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Giant Cyclops from Action Figure
OK, if you're here, you probably already have this, but the Green Lantern movie tried a toy push into a market where GL fans probably already have a bunch of GL stuff. Result: discount action figures! So this article is one where we will take a fairly nice one, obtained for $4.00 and turn it into a fantasy giant ... well, cyclops ... that you couldn't touch for $20.00 otherwise.
Key to this type of effort is to realize you can't just grab every cheap action figure and come up with gold. Well, if you are good enough at sculpting and painting and have loads of time, you actually can. But, if you're not (like me), here are the things I thought about when selecting the figure.
If you're repainting and slightly modding a figure, you want to start with nearly the clothing you want in the first place. Sculptors who do clothing well are awesome. Leverage that work for yourself. I chose a superhero because I was looking for a near nekkid base. When you paint up a superhero in spandex flesh color (whatever that is, like blue), they are a nekkid doll. You also have to look beyond the coloring of the figure. Try to imagine it in a blurry black and white photo. F'r'ex, I didn't want a big GL logo in the middle of the chest (that I would spend a half an hour removing), so I found one that was just painted on. Once covered, it's gone. This guy is transparent green. That leaves an option to leave a piece of the body without paint, so it is a green, glowing detail.
Shoes are also a big deal. They are hard to do. Taking them off is even harder. Pay attention to footcare.
Lastly, check the fringe bennies. I get a green glob of fire that can make a nice 28mm terrain object and a GL ring. Turns out the ring doesn't only fits the pinky finger of my daughter, so that will also become a piece of terrain to build around. Ya win some, ya loose some.
Since this guy is nekked, he will make a nice cyclops base. Yes, that is just a piece
of napkin with some thread around it glued around his waist. I added to his head with
some clay, and stuck a bead in it for the one eye. Beads are good for large monster
eyes ... they remove a lot of work for you. The last bit is a club. I have some
6" dinosaur skeletons that I use for a museum piece of terrain. One sacrificed a leg
for this. Fortunately, that still works well in a museum.
Here he is painted up. This is a short article, but that is really all there is to it. Pick a good, cheap figure, do a couple simple mods, and paint. The shot below shows him with some other cyclops mod figures I have done. Looks nice here, I think.
