Customs The Phantom of the Opera

I've always loved The Phantom of the Opera as a story/franchise/whatever you wanna call it, and I've been on a kick of it lately. Re-read the original novel, revisited the big movie adaptations, even re-read the iffy pseudo-official sequel, The Phantom of Manhattan. And Skybound's coming out with a comic adaptation I'm getting into, so it's All Phantom All the Time here at LGI HQ at the moment.

And I figured since I'm on this kick currently, why not try to make one of my long-time wants a reality? A Phantom of the Opera action figure. Now technically a few do exist, but they're all based off of the 1925 Lon Chaney silent film. Which is a classic in its own right, but not really what I wanted. And since no one seems willing to stray outside of the Chaney version for toys... I decided to make my own Erik. So let's see how Monsieur Destler turned out...

Base is the McFarlane DC Multiverse Collector's Edition Red Hood.
The head came from Hasbro's GI Joe Classified Flint figure.
The mask came from a Phantom of the Opera bendy fig.
The hands came from the McFarlane Mortal Kombat 11 Joker.
The shoes came from the Todd McFarlane figure from the McFarlane Spawn/Todd 30th Anniversary two pack.
The cape came from NECA's Ultimate Dracula, which is also where the candle accessory came from.
The sword came from the McFarlane Princess Bride Dread Pirate figure, and the rose came from the Hasbro Marvel Legends Rose.
The Punjab Lasso is the noose from the McFarlane DC Multiverse Arkham Scarecrow figure.




A hodgepodge Universal Monsters shot


pictured from left to right- Vlad, Erik, Adam, and Larry out on the town

Considering how many sources you used, it's amazing how well this all gels.

CoffeeHorse said:

Considering how many sources you used, it's amazing how well this all gels.

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It turned out better than I expected, that's for sure.

The various McFarlane parts working together isn't that much of a shock given how universal and interchangeable their stuff is, but the head was the sticking point.

I was originally going to use an unmasked McFarlane Bruce Wayne head, but his hairline got in the way of the mask. It just wouldn't sit flush. I'd need to cut into the hair sculpt but I'm not talented enough to do that and then fix it up to look nice.

But then I picked up GI Joe Classified Flint. And he was perfect. So I grabbed a second and... well... it worked. I was afraid it would be too small, since Hasbro's stuff is 6 inch scale and McFarlane's is 10 inch, but thankfully it ended up working thanks to the Red Hood base body being one of the more slender McFarlane figures.

But yeah... I had a vision and this came together better than even I could have hoped.

LordGigaIce said:

I was afraid it would be too small, since Hasbro's stuff is 6 inch scale and McFarlane's is 10 inch, but thankfully it ended up working thanks to the Red Hood base body being one of the more slender McFarlane figures.

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Realistically, it is a hair too small. Humans have big heads. The mask hides it somewhat, but I also think it just kinda works. Erik is supposed to be worse than skin on bone. Skin "stretched" across bones, from head to foot. It's not just his face. I think the slender build and slightly undersized head here help sell it.

I think if you found a McFarlane scale head it would backfire. Stick with this head.

CoffeeHorse said:

Realistically, it is a hair too small. Humans have big heads. The mask hides it somewhat, but I also think it just kinda works. Erik is supposed to be worse than skin on bone. Skin "stretched" across bones, from head to foot. It's not just his face. I think the slender build and slightly undersized head here help sell it.

I think if you found a McFarlane scale head it would backfire. Stick with this head.

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That's a very good point! Thanks!

All he needs now is the hat.

CoffeeHorse said:

All he needs now is the hat.

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I'm looking into some possibilities... but finding the right type is a bit harder than you'd think!

Well, if you find a couple different hats you could have "Original Phantom" and ""Malibu Phantom."

Stepwise said:

Well, if you find a couple different hats you could have "Original Phantom" and ""Malibu Phantom."

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Now I'm sad we never got a 90s Phantom of the Opera toyline where, after like two waves of sensical releases they went whacky.

JUNGLE ATTACK PHANTOM
ARCTIC COMBAT RAOUL

With giant firing plastic missile backpacks.

Giant firing neon missile backpacks?

Stepwise said:

Giant firing neon missile backpacks?

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Of course!

CoffeeHorse said:

All he needs now is the hat.

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How does this work?

Monochrome yet over the top at the same time. I think that fits Erik's style.

Every Erik needs a Christine.





Christine was a much simpler kitbash than Erik was. She's just the wedding dress variant of the McFarlane Princess Bride Princess Buttercup figure with the head of the McFarlane DC Multiverse First Appearance Supergirl. I went with that head because my decision to use a GI Joe Flint head for Erik meant that he didn't look like any actor, just a sort of generic comic book-y Phantom. So I was going for a similarly generic Christine head, and Supergirl seemed like she fit because Chrstine is described as having blonde hair and blue eyes in the book.

The skin tones don't match, but I suspect I can fix that with some paint down the line.