Custom TMNT MOVIE STAR TURTLES figures with Sewer Diorama!

I vividly remember walking into Kay-Bee toys in Greece (Rochester, NY) on a special annual trip one summer; when we were 7-11 years old, my Grandmother would take us out shopping for the toys we might want for Christmas. We had a great time looking at things together, and then we would wait outside the store with my aunt while she bought what she was going to buy.

At this particular Kay-Bee circa 1991, the Movie Star Turtles had appeared. I hadn't known anything about them previously, as I was about 7 or 8... and I lost my mind. I did buy one that day (Michelangelo), and I can still smell the fresh rubber / carcinogenic plastic lubricants that wafted up as I popped off the bubble. The paintwork, the sculpt, THE RUBBERY LIMBS!!! I was in love.

Years went by, and my collection of Turtles was bought and sold several times, but the Movie Turtles have always been some of my favorites. Of course, as I aged I became more jaded and cynical; I realized that there was some wonky-ness in some of the paint work. Leo had some 'wack' spots with bright yellow outlines... it was distracting, and possibly something he should see a turtle dermatologist about. And then I noticed the new Movie Turtles showing up on eBay from China- someone making these figures again, but in hard plastic! The paint work was of course shoddy, and most of the turtles looked like they were cross-eyed and suffering some serious complications from their ooze mutation. (This might actually be more accurate in terms of a mutated end product.) BUT, these being HARD PLASTIC, I wanted to take them and paint them more realistically, and more durably than if I tried painting on the vintage rubber figures, which are cool enough anyway.

I ordered the set and got all four turtles, Splinter, and a Movie Footsoldier with a ton of great accessories! Very pleased. I washed all the pieces, primed them, and then spent an entirely unreasonable amount of time applying layers of paint to bring out muscle and pore definition. The turtles ended up with real leather belts, and as Leo's swords were all warped and soft, I cut thin pieces of metal to make him legit Katanas.

It took a really long time.

Then I made a sewer diorama for these turtles, for someone to proudly display them forever. The diorama is wood, hardware, carved foam, finish, acrylic paint, metal, Sculpey Clay, and paper.

Custom TMNT II: Secret of the Ooze SUPER SHREDDER & Foot Soldier with Destroyed Pier Diorama!

A while ago I rediscovered my love for the vintage Ninja Turtles that were my playthings throughout the late 80s and early 90s. Every so often, I'll sell all of them off, only to gradually build the collection up again at flea markets and on eBay.

I've seen amazing Super Shredder customs online already, and was inspired to try one. At the end of TMNT II, a monstrous ooze-altered Super Shredder brings a huge harbor pier down on himself and the turtles, in a futile attempt to finally destroy them; his brain was probably coping with a lot of chemical changes at the time, AND he had just been forced to listen to Vanilla Ice's rap endorsement of the turtles. I mean, being at 'da club' and then the coolest guy at the time is a fan of your mortal enemies? It was a tough moment, and Shredder probably would have done things differently if he had the chance.

It is my opinion that Super Shredder did not die under the wreckage of that pier. Here's why:

1. He is super.
2. We hear him groan under the wood, so he's obviously not drowning.

Shredder probably just got REALLY tired, and passed out for a while. Like Chumbawumba, when he gets knocked down HE GETS UP AGAIN- and because of this, the figure I made is the rise of this battle-damaged Super Shredder, dripping ooze and ready to make another unsuccessful attack on the turtles.

SUPER SHREDDER- Wrestling figure, plastic, cast resin,  super glue, Model Masters acrylic paint, epoxy, fabric, original vintage Super Shredder figure parts (to make molds and then cast in resin), Apoxie Sculpt, spray finish

FOOT SOLDIER- The foot soldier figure is taken from the movie figure line that has been recently reproduced in China in hard plastic (available on eBay). I did not alter a vintage figure in this instance. He was primed and painted using many of the same materials above.

DESTROYED PIER DIORAMA- various wood pieces, epoxy, wood glue, acrylic paint, matte finish

PRINCE Xizor?

Here are some figures / items that I'm selling / trading in order to make space and downsize.

 Here you can see (from the back to the front): Ultarama action figure display stands, a custom Indiana Jones stand with 4 levels (one per movie- the Ark opening scene from Raiders with 2 German soldiers, the Temple of Doom with a Thugee priest, the library from Last Crusade, and the Temple of the Crystal skull (alien pilot room) with 2 pedestals for crystal skull alien chairs & figures, 2 Clone Wars figures (Mail-Away Captain Rex & Toys R Us exclusive Nikto guard), Vintage collection Cloud Car complete with Vintage Collection pilots, Delta Probe missing gun, nice Batmobile, Darkseid Destroyer missing cockpit cover & one side gun, complete Lex Soar 7, complete Dagobar playset with bonus Darth Vader figure (repro cape), Mego Pocket Pals Spiderman, various Super Powers figures

Ultarama Action figure display stands, with foot pegs

all original Episode I figures… over 100 with Ultarama stands inside, vehicles, even a boxed MTT

all original Episode II figures with Ultaramas… over 100 with vehicles, accessories, a custom painted Republic Gunship, etc.

 A handsigned McQuarrie Concept Darth Vader- David Prowse autograph. I got this in person at Jason's Woods a few years ago.

Here's a demonstration of how awesome these Ultaramas are for displaying your figures… these vintage figures are not available.

custom STAR WARS DEATH TROOPER

I took some of the 6" Black Series Sandtrooper figures and turned them into "Death Troopers-" zombie stormtroopers from a book of the same name. I used the figures, Testors' Model Masters Acrylic paint, and Apoxie Sculpt to create these.

Star Wars figures I'm selling...

These are not custom figures, but they are figures that I have left over from eBay auctions that didn't sell.