Heroclix Customs and Repaints

Custom and Repainted HeroClix Figures

Created Page: March 26, 2006

Last Updated: February 25, 2010 ...

added 12 commissioned custom characters

Prior Update: December 16, 2009 ...

added a lot more "before" and "after" photos
updated Spider-Man diorama
added X-Men diorama
added X-Factor diorama
added Justice League of America diorama

I will update and add more photos, descriptions, general ramblings, etc., as I find the time and/or make or repaint more custom HeroClix figures.

Thanks for visiting my Gallery of Custom and Repainted HeroClix figures. HeroClix are game pieces representing Marvel and DC comics characters. Up until early 2009 (?), they were produced by a company called WhizKids. The figures on the game pieces are very small, approximately 1/48 scale since a 6' tall character is about 1.5". But the scale is very inconsistent from character to character.

This page is divided into two sections: custom HeroClix made into mini-dioramas; and commissioned custom HeroClix.

In late 2005 / early 2006, I decided to collect HeroClix for some of my favorite Silver-Age characters and make them into miniature dioramas. However, some of the "factory" paint jobs on them were "very poor", so I decided to tediously repaint almost all of them.

Four years later in late 2009, more HeroClix characters were now available, so I decided to finally make dioramas for the original (Silver-Age) X-Men team and Justice League of America. At this point, the "factory" paint jobs were a lot better than the earlier paint jobs, so I didn't need to repaint as many as them. Some required just some "touch-ups"

Diorama's

Spider-Man vs. Sinister Six

The diorama above shows Spider-Man facing-off against the original Sinister Six (as per ASM Annual #2). As of early 2006, WhizKids did not produce an Electro in the Silver Age costume, so I used another Silver Age villain, the Scorpion. Now that I finally got an Electro, I replaced the Scorpion.

Below, I showed the before and after for the figures that were "most in need" of a repaint.

The Spider-Man had this dark and splotchy red, and the blue was splotchy too, so I repainted him in brighter red and blues.

The Kraven was painted to look like a "black man", so I corrected that. I also put the proper paw print dots on his pants, and added some highlights to the lion mane.

The "Original" Avengers

The diorama above shows the original members of the Avengers, as per issues #1 - #4, though not necessarily in the exact costumes as in those first four issues. Iron Man got a repaint with glossy red paint and Gold Rub-n-Buff. Cap, Wasp and Thor got paint jons with brighter colors too.

Actually as of early 2006, WhizKids did not produce a Silver Age Giant Man, so I used a Yellow Jacket, and customized it to resemble the original Giant Man (which in Marvel lore, later evolved into Yellow Jacket).

I repainted the Hulk to clean-up the splotchy colors, with solid brighter colors.

Fantastic Four

The diorama above shows the Fantastic Four, back to back, facing-off against four of their deadliest foes !! Below I show the figures most in need of repaints.

I thought the Thing was much too brown and "splotchy", so I gave him an orangish-brown repaint. I also used a much more brighter blue for his trunks, as I did for the costumes for Reed and Sue, which I deemed as too dark and pale of a blue (see Sue below).

The black gloves and boots on Sue and Reed were also a "cop-out", so I painted them the same blue as the uniform.

I also repainted the Torch to give him more vivid red, and removed the dark splotchy spots.

Uncanny X-Men

The diorama above shows my attempt to recreate the cover for X-Men #1 (from 1963), where the original X-men are squaring-off against Magneto. Since 2006, Whizkids produced figures for the original Beast, Cyclops, Iceman and Marvel Girl, but not the Angel. I had to make the proper Angel (see below). Though not on cover, I added a Professor X "for completeness" of the team.

Researching the available figures to convert to a Silver-Age Angel, I decided to use this 'Critical Mass' Archangel. When I received it I was disappointed to realize how "out of scale" he was with the other HeroClix figures ... relatively speaking ... he is HUGE !! Also, what I was thought was yellow painted-on piping on his costume was actually raised tubing. So along with the thick gloves, I had to file or grind all of the tubes away, and re-putty the entire uniform area in order to smooth out the uniform. Then I had to build up the boot flaps with putty. I think he turned-out fairly nice ?

The ironic thing about using the Archangel to convert to Angel above is that I already had the Hawkman (repainted above) for my JLA diorama (see below). The Hawkman is much better scaled with the other figures than the Archangel I used. Since I was thinking of just doing the original 7 members of the JLA, the Hawkman was actually an extra figure, so looking back, I should have converted the Hawkman to be my Silver-Age Angel ?

X-Factor (1986)

I did not intend to do this diorama, since I was never aware of a team called X-Factor. But when I collected the X-men Archives sketch cards, I was made aware that the original five members of the X-men were brought back together in 1986 as a team called X-Factor. So I decided it might be fun to put together this team. Since Apocalypse was introduced in Issue #6 of X-Factor, I decided to make the diorama "parallel" the one above for X-men #1, but with Apocalypse as the villain instead of Magneto.

The five members changed costumes and forms throughout the run of X-Factor, so I decided to use my favorite versions of each character, and also as a way of showing how they evolved from their original costumes or forms as per X-Men #1.

Note: When I went to the store(s) to buy more of these 4"x4"x8" plastic display cases that I found in 2005, I realized that no one carried them anymore. In 2005, they were considered Beanie Babies display cases. Since that fad died, these cases aren't made anymore Since I wanted to maintain the consistent look of my dioramas on the shelf with the others, I made my own 4"x4"x8" display case by carefully cutting them from a plexi-glass sheet, and gluing them together

The original concept for all of the X-Factor costumes was a big X from shoulder to thigh. So I converted a Silver-Age Cyclops to that version costume; and a Jim Lee version Marvel Girl to her second costume (hair flowing from top of mask). I like this green-yellow version more than I like the later identical red-yellow version, which I could have done.

I felt as though the original Navy Blue color for this version of Archangel was "too dark". So I repainted those areas with a more accurate purplish-blue. This also allows seeing the details of his costume better.

The Blue Beast was too dark and splotchy, so I base-coated him Navy Blue with highlights of "bright" blue.

Justice League of America

As you can see from all of the Marvel-based dioramas above, I am really into the Marvel characters. But I also grew-up with the Silver-Age DC characters, so I decided to make a diorama for the original seven JLA members. Since I had the Hawkman figure from 2006, I decide to add him to this diorama.

Note: This is another custom built plastic display case.

The paint jobs for the eight figures weren't "that bad". The main problem to me was the pale flesh tones. So I repainted all of those areas using my own mix of "pinker flesh" paint. You can sort of see that in the Superman before-after, but not so much in the Wonder Woman before-after. The two most in need of repainting were the Superman and Wonder Woman (above). Though I repainted the red and blues on Superman, the main gain was repainting his face and his S-emblem. For Wonder Woman, the main gain was repainting her face, the silver bracelets, and completing the eagle-emblem on her chest.

Commissioned Custom Characters

In February 2010, someone saw this web page, and commissioned me to convert 12 stock HeroClix into 10 characters of his own design, and 2 characters from Mortal Kombat. I'll show the original HeroClix followed by the converted character, which I won't name in case there are future licensing issues.

Note that I am disappointed the with the following photos. I made the mistake of setting the figures too close to the digital camera's lens. I should have set them back further as per the photos of Superman and Wonder Woman directly above