four yo-yos w/o the string, six army men - partially melted
two gi joes - both headless and 1.37 in change. For the lot.

For the record my post that Kirkland loves wasn't directed towards him though he seems to have appropriated it.

I just see the beauty in the original pieces even if its a blue madball mantis.
There's to much great original stuff out there to collect so I can't imagine buying something that I really don't care for and customizing it.

Do collectors in other scenes, customize or modify original work? Or is this a new contemporary development? Do Hot Wheels collectors paint their collections wacky colours?

I was gonna say that many collectors of many things also customize, but I was reminded of conversation with Josh Bernard over at CollectionDX. I asked him if the guys in the Die-cast scene customize much and he replied that they didn't. I would think it would be pretty painstaking to do cause you would have take it apart and all that.

but yes, Hot Wheels guys do customize their cars...

custom coins anyone? what about custom stamps?

Gaikings with spiders in them, we take apart....

Rog stripped a Robocon and backed over a Machinder...

I think with the advent of artists collaborating on toys (like little vinyl canvases), it really opened the door for others to feel comfortable with customization. It seems to be a bit unique in that way.

Even before the days of vinyl, super-nerds were customizing and creating their own comic book character action figures (see: Wizard magazine as one example). Whether it was creating an action figure of an established character that wasn't produced yet (or ever), or building onto an existing action figure, the results were the same as with any customizing -- Some come out very well, some came out like ass-dipped abominations.

I think it's pretty inherent in any collecting hobby scene. Toys, shoes, cars, etc. People who are into their little niche tend to want to experiment and do something their own way.

LOL on the thread-def made me smile-remember wasnt it Frank that once said that all toy collectors are pretentious assholes?

As toybotstudios and Hillsy said, yes, people have been customizing their toys for a long time, and the phenomenon is very prevalent in certain toy collecting circles. Micronauts/Microman collectors have been making and showing off customs for a long time, you see lots of custom G.I. Joes and Transformers, and tons of Star Wars figures.

(I even attempted my own custom figure when I was about 10, attacking a Bespin Luke Skywalker with blue and red Testors enamel to make Valance the Bounty Hunter from the comics. The result was atrocious.)

And then, of course, there's customizing dolls like Paul does. He's told me stories about the amazing lengths some people go to cast new parts, like custom-colored irises.

I think you're going to more and more people doing custom vinyls because 1) unpainted vinyls are usually plentiful and cheap, and 2) it's pretty much a one-stage process of painting, no tricky disassembly or assembly involved as with, say, a Transformer.

I'm sorry, but I draw the line at customizing Micromen/Micronauts... That's. Just. Wrong.

That's what many of them were made for. Takara used to put out magazines that gave hobbyists ideas for customizing, and every Wonderfest you can find resin kits to use on your own figures.

I'm pretty sure Koji has some Microman customs out there. Matt Doughty from Onell Design is big into Microman customizing, in fact Pheyden and Exellis originally evolved from custom designs he created.

Personally I have never and will never do a rare toy. As a collector and painter I had to create my rules. I learned some very valuable lessons early on.

But be warned I will definitely give a common figure a nice acetone bath. So the purist beware

I agree that yes its your toy, and you can do what you want. But personally I wont take part in helping you get your jollies if I fell its rare and going to hurt the collectors out there who need it.

I guess that I somehow missed that original 12page thread on this topic...if only there was a feature to look for such things...

For what it's worth, I think Paul knocked the ball outta the park (for the 756th time?) with that GID Pirate for Kirkland...I only used that as a general example and did not have this particular subject in mind when I wrote it...my memory is for shit and I forgot about that one. If anyone can make a toy look better, it is PK!

For the record, I customized my original Micronauts Biotron with a ridiculously bad paint job when I was a kid...I had no idea what it would be worth 25-30 years in the future...and, to make matters worse, I traded it, an Acroyear with most accessories and a Time-traveller to a friend for an arrowhead he had made...I figure he ebayed all that stuff a few years ago---he's dead now, so I can't check with him, but I'm pretty sure he knew what it was worth at the time...but that arrowhead could fool an expert and it will last long after vinyl has crumbled...

I thought this might be kind of an interesting topic, and should have taken into account the responses based on the number of punkers and metalheads here, whom I don't believe have ever responded well to people telling them what to do with their shit! Still, it is fun to discuss and think about and it is cool that everyone has done so in a rational way. Gives me a good feeling about the community.

To all the customizers out there, keep up the awesome work!! It is inspiring and the creativity is part of what keeps me excited about this goofy hobby...

you customisers suck bags you fuck up good shit with your crappy paint jobs your a bunch of fuckin loser try hards fuckin upm other peoples work, you should learn to paint you fuckwits,

ps

what texta could i use if i possibly wanted to customise a [expletive deleted]?

I keep my shirt framed over my collection.

I encourage everybody to paint thier HPs and GID so that mine willl eventually remain the only untouched in the world.

The point is, ladies and gentleman, that greed -- for lack of a better word -- is good.

Greed is right.

Greed works.

Greed clarifies, cuts through, and captures the essence of the evolutionary spirit.

Greed, in all of its forms -- greed for life, for money, for love, knowledge -- has marked the upward surge of mankind.

- Gordon Gekko
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Hmmmm....

I think you're quoting someone that was flamed, but i don't remember whom....

So people are saying customizing a figure limited to 20 pieces is the same as customizing one limited to 200,000?

Lay off the happy juice, son!

I customized a clear Mav.

Does that bum you out? Maybe I should have sent it to you so you could liberate it?

Yeah I know. You had one customized when they were limited to less than 20. Fortunately Lash (who didn't know how rare it was at the time) painted it in a style clearly different from existing clear Mav's.

Way back when when you had the replica RxH made, things were a bit different. But Rich is cool about not doing that sort of thing now.

Thanks to the recent Max Toy X Cronic collab, there are now around 60-70 (well, 59-69 I guess, since you painted another one) unpainted clear Mav's, so fortunately that mitigates things.

Anyway I think everyone here knows your position on customizing. Not sure if it's going to increase your odds of finding rare figures down the line, but eh, at least you're out in the open about it.

lol....

you should see what I have planned for a pinstripe desura. oh, man!! You're gonna love it!!!

i'm wondering if anyone thinks that customizing a toy increases it's value?

This is an interesting post. Everyone probably knows this but the Japanese owner who owned Van Gogh's Portrait of Dr. Gatchet. He swore that he wanted the painting cremated and buried with him upon his death. Everyone was up in arms. He died in 1993 and the painting is mia.

Point being it sucks that he could have possibly destroyed it but yeah it was his and at the end of the day he can do whatever he wants. It doesn't matter how rare or common.

Just my opinion.

Oh and I've seen some of Lash's and toybot's customs and I know that I would pay plenty for them. They're original and no one else has em.

I'd say that, yes.

I'd say that this is sometimes the case. I'd pay good money for the "wild type" Dorbel someone posted here a while back, and I've gotten dozens of offers for my Ma. K Robocon customs.

(Only one of the above statements is true.)

This isn't a black and white issue,

One can appreciate customs and maintain a level of respect for rare figures.

yes, Andy....I agree!

This thread make me think of the guy who crashed that ferrari Enzo out of 400. I remember reading reports where there were already calculating how much each totalled Enzo increases the surviving ones value.