Customania Round One - **VOTING OPEN!**

Allrite… Match three… In what I consider to be a match of two “up & comers” customkenny and 4LK.

Lets start off with kenny’s old school Punk… Let me start off by saying that this is a huge improvement over your Gibson from the last competition… I am much more impressed that I was the last time.. Looking at the parts selection… it looks real good… Cruiser torso and arms work well for Punker and the shorts and kickers as well. I’d like to thank you for not using the jeans crotch piece that came with the original shorts… Good work in changing that out. The paintjob looks surprisingly good… I’m impressed with the paintjob on the shorts. Yellow can be a very difficult color to paint and yet you pulled it off well. It also looks like you painted the designs this time which is definitely a plus, especially when they look good. Your painting of letters could be better, but it takes time.. Keep practicing and it’ll come. Silver lines on the gear also look nice and neat. Good work. Moving up… the tattoos are Jakks’ tattoos, so I cant give you points for that, but you did add on the Cobra and Pepsi tattoos, so good work there. The problem with the tattoos is that during that era, Punk didn’t have many of the tats he does now, so the left arm is very inaccurate… Also, you failed to add on the “Drug Free” tattoos across his knuckles… so definitely go back and add those on. The wrist tape looks look… I’ve never been a fan of sculpting it on, as 9 times out of ten it looks like he has two broken arms, but whatever… It’s a personal preference thing. Now here we go… The thing I have noticed with your work the most is the heads… The past two figures of yours I have seen I have hated the heads… and you used Jakks real scans.. It doesn’t bother me at all that you used the real scan head… but like Gibson, in order for it to work for Punk, you need to mod it… The eyebrows and eyes are done horribly. You definitely should have gone back and darkened them up, reshaped them and possibly added some black around the eyes.. Granted he didn’t always wear eyeliner, it adds to the realism effect of the head. Others have done it in the past, and you definitely should too… Also go back and mod up his facial hair.. in ROH and before his WWE and OVW stuff more times than not Punk had a stubbly face… don’t be afraid to mess with what Jakks has put out bro… it helps a lot. I enjoy the hair a great deal. Good work with repainting that while still leaving some brown in there for realism… Good work.

Now… We got Marufuji from 4LK… I am also impressed with this custom sir. A very original idea. You don’t see too many Puro customs on the boards these days so I commend you for such an original idea. Parts choices… Very good… I believe you are the first to use the new Rey Mysterio parts for a custom.. and personally I love them! That torso is so useful and very realistic looking! IT works great for Marufuji… still toned, but not ripped. Nice choice! The Mysterio pants also work very well for him. Kudos for being daring and using some unused parts. The Yang head works great for him as well. As with most Puro guys, there are only a limited amount of heads that work for him and I feel with the Akio head you chose the best one possible, as neither Tajiri, Funaki or Sakoda would have worked the same. Good choice. The thing that bothers me about it though is the fact that it doesn’t match the rest of the figure… Although it is fairly minimal you can tell that the tone of the head is different than the body. The sculpting on the hair looks good… Although it slightly resembles a helmet, it is what Marufuji’s hair looks like. I’d say the most impressive feature on your figure is the paintjob on the pants. It is excellent. Very smooth, very accurate. Gold is one of those colors than can take numerous coats to get a clean finish, but you pulled it off well. The detailing on the designs and whatnot is top notch. You continue to improve and impress me..

My vote… This is a surprisingly difficult one… Both figures are very well done, and both have their flaws… The one thing that allows 4LK’s figure to stand out is the originality of it… There have been numerous Punk’s but how often do we get to see a Marufuji custom? In conclusion, my vote goes to 4LK’s Marufuji.

It’s newb time…

First off we’ve got Angus… Well right off the bat I’m going to say Angus’ Scotty Flamingo is the best figure in this match… so he’s my first pick. I’m impressed dude… I didn’t see this coming. Everyhing looks real good. Parts selection is good… the singlet mold works well for him as do the trunks legs.. Like with Oozing’s Santino I’m glad you used this mold rather than longer tights. The Mitch head works wonderfully for Scotty during this era… Happy and yet evil. Along with the X-Pac hair and bandana it looks awesome. I like the detail you put into this figure with the paintjob… better than anything I’ve seen you paint. Nice attention to detail with the pink on the kneepad and the boot laces and whatnot. Also… Accessories… I love them.. and you probably know that. The glasses (even if they aren’t 100% accurate) and the belt are great touches. Good stuff man.

Tibb’s old school Hulk… another quite good custom for someone so inexperienced. Although it stands a bit funny and looks a bit chalky, it’s not bad.. The parts choices are good. I like the use of the Thunderlips head and the modding done to the torso. The legs are an obvious choice and work well. Paintjob like I said before looks chalky.. Could use some sealer. Also, the colors are a bit off. The chest hair should be a little darker and the hair on the face and head needs adjusting, so work on your color choices. I dislike the positioning of the arms as well. Keep them by the sides if no posed. Not bad… It shows potential.

Nydream’s Leviathan is disappointing… Its simply a poorly repainted DA Batista with a bald head… You painted on some longer tights… which is easy to do.. and added flames to the boots… again nothing special. The ehad was your chance to do something special and you failed to do that… from the side view especially it looks deformed in the back… I have no idea how that happened… Next time just carefully sand off the hair… there shouldn’t be much need for sculpting on a bald head.

Shooter’s Ace Steel is fair, but it looks like the typical inexperienced custom here. Nothin stands out… a very simply attire choiuce and little to no modding done to the head. The head doesn’t work for me… rarely does Ace show that much expression in his face. The painting to the attire is fine, but it’s too simple. Not much to say… You’ll get better with practice.

Now the vote… as I said before, Angus gets the first nod.. as for a second one… I’,m going with Tibbs' Hogan.. To me it showed the most potential of the remaining three. There are errors, but this is a newb match… so go figure.



Looks like I’m done fellas… Thanks for putting out good stuff in the first round. Overall I’m impressed. Now… this voting procress took me over an hour… so please don’t just BS me and come up with excuses… Take what I said to heart and go back and fix what needs it… keep practicing on your weaknesses and no longer will they be weaknesses. I do this because I want you to improve… not because I’m a tool.

thank you, thank you, thankyou txr

i just wana say thanks to everyone who left me feedback(good or bad) on my custom, i worked very hard on it and am glad that people liked it. also, i wana say that everyone did such a great job on their customs, good job to everybody. and thanks again to becca for doing this.

o and p.s. to txr, first off, thanks for the great review and advice, will definitely shoot for better pics next time, and tho the rocky belt looks cool, i fully agree with u. and as far as the hair goes, i did paint in a lot of dark towards the top, perhaps its not as prominant as i had hoped. anyways, thanks again for that review, it was very helpful.

looking forward to our match jpd

it can go either way

congrats and good luck to u also

Wow, that's an awesome first round. Congrats on some great work all around, especially my two opponents. Good work, guys.
I wanted to leave feedback this afternoon, but pics weren't working for me, so here goes:
JPD - Great looking Crush, man. Smooth painting all around, great looking logos, and I really love the lettering! Face paint looks great. This figure goes to show how far a nice job on face paint can make a head almost unrecognizable - I had no idea this was originally a Pillman until someone pointed it out earlier. My only recommendation would be to take your pics against a plain background. The silver and black on your fig look great, but they almost get lost against the red, white, blue, yellow, and gold of the Rocky belt. Plus, I think the camera is focused on the belt, making Crush a little blurry. You don't want your hard work getting lost against a busy background. Great looking figure though, dude.
Texacide - First of all, the obvious - excellent paint job on the singlet. Yellow is one of the harder colors to work with, but it really pops here against the black. The lines are very well done as is the lettering. I have no idea how you were able to paint "DANGER" so small on the front. As for the head, I can see why you made the choice you made. There's a definite resemblance to Owen, but honestly, I think you could have done a little modding to further the likeness. Maybe mess around with the hair a little. That's a minor criticism though. The positives far outweigh that one negative here. Excellent stuff.
Rellik - I gotta check this guy out on TNA. I keep hearing his name, and I've seen a few pics, but I haven't seen him on TV yet... Anyway, the modding and painting to the head is very, very well done. From what I can tell in the first pic, the sculpting is outstanding and the paint is applied nicely. The skirt, however, does look a little rushed. Take your time, dude. People will be able to tell how hard you worked much more easily when your lines are straight. I'm not sure how I feel about the wristtape. Definite points for originality there, but I'm not sure if some sculpting would've looked a little cleaner. It really does look good in the last pic though, so I guess I'd have to see it in person for a better look. Again, great work on the head, though.
Rikishi - I honestly think posting those proto pics of the sculpting you did was a great idea. The work you did is very easily lost on this fig simply because it looks so natural. I wouldn't have even thought to give those parts a second look simply because they don't stand out - which is the point with simple accessories. Great job. This also makes a case for the photobucket idea, since we can include protos in our folders there! Anyway, skintone looks great too, nice and smooth. My only complaint is that the hair does look a little helmet-y in the second pic, and the color looks a little unnatural. Again minor stuff. Overall, this is a great RA Rikishi.
CM Punk - Great paint job. The hair color looks very well blended for a nice dirty blonde. I'm not too sure about Punk's exact appearance during his ROH days, so I can't comment on any accuracy. Sorry. The addition of the Cobra and Pepsi tats was a nice touch, and the shorts came out great too. The yellow looks nice and smooth and the Pepsi logos look good. "PUNK" looks good enough, but maybe can use just a bit touching up. Good stuff.
4LK - Your photo doesn't appear to... appear at the moment. Off the top of my head... I loved the use of the new Rey torso. I'll leave some real feedback when the pic is working for me, if you're interested.
JPilko and Bartman - First of all, F you two I thought I was seeing an early exit for sure. I thought if the Bulldog didn't do me in, that Macho Man surely would. Thanks for the hard work and for letting us give them a hell of a first round.
Bulldog - Phenomenal job on the hair scupt. It blends right in with the likeness for an awesome head. When I first saw the "BULLDOG" I was kinda disappointed because I thought you just slapped some decals onto a very well painted figure. Then, the closer I looked, the less sure I was. It got to the point where my nose was almost against the monitor looking for some kind of clue, but I was stumped. And not being able to tell if lettering is painted on or a decal, well, you just can't get any better than that. The flags on the shorts and pads look great too - only minor criticism here is that some red lines appear to be a little off center inside the white lines. Hardly noticeable, though, since I only caught it while combing the lettering. Awesome, awesome job, man.
Macho Man - When I quickly scrolled through all the entries after they were posted just to get an idea of what kind of stuff was done for the tourney, my first thought after seeing that Savage was, "Oh shit, I gotta make one of those for myself." My second thought was, "Oh shit... Bartman made that." This is hands down my favorite figure from the first round. The Goldberg was modded seamlessly into a Macho Man with the addition of the headband and the fantastic hair sculpt. Did you scuplt the glasses too? Painting is flawless, logos are razor sharp - I don't think I can say anything about this figure that hasn't already been said. Congrats on a fantastic figure, man. Oh, and I will be making this for myself in the future. Expect some PM's asking for some tips.
It's now very late, and I need some sleep. I will leave some feedback for the newbs tomorrow when I get bored at work.
Again, great first round guys. Thanks for all the comments from everyone, and to the judges for their work.

match 1 i think owen hart by [x]texacide[x]
match 2 i think rikishi by TCKdeen
match 3 i think cm punk by custom kenny
match 4 i think british bulldog by jpilko
newb invitational i think scotty flamingo by dr.angus and sterling golden by tibbs1984

I can't wait for the next round and the tag match. Should be a lot of fun.

If anyone wants a Goldberg, like Bartman used for his Macho Man, I have one that I could sell for cheap, .