Hi-ho, fellow Metroid fans! Time for my latest two customs! First up, our good guy of the day is none other than Samus Aran's adoptive father, leader of the Chozo race, the wizened Old Bird!

As with Cmdr. Malkovich, Old Bird doesn't really make any appearances in the games that have yet been released. At best, he's been introduced in passing (vaguely, through story boards, not by name) in Metroid Fusion and Metroid: Zero Mission. He does, hover, play a major role in the Metroid Manga, and has been an established, cannon character since Super Metroid. He's vital to the story, and so he got made as well.

Old Bird is short and somewhat tubby, so I needed a figure to match his physique. Spider-Man Classics Doctor Octopus was the perfect choice (NOTE: the original, 2002 version, NOT the Ultimate Marvel Ock, not Movie Ock, and not Ock from Marvel Legends, this Ock is small, stumpy, and has limited poseabliity). I cut the robes from a pair of basic class Dark Knight Scarecrow figures, turned them inside out, used a lighter to melt the capes slightly so they'd conform to their new backwards configuration, and used them to make Old Bird's robe. The hood came off of a Fantastic Four Movie Doctor Doom. Unlike the robe, the hood is very soft and flexible, and with a peg drilled into the figure's back and a hole I cut into the top of the back of the hood, Old Bird can be posed with his hood up or down. Finally, the front "loincloth" piece was from some random Lord Of The Rings cape.

Everything else - head, hands, feet, belt, "wizard robe" cuffs, even the Chozo cane - was entirely sculpted. You can't really tell from the pictures, even the one little detail shot, but his head is some of my best sculpting work, period. The wrinkles, the feathering on his chin and jowls, the guy looks exactly like his picture in the comic. Please note, this color scheme is the correct one. The manga was originally black and white only, and a fan Photoshopped the first issue using colors of their own choice. In his appearances in both Metroid: Zero Mission and the Nintendo Power Super Metroid comic (pic 1, bottom right), he's blue-gray. As for his walking stick, well . . . I figured there was enough green on him, so his staff is redwood now.

Thanks for all your positive feedback thus far! We're just about to wrap up series one of my Metroid figure line! Thanks for coming with me thus far!

See you next mission!