This line, with all their swappable parts, is a very cool and affordable entry door to the world of toy customization by the way. A good way to get your kids in the boat.

So that’s it. I don’t have much to say about this one beside that I love it! And having this wonderful platform to showcase my art, I wasn’t gonna pass the opportunity this show you this bad boy. The repainted head is from Battle Armor He-Man and the body is from Skeletor. Any questions or comments are very welcome!

I would also love to invite you to follow me on my Facebook page dedicated to my custom works, Wunderkammer – Custom Toy Workshop, and/or on my Flickr account.

See you soon for some new monstrous creations Mwahahaha

And for this one (I call him The Dolphaker in homage to Dolph Lundgren…I thought I heard this head sculpt was based on him and I like to think it is), I made him with Prince Adam head and hands on a Faker body. So I had to repaint the head and hands.

Oh, and I also have painted 3 Dupli-Cats so far that needed that same blue.

Where am I going with this? If you are an army builder or if you are working around a certain theme you might have to use the same color over and over. When you can get that color straight out of the tube it’s great, but you sometimes have to make your own mix. So I like to keep my mixed color in good quantity in a resealable container.

When I need some, I dip the unhairy tip of a brush in my specially mixed color and reseal the paint right away (As seen in the top picture). Then I take the paint from that tip with another brush to do what I got to do and safely keep my mix for later or for another job. I’ve been working with the same blue for months now! And now I also have that magenta (Pinkinsh red) for Faker hair.

This little trick might save you a lot of time and frustrations! Also try to take some notes while you are mixing your colors. Who knows when you will need a new batch?

Step one : Base coat.

Note that before painting, your 3D printed parts should have been sanded and primed. For the base coat I try to keep my palette simple. Fewer colors is better. Opaque and unthinned paint is the best. Just be careful not to clog the smallest details.

Step two : Shading.

Shading can be done mixing some black paint to your base coat color or you can simply use a darker color or a darker shade of your base coat color. On the silver and brown I used black and on the skin I used brown.I sometimes thin the paint a little for this step. I always try to blend the color as I go, but touch ups can always be done later.

Step three : Lights.

Like the shading, this step can be done mixing white instead of black to your base coat color or use a lighter color or a lighter shade of your base coat color. I used a lighter silver on the silver. A light beige on the skin and moustache. Pink on the lips. White in the eyes. I often use the dry brush technic for this step and make sure again to blend my colors the best I can.

Step four : Touch ups and details.

This is the time to review your work and make all the little corrections that need to be done.

Step five : Wash.

The final step. Personally, I use thinned black or a very darker shade of my base coat colors.I never used the washes sold as is so I can’t compare. This step will make everything pop by giving depth and definition to your paint job.

These are just tips…there are no rules. Try things. Have fun. And try to learn from your mistakes. The best way to improve your paint jobs is still to paint.

Head and pauldron : Man Of Arms designed by Jason Rodriguez.

In the late 1970s, Mattel released the Shogun Warriors, huge toys based on japanese anime and tokusatsu. I got aware of those giant toys the day my girlfriend snaged me a Shogun Warriors Godzilla at our local flea market. This was around 2015 or something. As much as I love the big G, I was a bit upset by the the look of this beast. I didn’t understand why he had wheels and why he could shoot his hand like Goldorak. I came to justify all this by thinking it was in reality Mechagodzilla hiding under that green skin all along. Time passed, and my love for that toy kept growing.

This brings us to last summer, when Senior Manager Ruben Martinez and Designer Terrence Higuchi at Mattel thought of the unthinkable. What if Skeletor would find a way to cross dimensions, steal Shogun Warriors tech and build a giant mech version of himself. And they didn’t only thought about it, but released the Shogun Masters Skeletor in all its glory through the Mattel Creations website. And the craziness doesn’t stop there. Since, they also released two other versions of the Mecha Skeletor, the Shogun Masters Golden Havoc Skeletor (limited to 2,000 pieces and the only one still available) and the ultra-rare Dark Malice Skeletor (super limited to 250 pieces).

Now it seems only right that I pit the King of the kaiju against my MOTU figs…Poor Mer-Man.

Oh! And by the way, our Fish Man head contest is still going on! Check our Facebook page for more details.

The coolest thing happened to me. DTDS invited me to share my toy customizing passion on their blog. So here are a few words about myself before we get started…

My name is Thiery Parrot. Born in 1982. Multidisciplanary artist from Québec City. Huge TMNT and MOTU fan. I really got into custom in 2019 when I repainted a beat up Krang and his 11’’ Android body. I thought it ended up real nice and I had so much fun I knew I had found a new way to play with my toys and enjoy toy collecting not just as a hoarder. I work with self-taught technics acquired through practice (maybe not always the best ones, but those that work for me). I mostly work with my guts and try to band with people who have art at heart more than their ego. Guess I am at the right place!

Can’t wait to spread the love for this awesome art form!