Customs The Phantom of the Opera

LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
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.

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A hodgepodge Universal Monsters shot

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

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
CoffeeHorse said:
Considering how many sources you used, it's amazing how well this all gels.
Click to expand...
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.
 
CoffeeHorse

CoffeeHorse

Hanging in there
Staff member
Council of Elders
Citizen
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.
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
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.
Click to expand...
That's a very good point! Thanks!
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
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.
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
Every Erik needs a Christine.

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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.
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
So the above is a 1/10 (7 inch) scale figure... but I wanted to see if there was a way to make a 1/12 (6 inch) scale one. And well... it worked out nearly perfectly.

This one was a bit less piecemeal. The body is Fresh Monkey Fiction's Dracula from their Monster Force line.
The hands come from a Hasbro GI Joe Classified Cobra Commander.
The head and neck come from a Hasbro GI Joe Classified Flint.
The mask comes from a bendy figure.
The cape comes from a Hasbro Star Wars TBS Darth Vader.

I was especially happy to see how easily the Dracula head and neck swapped with Flint's.

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LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
"Why so silent, good monsieurs? Did you think that I had left you for good? Have you missed me, good monsieurs? I have written you an opera! Here I bring the finished score, Don Juan Triumphant!"

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What started as a desire to make a single Phantom of the Opera custom has spawned... more than one.

Anyway, I was looking for some 1/12 scale swords, and I found Pirate Deadpool. He came with both an 19th century cutlass and a katana. Which I could use for the Phantom, and Gotham by Gaslight Batman and Blade. The thing that sold me on the figure, though, was that I could potentially turn the base Pirate Deadpool body into Erik's Red Death outfit from the Masquerade. Thereby giving me as much bang for my buck as possible.

So the breakdown is as such.
I removed the Pirate Deadpool head and cape. I took the Red Hood cape I had discarded for the first custom in this thread and put it over the neck peg, and snaked it under the sash. I then moved it to over the "DP" monogram, which works as a stylish "over the shoulder" cloak. All that was left was the head.

To be accurate I'd need a skull head, and a red pirate hat with plumage to put over it. Or maybe I could go the 2004 movie route and get another Flint head and find a skull mask in scale to put on it. Both of these options I could probably pull off with enough eBay searching, but I had an idea using stuff I had on hand. I had previously gotten the new Marvel Legends Ghost Rider set, which came with an alternate head of a black skull engulfed in flame.

Now this isn't accurate to any incarnation of the Red Death outfit... but it still kinda works... in a roundabout way. In the novel The Phantom of the Opera, there's a lot of speculation as to what the Opera Ghost actually looks like among the girls of the ballet corps. Some believe that he's a disembodied head of flame, and others think he's got a "death's head." Turns out he "death's head" girls are right, as that's just Erik's deformed face. The head of flame is revealed to be the Opera's rat catcher, who has a contraption around his head that holds a candle at head level to attract rats to him, and people who caught glimpses of him mistook him for the Phantom.

ANYWAY it's none the less a visual that reoccurs through the novel, and the alternate Ghost Rider head worked as a fusion of it, the "death's head," and Erik's traditional Red Death skeleton mask. So it works for my purposes as a sort of stylistic interpretation of the "theme" if nothing else.

Ok.... so... I have plans in motion for a 1/12 Christine. On the look out a recipe for a 1/12 Raoul... and I THINK that should be it. Hopefully.
 
LordGigaIce

LordGigaIce

Another babka?
Citizen
LordGigaIce said:
"Why so silent, good monsieurs? Did you think that I had left you for good? Have you missed me, good monsieurs? I have written you an opera! Here I bring the finished score, Don Juan Triumphant!"

IMG4953.png


What started as a desire to make a single Phantom of the Opera custom has spawned... more than one.

Anyway, I was looking for some 1/12 scale swords, and I found Pirate Deadpool. He came with both an 19th century cutlass and a katana. Which I could use for the Phantom, and Gotham by Gaslight Batman and Blade. The thing that sold me on the figure, though, was that I could potentially turn the base Pirate Deadpool body into Erik's Red Death outfit from the Masquerade. Thereby giving me as much bang for my buck as possible.

So the breakdown is as such.
I removed the Pirate Deadpool head and cape. I took the Red Hood cape I had discarded for the first custom in this thread and put it over the neck peg, and snaked it under the sash. I then moved it to over the "DP" monogram, which works as a stylish "over the shoulder" cloak. All that was left was the head.

To be accurate I'd need a skull head, and a red pirate hat with plumage to put over it. Or maybe I could go the 2004 movie route and get another Flint head and find a skull mask in scale to put on it. Both of these options I could probably pull off with enough eBay searching, but I had an idea using stuff I had on hand. I had previously gotten the new Marvel Legends Ghost Rider set, which came with an alternate head of a black skull engulfed in flame.

Now this isn't accurate to any incarnation of the Red Death outfit... but it still kinda works... in a roundabout way. In the novel The Phantom of the Opera, there's a lot of speculation as to what the Opera Ghost actually looks like among the girls of the ballet corps. Some believe that he's a disembodied head of flame, and others think he's got a "death's head." Turns out he "death's head" girls are right, as that's just Erik's deformed face. The head of flame is revealed to be the Opera's rat catcher, who has a contraption around his head that holds a candle at head level to attract rats to him, and people who caught glimpses of him mistook him for the Phantom.

ANYWAY it's none the less a visual that reoccurs through the novel, and the alternate Ghost Rider head worked as a fusion of it, the "death's head," and Erik's traditional Red Death skeleton mask. So it works for my purposes as a sort of stylistic interpretation of the "theme" if nothing else.

Ok.... so... I have plans in motion for a 1/12 Christine. On the look out a recipe for a 1/12 Raoul... and I THINK that should be it. Hopefully.
Click to expand...
Some improvements.

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I replaced the cape with the cloak from the Star Wars TBS Royal Guard figure. It's a more substantial cape, and a nicer material. I also got a Skeletor head from the MotU Chronicles movie line. I had to peel the hood off, but once I did I was able to stick it onto the base figure. The hat comes from the NECA Lon Chaney Sr. Phantom of the Opera Red Death figure.
 
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