Custom Toys and Artwork

About Me Home Page Custom Toys and Artwork Costumes and Make-Up

MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE by Vahn

Here's some of my artwork. Custom figures I've made, followed by some of my drawings.

JITSU: Evil Master of Martial Arts!

I think this is the best of my custom figures, because it fits in perfectly with the rest of the MOTU line. I think the highlights are the paintjob, the personally sculpted hair and goatee, and the finishing touch of the earring. Sadly this one was sold, so I'll be remaking him soon.

I know he looks better without the helmet, but I think it fits his character.

NINJOR: Deadly Assassin!

Just in case anyone was wondering: yes you can give an action figure too many weapons! Check out my original sculpting on the face and dragon crest. This is another treasure of mine that I'll be remaking due to his recent trip to Canada.

I repainted MAN AT ARMS to give him a more realistic feel.

TEKNO: Heroic Cyborg

All guns blazing! Making his eyes light up was quite a task! But thanks to my friend JAMES, it came out great. I switched the mechanical arm to his left to set him apart from TRAPJAW. From the nose up is all me. Not really a MOTU figure, TEKNO is a character from the 2002 Argentinan Top Toys line called FUERZA-T (T-FORCE) that resurrected the 80s MOTU molds, but mixed and matched and repainted them, even giving them their own original backstories. For more on this toyline, check out HE BRO's site: http://fuerza-t.3wpages.com/

Some different views of his head.

STINKOR: Evil Master of Odors

Man of the Year! I built this custom after seeing the FOUR HORSEMEN's prototype for the as yet unreleased STINKOR figure. The head is sculpted from scratch.

KING RANDOR: Heroic Ruler of Eternia --------------------------------- I did this custom before seeing the HORSEMEN's design for the RANDOR figure. The kneebrace, left gauntlet, beard, boots, and cape are all by me. I modified HE MAN's Power Sword to look like the one wielded by CAPTAIN RANDOR.

PLATINO: Heroic Warrior with a Deadly Punch! ----------------- The leader of Fuerza-T.

DESTRUCTOR: Evil Tyrant of the Escorpius Clan ------------- The first Fuerza-T custom I did.

FAKER: Evil Robot of SKELETOR -------------------------------------- My first custom. I wasn't entirely happy with the Toyfare FAKER, so I made my own creepier version of this classic character.

The cover I did for the five-page teaser story I wrote, THE RETURN OF FAKER.

There is a full issue that leads up to this, but I haven't drawn it, partly because the animated series was going to have an origin for FAKER (robot) that is completely different from mine (clone). I plan to color these pages, but for now, read my short comic!

I've been criticized for giving TEELA big ears, but I think it's cute. Another conscious decision was FAKER's lack of pupils; it emphasizes his creepiness. Anyway, I really like the last shot of the two of them.

I'm proud of the way Castle Grayskull came out here, as well as the "We are not amused" look on HE MAN's face in his first close up.

I'm not too happy with the ensemble picture at the end. I think I rushed that frame a bit, and the characters look a little wonky to me. And I thought it would be cute to have TEELA running like a dork with her arms up, but making her too cute was a mistake. Not a good note to end on, but alas, there it ends. I do think that the shot of TEELA throwing FAKER is pretty cool.

TEELA in battle armor I designed based on the FOUR HORSEMEN's update of MAN AT ARMS. Like father, like daughter.

EVIL LYN is one of my all-time favorite characters. I designed this costume based on elements from her new costume and the one she would've worn in the proposed 1992 animated sequel series, HE-RO: Son of HE MAN.

MAN-E-FACES: fun toy, supernaturally retarded character. I always hated the idea of this character; what the Hell good is changing your face when you're walking around in magenta and blue hotpants and thigh-high S&M boots with a frackin' bucket on your head!? So I wrote an origin story that made him more interesting (by adding tragedy and horror) to me.

Before the Four Horsemen unveiled the new design for CLAMP CHAMP at last year's San Diego Comic Con, I drew my own concept for the character.

MUMM-DAR: Captain of the Evil Horde. www.he-man.org had a Redesign Challenge featuring an unproduced concept-sketch of a mummy who would've been a member of the Evil Horde, and this was my take on him.

KARG: Winged Terror! Another Redesign Challenge featured KARG, a character from the ill-received live-action film 'Masters of the Universe.' KARG was supposed to be a bat creature, but in the film he had no wings. The 2002 Mike Young Productions animated 'Masters of the Universe' featured a bat-like race known as Speleans, so I combined the designs together.

LUBIC: Eternian Peacekeeper. Another Redesign Challenge of a character from the live-action film, this character was originally Detective Lubic, played by the great character-actor, James Tolkan (Principal Strickland from 'Back to the Future,'). I gave him a more battle-practical version of his costume, but kept the Earth shotgun.

GREEN GODDESS: Guardian of Grayskull. This was a Redesign Challenge that I never finished the color on. I'll update this when I do.

I like 'Dave the Barbarian,' and I thought it'd be fun to see what these characters (CANDY, DAVE, and FANG) would look like in the 'Masters of the Universe' style. I plan on coloring this, and I'll post it when I do.

REPLIKOR: Heroic Robot. I always liked FAKER, despite his obvious design flaws, and I thought that the heroes should have a counterpart. This is a Photoshop color manipulation of an ordinary SKELETOR wearing HE MAN's armor.