Customizing: Butchering toys in the name of Art.

I don't have MAD Customizing Skills... If you want to see those in action check out folks like Jin Saotome, Joe Amaro (with an R), Hunter Knight Customs, Joe Amato (with a T), Kevin Kosse and many others that do non-MOTUC stuff.

I'm a low level butcher. (Not having steady hands works against me.) I've done a bit of customizing before. Mostly repaints and in some cases Mild Part Swapping. I can see the potential in figures to make customs, even if I don't have the skills for it. Up until recently (few years ago), I didn't think very highly of Customizers. I thought of them as an evil even worse than Scalpers. I thought of them as Action Figure Butchers. Hence the Butcher references. The Customizer hate grew strong with me during the Marvel Legends era, especially around Wave VI when Every Customizer was butchering Phoenix and Deadpool to make other characters. (Phoenix, I got from a Scalper, but I never found DP.) Seeing custom after custom using figures that I was unable to find, made me angry... But that's not the point of this rant.

The reason I'm making this rant is because I recently bought some Third Party Casts of pieces compatible with MOTUC Figures. Won't be posting links to the sites because Third Party Casts can be considered a big no-no in some circles and I don't want them to get any unwanted attention.

Now, some of my repaints and slight part swaps have made it unto other reviews. (Ram Man, "200X" inspired Classics He-Man, mildly repainted Snout Spout, etc.)

For example, here's my Etherian Rebel Josh with new Demon Tunic. His colors are inspired on my take on him being a sort of Scarlet Pimpernel-like character; while using a Clean Shaven Bow head. (In my Fan Continuity, Josh is Bow's brother, explaining the similarities.)

Repainting a Demo-Man Tunic in a color more suited to Josh is pretty easy! It's low level stuff that any beginner can do. Repainting the whole body requires a bit more finesse than I didn't have in 2011 when I made this custom (Minus the Demo-Shirt)

But you get the idea. It's a mild part swap/ repaint, which it's still a low level thing. For something a bit more complicated, there's Humanoid faces... I HATE! HATE! HATE! painting those, but I have to do it if I want to improve.
The next item in my list is something that Mattel SHOULD HAVE INCLUDED WITH THE FIGURE!! Not something that I had to get via a Third Party. I am, of course, talking about Keldor's Melty face with tons of Acid Burn!

This head seems very close to the 200X Exclusive Keldor, which I do not own, so I cannot compare it to the Cast.

The Cool thing about this head is that it was cast in translucent green. I gave it a(n intentionally) sloppy yellow coat in order to keep some areas in translucent green for two reasons:
-It mimics the shading on Skeletor's skull and saves me time from painting it.
-It allows light to shine through. (It looks cool, like a glowing acid eating Keldor's flesh and stripping the bone.)'

Then I painted Keldor's face. There's 3 shades of Blue on his face to create levels of decomposition in the face. The one thing I hated painting with a passion was his eye. (Again, shaky hands.)
All that it needed was some acid on the face on some of the painted areas. Using GITD paint, I now have acid burns that glow in the dark. I also gave the Translucent parts a wash with GITD paint diluted in water so it glows faintly in the dark.

Now this is stepping a bit out of my comfort zone, but to real customizers, this is low level stuff.

The moment that I TRULY gained a new appreciation for what they do was earlier today. I already have admired the awesome figures that they have made by destroying others.
I swapped the Feet on my MOTUC Skeletor with the Demo-Man feet.

I know, Part swaps are something on my Skill level, but not when you have to butcher the Skeletor Shin Piece to make the freaking Demo-Feet fit inside!! I spent way too much time cutting, sanding, cursing and other stuff in order to make the Demo-Feet fit inside the Skeletor shin. Holy crap! This is something I hope I won't have to do any time soon... But on the other hand now I have a Half Alcala mini Comic/Half 200X Skeletor!!

So, Customizers, all I can say is wow... you guys kick so much ass! I would need tons of practice to "level up" and MOTUC figures are a bit on the expensive side, so I think that I'll be forced to stay at the "Mild Repaint and begginer part swapper" level. Before I leave here's an idea for Mattel... 200X Head on BS Hordak makes him more different than Vintage Hordak... Just look at the pic! I have Officially removed Not-Quite Filmation Hordak from my shelf and put back the Toy Colors Hordak!

I also want to say that If Mattel had found a way to give us a 4-toed Skeletor, a Melting head for Keldor and a 200X head for Hordak, then I wouldn't have had the need to acquire these parts. (something something Not being a slave to vintage...) but if I hadn't gotten these parts, especially the feet for Skeletor, then I wouldn't have learned how hard Customizing can be when you're completely clueless! Once again, mad props to the folks who make art out of seemingly random figure body parts... Especially those who SCULPT NEW PARTS