After astounding us with one wave of bad guys from the now-revived Super Powers line, Hasbro surprises us again with a second wave of villains! This time, it's the Legion of Doom!
The Legion of Doom Super Powers figures were done by Miry Clay.
I'm "Miry" (pronounced My-ree) Clay Arceneaux (pronounced Ar-sen-no) and these are my Legion of Doom Super Powers Customs. First of all, excuse the bad photography. Let's get down to brass tacks, which of course none were used in the production of these figures.
Yeah, yeah, I know. This isn't what most folks think of when they think of the Cheetah. They think of the much better known first version, who bears a striking resemblance to the modern Catwoman, or the Perez redesign the character currently sports. But when the Super Powers figures were being made, this is the Cheetah that was appearing in the DC comics of the time. She was also a member of the Secret Society of Super Villains, another longer term project of mine. She was fashioned from a "dremeled to death" SP Wonder Woman. Her new hair and ears are courtesy of Magic Sculpt, and her tail is the bane of all us toy collectors, one of those twist ties that hold toys in place in the package super glued to her backside.. I'm sure someone out there will accuse me of taking the easy way out on this one, but I'm very happy with this figure.
Captain Cold is a Toy Biz Riddler, who in turn is just a SP Flash made over so there you go. The good Captain's hood and goggles made from Magic Sculpt. His cold gun was found in the bottom of a bag of G.I. Joe weapons my toy dealing friend let me rummage through. His fur trim is made of cotton balls, elmers glues to him. All in all, a simple custom, relatively speaking.
Bizarro is made from a Super Powers Superman, of course. Magic Sculpt was added to his face and hair to distort his features. I purposely darkened the colors I used, a nod to the very nice design the current cartoon did, and yes I left it looking a little sloppy on purpose. The #1 medallion is the third I made out of Magic Sculpt, the other either cracker or were simply painted and painted and painted into oblivion as I tried to write that small.
Solomon Grundy is a made over Toy Biz Hulk. I used Super Sculpy too add his shirt, coat and shoes. (I ran out of Magic Sculpt on the Scarecrow) In hindsight, I should have dremeled the Hulk's big feet down so those shoes wouldn't look so darn big, but oh well. Those are super glued kite string shoe laces he's sporting. I was tempted to try and add a grey wash to his hair, but then I notice that none of the real Super Powers figures featured anything that fancy, and I am trying to maintain the aesthetic here.
A Longtime favorite of mine, Grodd here is mostly a repaint of the Disney's Tarzan Kerchak. I added the "jowl fur" so he'd look a little more like Grodd. To tell the truth, this is one figure I intend to try again at a later date, when I find a better base for him.
Black Manta. There really is a Super Powers Flash under all that Magic Sculpt. I dremeled off Flash's boot wings, belt and lightening bolts and added tons of Magic sculpt to the figures head, neck and back. Yes the head does still turn as much as the air tubes will allow and the kicking/swimming action still works too. The tube... well, they are the last remnants I can find of my old 6 Million Dollar Man playset I had "back in the day".
Now this figure required a lot of work to get right. Under a lot of Magic Sculpt, is a very, very dremeled down Toy Biz Joker. I dremeled his torso and legs completely smooth, and remove his lower jaw completely. Then Magic Sculpt was added in layers the recreate the Scarecrows baggy appearance. Kite string was used for the decorative rope. The hat is pure Magic Sculpt, and is removable and is the only part of this figure I am not thrilled with. But the deadline loomed and I was literally running out of Magic Sculpt, so I used my last lump to make the best hat I could. I still all in all he came out very well.
The toy I have wanted since 1978 when I first discovered the Emerald Gladiators arch foe. The biggest pain about Sinestro proved to be picking which version of him to make. He's one of those characters that every artist seems to see a little differently on everything from the shape of his head to the details of his costume to which hand he wears his ring on. This custom was heavily influenced by Joe Staton's version of him from Green Lantern #123. Sinestro here is a Super Powers Green Lantern with a Super Powers Joker head. To get the figure on the right, I obviously paused production after I finished the head sculpt and slapped a coat of paint on it. The Joker's hair was dremeled off and his lower lip trimmed away. A new mouth and skull were built up around his remaining features. Then I added the bracers, belt, boot cuffs, and collar.
Naturally, this is just a mock-up of what the final packaging will look like.
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