I read them obsessively all the way through high-school, and then college when I kinda stopped but not really. It was hard. Comics are an expensive hobby....I couldn't afford to be so hardcore in college, but I still managed my X-Men. I fell away from them a little a couple times in my life, but always went back. They were like the family I didn't have...replaced for a while by Buffy but never forgotten (and I ran back to them when Buffy failed me by ending - though I picked them up in comic form too).
Then I got into dolls. Like I said, comics are expensive. It was not unusual for me to spend at least $80 a week. A week. Every week. I collected\read a lot of different titles, and then whatever had cool covers. And what was new. And everything else. No way could I afford both hobbies. Sometimes it seems like I had so much extra money for dolls just because I stopped reading comics. That's how much money I spent on it (and action figures).
I had to quit cold-turkey, and I don't go to comic stores. I can't, if I do I fall off the wagon. Seriously, it's like that. I drove by one once and it had a really cool Wolverine poster in the window. Wolverine isn't my favorite, not at all, but I had that moment...and I had to grip the steering wheel and look forward and drive away fast because I wanted to stop so freaking bad.
So really it it's almost surprising it's taken me this long to get dolls that I made into Marvel characters.
Gambit was an accident. I sorta always wanted to do it (because he's my favorite X-Man and the reason I started reading to begin with - you shouldn't be surprised, I'm female :PP SAD BUT TRUE) but didn't see the point...when my Volks Heath was replaced by another doll as Marcus, I made him Raziel, but Raz isn't a character I'm emotionally attached too, so he easily became Gambit when I thought "I could just do it!". The intention was to leave him that way until I got bored with him, then turn him back into Raziel. He sat around in the same outfit for months not doing anything.
Then I got the trade for the Delf Claus....
It's weird how this happened. I was trying to come up with a character for Claus. I thought I might try to force Logan on him (not Wolverine, my Logan, who is named after Wolverine XD), but when the Dollzone Fei arrived I knew Claus would never be Logan, Fei was Logan, and they're nothing alike. I honestly couldn't come up with anything. I thought about just distancing him from my FC characters and naming him Lennon and he could be a geek (geekier than me...hardcore geekiness) or something...But nothing stuck. I couldn't think of a good look for him either. I thought he'd be brown skin wasn't sure, but I thought brown skin might be pretty with really light hair and blue eyes...and then thought if it was a girl it could be Storm, and Gambit could have some company. Too bad Storm isn't a man....
Hey why can't Storm be a man?
I was kind of running with that idea and then had the thought that it might not be brown skin...or the brown might not be dark enough to pull off Storm, and I should have a back up. I wracked my brain to come up with an X-Man I liked enough to make a doll that would work as Claus and got nuthin. Hundreds of characters and I could not come up with one. Except Jean Grey\Phoenix, who died several years ago and hasn't been brought back yet (come on Marvel, really!!), who is my favorite after Gambit.
Jean Grey as a man?? WHY?! Why not....could work. The more I thought about it, the more ideas I got, and the more I wanted to do it...even if it was a tan doll. Screw Storm!!
I got the doll the next day, and the first thing I did was buy it a wig. Then I made it a wig. I kind of want her to have several wigs. The wig I bought is going to be tough...I want a long wig, and it's perfect for that, but I want a short wig too, and I was kind of thinking I could cut this one...I totally should have bought two. Dammit. I'll have to see what it looks like when I get it.
The wig I made is another style I saw in my head when I came up the idea...it's a patchwork fur mess. Turned out pretty good though, it fits like a glove. Doesn't fall off at all. Saturday I wiped the default face (I kind of freaked out when I did it, for a few reasons, buuuut it was too late) and gave her a new face up....then took her to a friends house and painted her fingernails green. Today I gave her two tattoos and painted her toenails green. I tried on a lot of clothes (it's been a while since I had a Delf body, I didn't know what would work - and she's kind wearing a mix of masculine and feminine stuff...so a style had to be found) and now she's sitting here next to my laptop as I type this.
I guess this would be a good time for pictures. She needs new eyes like burning. These are at least green but waaaaay too dark.
Yes, she's a man. Yes I keep calling her a her. My roommate is going nuts, I guess it makes no sense to her? WHATEVS. Claus makes a fantastic non-woman. Basically the concept is that the Phoenix brought Jean back as a man, even though she obviously remembers being a woman (hence the sheness of it all). Why? I dunno. Maybe it liked being Cyclops and missed having a peen...who knows why it does what it does. Actually I thought of a couple reasons. Because I have to go all cray with the backstories. But whatever, here's Gambit in his first piccies ever.
He's actually shaped up pretty good! At first I didn't think Heath could do it, but I really like him now. I scruffed up his face up some so he looks more Gambity, and I got lots of compliments on him at the meet Sunday. Someday I'll have to totally redo his faceup because when I originally did it, I wasn't planning on keeping him, let alone putting him on the Souldoll body, so he's not matchy at all. Like, AT ALL. And having smokey eyes is too much black with those black eyes. But I'm really really liking him as is. He might get some card-themed tatts someday...and I have to get Uriel's angel mark off him (lol) but for now, that's what he looks like.
Together, yay!
Funnily enough, I never thought of them as a couple (I'm pro Jean\Logan) until now...because they're the only two there are, so they have no choice lol
This is the closest I've ever gotten to fanfic. I'm having so much fun with it I'm thinking of doing Nano again, with them, not my own characters. OMGWAT? I'm having serious art block with my own stuff right now...maybe this'll break it? Or make it worse?? Who knows. I'll probably write a few paragraphs, do some doodles, get bored and go back to my stuff.
New dolls! Yay!!
I know exactly what you mean about sacrificing your comics for dolls. I used to buy a ton of manga and anime before I got into bjds and since then, I've had to give up buying so much manga and anime. The only anime really I buy these days still is any of the Studio Ghibli movies. I like their whimsy. I tried giving up buying fiction novels too to fund my doll hobby but I just can't. I love reading way too much. And of course, like you, I also buy action figures (the Figma kind). I can't help it!
ReplyDeleteWhat did you think of the X-Men movies? I was really disappointed in how they portrayed Rogue as she was one of my favourites. I do like First Class though a lot better than the X-Men movies. I kind of empathise a bit more with Magneto now and understand his motives better.
And I loved the Phoenix storyline with Jean Grey. I remember watching it when the cartoon came out. I haven't read any of the comics though. Are they very different from the original cartoons?
Can I just say, you have awesome creative ideas. I love that you turned Jean into a man. Why not I say. It could happen right. Who said the Phoenix was limited by gender? I just love this interpretation of her plus your dolls look pretty dang good as always. I especially love that ruggedness you have going for Gambit. He was a pretty cool character too. I always wanted Gambit and Rogue to get together in the cartoons, lol.
I haven't done Nanowrimo in years. Last time was back in 07 and I was actually quite disciplined and managed to write the entire month and ended up with a bit over the 50, 000 words. I tried to do it last year and the year before that but I got two weeks into it and kind of got distracted away from it. I'm debating whether I will give it another go this year or not. I really need more discipline when it comes to writing...
I've done Nano for a couple years now....the first one I lost spectacularly, the second I won, the third I rebelled and did a comic...and lost spectacularly. I wasn't going to do it this year at all, but now I kinda want too again. It's addicting. Even if I lose it's still fun. I love to hang out on the forum XD
DeleteI don't buy a lot of manga anymore either, just Loveless really. Most of my series ended or are on hiatus, as well as dolls eating all the money, so it's not been as hard to give that up. I was into american comics long before manga though, so it's more in my veins XD
Dolls sorta became my action figures, that's actually why I started buying them! So I only miss them a little. Annnnd I may still buy one here and there too.
The Xmen cartoon was actually pretty close to real. It was a little squished, everything was so epic and drawn out in the comics, because they could do that, but really, it was good. I started with the cartoon myself and moved to the comics...so I watched it all.
The movies...I have mixed opinions about them. I liked 1 & 2, hated Holly Berry as Storm (hated.), understood that they had to do things a certain way in order to get a new audience who had never heard of the X-Men....and then wanted to strangle the third movie. I was offended by the third movie. It was so awful. Then I boycotted First Class due to Alex Summers being in the X-Men before Scott. I can't express how wrong that was. Recently with the new Wolverine movie, the new X-Men movie coming out and a friend explaining some stuff that happened in First Class, I want to watch it now though. I have too before the new movie comes out. It had better make up for 3, that's all I'm saying.
And thank you!! <3 I was kind of worried about talking about the concept before I had the doll in hand....I don't know why. I only thought of it the day before, but I got stupidly excited, and wouldn't tell anyone even though I SO wanted too!! So it really makes me happy that no one has thought it was weird (so far. Or at least they haven't said so. Yet lol)
You should totally do Nano! We can chat on the forums!! As if we can't do that here! Or anywhere else XD
Yeah, Nano is addicting especially when you've one at least once, you wonder if you can do it again. At least taht is how it is for me.
DeleteI actually have the X-Men cartoon. Borrowed it off my brother and have been meaning to watch it.
Ack, I totally agree with you about Halle Berry being Storm. She made a horrible Storm and I rather liked that character. I think also she looked too young to be this wise woman that I always thought Storm was. It also looks like we're in the same mind about that third X-Men movie. I didn't like it at all. It didn't seem to have the same feel to it that the first two did.
I didn't know there was a new X-Men movie coming out. That Wolverine one ... is that a new one? I have the first Wolverine movie but I remember seeing a trailer where he gets his powers taken away or am I dreaming that one?
I'd be interested to know what you think of First Class when you get a chance to watch it.
I actually had to hunt down my username and password on the Nanowrimo site again because I hadn't used it in a while. I was surprised to find it was still there. I have a different username on there than I do here. Is your name on there the same as on your blogger? I can look you up on there.
I have to admit, I don't visit the forums all that much and when I do, I will usually peek into the YA fiction forum as that is what I mostly write. I should look in on there though.
I think I am going to give Nano a try this year. I've been wanting to write a sequel to the story I wrote for the Nano that I actually finished back in 07 (apparently I checked my profile and it's actually 08). So I guess that means I better get cracking on doing some quick signpost planning for the chapters.
Yay! You should!! Joooiiiin meeeeeeeee. I rejoined the forums (I'm VampireAngel13 pretty much everywhere - otherwise I forget who I am XD - Alex is my avatar there too, though I might change it to the one I use everywhere else...). I'll be in fanfic I suppose...which is a new thing for me completely. I've never even tried to write a fanfic...I don't even draw fan art all that much! I'm pretty in to my story already, and using it as an excuse to find out what's going on currently in the Marvel universe.
DeleteAll this means is that I'll probably fail half-way through, or change my mind before I even start, which is what I usually do when I plan this far ahead. Oh well, I get to read comics again! XD
For "research" ;)
From what I understand, the next X-Men movie is going to tie-in First Class and the old movies, hopefully fixing everything that went wrong with the third one (which was everything). Basically, if you watch The Wolverine (which is new, it came out eariler this year) and sit through the credits (as one should when seeing a Marvel movie!), there's a lead-in for the new X-Men movie, with Patrick Stewart as Xavier and Ian McKellen as Mags again. So HOPEFULLY it will redeem all the bad. My fingers are crossed!
After I read all the comics that the X-Men cartoon were based off, I decided that someone new to the X-Men who wanted to know stuff, but didn't want to sift through decades of comics could watch it, and get the gist of the whole series. It's almost like cliff notes lol, as accurate as it can be for being different. I loved it...without it I never would have gotten so into the comic part, and that's what really got me into art! :D
I third that whole "dolls ate the comics" like video killed the radio star... And I was always a huge X-Men fan myself. They were the first comic I ever bought, and it sort of spiraled from there. I just have the weird habit of buying comics in ones and twos; random numbers, random titles, etc. So I don't quite have the full story anywhere in there, but I certainly have more X-Men than anything else. I've been tempted to turn a doll into an X-Men character, I just haven't figured out how/who/what yet. But yours came out spectacular! I love to see comic characters in doll form. :)
ReplyDeleteI was obsessive about having the whole series....I learned where every comic store in the city was, and made my parents drive me there whenever we had time...my brother and I rode our bikes for hours to get to the closest one to my house...and then I got a car and traveled all over just to get back issues XD
DeleteI did do random titles and issues for the covers though. I love a good cover. I buy lots of stuff just for the art.
You should do it!! I have thought about it for years and one day I just did! And happened to have eyes and a wig just for that doll XD (ok the eyes were orange not red, but in a pinch they worked, until I decided to go on and buy the "real" ones)
And thank you <3