Cleaning house I found some old action figures I’d customized as a kid. Customizing action figures eventually lead to sculpting. These were off-the-shelf, cheap action figures (I remember doing a lot with .88 cent pegwarmer Killer Kanes from Buck Rogers) sculpted over in plasticine, lightly coated in Elmer’s Glue, and then sometimes painted over, usually with Testor’s acrylics.

“Original*” character Captain Freedom action figure. I think that’s a Hannibal from the A-Team (soft, rubbery plastic) head and a GI Joe body. I seem to recall using substandard plasticine for some of the trim (you can see it’s “bled” on the eagle on his belt and F on his forehead).

1989’s Batman has seen better days. A GI Joe Outback action figure provides his relatively unadorned torso, but I can’t recall what the rest was. I cut up a Naugahyde carseat at the Nantucket junkyard for his cape.

As has the nigh-invulnerable Tick (whose antennae were painted pull-chain segments). I forget what the figure underneath is, but it scaled to be approximately 7′ to a GI Joe or Star Wars action figures’ 6′.

*Knowingly appropriated.