Hey everyone. My next reveal is a commission I did for Donnie’s Laboratory (IG Ninja Turtle figure photographer). It was the first (I think…) full head sculpt I ever did. Here is, Baxter Stockman from the 80/90’s Animated Series.

My customer, Cody (goes by Donnieslaboratory on IG) wanted a Baxter figure that scaled with the Neca Ninja Turtles Animated Series box set. He also wanted me to make him able to “mutate” by using alternate parts (more on that in a bit). He was such a great customer. He rolled with the punches, trusted my every decision and got just as excited with the results as I did. I look forward to doing more for him.

I made Baxter out of an Old Man Logan as the base figure. The head was fully sculpted over a Nuke head, the hands are from Tigershark, the feet are fully resculpted over a pair of bucky cap feet. The insect arms are heavily modified Toy Biz Kitty Pryde arms with heavily modified rogue hands. For the human parts, I used Netflix Punisher’s hands, the a head from Unworthy Thor (HEAVILY modified), a pair of glasses from casting cave and a lab coat from a Toybiz Dr. Octopus figure. Toss in a pair of Wings from the wasp and we were good to go!

Sculpting… there was a lot of it this time around. I did almost equal amounts of work using Apoxie Sculpt and Procreate. Apoxie sculpt was used to rebuild the face, neck and feet as well as to sculpt the shirt details (bow tie, sweater vest cuffs and piping) as well as my usual filling of the peg holes on the elbows and knees. Procreate was used to create the hair (on the fly head and a few pieces of hair on the human head), the antennae on the forehead and the spikes on the insect arms. I also created some ripped pant cuff inserts to place around the ankles to give him ripped pants around his feet when he was in fly form. They could then be removed when he was in human form. This was the first time I’ve tried to execute something like this and overall, I was very happy with the outcome.

Aside from the pant cuff inserts and 2 full head sculpts, there were even more firsts in this custom for me. It is the first time I’ve made a figure that can “transform” into a second look. By giving Baxter human head, hands, feet and removable wings, insect arms and torn pant cuffs. To make the wings and insect arms removable, I dremeled out a crevasse and implanted sockets into the back and sides of the torso. I then cemented them in place using Apoxie sculpt and blended them into the torso. These sockets are then covered when he is wearing his lab coat as a human.

Overall, I am so effin stoked on how Baxter turned out. I think he turned out really well. The face sculpts came together nicely (thanks to my buddy Bradley Cofey for his guidance on sculpting the human face) and the swappable parts were a success. I was so happy with the finished product that I was sad to send him off to his new home. But since then, Cody has put him to good use in his Ninja Turtles Action Figure photography (check out his Instagram @donnieslaboratoy for some cool pics).

If you want to see all the photos from the shoot, head over to my webpage by googling "customs by matchu" and following the link from there. Thank you all for stopping by. More reveals to come!