Hey folks,

These has been awhile in the works and for a bit it looked like things were going slowly (which they were). However, all the nominations have been picked by the respectable panel of judges for the online community to vote on at www.fwooshnet.com in the next few days. However, before that, I wanted to at least reveal the names of the nominees. You'll see pictures soon (and most of you will recognize some familar names) but in the meantime, enjoy, have a good weekend and congrats to all the nominees!

Sincerely,

Tommy (out for the weekend)

THE NOMINEES ARE:

Best Sculpt
Blank ActionFigure by Joe Amaro
DarkClaw by Beachboy19
Old Bruce Wayne by Liquidisk
The Executioner by Iron-Cow
The Frogurt Guy aka The Shopkeeper by Baby Gerald

Best Articulation
Archangel by Liquidisk
DarkClaw by Beachboy19
Serpentor VS General Hawk by Butterflyknife17 and Balisong
Super-Articulated MangaSpawn by Pairadocs
X2 Lady Deathstryke by Liquidisk

Best Paint Application
Cardiac by The Bruce
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Dr. Zaius by TCM Hitchhiker
Ghost Predator by Moviemaniacks
Outkast MiniMates by Iron-Cow
Riddler by GRNLNTRN715

Best Repaint
Catman by GRNLNTRN715
Ghost Predator by Moviemaniacks
Joker by Matt McNabb
Mandarin Spawn by Guyver
Weapon X by Sam

Best Accessory/Accessories
BatTank by Distant Thunder
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Fisto's Sword by Sword Team
SpiderMan's Accessories by Carl
Wonder Woman's Accessories by Oulala

Best Base
Absorbing Man Base by Bionic Chalupa
Batman by Mint
First Evil Buffy by Ms BigPileOfDust

Best Diorama/Playset
Back Alley by Distant Thunder
Batcave by Distant Thunder
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Marvel Legends Maximum Carnage Set by Benjomon
WatchTower by Mike D

Best Packaging
Dr. Zaius by TCM Hitchhiker
Leonard Nimoy by TCM Hitchhiker
Marvel Legends Maximum Carnage Set by Benjomon
The Yes Guy by TCM Hitchhiker
X-File Palz by KetracelWhite

Best DC
Alex Ross Batman by Iron-Cow
Catwoman by NAD1013
Flash by Strange Planet
John Byrne Batman by Distant Thunder
Green Loontern Duck Dodgers by Rheen

Best Marvel
Beast by Iron-Cow
Cardiac by The Bruce
Kitty Pryde by NAD1013
Loki by Bionic Chalupa
Scarlet Witch by Werewolf33

Best Image
Arsenal of Doom Spawn by Pairadocs
DragonSpawn by Pairadocs
MangaOvertKill by Pairadocs
Ronald McSpawnald by Peter Peeker
Savage Dragon by The Bruce
SuperArticulatedMangaSpawn by Pairadocs

Best Masters of the Universe
Aquarus by Choanata
Goddess by Amaro
HeMan, Battlecat and Man-at-Arms by Wolverine296
She-Ra by Oulala
Snout Spout by Guyver

Best G.I. Joe
Torch by TMC Hitchhiker
Destro by Battlemonkey
Scarlett by TMC Hitchhiker
Storm Shadow by Viagra Prime
Storm Shadow by Levit05

Best Simpsons
Burn's Homer Monster from Treehouse of Horror 2 by Keepoot6
Dr. Zaius by TCM Hitchhiker
Monkey Paw Vendor by Pretzel Fever
Monty Flash by Clark67211
The Frogurt Guy aka The Shopkeeper by Baby Gerald

Best Transformers
Gore by Burn
Megatron by JAF
Redstreak by Silverbolt
Wheeljack by Viagra Prime

Best Muppets
Adventure Kermit Sr by GrizzlyBear
Caterpillar Floyd Mushroom by Justin Faulknor
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer

Best Movie/TV Custom
Aqua Alien by Streamline
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Old Bruce Wayne by Liquidisk
X2 Deathstyke by Liquidisk
Wonder Woman by Oulala

Best Independent/Misc
Dark Claw by Beachboy19
Iron-Cow by Iron-Cow
Madman by The Bruce
Predator by Guyver
PredAlien by Moviemaniacks

Best Custom of Original Character
Alternators EForce by Viagra Prime
Battle Monkey by Battlemonkey
Buster McFang by Iron-Cow
Dreadlock and Handler by Pairadocs
HydraSpawnV2 by Pairadocs

Best Block figure
Kraven by Luke314pi
Movie Star Trek Minimates by Streamline
Outkast Minimates by Iron-Cow
Spawn by Streamline

Best Animated
Beast by Iron-Cow
Dr. Zaius by TCM Hitchhiker
Green Loontern Duck by Rheen
Jax-Ur by Mike D
Lobo by Battle Monkey

Best Midsized Figure
Batman and Robin by Distant Thunder
Dark Claw by Beachboy19
Green Loontern Duck Dodgers by Rheen
JSA by Distant Thunder
Roland from Stephen King's The Dark Tower by Guyver
The Frogurt Guy aka The Shopkeeper by Baby Gerald

Best Large Figure
Bi-Beast by Ken of Mattmans
Firefly by TMC Hitchhiker
Orka by Ken of Mattmans
Primeval Buffy by Ms. BigPileOfDust,
Scarlett by TMC Hitchhiker
Torch by TMC Hitchhiker

Best Overall Figure/Custom of the Year
Alex Ross Batman by Iron-Cow
Archangel by Liquidisk
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Dr. Zaius by TCM Hitchhiker
Sinestro by Mike D
X-Men Evolution Apocalypse by Airmax

Best Website
www.joeamaro.net
http://community-2.webtv.net/humantorch ... EMAINPAGE/
http://www.btinternet.com/~msbigpileofdust
www.ironcowprod.com

Best New Customizer
Carnage/ Silver Samurai/ Weapon X/Zoddo from Beserk by Sam
Cookie Monster with Gordon's Volkswagen (based on Follow that Bird) by Doozer
Green Loontern Duck Dodgers by Rheen
Justin Faulknor at http://www.palisadestoys.com/Forum/show ... php?t=7197
Serpentor VS General Hawk by Butterflyknife17 and Balisong

Most Improved Customizer
GrownUpGerald at http://p216.ezboard.com/fthesimpsonscom ... 8105.topic
Onslaught by Luke314pi
She-Ra, WonderWoman by Oulala

Customizer of the Year
Jin Saotome, Please visit http://www.jinsaotomesdangeroustoys.com/
Joe Amaro, Please visit www.joeamaro.net
Liquidisk, Please visit his Archangel, Isuldur, John Bryne Fantastic Four, John Bryne Mr. Fantastic, Old Bruve Wayne, Wonder Woman and X2 Deathstryke
Matt 'Iron-Cow' Cauley, Please visit www.ironcowprod.com
Pairadocs, Please visit http://www.fwooshnet.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10443

Tommy,
WHERE is the voting on the Fwoosh site?
I've looked all weekend and still can't find it!

The polls are not yet open. I didn't have time to get to them today but should be able tommorrow.


You can also see pics here:

http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.customs.html

annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd you can GO NOW to vote!

http://www.fwooshnet.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=85&sid=e4157dee8ef5235a032dc57ecaf49cf2


Go now! And if you decide to vote for that Iron-Cow feller, there'll be some Lincolns in it fer ya!

Seriously, though, there are a LOT of nice pieces nominated. Thanks to Tommy for putting together such a great awards opportunity!

Matt
aka Iron-Cow

When you say "Lincolns" do you mean $5 or pennies?

JM

um.... You know what? I'll pay ya in Otters! They're useless in ANY country! =)

But yes. Lincolns it is!

("But Matt, that still doesn't answer my question" - Marx)

Tough choices!

Only two days left to vote in polls for Custom of the Year Awards 2004!

Judges have selected their nominations and the public now votes.

www.customoftheyear.com (May 17, 005). With less than two days to go, the voting for Custom of the Year 2004 is well on its way. With over 2000 votes in the nearly 30 categories, many of the nominations are in a dead heat to determine a winner.

Well now it’s the public’s turn to help determine those winners, choosing the best of the best with some familiar faces and exciting new names to the field. Www.fwooshnet.com is hosting the polls via their on-line message boards and will be open until Wednesday, May 18th at midnight, EST. To place your vote, simply visit http://www.fwooshnet.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=85. You must register on the site to vote in a process that takes less than 5 minutes! Feel free to share your comments, favorites and critiques on this very interactive site.

“I’m just excited that we had wonderful panel of judges to choose the nominees” said Custom of the Year founder Tommy Sanchez, “and that now the public is able to chose their favorites for this annual event.” Among the judges were Palisades Toys President and CEO Mike Horn, Plan-B Toys Co-President Chris Borman and Four Horsemen Studios sculptor Eric “Cornboy” Mayse.

“I definitely feel honored to be among the nominees,” said Norm Dapito who is nominated in several categories. Encouraging others to join next year he continued “I believe that had there been more entries from other notable artists, I probably never would have seen the nomination.”

For a complete list of nominees, please visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.customs.html

For more information on the nominating committee of judges for Custom of the Year 2004 visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.judges.html.

For more information on the sponsors for Custom of the Year 2004, visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.judges.html.

VOTE HERE!

Custom of the Year recognizes its first winners, Honorary Award Recipient.

Public vote gathers and cast nearly 3000 votes.

www.customoftheyear.com (May 25, 2005). With about two weeks to vote in 28 categories, the public casts nearly 3000 votes as they participated in the first annual Custom of the Year awards. With nearly 400 entries, a panel of five toy industry professionals narrowed down the list to five nominees in each category to be voted on by the public. The panel included Mike Horn, President of Palisades Toys; Chris Borman, Co-President of Plan-B Toys; Eric “Cornboy” Mayse, sculptor for Four Horsemen Designs; and on-line toy reviewers, Michael Crawford of www.mwctoys.com and Julius Marx of www.actionfigureinsider.com.

After nearly two weeks of voting, winners were chosen for such titles as Best Sculpt, Best Website, Best Packaging, Best Marvel and many more. The complete list of winners can be found at http://www.fwooshnet.com/%7Eezine/every ... sults.html. The complete lists of nominees can be found at www.customoftheyear.com. In addition to the voting, prizes were also raffled off among the nominees for actions figures, statues and mini-busts as donated by the sponsors of the awards.

The Honorary Award

Among the first traditions to be recognized among the custom of the Year awards is the Honorary Award. The Honorary Award is given out to recognize extraordinary distinction and contributions to the customizing and toy industry or for outstanding service to the toy industry. In the first year of these awards, the panel of toy industry professionals has selected, as the first recipient of this honor, Joe Amaro.

Joe Amaro, like most customizers, began his work as a kid, taking a Cantina Member and turning him into an Imperial Officer from Star Wars. However, it wasn’t until 6 years ago, that the work became more serious when he entered and won a customizing contest in Toyfare. Since that time Joe has had not only other works published in that magazine but also contributed to exhibits, websites, and conventions. Below you’ll find a short sampling of his work:

Star Wars: http://www.rebelscum.com/article.asp?i=7338
Castle Grayskull: http://www.joeamaro.net/JCCastle.html
Count Marzo: http://www.joeamaro.net/JCCountMarzo.html
Fisto’s Sword: http://www.figures.com/databases/action ... rticle=139
Jedi Council Diorama: http://www.niubniubsuniverse.com/C2W/jo ... setup2.asp
HeroClix Scale Galactus: http://www.joeamaro.net/galactus.html

However, what makes Joe’s work stand out from the rest besides his many publications in Toyfare magazine and coverage online, is where his career is headed. Joe was recently contracted by Jazzwares to work on the Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter toy lines to help design new bodies and help with overall aesthetics. These base model prototypes will be used by Hong Kong sculptors as the line continues. It is here where Joe has made the most significant contribution: as a role model of a customizer transitioning into a toy sculptor and professional. More of Joe Amaro’s work can be seen at www.joeamaro.net


For a complete list of nominees, please visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.customs.html

For more information on the nominating committee of judges for Custom of the Year 2004, visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.judges.htm.

For more information on the sponsors for Custom of the Year 2004, visit http://www.customoftheyear.com/custom.sponsors.html.