04/04/04
I never thought I'd do it, but here I am, writing a column.  I always thought that people who write columns about their thoughts on toys and customizing were self-centered snobs who like to gloat in their self-imagined-success, if any.  Well, my perspective has changed somewhat as I find myself in the same situations and I realize that some things just need to be addressed.  So I started to put my thoughts down . . .

I'm sure most of you have read the "About Me" pages I put up.  If you haven't, please take the time to read it.  Some people have found it useful, while others think I'm a self-centered prick who likes to gloat in his own self-imagined-success.  I wrote those pages because I think they are a good "stepping stone" for those who just got into the hobby.  When I first started this hobby, there is so much to discover out there, but no "guide" to help me.  Such is the intention of this website.

Customizing 1/6 scale figures is fun.  The toys that are produced nowadays is nothing like the toys that were manufactured ten, five, even a year back.  12" figures have become more mainstream today than it ever was and you've got everybody from school teachers to doctors and lawyers collecting them.  They are not just for teenage girls who want to fantasize and they are not just for military veterans who want to reminisce on their good-old days in the service.  From the time when the first 12" G.I. Joe figure debuted three decades ago, we've seen A LOT of changes in the hobby.  Toys are no longer toys, they are works of art.  While Jason Ng produces some of the best 1/6 Asian martial arts figures, Three-Zero and Michael Lau puts fashion with guns.  Hot Toys starts to put out military figures that are actually "cool" and BBI writes the toy bible by putting out articulated female figures complete with exchangeable boobs and outfits, cyber ninjas and villains that go against conventional military figures.  Because the market has changed so drastically in the past few years, it has also attracted all sorts of people of different interests, wants and needs.  I'm one of those such people.

I custom make figures because they are not made by BBI, Dragon, Hot Toys, Three Zero, Sideshow or any of the major toy manufacturers.  Even if they do make what I want, most are not made to my liking - whether it be a headsculpt, a change in coloring or weapon or something simple as a different material - I like to make little changes that are more "me."  Customizing figures is not hard, but it is also not easy.  There are obstacles and challenges every step of the way through.  Everything from sketching out a clothing design on paper to reading a book about how make castings, there's nothing like seeing a figure in your head one day and holding it in your hand the next.  What keeps me in this hobby longer than any other hobby I've had in the past is the pure challenge and thrill I get in making a figure.  If you're sending me an email and asking me how much I'm selling a figure for, you're missing the entire point.

I get overwhelmed with weekly emails asking how much I'm selling a figure for.  Obviously, I'd write back and say, "sorry, but they are not for sale and I'm only making them because it's my hobby."  Believe me, after responding to so many emails, you start to run out of different ways of saying "no" and the only thing you can do is to start ignoring emails.  I don't want to do that.  Of course, most people understand and honor my principle and leave it at that, but others tend to write back with "okay, you're playing hard to get, name your price" or "whatever, your figures aren't that good any way."  I like that last one.

While I do see the thrill of buying a figure and then displaying it in a glass case on your wall and then showing them off to your friends as "the latest grail" or "dig," it's not something I do.  Customizing figures is a hobby that I enjoy greatly because of the active involvement I take in making it.  While I do understand that some people seem to think that they "don't have the talent" or they "can't do" what I do, I don't see how that's NOT an incentive to do your own.  If there's a figure you want and it's not made available, DO IT.  I'm no celebrity and I'm just another guy who likes toys.  I play with them, break them, sew them up, patch them together, break them again, rework and repaint them again. . . . you get the point.  They are not made to be displayed.  Every figure I make is made with the idea that he or she will be played with.  Everything must come apart and can be handled roughly, interchanged with other figures and nothing is permanent.  They are toys and toys are to be posed and played with.  Not to be displayed as your holy grail.  I don't sell my figures because I'm one to think that if I sell my figures or start to take on commissions, it takes the fun out of the hobby.

If any of you have ever worked on a business project, whether it may be graphic design or building a custom deck or patio that needs to match the wants of a client, I'm sure you know what I mean.  Making a figure to YOUR liking and making a figure to someone else's liking just is not the same.  My sister, whom I love dearly, asked me to make her a Chow Yun Fat figure from the "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" film.  That was almost two years ago and I'm only about 80% done with the figure as of the time of this rant.  While I have always wanted to do one for myself, the "drive" to make him just isn't the same.  I'd rush through to try and finish it so she'd stop bugging me about it.  That's wrong and I know it.

Customizing figures is supposed to be fun.  When I make it a business and I depend on the income, it takes the fun out of what I like to do so much.  I've seen it happen with my retail business and I know it will happen if I start selling my figures.  I have been tempted more than several times with lavish amounts of cash for certain figures, but in the end, my principle wins over and I continue to refuse selling.  Sure money is nice.  Who doesn't want it?  But if it takes the life out of the only hobby I enjoy, what good would it do me?  Even when I was fired from my job and wasn't able to make mortgage payments, I did not stoop down to sell my figures because I know it's the only thing that kept me sane from all the work and money pressures I was facing.  For some people, film, music, shopping, or fishing may provide a temporary relief from your daily pressures.  Making girls with guns and guys with huge honking swords on motorcycles gives me my escape.  Don't take that away from me. :(