Q & A With Scott Metzger

Scott Metzger Interview

Occupation: Teacher
Age: 35
How long have you been customizing?
I started customizing when I was about 5 or 6. Now keep in mind that, at the time, my idea of customizing involved lots of construction paper and Scotch tape, and the results were fairly primitive. As time went on, I learned to sew from my grandmother and mother, and discovered the wonders of things like acrylic paint.
Around how many figures have you customized?
I passed the 400 mark a while back.
What was the first figure you customized? Were you satisfied with it?
The very first figure was an Aquaman, made from a blond GI Joe (this was a year or two before the Megos came out). My grandmother sewed the shirt and pants for me, and I used the construction paper to make the rest. (Somewhere, I think I actually still have a picture of it) At the time, I was thrilled with it; I was, after all, just a tyke. The first Mego I customized was a few years later, and it was either Green Lantern or Flash; I made them at about the same time, and I can't recall which actually got finished first. Again, I used the same method for creating them, so they weren't exactly collector's pieces. I didn't really care then, though; I was just thrilled to have these two characters to play with. After all, what's a Justice League adventure without the Emerald Gladiator and the Scarlet Speedster?
What started you customizing in the first place?
I started really getting into comic books at about this time. Captain Action was long gone and I never got too much into him to begin with. The GI Joes were the only real action figures out until the Megos arrived. But even when the Megos came, I found that many of the characters I liked so much in the comics weren't present in the line. The absence of mainstays like GL and Flash has always puzzled me, but even at that tender age, I guess I realized that other Leaguers like Black Canary, Red Tornado, and Elongated Man weren't likely to appear any time soon. The thing was, I wanted these heroes, and many others, for my weekly JLA adventures. And I realized, with a little help from my parents, I could have them with a little work. True, some of them were broad interpretations of the characters, limited by available materials and figures, but they gave me the freedom to have almost any kind of adventure I wanted, with whatever heroes or villains I could make.
Do you only customize super-heroes?
The vast majority of my figures are super-heroes: DC, Marvel, Masters of the Universe, etc. However, I have done some other types of characters, including supporting characters like Jimmy Olsen and Alfred Pennyworth, Star Trek figures like Harry Mudd and Sarek, Universal Monsters and modern horrors like Jason and Freddy, GI Joe characters from the 80's TV series, and even some generic "innocent bystanders" for the villains to menace and the heroes to save (what good is it to have all these heroes and villains if you can't endanger the populace every so often?). To me, that's the beauty of the Megos: they are so versatile, almost any character is possible.
Does scale play any part in your custom work?
To as great a degree as possible. I like displaying the figures together, often crossing company lines, so I try to keep everything compatible. The scale isn't as exacting as it should be in a perfect world; Wolverine and Superman basically stand eye to eye, and my Galactus is only 12" (a well scaled Galactus would require making a costume and donning it myself!). Examples of the kind of scale I keep: Venom is built up a bit compared to Spider-Man, Cable uses a modified (taller) Hulk body, Swamp Thing and Colossus are made from Maxx FX(9.5") figures, and Amazo, Apache Chief, and Validus are 12" Megos. Some odd sized characters, like Mercury from Metal Men or the Thing, are made from a combination of different, resculpted body parts.
Do you plan on making more customs? If so who will you be working on making?
I'm definitely going to make more, even though my time is more limited these days; once you start, it's hard to stop completely. My next few figures will probably be re-makes of figures I have or have had in the past. My Changeling is currently under refurbishment, and I need to re-do a Kid Flash and a Wonder Girl to flesh out the classic Wolfman/Perez New Teen Titans. A 12" Trigon is also a possibility if I can work out a few problems. A second Red Tornado in the more garish 70's costume is definitely coming up, and I'm considering doing some classic JLA villains like the Key, original Despero, and maybe Felix Faust. I have toyed with doing a big, stuffed-with-a-wire-framework Starro the Conquerer, but I'm not sure about it (it's probably becoming obvious that I have a real soft spot for the silver age and 70's era). Some of the classic members of the Green Lantern Corps are something I've wanted to make for a long time, like Katma Tui and Tomar Re, but many of them require some re-working of bodies and some would need scratch built heads; up until recently, I never felt confident enough in my sculpting to think I could pull it off. I did manage to do Kilowog, though, so I'm hoping I'm up to it now. I also have some glaring holes in my Marvel set, most notably characters like Daredevil, the Vision, and the Scarlet Witch. I also need to make myself a Green Hornet and Kato set; several years ago, I made a few sets for some collecting buddies, but never one for me. And sometime, I'm determined to get really bold and take a crack at the Metaluna Mutant from This Island Earth, one of the Universal monsters I'm lacking. Beyond that, I'm not sure, but there are more than enough great characters out there to keep me busy for many years to come.
What materials do you use for your customs?
I start out with the basic bodies (Mego or Mego compatible) and, if any re-working needs to be done, I do so with modeling plastic. I've used two kinds of plastic, both of which you melt in boiling water and then sculpt like clay: Friendly Plastic and Fantastic Plastic (The second kind is a bit better consistency). This material allows me to work directly with the bodies without having to bake any parts; the material hardens as it cools and remains quite solid from there on (though some of the older strips of Friendly Plastic have gotten brittle over the years; later strips aged better). It isn't the best material for intricate detail, but it is perfect for things like bulking up muscles and redoing hairstyles and heads. Any parts that have to be painted are given a few coats of acrylic paint, and then an overcoat to protect the paint from chipping (and from smearing. I'll never forget what an uncoated Captain Atom head did to my Nightwing when they rubbed together; Dick Grayson doesn't look good in silver.) I sometimes use the overcoat sprays you buy in craft shops, but all the warnings about possible damage to brain cells on the cans makes me a little itchy. Usually, I use either clear nail polish for a glossy appearance or Elmer's Glue for a flat finish (believe it or not, a light, even coat of Elmer's leaves a nice, smooth, non-tacky surface, as long as you don't get it wet). If the character has long hair, I use the acrylic doll hair you can pick up in Walmart; it is very similar in appearance to the hair Mego used, and it is easily styled with the heat from a blow dryer and a small brush. I sew and glue it onto the head, and then play Vidal Sasoon until the style is satisfactory.
For the costumes and masks, I prefer to use what is commonly refered to as jersey or "slinky" knit. It is a thin, stretchy knit that is close to the material Mego used. I sometimes use thinner spandex if the color I need is not available in the jersey. For metallic costumes and parts, standard gold and silver lame work very well (at the holidays, I've also found other colors). I use small patterns cut from Contac adhesive covering, stick them on the fabric, and sew around them by hand. A glue stick helps finish off some of the edges (the tops of boots and gloves, for example). Contac along with the glue stick also works well for trim, logos, and eyes for the masks.
Occasionally, depending on the character, I might need to use some other materials, but I usually find everything I need in a craft or hobby store, fabric store, or my local Wallyworld.
Have you cast any new heads or are they all standard MEGO heads? If yes why not go this route for all your customs?
I have yet to get into casting and sculpting completely from scratch. I have re-sculpted some heads to make Swamp Thing, Freddy Kruger, and Sinestro, among others, but I haven't gotten to the point where I can sculpt a good human head from an amorphous lump of clay. My Kilowog is built over a Mego head (for scale), though I don't think any part of the original head shows. The Thing, the Fly (from the old Vincent Price flick), and Venom are all scratch built heads from the Fantastic Plastic, but most of my sculpted heads have at least a Mego type base. The rest of the heads are from Mego, LJN, Mattel Real Men (the cheerleader works exceptionally well with Megos), and other similar figures, 8", 9.5" and 12", with some of the monster heads coming from the Monogram Luminator re-issues of the old Aurora kits. I probably wouldn't use regular heads made by my own hands on my figures until I got to the point where they would be as good as the Mego heads, and that is some standard to try to match.
Do you collect original MEGOs?
Many times, I've seriously considered trying to put together a set of mint, complete Mego figures, but two things always stop me. Roadblock number one is the sheer cost of such a project; for the price of a mint Kid Flash, I could buy an armload of figures and make a Kid Flash out of one. The second is a little more philosophical; part of my love for the Megos isn't just the figures themselves, it's the hours of fun I had with them as a kid, and a big part of that fun was making and playing with my customized figures. Each of my figures is the product of my own hands, something that is in some way a part, an extension of me. My Aqualad is far more precious to me than a mint on card original ever could be, because there's a little piece of my heart and soul in with that plastic and material.
Have you built any custom vehicles or playsets?
I modified an old Mego scaled Corvette into a Batmobile by adding the fins and a jet in the rear, as well as adding some detail to the dashboard. I also modified a motorcycle with flaming wheels for Ghost Rider, and made a Mobius chair for Metron of the New Gods. I have a quick-to-assemble castle front made from covered cardboard (in the grand old Mego tradition) that I use as a backdrop for the Halloween display I set up each year.
How long does the average custom take to finish?
That depends entirely on the character. It also depends on how much spare time I can devote to it. I once did a Green Lantern in two days, but I basically worked on nothing else during that time. On a normal day, I can usually only devote an hour or two if I'm lucky to customizing or other projects, so a basic figure like GL or Flash would take a few days at least, while more complicated costumes like a Paul Kirk Manhunter could take a week or so, and anyone needing body work and a complex costume like Cable would take well over a week.
Do you have any favorites?
Probably my absolute favorite is Green Lantern, mainly because Hal Jordan is my favorite super-hero. I've probably re-done GL at least a dozen times over the years to get him just right. My Swamp Thing is another favorite for much the same reasons. My favorite set of characters is the one I'm proudest of: the Legion of Super-Heroes. I had two figures from some previous work on the group, and sat down and made 28 more characters, one after the other; never before (or since, I'm ashamed to admit) had I remained dedicated to a single project like that for that long. A while later, I made the Fatal Five to go with the set. The single figure I'm proudest of is my Thing from the Fantastic Four; he's built over a Hulk body, but every inch you see was re-sculpted (and substantially bulked up) by hand, including some of the joints. The head was my first made from scratch.
Do you make accessories for your customs?
Whenever possible, I like to make accessories associated with a particular character. Green Lantern has his power battery (now under repair because one side cracked, darn it!), Blue Beetle has his BB gun, Thor has Mjolnir, Green Arrow and Speedy have quivers full of trick arrows, and the stretchable heroes all have extensions for some of their limbs. Somewhere I even have a Skeets (the little gold drone) to go with my Booster Gold. The accessories are usually made from the Fantastic/Friendly Plastic.
What is your favorite part of the hobby?
It's a tie between two things. Favorite part number one is the personal satisfaction I get out of my figures; as I stated earlier, these figures were a big part of my childhood, and it has always been such a great feeling to know that I have been able to have figures that no toy company was or is ever likely to produce. It is also a wonderful outlet that forces me to constantly extend my abilities and creativity beyond what I've done before. These two factors combine to create the sense of satisfaction I mentioned; I get the warm fuzzies every time I take them out to display.
Favorite part number two is the people I've met and contacted over the years, collectors with similar interests. I've gotten to know a lot of great people in the collecting world; there are always a few stinkers out there, but they seem outnumbered by those who really do have a genuine passion for the hobby, especially, it seems, those that get into the customizing. I love seeing what other customizers have done with their figures. These people invest not only their money, but their heart into their creations, and then share that passion with their fellow collectors. After all, what good is having a collection, or anything else, if you can't share the fun with others?
What other bodies have you used in customizing?
There have been some odd characters, like the Widgets from He-Man, that I have used odd, non-Mego type figures for. The Widgets, for example, were originally little Playskool figures called Cavesters. The larger figures sometimes call for Maxx FX, or, in the case of Colossal Boy from the Legion, Big Jim. I used a more posable Barbie figure for Giganta (some of the Barbies have a body with fairly good articulation). I tend to shy away from things like the LJN bodies and the GI Joes because they don't seem to fit the style of the Mego type II bodies. I have, however, stuck Mego legs on a couple of Masters of the Universe Figures with mixed results.

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