How hard would it be to get an action figure made of your own design?

March 23, 2004 7:43 AM

How hard would it be to get an action figure made of your own design? Anyone have any experience with this?
posted by agregoli to grab bag (17 comments total)

Not very difficult at all
posted by cmonkey at 7:47 AM on March 23, 2004

That must be expensive.
posted by goethean at 8:44 AM on March 23, 2004

oooh, now I can get action figures of all my favorite MeFi posters and then enact massive flamewars on my bedroom floor! it'll be way better than GI Joe ever was...
posted by Vidiot at 8:58 AM on March 23, 2004

"mathowie with kung-foo-bar grip."
posted by mkelley at 9:18 AM on March 23, 2004

Looks like around $400 for a run of 10, more if you want the custom baseball jersey. The timing is the downfall though, it takes about 4-6 months.

Coincidentally, my birthday is just about 4 months away...
posted by daver at 9:44 AM on March 23, 2004

Ag, that is way too much money. I meant more like a small plastic Kubrick type figure.
posted by agregoli at 10:08 AM on March 23, 2004

$400 is actually quite cheap to create a plastic mold and run it. I was thinking it would be over $1000
posted by goethean at 10:19 AM on March 23, 2004

But only for 10? What about for a bigger run? Sigh, back to Google I go.
posted by agregoli at 10:48 AM on March 23, 2004

This kind of thing. Is this type called something different?
posted by agregoli at 11:03 AM on March 23, 2004

You just need the HEAD, agregoli. You can buy bodies pre-made (and generic.) That's what Andgor Toy would do, anyway -- they won't scuplt you a custom body unless you ask for it.

You might try someone who makes custom heads, or find a sculptor friend who can do you justice. Heck, send me a photo and I'll give it a go myself. Assuming it's you that you want.

Get yerself one head, and surely someone can teach you (or you can Google) how to make a cheap mold and cast more out of latex/plastic/pressed Sculpey/whatever.

I think Protect and Serve Toys used to have someone offering custom heads from photos, and there are others on the internet. Of course, you'll run across a lot of rednecky sites offering Osama bin Ladin heads and such in your search.

I think I came across them by Googling 'action figures,' looking for a t-shirt for my 1969 Astronaut GI Joe, who at least has red hair and so makes an adequate (and nostalgic!) action figure of myself. Now guess I need a woman for him. Hmm...
posted by Shane at 11:42 AM on March 23, 2004

(Argh. If you want a Kubrick-style thing, my suggestions might be out... still, you might take a similar approach. Get the head made, then buy the bodies of some Lego people or somesuch to attach your heads to. You know...)
posted by Shane at 11:45 AM on March 23, 2004

Hmm, I didn't think of just doing the head. I'll try searching for something that way. Thanks!
posted by agregoli at 11:49 AM on March 23, 2004

There is something called superdudes http://www.superdudes.net/index2.php

They used to make custom-made action figures, but if I recall they couldn't call them that because someone has trademaked the term. Does anyone know anything about that? In any case the website looks like it doesn't have info about the action figures any more, maybe they stopped doing it? they used to have a store in Santa Monica where they made them on site I believe.
posted by chaz at 12:42 PM on March 23, 2004

agregoli,
are you interested in making just one for yourself or more for the purpose of selling?

this might help for the latter:
http://www.sweatyfrog.com/sweatyfrog-faq.html
posted by deathofme at 1:25 PM on March 23, 2004

Check out rapid prototyping companies. If you have a 3D file of what you want to make, you're pretty much set to go.
posted by Sangre Azul at 1:50 PM on March 23, 2004

Thanks guys!

Postscript: Don't even try to consider: http://www.toybuilders.com

Rudest people I've ever come across.
posted by agregoli at 2:10 PM on March 23, 2004

Watch out for the AndGore people -- it might take a really long time to get your product once you've put your deposit down. There's another site in the linked thread that does customized dolls, but I suspect it's also out of your price range.
posted by onlyconnect at 3:53 PM on March 23, 2004