[Monte Williams]

We went to visit our dear friends today, and their property is filled to bursting with pine trees, so I brought Velma along for a hasty shoot.

[Ponygt50]

Beautiful photography and great looking figures!!

[Monte Williams]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ponygt50

Beautiful photography and great looking figures!!

Thank you, sir!

Adding to my Mystery, Incorporated crew with Fred Jones:

And Daphne Blake:

The Daphne recipe is largely stolen from my friend Jarred, as will be Shaggy when I get the parts together.

Incidentally, this project got me to check out Scooby-Doo!: Mystery Incorporated from a little over a decade ago; it's streaming on Netflix, and it's a legitimately great show!

[ARBCO Avenue]

Mystery Incorporated never looked so cool! This is an awesome, very enjoyable thread. Thanks for sharing your whimsical creativity with the Tank.

[firmpulse]

Those are awesome Monte. Love your stuff.

[Monte Williams]

Thank you, ARBCO Avenue and firmpulse!

Yesterday, I left the house at 5:00 in the morning (having unfortunately awakened at 1:00) and drove two hours to meet my good friend in Bodega Bay, where we spent about eight hours photographing toys and talking foolishness.

I mostly focused on Skot's Cosmic n' Mythic Legions and my Sentinel Miles Morales, but I did capture a few Joe portraits.

First up, another portrait of my erstwhile muse, William Winchester:

Skot brought his Ferret. I thought I was clever, using its wheels to carve trails in the beach for added realism... only to discover the sand isn't exactly Classified scale!

I've got a new and unlikely companion for Sigma 6 Sandstorm (I tend to revert to thinking of him as Dusty whenever I photograph him without the actual Dusty figure): NECA's Planet of the Apes Maurice!

To close, two rad customs from the legendary Erik Arana, Marauders Snakes Eyes and Dreadnok Crusher!

Meanwhile, my latest box of goodies from BBTS is arriving tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have some new kitbashes or photos to share soon!

[afwaywa]

The phrase “ an undead luchadore I'm calling Decayfabe” is bringing me great joy today.

[flashtronaut8]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Monte Williams

Behold: Scott Trakker and T-Bob:

This may be the first time when Chris Pratt has ever made sense to me.
The only downside to your builds is that they'd never look satisfied posed on a shelf after having been seen in such great outdoor settings. The locations really make them seem alive.

[Monte Williams]

Belated thanks, afwaywa and flashtronaut8!

Quote:

Originally Posted by afwaywa

The phrase ? an undead luchadore I'm calling Decayfabe? is bringing me great joy today.

I'm so glad. I confess I'm pretty amused at the name myself, silly as it is.

Meanwhile, I enjoyed a nice shoot this morning, and I hope you'll indulge me; aside from new shots of Barracuda (Mr. T), none of the portraits in this post utilize Classified parts... but I am using them in a Classified context, insofar as I'm incorporating Monster Force, Spawn, etc. within my Joe canon.

For the sake of anyone who follows this thread but understandably doesn't care my non-Joe silliness, I'll start off with Barracuda, who only appears in this post because I felt compelled to put together what is indisputably the least essential kitbash of all time, simply because the parts occurred to me and I couldn't help myself.

Behold, Barracuda's friend... Spike, from the mid-'80s Mr. T cartoon:

This is my rock-bottom moment, ha ha.

Up next, a few new shots of Spawn, including a crossover photo to transition us into the glut of new Mystery, Incorporated portraits, culminating in group portraits now that I've finally completed the team with Scooby and Shaggy!

The dog is from Schleich or an equivalent company. I tried painting him brown, but whether due to some quality in the plastic or my ineptitude at painting, it was very obviously not working out, so I decided to let him remain black.

I thought about using him as the dog that precedes Scooby; I was gonna name him Sabbath, after my friend's black lab from when we were kids. But then my friend Jarred, who inspired this whole Mystery, Incorporated project and whose recipes I've mostly stolen, took one look at him and said, "That's clearly Scooby-Doom," and holy smokes do I love that suggestion.

I didn't want to lose my original name completely, so I decided Sabbath was Scooby-Doom's sister, and she died in the same incident that left Fred half-vampiric. Scoob survived, but was struck by an obscure curse, with the unsettling result that he infrequently utters eerie, portentous statements, ranging from inscrutable prophecies to Scripture.

And here at last is my Mystery, Incorporated crew (I've decided Clutch's scornful nickname for them is Monster High):

I'm not sure what's next for this thread, nor for my hobby in general; I preordered a few more Monster Force figures, but it could be months before they ship, and in the meantime, while the impact is obviously being felt in much more important and troubling ways, I'm nonetheless bracing myself for the worst, where the tariffs and their impact on our silly hobby is concerned.

But in the meantime, I'll continue watching cartoons and photographing toys as the world burns.

Be well, folks.

[Monte Williams]

I decided to combine the lower body from Duke version one with the torso and arms of Grunt, and third time's the charm, where my Breaker kitbashes are concerned:

That's Sigma 6 Short-Fuze in the background. I decided to capture a new portrait of him, too:

You might recall that I replaced Gung-Ho's lower abdomen and legs with those of a McFarlane Witcher figure. Well, I finally found a use for the leftover Gung-Ho parts: Starduster!

Meanwhile, I struggle with Scrap-Iron, 'cause his helmet is amazing, but I don't want to obscure that tremendous head sculpt. Since I'd already recruited him onto my Monster Force team, I figured maybe he's gone through a similarly harrowing experience as Steeler, so now I get the best of both worlds as an unmasked Scrap-Iron wields his helmet in his hand, having retrieved it from his own corpse:

Onto some non-Joe stuff, I bought a strange Marvel Legends Spider-Man figure and replaced his head with that of the McFarlane Toys Soul Crusher. I'm utilizing him on my Monster Force crew as a 1930s pulp vigilante called The Crimson Web:

For a moment I wondered what head I should use on the decapitated Soul Crusher, but then I got to studying his nicely sculpted hood, and I decided no head is necessary; one of my favorite upcoming Monster Force figures is Lt. Griffin "The Eraser," so until he ships, I am using Soul Crusher as my own lazy riff on The Invisible Man:

Finally, I recently noted that Valerobots had repainted a McFarlane Toys Dark Knight Returns figure to serve as an armored version of Hellboy's favorite WWII-era vigilante, Lobster Johnson. I had to have him:

More soon, hopefully!