Happy New Year everyone! I made 23 customs last year and I am hoping to do even a few more this year! My next reveal is my 3rd last custom of last year. I originally planned on making this as part of a Christmas figure swap over at World’s Greatest Customizer Facebook Group’s. Unfortunately, due to the insanity of my job at that time of year, I missed the deadline by about 10 days. Here is the figure that almost went home to someone else as part of a figure swap, my first Ninja Turtles custom, here is Krang in his Android Body.

The Dirty Santa figure swap over at WGC Facebook group requires all participants to make a custom of their choice. That is what peaked my interest for this swap. The character selection was endless. The list of possible options I made for myself was between Lord Zedd or Goldar from Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, Krang and Baxter Stockman from Ninja Turtles and Powder Toast Man from Ren and Stimpy. Ultimately I landed on Krang because I thought it would present a great challenge. And challenge it did.

Krang was made from a very crazy mix of parts, most of which are pretty unrecognizable in his final state. His torso, crotch, upper legs and knees all came from an Andre the Giant WWE Elite figure. The arms came from the Thanos BAF and the bottom legs and boots from Dormamu BAF. The head started as a Whirlwind ML and the shoulder pads from the Toybiz Omega Red. Krang himself is a cast of the SDCC Ninja Turtles Box Set. I think that was everything…

I started by taking apart the figure and doing my usual prep work. I cracked the torso and removed the shoulders. I then used my dremel to make the arm sockets WAYYYY bigger. Like, double the size bigger. I had to build arm sockets for the arms to plug into using magnets and apoxie sculpt. I then used my dremel to cut away the front of the lower ab crunch to make a spot for Krang to hang out.

I built Krang’s “cockpit” using apoxie sculpt and aluminum. I glued it in place to start, then sculpted in all the gaps to add stability. The entire midsection ended up be sculpted to capture all the details on this character’s android body. I also used apoxie sculpt to build up the legs, form the head, smooth the arms, and do all the details on the chest, arms, legs and feet. I used some picture frame wire to make the little tube/pipes on the body and head and a thicker gauge wire for the head antenna.

I used my airbrush to paint bright, smooth, clean colors to match the SDCC17. I wish I would have attempted to do the cell shading with the paint job, but it felt too risky. Just after I finished painting and approaching completion, I did something really stupid.

While using Super glue to fix a floppy knee, I seized the right knee into a locked position. While trying to free it, I accidentally ripped the knee. NOOO!!!!!! Lucky for me, his leg was almost in a natural position. But I was still super bummed, especially because I put SO much work into this figure.

Initially, I was planning on selling him on eBay because I didn’t have a turtles collection. But right after the photo shoot, I stumbled into a good deal on the Neca SDCC17 Ninja Turtles 8pk Boxset and decided to buy myself a Christmas gift so Krang had some friends to make turtle soup with. Plus, now I have a Ninja Turtles collection to make customs for… I smell a Ratking, Baxter Stockman and Casey Jones in the near future.

If you’re still here, thanks for reading up on my first ever Ninja Turtles custom. Overall, I am pretty happy with how this guy came together and he was a good challenge. He took a long time to make but I think he was worth it, even if I glued his leg in place (f*ck!). Lots more pics on my webpage (google search 'customs by matchu' or follow me on Instagram under the same name. My next reveal is another 90’s themed one so keep your eyes peeled for that. Cheers!