Hey there. This week’s new customs are both Marvel based. One of them is a more obscure character by the name of Shroud, while the other is decidedly less obscure, Flash Thompson Venom. These were both a lot of fun to do. I took some artistic liberties with Shroud, such as using the very stylized Spawn cape and the textured Black Panther body. Venom required a ton of sculpting and fodder pieces to complete, but I’m happy with both results. Just click on the photos below to visit their corresponding pages so you can view the complete photo sets and the descriptions. Thanks for looking!
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Flash Thompson’s Agent Venom has become a fan favorite character and his absence from the Marvel Legends line seems almost unforgivable. He recently got a Marvel Select figure, but it’s far too big for Marvel Legends scale, and features a more spiky sculpt to the armor. I was going for his more normal look for this custom. Venom was made using the body of an X-Men Classics Bird of Prey Angel, the head of a DC Universe Classics Dr. Impossible, the shoulder pads from a Movie Masters Dark Knight Batman, and a ton of fodder and sculpting.
I chose Dr. Impossible’s head, because his eyes already had the sort of Venom shaped eyes sculpted into it. I just had to sculpt over his nose and mouth and paint it all, so that part was easy. The rest was most decidely not. I had to completely cover up his torso, front and back, and sculpt the armor panel line detailing into it near the edge. I had to let that cure so I could sculpt on top of that to get the straps and buckles, and sculpt his collar as well. His biceps and outer thighs are sculpted onto as well, with armor padding that has the same multi-paneled armor as in the comics. I sculpted his kneepads as well to match. I glued the shoulder pads on to try and give them a militaristic look and not detract from the articulation. This forearm and shin greaves are made from sheet polystyrene, as is the ankle armor circling his feet. I did a bit more sculpting over that, adding buckles to the shin greaves and whatnot, and then gave him his belt. The buckle is polystyrene, and the pouches are pieced together from various fodder that I just glued around his waist.
I gave him the gun holster strapped to his thigh and added some fodder straps, and attached the gun holster on his belt too. It actually just plugs onto a small screw I inserted into the figure, to act as a ball joint of sorts. So the holster moves around and doesn’t hinder articulation at all. After giving him some heat to pack, I painted the entire thing head to toe and gave him his iconic Venom emblem and Flash Thompson was ready to serve his country as Agent Venom!
