ToyLanta 2023: Custom Figure Entries FrankenJoe and Mad Scientist!

For ToyLanta 2023, I chose to bring unconventional entries for the custom figure contest. The participants were my FrankenJoe and Mad Scientist!

I typically like to bring 1/6 Adventure Team themed figures, but I got a hankering to try some resin work on some old Cotswold heads I had no other use for. Check out the monster madness below!

For a brief period, Cotswold made Joe heads out of a vinyl that seemed to lose much of it flesh tone through the years. I acquired about a handful of these and thought they would be suitable for a zombie/undead Joe custom.

I wanted to use some previously bought resin, pour it in the head, and have a brain reveal action feature. I bought a 1/6 scale brain from eBay. Above is the first trial of the head. I carefully cut off the top of the head and eyes with a new X-Acto blade and cut out the eyes. I thought it would be cool for the eyes to light up when the revealed brain was brought closer to a light source. 

I already bought a very durable resin, Aqua Flex - Clear Ruber Casting Resin, from the Simple Resin Shop. My number 1 priority for making customs is ensuring that they stay 100% playable. This way I do not have to worry about handling, storing, or maintaining my custom toys. This sturdy clear resin has a 7-minute working time with a Shore A Hardness of 9. It has a mix ratio of 1:1. 

The first trial was a mess; you can even see the failed head vaguely in the background. Above shows the beginning of my second trial. This was another gray head I had, and the 1/6 brain is held in place with acid free molding clay. I delicately removed the head's hair paint with acetone.

I put molding clay on the eyes to seal the resin in. Be careful with molding clay. Its residue can strip paint off plastic. Molding clay can even damage the plastic itself if it sits on plastic for too long. 

I put clay around the neck socket to reinforce non leakage.

Here's another perspective. I had to make sure the head was level when standing on its own so the resin would not seep out.

 I did not record the mixing of the resin due to the time constraints of its workability, but this was the head with the freshly injected resin. I used a plastic medicine syringe to control the resin into the head. I mixed in some green/yellow pigments for a spooky strikingness. I also injected the remaining resin into a 1/6 plastic Erlenmeyer flask for an accompanying accessory. I needed this resin to be perfect, so I left it overnight to cure before handling.

Here is the cured head with accompanying scalp. I cleaned this head thoroughly with warm soapy water to ensure no clay residue was left.

Here are the eyes. Some of the resin leaked through the clay at the eyes, but it was nothing detrimental to the project.

I restrung his body with a bunch of loose Joe body pieces that were sitting in a box. I used various skin colors as if he was constructed from various dead corpses. Sitting in front of him is the Erlenmeyer flask with the same resin used for the head.

Above is the close-to-final version of my FrankenJoe. Flocking performed by Ray Cairo at Flock Concepts; he awesomely took on this head with lots of care. I designed the dog tag through the fantastically free TinkerCad program, and then printed it on a Prusa 3-D printer. I patterned and sewed the soft goods. The pants were sewn with a special faux suede that does not fray; I required a fabric that could be tattered on the edges without progressively falling apart. I also did not want too much clothing on this figure to exhibit his multiple-colored body parts.

The Mad Scientist was next on the agenda. I actually started on his clothing first. I patterned his clothing on the classic look of a mad scientist.

I always loved the look of the giant rubber gloves that rise above the elbows, so I made some clothed gauntlets to match the black gloved Kung-Fu grip hands from Cotswold.

Here was the finished outfit. I always make the pants last, because they are the least complicated part.

For the Mad Scientist, I chose the Cotswold "Buck" head. I liked the shocked looking eyes and their striking blue color.

I dremmeled the hair down and used acetone to remove hair paint and eyebrows. The hair was RestoreDoll's Hi Ho Silver Saran hair. Learn more about the hair rooting process here!

This was a fairly uncomplicated root. My goal was for him to have hair sticking straight up, so I did not bother constructing a part line.

Herewas the Mad Scientist right before boil perm. I wanted to give him black rooted eyebrows and devil goatee.

After perming and setting his facial hair with Satin Modge Podge, I then used the same Modge Podge to set his hair to stick up. I let him dry upside down to keep the hair as such. This was a pretty messy and time sensitive process. I let him sit like this for two nights.

Fortunately, the Mad Scientist turn out as imagined. The hair reveals a little more of his scalp than I care for, but by this time, I just had to roll with what came out.

If you look closely, you can see FrankenJoe's eye glow from light exposed through his head. You can also see the Mad Scientist holding the flocked scalp of his creation. One figure entry is cool, but two entries is better, especially if you design them to complement each other. I won 1st Prize, a Cotswold Gift Certificate of $75, and bought the deluxe Sea Explorer!

I am always most interested in customizing figures that are striking, unconventional, and still 100% playable. Why go through the effort of customizing a figure that someone else could easily duplicate? I really loved bringing these two characters to life and appreciate the 1/6 community support for this type of work! Special thanks to Mark Cole for always encouraging feedback in creative figures!

If you have any questions about the making of these Joes leave a comment or shoot me a message!

For coverage of the ToyLanta 2023 convention, click here!

Happy Customizing!

-Chuck