My First Funko Pop Custom!

One of the best aspects of my new job is the massively creative environment I'm in, being surrounded by some of the greatest designers in the toy world. One way that this manifests is through custom Pop! figures. They are all talented customizers and have inspired me to get in on it on the action. Now, I'm not exactly an experienced toy customizer, but I've always wanted to do it and now I seem to have found the nudge I needed to dive right in.

After throwing some ideas around, we all decided to team up and take a Pop! Batman figure and customize it any way we wanted. Sort of a group exhibition sort of thing, with the possibility of selling them as a set online. Apparently, there is a healthy collective of custom Funko collectors out there, so we wanted to see [if we could put together a set that would really wow them.

That remains to be seen.

But here's my first attempt at customizing a Pop! Batman, and I decided to zombify the poor Dark Knight.

Here's how it went down...

First thing I need to do was to obtain the right parts. Originally, I was just going to do a bsimple repaint, maybe mess up Bats with some gashes and melty spots. But I was inspired by our new Walking Dead Bicycle Girl figure and one look at her told me I had the rotting dead parts that I needed.

So, one Batman, one Walking Dead zombie and a spare head from a Mars Attacks figure (graciously provided by a co-worker) and I was ready to go...

First up, a little boiling. This breaks apart the glued-on piece very nicely and makes the plastic very soft and pliable, making it easier to cut through and whatnot.

Next, a lot of cutting and gluing. For me, this was the hard part. It took a lot of trial and error to get the pieces cut to the right size and the glue I bought was just making me angry.

 Eventually, I got the basics of the figure together...

I cut out some sections of the head and added some brains on the inside and "exposed" and ear and added the lower face section to give Bats a grody zombie mouth. I even gave him some gross zombie hands.

 

Then, all that was left was to paint it! I'm not super skilled at painting toys, so I worry it looks a little ham-fisted and amateurish, but I had fun and I'm sure I'll get better in the future with enough practice.

A little blood, some icky green mold and a little graveyard mud around the feet and feel like we got ourselves a Walking Dead Batman! Gods forbid if Rick Grimes and the gang run into this little biter in the woods. Still, Dark Knight Detective or not, one shot to the brain is all it takes.

That's if they see him coming...

"Grrruuuuuurrrhhhhh!!!"

Anyway, there it is, my first, but certainly lot last, Funko Pop! custom figure. Hope you all dig it. Get it? See what I did there?