Hi all! Next Metroid custom for your viewing pleasure! Here we have a ally/enemy combo in the form of a Torizo Chozo Statue!

For those not intimately familiar with the backstory of the Metroid series, Samus was a human raised by a bird-like race called the Chozo. They lived on planets throughout the galaxy, and left statues of themselves on every world they colonized. Some of these statues were capable of moving and even fighting, infused with limited life force through . . . technology? Magic? Some combination of the two? No one really knows, but these statues were called "Torizo." Typically in the game, these statues provide Samus with power-ups. Sometimes they activate doors or paths. And sometimes, they get up and kick her butt!

As the one screen capture from Super Metroid shows, these Torizo were rather large, twice as tall as Samus herself. I didn't want to go quite that big, but I wanted to maintain scale to some degree, so I used an exceptionally tall (but still standard) figure as a base. She-Hulk from the Marvel Legends Blob series was the perfect choice: physically slender and graceful, but imposing..

Because epoxy putty has a tendency to make figures a bit top-heavy, I tried something new: Crayola Model Magic paper clay (at least I THINK the stuff is paper-based). It's lightweight, fairly self-adherent (and if it doesn't stick on its own, there's always Krazy Glue), and dries as solid as plaster. The only drawbacks are that it takes forever to fully harden, and detail work is somewhat difficult. Still, if you're trying to keep the weight down on a custom, you can't do much better.

Full body sculpt and paint, obviously. The eyes were made using stick-on costume jewels, and the power-up ball was made by taking six large, decorative glass beads (you know, the ones people put in glass bowls for candles and such), forming them into a "cube," and sculpting around them until they were a smooth ball. The base is just some random leftover from a Marvel Legends figure . . . I think it's part of the original Punisher figure's display.

So hey, didn't really get any comments on the last two figures (Zero Suit Samus and the Zebesian Space Pirate). I'd LOVE to hear people's feedback, please! Praise and criticism alike! The Figure Realm showcase is my first real foray into public display of my work, and I'd like to hear if people think I should keep going, or get a new hobby.

See you next mission!