roxybisquaint: (kyle)
Roxy Bisquaint ([personal profile] roxybisquaint) wrote2009-02-25 05:55 am

TSCC custom action figures

You guys all saw how I made all the other figures, so I took almost no pictures of the process this time. If you missed it, I did post a few in-progress pics of Kyle. Painting his patchy whiskers and swooshes on his Nikes was pretty fun (tedious and scary, but fun). I think my favorite part of this whole project, though, was making Catherine's chrome finger (no, it doesn't retract).

I really wanted there to be a glaring reminder that Catherine isn't human, but something subtle enough that it wouldn't get in the way or be ridiculous. The chrome finger seemed perfect, especially since that's how she makes her first kill on the show. I have no idea how one of my half-baked plans actually worked out so well, but it did. I guess the plan wasn't bad, but doing it on such a tiny hand made me think I was sure to fail. It went perfectly, though.

To make that, I cut away one of her fingers with a razor blade, then used a 1/32" bit to drill down the back of the remaining stub, through her palm and into the depths of her wrist. The metal extension is a cut section of a diaper pin (better quality than a regular safety pin). I heated the pointy end and jammed it into the drilled whole, then used a grinder bit on the Dremel to smooth the cut end. With the addition of a little super sculpey, it blended fairly well with her hand. When it came time to paint it, I threw some silver on hand/finger to transition from flesh to chrome.

Anyway, enough rambling about all that. Here are Catherine Weaver, Kyle Reese and Riley Dawson...




Click images to enlarge.




Since I didn't know exactly what Kyle would be wearing in The Good Wound at the time I was making him (you could only see him from the chest up in previews), I defaulted to his T1 outfit. I was most pleased to see they gave him grey pants and the black Nikes in the episode. I remember those being the coolest shoes I'd ever seen back when The Terminator came out, so I made them as accurately as I could (with the white velcro strip and everything).

Riley is wearing her outfit from Earthlings Welcome Here, but I gave her a silver belt buckle to make break up the dark colors a bit. The sad thing about the Riley action figure is it's just not photogenic for some reason. I actually think she turned out great, but I can't seem to get a decent shot of her no matter what I do. Poor Riley. Oh well, she'll probably get killed off soon anyway since I took the time to make an action figure of her ;)

I didn't think I could accurately recreate any of Catherine's outfits, so what she's got is an amalgam of the types of clothes she's worn. Her monochromatic color scheme posed a big problem, though. The first version I made of her ended up too drab. It was long sleeves, all grey and it simply didn't look good. So she got a major overhaul after she was actually finished — new arms so she could be sleeveless (I made the chrome finger again) and a complete repaint. Her final color scheme is close to what she wore in Samson & Delilah.

I feel kind of bad now that the only significant character I haven't made is a Jesse. I'd started a Catherine Weaver figure a few months ago and once I'd seen the preview for Good Wound, I knew I also had to make a Kyle. And since I was tired of Riley being spooky ninja in the Comical all the time, I decided to make her too. But the Baroness still works well as Jesse and honestly, I think Riley's got a better shot at surviving the season than Jesse does. If we get a 3rd season and Jesse lives to see it, I'll make a figure of her too.


All three of the new figures will be making their debut in the comical for The Good Wound this week.

[identity profile] rkc-erika.livejournal.com 2009-02-25 11:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh man those are awesome! I love Catherine giving us all the finger - LOL!

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Haha. That wasn't the intention (and it's her index finger), but now that you mention it, it kind of looks that was when her arm is up.

[identity profile] cisaac.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 12:06 am (UTC)(link)
Woot! They look awesome, as always, Roxy. I can't wait to see the comicals!

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:44 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you.

Oh I must've forgotten to tell you. The Comicals are subscription only now. It's, um, $1700 for the whole back-9 subscription :P
ext_24538: (tscc} cameron: i'm sorry.)

[identity profile] xbriyeon.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 12:11 am (UTC)(link)
THOSE ARE AMAZING. ♥

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:45 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks :)

[identity profile] indiefic.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 02:04 am (UTC)(link)
The Nike swooshes fill me with incredible GLEE!!!!

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:46 am (UTC)(link)
Me too. Actually Kyle in general fills me with glee.
ext_51501: (crazysarah2)

[identity profile] nanewt011.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 02:28 am (UTC)(link)
They all look great, I think your choice of the chrome finger was spot on for Catherine. Kyle looks great, and I love the little Nike swooshes.

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:49 am (UTC)(link)
Thank you. Yeah those swooshes really make the look, don't they? I was very happy with those. And what I like about Catherine's finger is that it's subtle enough to not always be screaming MACHINE! But noticeable enough to provide some comic relief when she's supposed to be looking and acting human.

[identity profile] myniamh.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 05:04 am (UTC)(link)
I love the nike swooshes! I squealed at that in the ep.

I love that even a dead character can be a recurring one.

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:52 am (UTC)(link)
Hee. Me too. I was so glad they got that detailed with Kyle's wardrobe. I know we're going to see Kyle once more this season, but who knows if it'll be with Sarah or something in the future. I'd love for him to recur in the present.

[identity profile] myniamh.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 11:10 am (UTC)(link)
It really made me think of that actor as Kyle rather than someone playing him. I have a ridiculous amount of love for his stolen hobo pants.

My sister and I keep wanting Michael Bean to show up as Kyle and Derek's dad. That'd make some heads explode.

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 08:55 am (UTC)(link)
Yeah, you know before Good Wound, we'd only seen Kyle in future war sequences. So even though, he was Kyle, he didn't feel like Kyle. He was more like Derek's brother. But now that we've seen him with Sarah in his classic T1 attire, he's totally Kyle to me. And I want to see him again!

Michael Biehn showing up would be fun, but I also think it would be too gimmicky. The whole time, we'd probably all be thinking "hey, there's Kyle playing Kyle's dad!" :P

[identity profile] lenageek.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 05:58 am (UTC)(link)
Fantastic work Roxy! Love Catherine's finger and Kyle's swooshes! :D

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 07:53 am (UTC)(link)
Aw thank you much. :)

[identity profile] cj2017.livejournal.com 2009-02-26 08:29 am (UTC)(link)
Never mind the swooshes, those sideburns are a thing of beauty ;)

[identity profile] roxybisquaint.livejournal.com 2009-02-27 03:04 am (UTC)(link)
I *might* have studied Jonathan Jackson's facial hair.