Monday, May 5, 2008

Phoenix


Character:
Phoenix, AKA Jean Grey of the X-Men. This is original costume Phoenix, from her first appearance (X-Men 101, Oct 1976). Phoenix is a powerful telekinetic and telepath, with flight, energy projection, and eventual psychic control over the very atoms of the universe. (No, her power is not to make things levitate and explode. Stupid movie.) Phoenix was originally described as Jean's own power, but now is generally Jean merged with the Phoenix Force. She often manifests the firebird when using her powers. When Jean is unable to control the power of Phoenix, she risks becoming Dark Phoenix, a capricious force of great destruction. But here we see Phoenix pure and simple.

Construction:

Phoenix is built on a Marvel Select "New X-Men Phoenix" designed from the storyline "Here Comes Tomorrow". Erin very much wanted a Phoenix figure, and he bought this one, on the logic that it was the best he could get for now.
I said, "If you bring that ugly toy into the house, I'll have to 'fix' it." He said, "Really? Great!"

See Below for the original figure:


As I called her, "evil-slut-phoenix" got her pointy black outfit Dremeled off, and all paint removed from her face. I did a bit of subtle resculpting in her face, cut her eyes a bit wider. I used Magic Sculpt to add the neckline of her costume, her glove and boot-tops, and filled out her waist just a touch. She got a full body repaint, (including freehanding the symbol), new highlights in her hair, and her eyes and lips redone. Her belt is fabric, glue, wire, and velcro, and the symbol clasp is cut out of a small piece of Sculpey. Put her back in her base, and she's ready to fly.

For my first foray into 8" scale, I think she turned out pretty nice. Completed May 2008.

6 comments:

  1. This is beautiful! I'm here because someone posted a link to your Lina Inverse over on Livejournal, and I was browsing through the rest of your wonderful work. With Phoenix, you've taken a travesty and made a figure that actually does the character justice!

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  2. I have one of those also... would you consider giving her the same treatment except in her white costume?? let me know.

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  3. tsutsuji: Thanks!

    ph0eniixx: Sorry, but no. I'm too swamped with work and life to keep up on my own projects, and I don't currently take commissions. But if you have any questions on how to do your own customizing, feel free to ask. Thanks for coming by!

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  4. I don't remember her looking like that in X-men 3.

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  5. Ha! Funny. On the list of things that sucked about X-Men 3, that's pretty high. ;)

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  6. Yeah, and it's been a few years since I watched it so I think it was pretty short.

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