Going to take a few days off from posting in general. I need a serious break after making this guy.
Possibly the only bright side to this story is its genesis. The original figure (Jorge from Drone Outbreak) that I used to make this custom had nearly every defect possible for a Mega figure to have. It's hands wouldn't stay attached, parts were mismolded, paint was misapplied, parts were brittle and broke, the rubber parts ripped and tore, etc. etc. I'm surprised it wasn't missing a leg or something. This is where the bright spot in the story comes in. I contacted the wonderful people at the customer service department. Even though they were unable to replace the figure due to them no longer having any, I still feel like my issue was resolved and the customer service agent bent over backwards to help me. I'm not just saying this because, without warning, a blind bag appeared in my mailbox a couple weeks later either. That was just a metaphorical layer of Maraschino Cherries on top of an already sugar-laden metaphorical cake. I can honestly say that the people who work in the Mattel (the parent company of Mega Construx) Customer Service Department and I sincerely believe that every last person who works there deserves a pay raise.
Now, back into the dark pit that is this figure. I don't want to get into all that went wrong while I was making this guy, I'll just say that he is currently sitting at around 65% figure, 35% super glue. I'll also say that I had to repair every single part on this figure in order to even bring it up to custom-fodder status. The original figure was a mess. I also repainted every square millimeter of the figure because the yellow was slightly too yellow and the green was slightly too bright for my liking. Seeing as how I had to replace all of the undersuit parts anyway, I went ahead and fixed his scale to be more in line with my Marines. I added the fine details and markings, which were, surprise, surprise, washed out by the wash, so I had to add them again.
Here is the part of making this figure that almost made me throw away my brushes. I promise this is the only (of the dozens) of horror stories about this figure I will tell:
When I took the chest armor halves apart, one of the brittle strap parts (remember, this figure had nearly every defect possible at the same time) broke off. I couldn't find the part, so I had to carve a piece of rubber to match the missing parts. Later, when I was almost done painting, I had the figure sitting on a table where I keep my brushes. When I picked the figure back up, I noticed that yet another strap has decided to see the world due to the pressures of existing, and snapped off violently. Literally. The part landed on the stairs. I almost never found it. The worst part is that I had already painted both pieces, and cyanoacrylate glue leaves a smokey white residue when it dries. I had to repaint almost the entire right side of the torso! Believe me when I tell you that this wasn't the worst thing this figure put me through during its creation process.
I'll probably be back later this week. I just need a break. I'll still pop on and leave comments though.
Possibly the only bright side to this story is its genesis. The original figure (Jorge from Drone Outbreak) that I used to make this custom had nearly every defect possible for a Mega figure to have. It's hands wouldn't stay attached, parts were mismolded, paint was misapplied, parts were brittle and broke, the rubber parts ripped and tore, etc. etc. I'm surprised it wasn't missing a leg or something. This is where the bright spot in the story comes in. I contacted the wonderful people at the customer service department. Even though they were unable to replace the figure due to them no longer having any, I still feel like my issue was resolved and the customer service agent bent over backwards to help me. I'm not just saying this because, without warning, a blind bag appeared in my mailbox a couple weeks later either. That was just a metaphorical layer of Maraschino Cherries on top of an already sugar-laden metaphorical cake. I can honestly say that the people who work in the Mattel (the parent company of Mega Construx) Customer Service Department and I sincerely believe that every last person who works there deserves a pay raise.
Now, back into the dark pit that is this figure. I don't want to get into all that went wrong while I was making this guy, I'll just say that he is currently sitting at around 65% figure, 35% super glue. I'll also say that I had to repair every single part on this figure in order to even bring it up to custom-fodder status. The original figure was a mess. I also repainted every square millimeter of the figure because the yellow was slightly too yellow and the green was slightly too bright for my liking. Seeing as how I had to replace all of the undersuit parts anyway, I went ahead and fixed his scale to be more in line with my Marines. I added the fine details and markings, which were, surprise, surprise, washed out by the wash, so I had to add them again.
Here is the part of making this figure that almost made me throw away my brushes. I promise this is the only (of the dozens) of horror stories about this figure I will tell:
When I took the chest armor halves apart, one of the brittle strap parts (remember, this figure had nearly every defect possible at the same time) broke off. I couldn't find the part, so I had to carve a piece of rubber to match the missing parts. Later, when I was almost done painting, I had the figure sitting on a table where I keep my brushes. When I picked the figure back up, I noticed that yet another strap has decided to see the world due to the pressures of existing, and snapped off violently. Literally. The part landed on the stairs. I almost never found it. The worst part is that I had already painted both pieces, and cyanoacrylate glue leaves a smokey white residue when it dries. I had to repaint almost the entire right side of the torso! Believe me when I tell you that this wasn't the worst thing this figure put me through during its creation process.
I'll probably be back later this week. I just need a break. I'll still pop on and leave comments though.