Hi there!

I'm gonna get straight to the point: I'm an indie game developer, finishing an almost 5-year long game, and I would like to release the game with almost no marketing at all.

The single piece of marketing I would like to try is: to do action figures from a game character, (maybe 10 or 15 units), and ship to the press.

I've did a quick research on 3d printing, and well, it does not looks easy, as generally 3d printed figures wave some texture, and to make the moving parts (arms, legs, head) is really hard.

So... I was thinking on the Customizing path. I dont think that there will be problems with Hasbro, as the toys will be sent to press only, on low quantities, and we're a really small studio.

What do you guys think? It's a viable path to try customizing figures?

Thanks!

10-15 of the same figure is possible. Try to find a base figure or two that have the colors you want to avoid painting elbow, shoulder, and knee joints (so they can pose the figure without paint coming off). If you can't find accessories out there either from mass produced figures or sites like Marauder Inc., then you can always try to hit up one fo tehcasters in the community like AvacsLab or StarWarsGeek or Raginspoon to recreate multiples of what you would like. Not the cheapest way, but that is how a lot of the fan run conventions are doing show exclusives, small tweaks and additions to existing figures.

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The biggest legal issue would be if you did not own the character you were making, as far as I know.

Your game, your character, presumably.

Carded figures seem like a great promotional idea. I'd be potentially interested in working on a project like this, let me know if you're interested in having these commissioned.

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Thanks pluv! I'm researching the sites. Hum... it's possible to buy lots of equal action figures to custom later?

Dan, maybe... maybe the articulations design are patented, dont know... but I would love to be allowed to make more figures. It would be like printing Nintendo Switch cartridges, a wet dream.

Patent would only apply to production/reproduction I believe. If you buy their product, there's no terms of service saying you can't do whatever you want with it. Modifying something to be something new falls well within established laws and artistic practices.

The biggest issue with customizing is using other people's intellectual property, logos, names, etc. Plenty of companies are using the same construction techniques as those that Hasbro has invented or improved upon.

The second biggest issue is molding and casting, and again, its seems to be the use of trademarked names that gets the most legal attention.

I mean, I'm not a lawyer, but there are pretty much no legal issues with what you've suggested for your promotion I can think of, again so long as you own the properties the figures are representing.

And there are a half dozen kick-started action figure lines out there or in development, just in the 4" scale. It's a major design and production undertaking, but something I imagine just about every customizer has dreamed of doing themselves at one time or another.

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For getting "bulk" figures there are oversea ebay sellers who sell what's essential factory overflow. What's available is pretty limited, but you can find figures for 2-5$ each. Buying specific modern figures online is going to cost easily 10-15$ each, maybe less if you can find multiples/combine shipping. Collecting 10-15 copies of the exact parts you need is going to be the most time consuming and expensive part of the process.

Using synthetic fabric dye can be a great way to alter the color of a large batch, but is limited to the base color of the original figure. RIT was reliable 10+ years ago but changed formulas. There is a new synthetic RIT, but I haven't tested it yet.

Carding is not hard at all with the right tools, and I think any packaging you can do would add a lot. It gives you a spot to work in all the press/promo info you want right on the item.

Another option, depending on the game, is to do a full wave or assortment of characters, sending a different one to each outlet. Might not work if there's only one real protagonist or "face" character to promote.

It's a great idea, and I hope you'll share what you come up with here.

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Thanks Dan!
Hum... that explains why there's some rare gems on very low prices from Hong Kong..
I was thinking... maybe purchasing the right figure, then trying to do some hand modeling using... I'm not sure how it says in english, but on Brazil we name it "durepox". I've googled a little, and found "polymer clay", but I'm not sure if it is durepox.
Do you guys know durepox?

I think you want a two part epoxy like milliput or aves fixit for sculpting. though if making 10+ of exactly the same character ,I think sculpting 1 then getting casts made would be best.

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo ... nuyix297_e

https://www.amazon.com/s/?ie=UTF8&keywo ... hyxmys87_e

lots of small differences in epoxies out there. I really got started on milliput yellow, no complaints. milliput black was ok too, white didn't work as well but still worked. I saw some super fine detailed sculpting done with aves so I tried it out and it works great too.

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Ah... Epoxy then. Right! Just for curiosity, do you have a twitter/facebook/blog or anything where you post work?

you can see my submitted work here http://www.joecustoms.com/userops/profile.php?uid=8325

every member has a couple "buttons" that shows up under their posts. "profile-customs-feedback-pm-email". you might need to be logged in to the forum and the homepage (not sure since the last update), then you can click "customs" and see all their submitted to the gallery. it's a great resource

also I have several threds going in the critique sub forum.
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=46116

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=44946

and the ramjet races
viewtopic.php?f=134&t=46615

viewtopic.php?f=134&t=46503

viewtopic.php?f=134&t=46661

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Wow! There's so much stuff in there. Even a Rob Zombie figure, cool!
Your painting skills are remarkable!
Watching your photos on modeling helps me to think on something... I think I will try to do a first try on a Cobra Commander I have here, with Epoxi. I'm not much used on modeling, it may suck, but heck, I will try it.

Thanks again for the references, and the tip on user galleries! I will use them as study cases to keep watching.

bofore I got started I had no idea there was such a thing as custom figures! I found JC while searching for a classic joe for some avatar pics. I was blown away by the art of it, and being an "artist" thought hey i'll try that.

have fun and go where the hobby takes you

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