Gang's All Here! Custom Contest
What's the easiest way for an aspiring criminal make up for a lack of skill, tech, cash, or raw power? NUMBERS!! Be it a team of equals, an organized military-style hierarchy, or a mass of faceless thugs, the first rule is always "strength in numbers!" With the right crew, you can rule the streets, pull off the perfect heist, take control of City Hall and the local economy, and really stick it to the heroes like no solo act could ever hope to equal!
The goal of this contest is to put together a team of criminals, thugs, fugitives, outlaws, or villains. Note: TEAM. More than one, preferably more than two. The more, the merrier . . . like Robin Hood's Merry Men! Which leads us nicely into our first rule:
- Your team does NOT have to be "evil." They just have to be on the wrong side of the law. The Merry Men, Rebel Alliance troops, The Warriors, X-Men, the Dead Rabbits, American Revolutionaries, Team Cap, Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, the Boondock Saints, the Newsboy Legion, even Ocean's Eleven, any group of protagonists who are fleeing, fighting, or breaking the law of the land (world, universe, whatever) could apply.
- Of course, it goes without saying, just about any group of actual criminals or villains you could think of could also apply. The Brotherhood of Mutants, The Jokers, The Legion of Doom, The Monarch and his winged army, The Foot Clan, The Royal Flush Gang, the Mafia, Reservoir Dogs, Yakuza, Purple Dragons, Triads, the Sinister Six, Crips and Bloods, Blackbeard's pirates, the list could go on and on.
- Criminals who are being forced to work for the law, like Suicide Squad or the Thunderbolts, are allowed, as are villains who are pretending to be heroes while undermining the law, like Norman Osborn's Dark Avengers. However, evil empires are NOT gangs. Stormtroopers are not criminals, they ARE THE LAW. No legitimate armies, they have government backing. No semi-officially sanctioned vigilante groups, like Batman Inc. No invading alien force, like the Skrulls or the Burning Legion or the Parademons of Apokolips, they're still working under someone's authority. And no mindless monster hordes, like the Xenomorphs or the Zerg or a zombie mob, they aren't "criminals," they're just a force of nature.
- You can make up an original gang, or team up a group of existing characters (villains or heroes) to make a new gang. In either case, the group should have a visual theme (similar powers, similar gimmicks, matching uniforms, or at least a common costume element like a sash, masks, or a color scheme), and you must provide a short story explaining why they're working together, and why they are working outside the law.
Let's go team!
Please remember to follow the
Contest Rules and to
Vote Fairly.
Contest Winners:
1st
2nd
3rd
| Size Restrictions: | None |
| Dioramas Allowed: | Yes |
| Original Characters Allowed: | Yes |
Please wait...
What are the rules of the contest?
- Please use the form here to submit your custom figure.
- At least a paragraph description is required with your entry. This paragraph, at a minimum, should answer the following questions:
- How was this custom customized?
- How does the custom fit into the contest theme?
- You may submit up to three different entries for the contest.
- Please only submit figures that were created for this contest. Do not submit old figures from the Showcase or previous contest entries.
- Your entry should not be posted on this website, any other website, or anywhere on the internet until the contest is completely over.
- The pictures for your entry will remain hidden until the contest ends and the voting begins.
- Your identity will remain hidden until after the voting completes.
- Do not include names, logos, signatures or anything on the pictures that will give you away as the creator of the custom. We want to keep the customizer's identity a secret until the contest is over.
- Don't wait until the last day to submit your entries. If your internet is down, or something happens beyond your control, you will miss the contest! Also keep in mind how many customs you can submit in one day. You may not be able to submit all your entries in one day.
- The contest is purely for fun... well... and bragging rights!
How does the contest voting work?
Anyone can vote for their favorite customs in the contest, you don't even have to submit anything to the contest! You do have to be logged-in to your Figure Realm account though so we can keep track of the votes. Only appointed Figure Realm staff can see the votes, so anonymity is guaranteed. Voting begins once the entry deadline is met and lasts for a week.
It's hard to choose just one custom to vote on when there are tons of great entries, so Figure Realm has a unique voting system where you can vote on ALL the customs! When you click on an entry to view, there's a bar with buttons on it that lets you give the custom anywhere from 1 to 5 Stars. 1 Star means you think they could have done a better job on the custom while 5 Stars means you think they did a perfect job. The votes for each entry are added up when voting is closed and averaged-out to determine the winners. Also, don't abuse the system. Don't give your own custom 5 Stars and then give everyone else 1 Star to boost your rating. Remember, the votes are monitored.
Some points you might consider when casting your vote: Is the figure well-made? Is the paint smooth or crusty? Are there noticeable fingerprints on the sculpted parts? Is it an original custom? Is it accurate to the source-material (comics, photos, description in a book)? Are the pictures clear enough to see the details? Did the creator take the time to include a back-story or recipe? Is the custom so unbelievably awesome that you'd trade your dog for it?
Craftsmanship and creativity are major factors to consider, but ultimately your vote should depend on how much you like the custom, and how well you feel it fits the contest theme.
What is the contest schedule?
| Begins: | Contest Closed |
| Ends: | November 15th, 2017 - Last day for submissions. No exceptions! Cut off is at midnight Central Standard Time. |
| Voting: | November 16th - 22nd. |
| Managed By: | Batman1016 |
Example Pictures for Ideas
View Contest Entries 
User Comments
. . . Yes, I'm old and exceptionally uncool, deal with it.
*crickets*
Yeah, obvious joke. Ok, well three weeks down! No entries yet.
X-Men/X-Factor/X-Force/New Mutants - Mutant vigilantes fighting to protect innocent mutants and human sympathizers, when the government fails them. (NOTE: Early teams only, later teams were officially recognized and permitted, and thus are no longer "gangs."
WildC.A.T.S. - Secret force of alien hybrid soldiers fighting an evil invasion, with no ties to the government or their homeworld.
Defenders - Street-level vigilante heroes without open support from any authority, working together to keep their city safe
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles/Mighty Mutanimals - Freaks that live in hiding, protecting the people, cleaning the streets, living in shadows, hunted by all humanity.
Old West Lynch Mob - The sheriff has that dirty murdering rat locked in a jail cell, alive, but we're gonna make sure he doesn't see sunrise, even if we have to go through the sheriff and his whole posse!
A-Team - Hunted by their own government, fighting for the little guy(for a price), if no one else can help, and if you can find them, maybe you can hire . . . your own personal gang!
And if you all hate it, well . . . I'll take all the blame, just don't gang up on me!
*crickets*
. . . Ok, so it was funnier in my head. Fine, be that way! Have fun, looking forward to your entries!
Rule #1 - "Your team does NOT have to be 'evil.' They just have to be on the wrong side of the law." So no, they do not have to be bad guys. You can have a hero gang. Several X-Men teams could be classified as gangs.
HOWEVER, Rule #3 - "No legitimate armies, they have government backing. No semi-officially sanctioned vigilante groups, like Batman Inc. No invading alien force, like the Skrulls or the Burning Legion or the Parademons of Apokolips, they're still working under someone's authority." All the groups you listed are "armies," not "gangs." Some higher authority (the king, Hippolyta, Thranduil, or the US government) is giving them permission to act.
Of course, Rule #4 - "You can make up an original gang, or team up a group of existing characters (villains or heroes) to make a new gang. [...] You must provide a short story explaining why they're working together, and why they are working outside the law." So, if you give us a story about how the knights on a quest were forbidden by their king, and are now hunted by their fellow knights, or how the Amazons are fighting their battle in a land where their methods and ideals are flatly illegal, or the commandos are all lawless mercs working for the highest bidder, they would classify as gangs.
But just throwing together a group of figures and saying "They're a team" doesn't qualify. We're looking specifically for gangs. Rebels, criminals, misfits, working together for a common goal, but not a "legal" one. Give us a team AND a reason why they're against the law, and you qualify! Though again, we do ask you to follow Rule #4 - "The group should have a visual theme (similar powers, similar gimmicks, matching uniforms, or at least a common costume element like a sash, masks, or a color scheme)."
Hope that clears everything up!
For my question about certain groups, what if it was a Lord of the Rings group of Hobbits, Elves, Dwarves, and men on a Quest? , or Commmandos for example the group led by Dutch in the movie Predator. These are groups who are together to go after a monster, but not really under any special orders by government. They decided on what they had to do together, put their differences aside as a matter of survival to stop an impending threat.
A gang is a group that specifically ignores or actively opposes higher authorities, and acts for and answers to only themselves. They can be a LARGE gang (The Rebel Alliance, for example, may encompass thousands, but compared to the greater government, they were pitiful in scale, they are basically a massive gang that act as their own authority), they can claim to be their own illegitimate government (American Revolution troops were basically a disorganized collection of illegal militias, a bunch of backwoods gangs, that called themselves an army and declared their own government, but they weren't officially recognized by any other government until they won), and they can be fighting evil (Merry Men vs Nottingham and Prince John), but they still have to be outside the law. Commandos or Elves may TECHNICALLY be fighting a government, but they're specifically fighting an ENEMY government, with authority from ANOTHER government, so that does not count.
One little change, though . . . .
The rules DO make an exception for criminal black-ops teams that ARE sanctioned by the government, but "disavowed" so to speak. Suicide Squad, Thunderbolts, people who are expendable and that the government would deny funding or deploying (or even knowing about) should they be revealed, caught, or killed.
So, that being said, upon further thought . . . a commando team COULD in theory count, if it was a "oh, we didn't know ANYTHING about those heavily armed troops you captured in your sovereign territory, they must be guerrillas, we didn't send them, that's for sure! *wink-wink*" situation. Point being, after watching the intro to "Predator," Dutch's team in "Predator" was a disavowed black unit, so they could indeed count. Same with, say, the "Mission: Impossible" crew.
And again, if you make an original commando team, just make sure you write a nice little story about why they're not on the side of the law, or why their government has disavowed their actions.