Spidey and Hulk. So I was just wondering about any info on that.
          Looking for:

          --Lion Rock "Mr Rock's" shoes/ boots (these may also be the same as the lion rock monster line boots)

          --Mystery Astronaught

          Comment

          • Tothiro
            Kitten Mittens
            • Aug 28, 2008
            • 1342

            #6
            I did the later Silver Surfer, the Black Bolt, Kingpin, Uncle Ben Serpentor, Mephisto, Dormammu, and a few other things I don't recall... as well as cutting down and "Gi Joe articulating" the 12" Optimus Prime soft vinyl statue they posed for a few covers.

            Charlee did the Dr Doom, and quite a few others (his stuff is distinctively his, so the X-Men, etc are pretty easy to spot).

            Charlee sculpted from scratch, as did I and many others. Several others kit-bashed to great effect like with Dr Strange and Punisher - those heads are both recasts of a Canada Hockey teams line of solid plastic one piece figures with roto vinyl heads. I believe both were made by the same artist who I believe may also be a member here.
            My turnarounds were staggeringly short (24-48 hours a few times) so they didn't require photos, just sent me ref pictures and a contract via fed-ex, which I signed and sent back a copy of with the finished work. I didn't have time for kit-bash because I didn't have time for molds (except with Dormammu and Kingpin), or I probably would have used it. All of mine were just sculpey and acrylic paint, and make me cringe too like everyone probably does.

            The Famous Covers Doom head is a popular kitbash choice, and what I used for my own until it gets a resculpt head. A lot of FC have the screaming action, which is not my thing, but are in scale for 8" because of a technical mistake by Toy Biz.
            Last edited by Tothiro; Feb 23, '13, 6:55 PM.

            Comment

            • johnmiic
              Adrift
              • Sep 6, 2002
              • 8427

              #7
              There was a woman who got banned from here who claimed she did some costumes for some figures.

              Comment

              • Tothiro
                Kitten Mittens
                • Aug 28, 2008
                • 1342

                #8
                ^This I'm strangely fascinated to learn.
                Like was she claiming she'd done stuff other people actually did, or just random "hey lookit -I made that?"

                I know a lot of us were working on Sweet J Presents doing stuff for Seth and Matt before Robot Chicken launched. TF had, pretty much around that time, started doing what they did later with the writing - IE "hey kid, wanna be published? Great - do this thing for free and amaze your friends!" so the hiring was often whoever would do it below cost. I have to imagine there were any number of people involved at that stage.
                TF had still asked after a removable helmet Juggernaut like the Kingpin I did for a while, but the price they could budget was even less than previous jobs, and it would be another scratch body build, so I could never say yes.

                Comment

                • johnmiic
                  Adrift
                  • Sep 6, 2002
                  • 8427

                  #9
                  Her being banned didn't have anything to do with her claim. She said Toyfare approached her about doing costumes for some customs but they wouldn't give her enough time to get them done so she stopped trying to work with them.

                  Comment

                  • Tothiro
                    Kitten Mittens
                    • Aug 28, 2008
                    • 1342

                    #10
                    Oh, hahaha... She's rock solid then.

                    Comment

                    • MegoCapnMike
                      Veteran Member
                      • Feb 22, 2012
                      • 384

                      #11
                      Originally posted by Tothiro
                      I did the later Silver Surfer, the Black Bolt, Kingpin, Uncle Ben Serpentor, Mephisto, Dormammu, and a few other things I don't recall... as well as cutting down and "Gi Joe articulating" the 12" Optimus Prime soft vinyl statue they posed for a few covers.

                      Charlee did the Dr Doom, and quite a few others (his stuff is distinctively his, so the X-Men, etc are pretty easy to spot).

                      Charlee sculpted from scratch, as did I and many others. Several others kit-bashed to great effect like with Dr Strange and Punisher - those heads are both recasts of a Canada Hockey teams line of solid plastic one piece figures with roto vinyl heads. I believe both were made by the same artist who I believe may also be a member here.
                      My turnarounds were staggeringly short (24-48 hours a few times) so they didn't require photos, just sent me ref pictures and a contract via fed-ex, which I signed and sent back a copy of with the finished work. I didn't have time for kit-bash because I didn't have time for molds (except with Dormammu and Kingpin), or I probably would have used it. All of mine were just sculpey and acrylic paint, and make me cringe too like everyone probably does.

                      The Famous Covers Doom head is a popular kitbash choice, and what I used for my own until it gets a resculpt head. A lot of FC have the screaming action, which is not my thing, but are in scale for 8" because of a technical mistake by Toy Biz.
                      See? I love hearing the inner workings of this kind of stuff. I guess it would stand to reason that the magazine would have a tight deadline. Most publications do. I just never would have thought they needed stuff that quickly.

                      That Uncle Ben Serpentor figure was great. That was actually one of my favorite strips as I recall. Was that all sculpty? Or sculpty over an existing head?

                      Also, great job with Kingpin and Mephisto and all of them actually. Those figures are all awesome.

                      I am curious more and more about the Dr Doom figure the more I hear and think about it. Looking at the pictures, I always thought it was a famous covers (or similar) figure that had the arms and legs attached to a Mego body and then a custom head and tunic. But from what you are saying, it sounds like it may have been all from scratch. Is Charlee on the forum at all? They way they wrote Doom's character in the magazine always made him a favorite of mine (the bumbling comic relief villain) so I am naturally curious about the figure.

                      My goal would be to one day have space on my shelf dedicated to the Twisted Toyfare Theatre versions of some of these characters. Not sure if I would ever get to the quality you folks have demonstrated in the comic strips, but it would be fun to give it a shot.
                      Looking for:

                      --Lion Rock "Mr Rock's" shoes/ boots (these may also be the same as the lion rock monster line boots)

                      --Mystery Astronaught

                      Comment

                      • Tothiro
                        Kitten Mittens
                        • Aug 28, 2008
                        • 1342

                        #12
                        Charlee doesn't "do internets" from what I've heard. I think he was voted Most Likely to Brian Wilson/Howard Hughes of the TF list, but I don't know him. I think a MM member or two might.
                        He did do a generic tutorial for TF in one of the issues, and he was an early adopter/promoter of kitbashed bodies. As I understand it the Doom parts were a sculpting material (probably milliputt at the time) over recasts he made of LJN SWAT style swivel biceps, and the legs were sculpted over similarly kitbashed bases.

                        I thank you for the compliment to all, and as learning curve goes, my stuff $ucked hard when I started (some might say still does?) and I'd already been trying to figure things out for a few years by the time TF came about. Things are a lot easier now with rtv silicones, body/accessory suppliers like Doctor Mego and the like, tutorials - so I'd argue it's more fun to be doing it now, and just a matter of time

                        OH and -
                        Uncle Ben Serpentor had to have a removable helmet, based on a WOZ Wizard head the magazine supplied. I think that might have actually been to not tie up an important spare head. I have no idea how thin their operating budget was. I believe that turnaround was about five or six days. They were monthly, so they had their writer's meeting, came up with the gag over a few days, put out a call for what they needed and then needed to set up each shot, get the photos edited and dropped into the layout. Probably with each dept having 5 days, you'd be right at print deadline.

                        The helmet was two pieces of sculpey (helmet and separate jaw), put together with braided elastic cord on the sides so the helmet could unhinge it's jaw to come off. All other elements were sculpey and just painted and tacked on the suit I put together.
                        I had campaigned very hard to make a flat unsewn cape out of the material I'd found, with two Star Wars style arm cut-outs for Ben to slip it on robe style, like the original Joe figure was made.
                        The Editor's response on the phone was a "Er... Wait, what? No. That's... too much... something. Too far," so it ended up hook and eye.
                        Last edited by Tothiro; Feb 24, '13, 4:29 AM.

                        Comment

                        • HumanWolfman
                          Type3Toys Has Transformed
                          • Oct 5, 2011
                          • 1574

                          #13
                          That timeline sucked too. I remember Justin contacting me to make 3 Barbie heroine's for Wizard Mag. I had 5-6 days to get them done and worked a full time job in construction. I told him I could finish 1. He picked the character. 2 days in, he dicided he wanted someone else, Emma Frost. So I start on here. Sending in progress shots every day. Finally finish and he decides the breasts should be bigger. So, I take her apart and plump them up a few cups. So now, time has run out and I send this thing over night. It arrives but the wrong person pickis it up. I am leterally on the phone standing on a 20" extension latter talking to Justin trying to figure out where the figure is. He finally realized the wrong person signed for it and that it was in the building. Pics were taken, deadline was met and I made $125.00
                          View My Customs
                          www.type3toys.com
                          or check here
                          http://megomuseum.com/community/memb...5-HumanWolfman

                          Comment

                          • Captain Awesome
                            Career Member
                            • May 27, 2012
                            • 559

                            #14
                            I couldn't do it. I work too slow and couldn't stand someone telling me what to do with my work. To put it nicely, I'd wind up tellin em to go and get stuffed. I've had offers for commission pieces and turned em down for that very reason.
                            Courage is being scared to death but saddlin' up anyway. - John Wayne

                            Comment

                            • nobody
                              banjo!
                              • Jan 26, 2012
                              • 1572

                              #15
                              Does anyone have pics or a link to these pics? I would like to see them, I used to just thump quickly through them at the toy shops.

                              Comment

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