Welcome to the second edition of
Marvelous Custom Spotlight where we take a very special in-depth look at an outstanding Marvel custom figure and the customizer who created it.
Today we are going to take a look at 4" scale Marvel Legends Showdown figures, not one or two but TEN of these awesome little customs by just one customizer MUNDO. Keep in mind these are tiny figures. MUNDO was gracious enough to debut his latest the Jim Lee style Jean Grey and also there are a few images of these figures in battle action scenes on display (at the end of the gallery).
- Here is what the customizer MUNDO had to share about his customs.
- Being a child of the 80’s I grew up mainly with 1:18th scale figures like GI Joe and Star Wars. The scale is perfect in that, it allowed the companies to produce vehicles, playsets, and accessories that could be compatible between any figure of the same scale. I grew up a superhero fan also, but there was never really a line of figures that were compatible enough with my other figures.
Fast forwarding to the 21st century: Toy Biz started producing Marvel Legends, which are great figures, and pretty much the best representations of the characters to date, but as an adult collector, I still craved the same compatibility between figures. I took a dive into the 1:12th (6”) realm of figure collecting anyway. It was a great ride until the shelf space ran out. Then the wall space ran out. Then the closet space ran out. The figures just took up a lot of room.
Around this time, Marvel Legends Showdown was released. My prayers were answered! 1:18th scale collectors/superhero fans were finally going to be able to have a compatible superhero line of figures! We would finally be able to have 1:18th Captain America lead the Joes into battle against Cobra, who naturally sided with 1:18th Dr. Doom to conquer the world. The 1:18th Hulk could run rampant through Joe HQ, destroying everything until finally stopped by Snake Eyes…ok, well maybe not. But the fact is: we finally were able to “geek out” with our superheroes and Joes, Star Wars, Microman, etc.
Sadly though, Toy Biz had the need to include the gaming aspect of MLS. This hiked the price up way past many people’s limit for small figure buying. Some collectors would buy a figure to “test the water,” but were ultimately not impressed , or down right disappointed with what they got for the price point. Others were happy to finally be getting their favorite characters in their favorite scale, and didn’t mind paying a little extra. After series one and two were on the shelves a while, the MLS ride came to a halt, with figures warming pegs in just about every store that carried them.
With series three, the line got a little warm again. I won’t say it was hot. We got Juggernaut- the third “big” figure. We got the first female- Elektra, which was a hit or miss figure due to sloppy paint. We got Beast, right on the heels of X-men 3. And then we got a couple of riders with Green Goblin and Silver Surfer (who seems to be warming up due to the upcoming FF2 movie). Not only was the lineup solid; the construction was too. Collectors of MLS could immediately tell a difference in the quality of the figures compared with the first two series. We also got two more starter sets and three rider sets , all of which had great quality.
Enter series four, the hardest of all the series to track down and complete. Many collectors finally found a break with KB stores getting MLS in by the ton. Not only that, but they started getting them in at the same time they were running a great deal on Marvel figures. I bought figures for as low as $3.00 each. That’s a third of their original cost! Because of KB and their deals, MLS seems to be peaking. Sadly, series four, the most solid of the four series in terms of character selection and quality, is the last. Hasbro, who took over the production of Marvel figures, has shown no interest in continuing the line. It seems odd that they haven’t, seeing as how this scale is considered their specialty.
Ok; the line’s dead. I don’t have all the characters that I love. I have the ability to customize figures. So it was only natural that I’d “fill in the gaps” by customizing MLS figures. The timing was right, with the KB sale and an abundance of fodder at my disposal.
I started simple; making a 1:18th copy of the face off Jigsaw using a MLS Punisher; just to get a feel of how the figures could be disassembled, cut, sanded, painted, etc. I then went a few levels up and created Cable, which frustrated a lot of people because I used the elusive MLS Thor. From there, I customized MLS figures at different levels. Some were simple parts swaps/ paint applications, and some have details sculpted on. The custom/ parts list is as follows:
Jigsaw: MLS Punisher body, comic pack Serpentor head
Cable: MLS Thor
Bullseye: MLS Daredevil body with MLS Captain America head
Sabretooth: MLS Magneto body, MLS Beast head, MLS Green Goblin hands
Iceman: MLS Silver Surfer
Psylocke: MLS Elektra
Mystique: MLS Invisible Woman
Classic Cyclops: MLS Cyclops head, MLS Daredevil body, MLS Captain America boots
Deadpool: MLS Silver Surfer body and head, MLS Punisher hands
Jean Gray: MLS Invisible Woman body, MLS Elektra head, and MLS symbiote Spidey left hand and feet
Click here if you would like to submit your own Marvelous Custom figure(s) to be displayed on MarvelousNews.com, and be sure to check out our Custom
Forum section, where you can discuss and show off your work among other customizers.
Please be sure to click "View All Images" below to see all the photos for this Marvelous Custom.
