Customized and Repainted HeroClix Figures

Last Updated: March 21, 2023 ...

added commissioned customized MCU Porcupine

Prior Updates: April 2018 - March 2022 ...

added commissioned customized Silver-Age Plantman
added commissioned customized versions of 'Original' Iron Man, each with Hammer Attachment and Skirt
added commissioned customized Geralt of Rivia
added commissioned customized Armored Manhunter
added commissioned customized Silver-Age Beetle
added commissioned customized Arsenal

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

Thanks for visiting my Gallery of Customized 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 seems very inconsistent from figure to figure.

This page is divided into two sections:
mini-dioramas made from customized or repainted HeroClix;
commissioned customized HeroClix.
commission rates for customized HeroClix.

Diorama's

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" .

There are six dioramas:
Spider-Man vs. Sinister Six
"Original" Avengers
Fantastic Four
Uncanny X-Men
X-Factor (1986)
Justice League of America

Spider-Man vs. Sinister Six

The diorama above shows Spider-Man facing-off against the original Sinister Six (as per ASM Annual #2). Below, I show 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.

"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 jobs 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

Over the years, some people have seen the above dioramas on this web page, and commissioned me to convert / customize stock HeroClix figures into different versions of those figures for them.
2022: Arsenal
2021: Silver-Age Plantman
2018: Original Iron Man with Hammer Attachment and Skirt
2018: Geralt of Rivia
2018: Armored Manhunter
2018: Silver-Age Beetle
2017/2023: Porcupines
2017: Miscellaneous Marvel characters
2010: Non-licensed characters

2022: Commission for Arsenal (Beta)

In February 2022, I was commissioned to convert a Hulk from The Mighty Thor into what I consider a rather "obscure" character in the Marvel Universe, Arsenal (Beta). As you can see from the last two images, the bulk of the work consisted of:

filing down the ragged edges of his ripped pants
making a helmet, including his eyes and "snout-piece"
making boots
making 7 bands around his shoulders, wrists, waist and ankles, and putting "bumps" on each

Arsenal (Beta)

2021: Commission for Silver-Age Plantman

In January 2021, I was commissioned to convert a Captain Marvel from Guardians of the Galaxy into the Silver-Age version of Plantman. As you can see from the last two images, the bulk of the work consisted of:

rotating his right arm down a bit. I could have rotated it so gun was horizontal, but then it was too close to his body to ...
adding a round canister to the top of the gun
filing down the "plume" on top of his head, and removing the holster on his left hip
adding two leaf-wings to his shoulder, and two leaves around his eyes
creating leafy fringes for his glove and boot cuffs, and around his waist

I decided to use Silver Rub n' Buff for his pistol, rather than paint it orange as in the reference picture.

Silver-Age Plantman

2018: Commission for Various 'Original' Iron Man

In September 2018, I was commissioned to convert three versions of what I call the "bulky-suit" or "original" Iron Man Clix into modified versions that the customer wanted. He noticed that in Avengers #2 (November 1963) that Iron Man had a "skirt", and on page 15 when he fought the Hulk, he had a hammer attachment on his right arm. So I was asked to do that in both Gold and Grey (Silver) versions. Also, per an animated Hulk TV show that he had seen, Iron Man was in his Red/Gold armor. So I also made him a version of that, but using the Clix where the Grey Iron Man is holding a flame thrower in his right hand; thus I added the hammer attachment to his left arm.

As you can see from the "before and after" images for each version, the bulk of the work consisted of:

create the skirt using epoxy putty
cut-away parts of the right fist or left hand where the hammer is to go; drill a hole at end of the stump
create the hammer using epoxy putty around the head of a straight pin; insert pin into drilled hole and glue. Use epoxy putty to cover over the arm, and form the hammer's "accordion-like" extension.
use Gold or Silver Rub n' Buff, and red paint as needed per version
note that on the Red/Gold version, that the flame was just a monotone reddish-orange color, so I used a wash of bright yellow paint over the flame, so that it is now "more interesting" !!

Note: epoxy putty, esp. at this scale, is not ideal for creating "mechanical" objects, that have clean well-defined edges, like the hammers. It's better suited for "organic" shapes like the skirts.

Original Iron Man, each with Hammer Attachment and Skirt

2018: Commission for Geralt of Rivia

In May 2018, I was commissioned to convert a Winter Soldier from Civil War into my first non-coimcs character, Geralt of Rivia from the Witcher video games. As you can see from the last two images, the bulk of the work consisted of:

cut-away the rifle on WS's back to form the first sword and scabbard
create the second scabbard on his back
add a beard to his face and a "man-bun" to the back of his head
create and place a sword (made with straight pin as the base) in his right hand

Trying to understand the color of his armor was tough for me (per other reference pictures from the customer), so I settled on black for his upper vest and boots, and silver mixed with black for the rest. The straps, belt and gloves were brown.
Note: now that I am looking closer at the photo of the completed commission, I see that the WS had a pocket on his left thigh that I should have filed off .

Geralt of Rivia

2018: Commission for Armored Manhunter

In January 2018, I was commissioned to convert a Manhunter from DC Joker's Wild into an armored version, which appeared only in a couple of issues of the first run of 'Manhunter' (issues #10 and #11). As you can see from the second image, the bulk of the work consisted of using epoxy putty to:

create the helmet, upper body armor, the hydraulics tubing, and building-up the gloves and boots;
create the "jet-wings" on his back (see fifth image)
replace the original short/soft/bent shaft with a longer stiff one, made with straight pin as the base.

Note: epoxy putty, esp. at this scale, is not ideal for creating "mechanical" objects, that have clean well-defined edges. It's better suited for "organic" shapes. That's why the "jet-wings" looks more like insect wings than they do knife-shaped thrusters.

Armored Manhunter

2018: Commission for Silver-Age Beetle

In January 2018, I was commissioned to convert a Beetle from Marvel Sinister into the original Silver-Age version of that character (per Amazing Spider-Man #21). Also, I was asked to attach the custom Beetle onto the base for the Beetle from Marvel Superior Foes of Spider-Man.

The wings were made from card-stock soaked with super glue to give it rigidity. The helmet, fingers and bulkier suit were made from epoxy putty. The antennae are two cut-off straight pins coated with super glue for shape. The antennae and eyes on the helmet, as well as the fingers are "out of proportion" but I wanted to emphasize those unique features of the original Beetle.

Original Beetle (from Silver-Age)

2017/2023: Commissions for Silver-Age and MCU Porcupines

In April 2017, I was commissioned to convert 2 stock Marvel Avengers/Defenders War Porcupines into 2 Silver-Age versions of that character. The first was the original as seen in Tales to Astonish #48 (brown and green version). The second was from Uncanny X-Men #22 (yellow and blue version). Basically the Porcupine HeroClix figure was only used as a structure for lots of epoxy putty. In both cases, the headpiece was formed by adding toothbrush bristles to emulate quills sticking-out in all directions.

After making the first one, I thought it wasn't "bulky" enough, so I made the second one "bulkier-looking" but may have over-done it ?

Porcupine #1

Porcupine #2

In early 2023, I was commissioned to convert a Captain America and Avengers Happy Hogan into the MCU version of the Porcupine, as seen on the She-Hulk TV series. Basically the Happy Hogan HeroClix figure was only used as a structure for lots of epoxy putty. The headpiece was formed by adding toothbrush bristles to emulate quills sticking-out backwards. The one aspect I didn't make "auththentic" was I painted his boots green, rather than the black; I and the customer thought the figure looked "cooler" that way !!

Porcupine #3

2017: Commissions for Miscellaneous Marvel characters

In May 2017, I was commissioned to customize 7 Marvel HeroClix figures:

Black Goliath - I was asked to convert the Civil War Goliath to the pictured version of Black Goliath. The tricky part was doing the 6 buttons, and the 3 straps across his chest, which were done using epoxy putty and string !!

Black Knight - I was asked to convert the Age of Ultron Black Knight to the pictured "modern" version. The tricky part was making the dragon wings on the side of his helmet. I added the tabard skirt (made from epoxy putty) and repainted the cape to medium blue.

Falcon - I was asked to convert the Infinity Challenge Vulture to the pictured version of The Falcon. The tricky part was filing away the headgear, shoulder pads, chest armor, weapons pouches, and getting those areas smooth. Next was painting the "very small" claws on his boots, and the "even smaller" wing design on his rib cages !!

Kang's - I was asked to add capes to both the Infinity Challenge Kang and the Age of Ultron Kang. I basically made them both out of epoxy putty, and painted them the purple to match the respective figure's purple.

Wasp - I was asked to convert the Infinity Challenge Wasp to the pictured version. The tricky part was filling the area above her breasts, and her bare midriff with putty, and then smoothing it, so as to create the look of the one-piece costume. The really tough part was painting the light blue stripe and "W-pattern" above her breasts !!

Whirlwind - I was asked to convert/combine the Infinity Challenge Whirlwind and Age of Ultron Whirlwind to the pictured version, using the IC body on the AOU tornado.I cut the blades from the IC figure, and cut it at the knees from it's green tornado. I then removed the AOU body from the clear tornado, and glued the modified IC body to it. I have to admit it looks pretty cool that way!!

2010: Commissions for Non-licensed characters

In February 2010, I was commissioned to convert 12 stock HeroClix into 10 characters of that person's 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 in the above JLA diorama section .

Marvel Girl conversion

Captain America conversion #1

Captain America conversion #2

Wonder Girl conversion

Patriot conversion

Saturn Girl conversion

Lightning Lad conversion

Alan Scott Green Lantern conversion

Superman conversion

Superwoman conversion

Shang Chi conversion

Skrull Elektra conversion

Commissioned Custom Rates

If interested in having me do customized HeroClix for you, use the 'Contact Me' link to the left.
After you tell me what you want done, per the guidelines below, I'll give you a quote, etc.
Note: I generally do this for the "fun of it", and the "per hour rate" is ridiculously low !!

Customer provides me with the Clix(s) to be customized
for a "simple repaint", $5 - $10
for "simpler" modifications to a figure, and then a "repaint", $15 - $20
for a "full blown" customization, $25- $30
Customer pays me return shipping (usually USPS First Class) for the completed customized Clix