The problem I alwyas run into, aside of an almost complete lack of aptittude for such things, is I simply canNOT allow myself to consider figures from other companies when contemplating what parts would be appropriate for a given custom.

An example. As some may know, I love the Playmates Zorro line (yes, I'm the one). As much as I lament the aborted release of Series 2, I really hated that Sgt. Gonzales, an essential Zorro character, was never on the schedule for any wave. So I thought, "Hmm, I wonder if I'd be able to customize one." I quickly detirmined I could not, so instead, I thought, "Hmm, I'll gather all the appropriate parts and try to commission someone to cobble the figure together for me."

But, they all had to be Playmates parts.

Finding a head was easy; I won a Star Trek Harry Mudd on ebay. One of the existing Playmates Zorros has a removable hat, so that can be repainted. A second Zorro Captain Ramon can donate his sword, easy enough.

Now, what about the body?

I went through every Playmates line I could think of in my head. Most of them aren't in scale with Zorro, and there are no Fat Guys In Cavalry Uniforms in any of them. So, I turned to the biggest, most diverse, Playmates line ever, the original TMNT, which was largely unfamiliar to me, and looked at every figure...ever...made.

No luck. Not a suitable Sgt. Gonzales among them.

And so, I decided the base figure would have to be the existing Zorro Captain Ramon covered in Sculpy or somesuch (yes, I'll accept the Sculpy, but not a base figure from another company. Sick, I know). I resolved to look for a customizer to solicite but, eh, I never got around to it.

The same thing has derailed nigh all my would-be custom projects. There wasn't a old bald guy headsculpt from Kenner to make John Hammond. Nothing closer than Eric Bischoff from ToyBiz to make Nick Patrick. I THINK the Gondorian Ranger could be made into a proper Hasselhoff Nick Fury, but there's not a comparable ToyBiz body, so there went that one too.

*sigh* Thanks a lot, Spy. Now I just feel bad.

-JJJ
who doesn't feel THAT bad. He's eyeing Dark Galadriel as his last best hope for a Marvel Legends Nekra.