So, since I am a big fan of 90's Superboy, I decided I should start by rounding out some of the characters from the series. First up, we have one of the alternate versions of the Boy of Steel that Superboy met during the 5-part storyline of "Hyper-Tension" that ran from issues 6- thru 64. This version of Superboy hailed from a parallel reality wherein Superman never came back from the dead, Robin the Boy Wonder (Tim Drake) was killed in battle, and Superboy became the crimefighting partner of Batman wearing a costume that was a cross between his own and that of Robin.

So, to do this figure, I took a DC Direct Contemporary Teen Titans Series 1 Robin and using the boil and pop method to remove the head, cape, arms, and legs. With the body now fully disassembled, I used my Dremel to sand off the laces on the Tunic and the Robin symbol. Next, I mixed a special shade of blue acrylic paint and applied two generous coat to the torso, both above and below the belt. While the paint dried, I used the boil and pop method on the legs to swap the lower sections with those from a DC Direct Return of Superman Series Superboy. Next, I used some brush and roller cleaner to strip the paint off the upper portions of the legs, and then I applied two generous coats of my homemade blue to the trunk portion of the legs and two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Guards Red to the leggings. Once the blue and red paint dried, I reattached the legs to the torso, and then applied two generous coats of Flat Clear to the torso and legs. While the Flat Clear dried, I next started work on the arms. To do the arms, I again used the boil and pop method to remove the gloved hands from the arms. With the arms disassembled, I took the brush and roller cleaner to strip the green paint from the sleeves and gloves. With the green paint removed, I gave the sleeves two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Guards Red, followed by two generous coats of Flat Clear. When the Flat Clear had finally dried, I popped the arms back into their sockets on the torso. Next, I started work on the gloves. The gloves were fairly simple to do since the paint was already removed, I applied two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Guards Red to the right glove, followed by two generous coats of Flat Clear. When the Flat Clear finally dried, I reattached the right glove and set to work on the left glove. The left glove was a bit more complicated. Since it was originally molded with a hole through the clenched fist to accommodate holding the staff that came with the figure, I had to first mix up a batch of Milliput and stick it into the hole on both sides to fill the cylindrical cavity in the clenched fist. Once the Milliput had fully dried, I used my Dremel to shape it into the indentations at the top and bottom of a clenched human fist, using the right glove as my visual reference guide. Once the Dremel work was completed, I applied two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Guards Red to the glove, followed by two generous coats of Flat Clear. Once the Flat Clear on the left glove had dried, I reattached the glove to the left arm.

With the body now fully reassembled, I next commenced work on the cape. The cape, in and of itself, did not need all that much work...just a repaint of the inside yellow and the outside black. I had to repaint the cape for two reasons: 1. the cape was too glossy, and 2. the yellow insides were too orange-yellow in their tint. So, first, I gave the cape's interior two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Cadmium Yellow (which actually matched the yellow of the boot straps better), followed by two generous coats of Flat Clear. When the cape's interior was dry, I gave the exterior two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Cadmium Yellow for the neck fringe and collar seam and Testors Model Masters Flat Black for the main body of the cape, followed by two generous coats of Flat Clear. Once the Flat Clear was dry, I reattached the cape to the body.

With the body reassembled and the cape reattached, I next started work on the head. For the head, I reused the existing Robin head, but had to modify it a bit to look more like Superboy. To do that, I took an extra DC Universe Classics Wave 13 Superboy head and cut the top of the head off just under the 90's style haircut and used my Dremel to gouge out the remaining portion of the forehead. Next, I used my Dremel again to remove the hair from the sides of Robin's head and create a notch to fit inside the Superboy hair. Unfortunately, I took too much off, so I had to mix up a small batch of Milliput to enable the two pieces to fit together snugly. When the Milliput had fully dried, I glued the two pieces together with some Testors Modeling Cement. When the modeling cement had dried, I then took my Dremel and used it to shape the back of the head so that the excess from the back of the Superboy head was flush with the back of the Robin head. Next, I took a small dab of Tamiya Putty White and applied it along the back of the head to fill in the seam a bit. When that dried, I sanded it a bit, applied another dab of the putty, and then once the second dab dried, I used my Dremel to shape the putty into hair. Once the hair was shaped, I began the paint work on the head. I started with the mask. Since the alternate Superboy of this storyline had a red mask, I gave the Robin mask a base coat of light gray, and then followed that up with two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Guards Red. Next, I gave the hair two generous coats of Testors Model Masters Flat Black, followed by some touch up coats of Testors Acryl Peach on the skin. Once all of the paint on the head had dried, I gave the full head two generous coats of Flat Clear, and then popped the head back onto the neck.

Finally, I slapped on a new chest symbol with a little glue (the symbol was made by hand at a larger size, and then photocopied and shrunk to proper size...however, unlike previous hand drawn symbols I had done before, this was drawn to more closely approximate the symbol that the alternate Superboy wore during the "Hyper-Tension" storyline), and TA-DA...Superboy the Boy Wonder as he appeared in issues 60-64 of Superboy!!!

Please let me know what you guys think of him, and as always, comments are appreciated.