Your First Mattel Custom or Fix Up

So Matt and Jeff Hardy then, eh?

I was just starting to get into part swaps with Jakks about a year before the license ended. When Mattel got into it I tried some painting too and started customizing more.

The first ones I did were Dusty Rhodes, Ric Flair, and the Miz. I did them all at the same time because I realized that if I rotated them, the paint on the first would be dry by the time I was done painting the first. Then I could do another coat. Dust was simple. Just a Legends Dusty. I painted the trunks black and the pads red. Flair was a smaller Jakks head on an Elite 3 Cody Rhodes. I painted the trunks dark blue, gave him blue knee pads, and painted the boots light blue. Miz was an early Elite Jericho with a Miz head. I painted the trunks and kickpads black. Then I didn't know how to use decals so I printed the designs on sticker paper and stuck them on and applied A TON of sealer.

Also back then I was using cheap paint and brush on sealer. I was also sealing between every coat of paint. Some of my paint came out kind of clumpy because of it.

My second batch came when I noticed the Jakks Freebirds had decent sized heads. I made Michael Hayes using Jake the Snake. Painted the tights black and the boots white. Terry Gordy was Nikolai Volkov with the trunks painted black and the boots painted white. Buddy Roberts was just a headswap onto Terry Funk.

my own mix

Man, my first custom was during the Jakks Bone Crunching Action Days:

Joey Styles - Jim Cornette head on the Commissioner Shawn Michaels body.

I also made a shirtless Justin Credible back when OSFTM was making ECW figures.

It was definitely a lot harder to make fix-ups/customs with the way the figures were made and not really having any info around!

My first custom was a Kevin Owens,used a John Cena body,a rubber shirt,black paint,and the arms/head from his first basic.