ToyLanta* 2021 had a custom figure competition sponsored by Cotswold Collectibles! I loved competing at the KYJoe custom figure contest, so I decided to truly test my action figure abilities for Atlanta!
Here is a small rundown of the exclusive G.I. Joe Adventure Team mission, Karate Mountain!
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| This was my first entry and the figure I worked hardest on, Master Pai Lee. He is the official Adventure Team Karate Master! Inspirations for this guy came from the wise masters in 70's Kung-Fu movies! Hair rooted by me. Clothing and karate slippers were designed and made by me. The slippers are high grade felt dipped in watered down Modge Podge for better durability. |
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| He was an early edition Lee head from Cotswold rooted with premium nylon white hair. His eyebrows were carefully removed with acetone. |
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| Roots complete. |
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| Figure ready to be boil permed. His eyebrow were then cut and styled with Modge Podge. |
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| This was my second entry, the Good Student a.k.a. the Cybernetic Black Adventurer! My inspiration for this guy was 70's Blaxploitation. Hair rooted by me and clothing designed and made by me as well. |
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| He was a Cotswold Ray head rooted with special kinky curly afro hair. |
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| Finished rooted head. His interior just needs to be glued, and then his hair needs to brushed out to be fluffy. |
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| This was my third and final entry, the Bad Student! My inspiration for this guy came from the antagonists of 70's Kung Fu movies. Hair rooted by me and clothes designed and made by me. The belt and gauntlets had to have each bead individually sewn on. |
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| He was an early edition Cotswold Hiroshi head that had to be balded. I used light sand paper and a Dremel tool to accomplish this. The scalp did not have to look perfect since he was going to be rooted, but it still had to be even. Acetone took off the rest of the hair paint. |
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| Scalp halfway rooted with blended red and black saran hair. |
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| Working on the mutton chops. They were first traced onto the head with a pencil. I poked holes onto the outline, and erased the pencil marks. Hair is then rooted into the holes. |
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| Head is ready for boil perm. He ended up with a Monkey King vibe. |
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| I wanted others to fully realize my vision of these figures, so I whipped up a classic Adventure Team themed comic! |
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| This comic was made using Microsoft Word. |
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| I wonder what is next??? |
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| Master Pai Lee won first prize for the individual custom figure category! Here were my figures standing with the certificate and prize figure at ToyLanta! |
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| I used the prize cash to put together a Space Ranger Joe at the Cotswold table. I like to have a single figure to remember competitions by. |
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| Here is an incredibly flattering post by the sponsor, Cotswold owner Greg Brown. Thank you Greg for keeping the hobby interesting and alive! |
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| Here is another flattering post by the makers of the premium nylon white hair I used for Master Pai Lee! RestoreDoll is one of my main sources for great quality rooting hair and service! |
I had a ton of fun learning new techniques and challenging myself with each of these figures. I want to give a huge thanks to Mark Cole for his guidance on customization; he is a phenomenal person and great friend!
If you would like to learn how to truly root a head, visit my
tutorial.
If you would like to see where I buy much of my hair rooting products, visit
RestoreDoll.
If you would like more beautiful rooted hair blends and perfect afro hair, visit
CustomDollHairAu.
If you have any other questions or comments about action figuring, leave a comment below or shoot me a message from my homepage sidebar!
Happy customizing!
*This article was formerly called JoeLanta 2021 Custom Figure Entries: Karate Mountain! Because of the new 2022 sister show addition of JoeLanta in the Fall, I will call this convention by its proper show title, ToyLanta.
-Chuck
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