Tough Love (Willow and Glory)

Season 5, Episode 19: Tough Love
Original Air Date: 1 May 2001 While Buffy tries to control a motherless Dawn and bring their lives back to some sort of normalcy, Tara and Willow get into their first major argument. Meanwhile, Glory thinks she has figured out who the Key is.

I am also going to make the scene where Glory "sucks out" Tara's brain--since this scene lead to the scene that I created here.

I had fun making this scene even though it took me a long time to complete. I was originally going to create the scene where Willow makes the knives appear out of the bag ready to attack Glory. It was going to be cool. Then I realized Willow was not floating in the air at this point in the attack (and I had already made Willow with a stick in her back to make her float. So on to plan 2 and that was the scene where Willow says "I owe you pain!" I love that!!

I made willow using a spice girl's body (I just found this figure at a junk store). It worked out great because of her big, black, chunky boots. I used the head from a Willow action figure. I sculpted the dress, coat, and the hair blowing in the wind. This has to be one of my favorite customs out of all of them. It was really hard painting the clothes of Willow. (Then as I was going back to find out the name of this episode, I saw Willow wearing the dress and coat in earlier scenes showing great detail. But I think I did a great job with what little I had to see). I had cut a piece of wire coat hanger and sculpted around that so it almost looks like she is floating. I have to use a piece of clay to put the stick into to hold up Willow. She's fallen over a few times--which if you make customs you know that they can't fall or they'll break--but my Willow has held up to much abuse!

For Willow's "magic lightning" I used hot glue. I put hot glue on a metal tray to look sort of like lightning. I put it into the freezer. Some of it came off the tray easily, some did not. I then hot glued that all around Glory to look like she was getting blasted. I would have really love to figure out how to take my disco plasma light ball and use that. The electricity in that looks like Willow's magic blast.

For Glory I started using the red dress action figure (since I wanted to make the scene with the knives. But at that point she was in a little black dress. So I found a different figure, used Glory's head and created this.

But that wouldn't work out since I didn't do that scene. I really liked how her necklace and feet/shoes turned out. Ah well...

Since I didn't want to break this figure I had previously taken an imprint of Glory's face so I used a piece of clay, pressed it into the mold, and I got a new face. I'm doing something more sophisticated now which I'll get into with later blogs.

This is the figure I used in the scene. I had to fix up the red dress a little, make the face sculpt (making it with her mouth open--which you can do when the clay is soft) and sculpted new hair. I also had to redo the feet (sigh) since she wore open-toe shoes. So I had to sculpt feet and the shoes. Notice that the figure has some paint on it, I forgot to take a "before" picture before I stated to paint, so that is why it looks that way it does.

Finally, for the background I made the wall painting Glory has on her wall along with her chair, end table and wall. I also tried to find a carpet that was similar to the one she had and I added that too. It is all sitting on a pink colored tile. This is one of my favorite, most detailed scenes I've created so far...

Nightmares

Season 1, Episode 10: Nightmares
Original Air Date: 12 May 1997. At the hell-mouth, the Master of evil explains to his boy heir Collin that fear rules people better then love or hate. He manages to use the young schoolboy Billy Palmer to make every student of Sunnydale High's terrifying nightmares come true, ranging from Xander appearing in class wearing only boxer-shorts to being chased by murderers, losing one's favorite abilities or poisonous spiders coming out of one's schoolbooks...

I made these figure quite awhile ago. For Billy I used a Lord of the Rings action figure (I think it was Elijah Wood's character). I removed the figure's hair and sculpted new hair. I also trimmed the shirt and resculpted that to look like Billy's from the show. The action figure had bare feet so I also sculpted shoes on the new figure.

For the beast I used a tall, green robot figure and I don't recall what movie or show it was from. I cut off one of the hands to sculpt the clubbed hand. I also had to completely make the face. The robot just had a round head, so that's all my sculpting on the face. I also had to make the overcoat and sculpt shoes on the figure.

The Buffy vampire action figures is one that I bought. I did not make or alter this one.

This is the only scene I created where I did not make a background. I think it works out because it focuses your attention on the important part of the show where Billy has to ultimately "defeat" the monster.

The Body scene

Season 5, Episode 16: The Body
Original Air Date: 27 February 2001 Buffy sees Joyce lying on the couch, calls 911 and unsuccessfully follows emergency procedures. When the paramedics arrive, they realize that Joyce is dead. Buffy calls Giles and goes to the school to tell Dawn. Along the day, the Scooby gang grieves the death of Joyce and sympathizes with Buffy.

This was the first scene that I ever attempted and created. I used the cheerleader Buffy figure. I remember taking my exacto knife and cutting the figure in half and the thought that I just ruined a 10 dollar figure. I took off her pony tail and made a new pony tail. She had her hair up in a strange way. I used Joyce's action figure's legs for Buffy's legs. I was too afraid to paint a new face so that I left (but some day I may go back and redo it).

For Joyce I used her top, but sculpted her button down shirt. I used Anya's legs (with the skirt on) and glued that to the top half. I tried boiling the legs so the one would hang down off the sofa. It sort of worked.

For the sofa I used a dollhouse sofa (the 1:12 scale is perfect for the 6 inch figures). It was blue and white floral and I wanted a sofa to look like Buffy's sofa. I painstakingly searched at a few craft stores and I found a piece that was somewhat close to the sofa's material. I also made a few pillows (since the sofa had 5 huge pillows in the back). I added a coffee table and an end table that came with the dollhouse sofa set. . I needed to make the set bigger than it was (the original figures came with two pieces for the background and 2 floor pieces. I added some more pieces to the bottom and covered it with shelf paper that mimics wood flooring. There was a gap between he window so I worked at that too. I won't go into great detail, it was not easy! Finally I added a rug to make the room look complete.

This is the background I used (along with Joyce's top and legs (for Buffy).

Seeing Red Willow and Tara figures

Season 6, Episode 19: Seeing Red
Original Air Date: 7 May 2002Willow and Tara wallow in their togetherness, but things aren't as happy everywhere else. Buffy has to face both Xander and Spike, whilst tracking Warren and Company to foil their next move.

I made Willow from a "End of Days" Buffy action figure and a white witch Willow Head. I took off her hair and sculpted new hair. I really like how it looks (but it's hard to see in the pictures). I sculpted her T-shirt as well. After sculpting the shirt (and sleeves) and I boiled it to harden the clay, I noticed that her hands didn't come down far enough to reach Tara like I wanted (and planned). It still looks fine, Willow is getting ready to hold Tara.

I made Tara using Anya's body from the Book of Vengeance pack of figures. Tara has a curvy body and I tried to show that in this figure. I think it still looks a bit skinny but I'm satisfied.

I made the pointed mirror art on the wall as well as the bag. I used a lamp from a Buffy living room scene and sculpted it to match the real lamp. I used one door piece from the weapons cabinet (from the Wesley action figure prop). I spray painted it metallic silver to look like a mirror. For the wallpaper I photocopied one of the pieces of the Buffy living room scene walls. Then I just cut out the pieces and arranged them on two plastic backs. I'm not sure what the floors looked like but I used the floor pieces from the Buffy living room set and glued a piece of carpeting to the floor. The final set looks fantastic.

Prophecy Girl

Season 1, Episode 12: Prophecy Girl
Original Air Date: 2 June 1997In the first-season finale, Giles discovers an ancient prophecy which states that Buffy will face the Master and she will die. Upon hearing this, Buffy first denies her slayer roots, but when a small tragedy occurs at school, Buffy realizes she can't run from destiny, and decides to take on The Master.

I started out with the Master and Buffy figure just as they were made by the manufacturing company. After watching the show I noticed she had a cross bow, the Master took off her coat (before he bit into her neck) and her hair was up. I needed to make a new figure.

I used "The Wish" Cordelia's body and the Buffy head (hair up) from "End of Days" figure. After I made the figure the Master was too short--he stood taller than Buffy. So I hacked off his crooked legs, and used a pair of Angel's legs. It worked out great. I decided not to repaint the figures (other than Buffy's dress and arms). I added a lot of odd skeleton pieces from various other action figure sets along with many candelabras.

About me

I started collecting action figures for the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel a few years ago. I actually started buying them for a friend, but the obsession took me over. I like to display my figures as real to the show as possible. When I realized that some of the key figures of the shows hadn't been created I researched what it would take to make my own figure. I stumbled across this site: http://msbig.sashapowell.co.uk/ and I must say I fell in love with making customs. This lady is truly my idol. I love her work and her ability to make her figures so real looking. I spent hours gazing at her work. I loved how she showed the "before" and "after" shots. I will do that also on this blog. I also love how her site is set up. I am not that computer savvy to make something that complex. I'm hoping this blog site will allow me to show my work and maybe inspire some other wanna-be custom makers.

I will say that the one huge difference between me and many other custom figure makers (including msbig) is that I try to create the entire scene. In some cases this is not possible due to it not being shown very clearly on the show. When you create a figure or background, sometimes the person's clothing isn't shown or some of the background--it makes it very difficult to recreate.

I'm proud of my work and I hope you enjoy it all! It will take me some time to get all my pictures and stories online. Be patient and check back often!

Faith, Hope, & Trick

I made the scene below from this episode:

Season 3, Episode 3: Faith, Hope & Trick
Original Air Date: 13 October 1998The gang enjoys being Seniors now. The Summers girls gloat the school board overruled the principal's refusal to allow Buffy back after make-up tests, but guilty nightmares about having slain her beloved Angel still plague Buffy, who remains too gloomy to accept a charming dance invitation from cute student Scott Hope, but he sweetly persists his charm offensive. Following a suspected vampire, Buffy finds the presumed victim is the new second slayer, Faith, who considers Giles hunky for a watcher. A limousine arrives in Sunnydale with upper-class vampires: the gravely mutilated Kakistos and his lieutenant, the 'mundain' colored boy-eater Mr. Trick. When some underlings attack the slayers in Kakistos's name, Giles warns it's Greek for 'the worst'... Buffy admits Willow's spell had cured Angel just before she slew him; somehow he reemerges from the hell-dimension her slaying sent him to.

Below shows Faith and the vampire date she was dancing with.
I did not make Faith. She was a manufacturing model.

I used a vampire Xander body to make her date. He had on 70's type shirt and pants.

I also made the background building (green) by using sculpy clay to make the ridges. For the fence I used a plastic orange bag, hot glued it to some plastic toy poles, the spray painted it metallic silver. I also used a box from the "Gentlemen" store bought backdrop. I made soda cans and put them inside a trash bag to recreate the back alley where Faith dusts the vampire.