Converting Arnold Schwarzenegger KP Conan Head

Here we go again.

There was something a little off with the recent Conan head that was designed to go with Kaustic Plastik's Masterclass Warrior set (reviewed HERE). Apart from some possibly questionable choices in the paint, the most obvious problem was the sculpted hair. While it was decently (not super finely) sculpted, it looked like molded plastic (which is admittedly what it was). Mr Toys had just released their own Conan set (reviewed HERE) which, while largely based on earlier work by Kaustic Plastik, broke new ground by offering us a Conan with "real" hair. Between this and my earlier attempts to create an Arnold Schwarzenegger-as-Conan head sculpt (using one of the Hot Toys Terminator heads), and my recent modification to the Hot Toys Jason Momoa Aquaman head sculpt (replacing the sculpted hair with "real" hair -- see HERE), the next step was obvious. But this was going to be a slightly more ambitious project, because it involved not only removing the plastic hair and replacing it with "real" hair, but also filling in and repainting likely or potentially visible grooves in the head sculpt, detaching, modifying, and repainting the headgear (so it would be both screen accurate and removable, not to mention so that I could put in the hair properly), and also partly modifying, repainting, and remounting the necklace ornaments on a more sensible string that would allow the necklace to hang about right.

This time I took more photos to illustrate more of the steps, in case someone finds this helpful for modifying this or a different sculpt.

Just in case I did something horribly wrong, I managed to get myself an extra Kaustic Plastik Conan head (1). As I had noticed before, the hair was made of soft plastic, and divided into sections (two side locks and a larger back piece, separated by the headband from the crown of the head hairpiece, which last was actually part of the head sculpt), just like Hot Toys' Aquaman head. So, I heated up the head sculpt a little with a hair dryer (not much was actually needed), and gently pried off the large hair piece covering the back of the head (2).



Then I proceeded to dislodge the headband, which was (if I recall) divided at the back of the head on one end of the sculpted strings holding the two parts together. I heated and gently pried off the headband from the head, into which it was ensconced by virtue of several sections fitting into indented grooves that were parts of the head sculpt (3a-5). One of them was right in the middle of the forehead (4-5).



With the headband off, I gently pried off and removed the two side locks of hair (4-5).



With the headband and all detachable hairpieces removed, it was necessary to remove almost all of the molded hair that was an integral part of the head sculpt at the crown of the head (4a-4d). I left in place a little hair over the forehead, since that can be a challenging transition between sculpted face and "real" hair.



After a failed experiment with Vallejo acrylic putty, I filled the visible grooves in the forehead and temples with Kneadatite Blue/Yellow Epoxy Putty (the kind that comes in a tape and you mash and knead it together into a malleable green substance for sculpting and filling -- a skill I learned from members of OneSixthFigures) (5). It was my first experience with this material, but I think it worked reasonably well. Someone with greater skill and patience, would have done more in the way of sculpting bone and flesh structure and gotten the filling to sit completely flush and seamless (with filing down). Since this was going to be obscured most of the time by the headband (for the classic look), I didn't worry about it too much, though I wanted it to look ok even when exposed. Once the Kneadatite had cured overnight, I painted it with Vallejo Acrylics, trying to get as close as possible to the head's skin tone (which is perhaps not ideal itself, but I didn't want to repaint the whole thing -- which might actually have been the way to do it); I also took the opportunity to fix the hairline and darken the eyebrows. As far as painting the head, that was it (6).



Then came my "favorite" part (I'm being sarcastic), the application of the hair. I picked a warmish milk chocolate brown, because that is pretty close to Arnold's appearance on the screen during the film. Using as a basic guide the technique outlined by Morezmore (HERE), but also taking some shortcuts and utilizing superglue, I basically went in rings around the back and sides of the head, starting with a level above the edge of the head sculpt's neck and making my way upwards (7-9b).



Having gently removed as many loose strands of hair as I could, I gently rinsed it with water, gathered it backwards, and let it dry (10a-10c).



After this I cut the hair to approximate Conan's appearance in Conan the Destroyer (since that is where we see the matching outfit and accessories) -- I didn't cut as short as I should, just in case I made a mistake -- and filled up any visible "holes" (there were surprisingly few) with either more hair or acrylic marker (11). Then it was time to add the headband and the necklace and complete the modification (12).

I had shaved down the inside of the headband (especially the parts that were designed to protrude so that they could fit into the grooves in the head sculpt) to make it thinner, so that it would fit more easily around the modified head; I glued it shut at the back, and when the glue had cured, it fit the head like a charm. I had also repainted the pyramidal ornaments on the head band in brass, to match the film appearance. The ornaments on the necklace were all correct (except for the color of the "sun" or "wheel" pendant), but the necklace did not work at all. I had to remove each ornament and glue it onto a thin leather string which could hang a little more naturally (it is also malleable, if needed). I made sure to place the fangs correctly (both for appearance and so that they no longer attempted to bite into the body), and glued their now purely decorative fastenings in place. Similarly, I made sure the pendant sat ("hung") correctly, glued on a couple of pieces of string to match the screen appearance, and repainted it in brass, for the same reason (12).



Here are a couple of comparisons: with the unaltered KP head and necklace, and...



with the Mr Toys head (the necklace for that set has the wrong pendant).



I don't know if I would call it perfect, but I'm pretty happy with the way it turned out. There are some additional things that can be done, for example a shampoo+conditioner treatment to create more waviness in the hair. For this shot I put the modified head, headband, and necklace on the rest of the KP set, but that would require some additional minor modifications to be completely movie accurate. I suppose it is a work in progress.



What do you think?

#custom #kitbash #modification #arnoldschwarzenegger #conan #barbarian #destroyer #film #fiction #fantasy #kausticplastik #kp #head #headsculpt #hair #male #tbleague #phicen #body

That looks really good I wish i had the nerve to try it. Thinking my original Gandalf figure who's a little thin on top.

I'm not decrying the excellent job you have done but doesn't it gall you that you had to do all that after paying what in my book is a good amount of money for the original?

Great job, GF! I once again applaud your courage in doing this, even with a spare head on hand. I have so many mods that I want to do, and yet I’m always too scared to even start, so I always appreciate you sharing your experiments with us. In this case it turned out really well! You made that sculpt look so much better now!

Thank you also for including the photos showing hair-glueing process in more detail —very helpful!

The pendent likewise is a big improvement. I’m not yet sure what I’ll do with the Mr.Toys one, but we’ll see.

Regarding styling the hair, it seems like it would be a bit risky to have to rinse the hair like that? I guess it depends on the hairstyle in question, but with the Tibetan lamb hair, I’ve had some success with just using a small spray bottle and misting the hair with water that way. Once wet, I use a type of hair gel that dries completely clear and does not leave flakey residue. If the hair is already smooth and I want to keep it that way, then while damp from the misting, I just smooth a very small amount onto the outer surface. It dries and helps keep the hair in place. Alternatively, for a more curly, wavy, or tousled look, after misting the hair, I once again run a little bit of that same hair gel through it, but sort of ‘scrunch’ it into the hair, and then let it dry.

The results of this probably depend greatly on the original state of the lamb hair in question (in terms of how curly it is to begin with). I don’t know if this method would be helpful or not on this particular instance, but thought I’d mention in case. : )

Excellent job, and thanks for all the detailed info — both in writing and photos. He turned out great — vast improvement.

A self fulfilling prophecy: Give the Gubernator moulded hair, and so he replaceth it with the Tibetan Lamb.

The 'sectioned' hair, thanks to the headband, seems quite convenient. Also good job with the necklace, gravity at that scale is not always your friends.

Glad you use green stuff now, it will be your friend from now on! (Sometimes enemy, but most of the time, friend)

Delanie wrote:That looks really good I wish i had the nerve to try it. Thinking my original Gandalf figure who's a little thin on top.

I'm not decrying the excellent job you have done but doesn't it gall you that you had to do all that after paying what in my book is a good amount of money for the original?

Thank you very much! And I'm sure if you tried some of this on Gandalf, it would work like magic. But if you haven't done it before, maybe experiment on something else first. This is (I think) the fifth time I've given a head "real" hair, and it still feels a little daunting to try.

And yes, to a point; I do feel like they could have given us what I ended up with in the first place. As the Mr Toys set has demonstrated, it is perfectly possible to have a Conan head sculpt with "real" hair and a removable plastic headband; my modification shows how easy it would have been to get there even without that point of reference (for example, the KP headband, even if intended to be part of the head sculpt, was actually a separate piece that was stuck onto it; it could easily have been made removable and fitted over a head sculpt with "real" hair). But at the same time, I cannot be too annoyed. No one is making me buy these, or buy extra pieces to modify (in case I botch the job; and while I'm not the type of collector to keep acquisitions mint and sealed in unopened packaging, I do not really like to mess with complete sets except as a last resort); without the pretty good work KP did on individual pieces or parts thereof (for example, the necklace ornaments, though not the way they put together the whole thing), this kind of custom would have been much more difficult or not possible. As for the money, some of his life choices apart, I do have an appreciation of both the actor (Arnie) and the character (Conan), so I was willing to invest more funds and more effort in this than in most other things (though I have much less investment in Aquaman/Jason Momoa, and did a similar, if less complicated modification, mostly on principle and out of curiosity to see how it turned out).

skywalkersaga wrote:Great job, GF! I once again applaud your courage in doing this, even with a spare head on hand. I have so many mods that I want to do, and yet I’m always too scared to even start, so I always appreciate you sharing your experiments with us. In this case it turned out really well! You made that sculpt look so much better now!

Thank you also for including the photos showing hair-glueing process in more detail —very helpful!

The pendant likewise is a big improvement. I’m not yet sure what I’ll do with the Mr.Toys one, but we’ll see.

Regarding styling the hair, it seems like it would be a bit risky to have to rinse the hair like that? I guess it depends on the hairstyle in question, but with the Tibetan lamb hair, I’ve had some success with just using a small spray bottle and misting the hair with water that way. Once wet, I use a type of hair gel that dries completely clear and does not leave flakey residue. If the hair is already smooth and I want to keep it that way, then while damp from the misting, I just smooth a very small amount onto the outer surface. It dries and helps keep the hair in place.  Alternatively, for a more curly, wavy, or tousled look, after misting the hair, I once again run a little bit of that same hair gel through it, but sort of ‘scrunch’ it into the hair, and then let it dry.  

The results of this probably depend greatly on the original state of the lamb hair in question (in terms of how curly it is to begin with). I don’t know if this method would be helpful or not on this particular instance, but thought I’d mention in case. : )

Thank you very much! And welcome. Yes, this one was scarier than usual, what with the grooves and holes to be filled, sculpted (even remedially, in my case), and repainted. I'm sure others could do better, but I'm pretty satisfied with the result. The head was pretty good to begin with, which helps. Theoretically, you could do a simpler mod (without the filling/sculpting/repainting), by disassembling the pieces, removing the molded hair at the crown of the head, replacing it with "real" hair, shaving off the attachment protrusions on the headband except for the one that goes into the forehead, and then putting it back together -- but then you would limit yourself to that one look. I wanted to keep it a bit more versatile.

While the hair gluing process is annoying (with going through at least two dozen toothpicks in the process of trying not to get glue everywhere), it is getting a little easier (or is it just more familiar). The touch and go part was on top and especially the front of the head -- I was trying to cover the sculpted locks over the forehead with "real" hair but didn't want to actually remove them. I think it worked ok. I had a choice between this and another set of lamb hair which was darker, which I liked better visually (though in this film Conan's hair tends to be on the lighter side) but was more curly, so I decided against it. So thanks for the styling advice. The way I have been doing the hair (with superglue), I have had no problems rinsing and shampooing the hair (or else you would not have gotten any Fire-Man Chad photos, since virtually every one requires messing with the hair). Perhaps it is the products I've tried, but whenever I apply conditioner proper to the hair, it ends up clumping in an unhelpful way, so I end up having to rinse it out. So when necessary (and I haven't tried this in the Conan customized head yet), I use a shampoo+conditioner combo diluted with water applied to the hair and not rinsed out. As long as it leaves no visible residue, it works well as a non-permanent solution (which is what I want).

As for the pendant, if you want screen accuracy, the best idea would be to get yourself a parted-out necklace from the KP Masterclass set (as I did for the mod); trying to sculpt the pendant and fangs on your own is a difficult and less than ideal process, I should know (I did that for my original custom before these sets became available). The Mr Toys necklace has the wrong pendant (which is featured elsewhere in the movies), and its fangs (which don't go with that pendant anyway) are a bit undersized (in my set, they also don't sit/hang very well).

If you modify the KP necklace, carefully remove the pendant and the fangs from the KP narrow (but not narrow enough) leather strap and mount them with glue onto a fabric or (as in my case) leather string. The hardest part was keeping the little fastenings for the fangs on -- I had to cut them to emancipate them from the leather strap, but I needed them visually, so I glued them inside the hole in each fang (from the back) and also glued the loose ends around the back of each fang. (But one could just as easily paint a thin brown line over them, producing the same effect.) I mounted everything on the string with glue, making sure it sat flat and that the fangs pointed in the correct direction and angle (when hung), instead of trying to sink into the body (as was the case with the original KP mounting). I also glued on a couple tiny bits of string to convey the way the pendant was "tied" to the string of the necklace. And then I painted the pendant in brass -- ideally that should have been done first, when it was loose, but I was concerned some of the paint might crack or chip while handling, because the pendant was made of relatively soft plastic (I wish they had gone with metal, for various reasons, including adding actual weight at the bottom of the necklace). The brass coloring is screen accurate, and looks great in hand, although unfortunately it photographs poorly.

Here are a couple of zoomed-in shots of the necklace and (if anyone finds this also helpful) the headband. Speaking of which, you could either improve the Mr Toys head band by painting some extra studs on the nose protector (which is a little screen inaccurate and too narrow), or you could get a KP head and appropriate and modify the headband from it -- whatever you do with the rest of the sculpt (though if you are only using the headband, it would be a rather pricey investment).



Hope this helps.

Stryker2011 wrote:Excellent job, and thanks for all the detailed info — both in writing and photos. He turned out great — vast improvement.

Thank you very much and welcome! I'm glad you agree!

Ovy wrote:A self fulfilling prophecy: Give the Gubernator moulded hair, and so he replaceth it with the Tibetan Lamb.

The 'sectioned' hair, thanks to the headband, seems quite convenient. Also good job with the necklace, gravity at that scale is not always your friends.

Glad you use green stuff now, it will be your friend from now on! (Sometimes enemy, but most of the time, friend)

LOL. Yes, it was convenient to have sectioned and glued-on hair -- much more convenient than having to "shave" a whole head's worth of plastic (as it was, that was only necessary on the crown of the head).

Thanks, the necklace turned out ok, though I still wonder if I shouldn't have used fabric string after all. I went with the thin and theoretically malleable leather string, as it was a bit closer to the very narrow leather strip used in the film (KP got their idea from there, but couldn't make the leather strip narrow enough in sixth scale, and the thing just didn't work in practice), but fabric would have hung better. The main problem is that the pendant is light plastic, not heavier metal or ceramic.

You were definitely one of the main reasons I went for "green stuff," so thank you for the info and encouragement! And I thought we were always friends!

By the way, if you have any simple advice on how to make "green stuff" fill sit and look more seamless (besides "get more skill and patience"), it would be much appreciated.

great work, it looks so much better with "real" hair, leaps and bounds. makes me wonder why there's so few of them head sculpts right out of the box, apart from the price there's not one reason i'd pick a sculpt with molded hair over soft one. it always seem to get into the way of posing and more often than not it looks off if it is used for long hair styles.
kudos for having the guts cutting the sculpt apart like that, i had cold feet midway and i was just removing the inner neck connector. bummer the m35 had to have such a large metal ball on top. but even if the width would have fit, the length(inlay intact) would have let to "giraffe" no matter what.

makes me get back to conan themed 1/6 stuff again wheres a proper thorgrim and rexor when you need one? hell even picts would suffice as canon fodder.

fun fact, i'm enjoying my vacation so far, spanish beach and all and was soooo close to tag little arnie along. bummer the weight limit was already exceeded by far plus metal objects (marto letter opener) and flight security usually don't mix well even had some pretty dumb commentary picking up the tiny thing in the first place, guy at the office gave me the speech about "importing stabbing weapons". couldn't help but unpack the thing right before his eyes and made tiny stab motions..... not funny for him, i thought it to be hilarious
oh and by the way "greenstuff" is a life saver, almost ruined a kp rubber body when i tried to make a wolfenstein figure, few years later he's a happy baraka with neck intact again

cheers and keep the good stuff coming

Tjolnir wrote:great work, it looks so much better with "real" hair, leaps and bounds. makes me wonder why there's so few of them head sculpts right out of the box, apart from the price there's not one reason i'd pick a sculpt with molded hair over soft one. it always seem to get into the way of posing and more often than not it looks off if it is used for long hair styles.
kudos for having the guts cutting the sculpt apart like that, i had cold feet midway and i was just removing the inner neck connector. bummer the m35 had to have such a large metal ball on top. but even if the width would have fit, the length(inlay intact) would have let to "giraffe" no matter what.

makes me get back to conan themed 1/6 stuff again wheres a proper thorgrim and rexor when you need one? hell even picts would suffice as canon fodder.

fun fact, i'm enjoying my vacation so far, spanish beach and all and was soooo close to tag little arnie along. bummer the weight limit was already exceeded by far plus metal objects (marto letter opener) and flight security usually don't mix well even had some pretty dumb commentary picking up the tiny thing in the first place, guy at the office gave me the speech about "importing stabbing weapons". couldn't help but unpack the thing right before his eyes and made tiny stab motions..... not funny for him, i thought it to be hilarious
oh and by the way "greenstuff" is a life saver, almost ruined a kp rubber body when i tried to make a wolfenstein figure, few years later he's a happy baraka with neck intact again

cheers and keep the good stuff coming

Thank you very much! I completely agree about the preferable use of "real" hair -- at least for any long-haired look. This KP sculpt has soft plastic hair, which is an improvement on the stiff and heavy hair they used before, but there is no substitute for "real" hair.

Like I wrote in the other thread (the KP set review), it appears the problem with the neck connector was limited (in my experience) to the first of these heads I had picked up -- maybe it was imperceptibly distorted, and clamping down on the neck connector, making it harder to use. On the second head, which I used for the mod, I had no issues with it -- using it or removing it, etc.

Whether you are picking up whole sets (these are becoming scarce) or parted out pieces, now might be a good time to get Conan stuff (while supplies last, as they say). Except for the prices, of course...

Enjoy the vacation, and stay away from any sharp or alarming objects. I hope you get to complete your Wolfenstein, too.

Tjolnir wrote:great work, it looks so much better with "real" hair, leaps and bounds. makes me wonder why there's so few of them head sculpts right out of the box, apart from the price there's not one reason i'd pick a sculpt with molded hair over soft one. it always seem to get into the way of posing and more often than not it looks off if it is used for long hair styles.

Truer words were never spoken, my friend. I have always found it annoying that Hot Toys seems determined to never give their male figures with long hair the real thing, and now they seem to be sliding backwards on some of their females. So frustrating. But unfortunately the insecure males who hate rooted hair (“I don’t like collecting Barbie’s!”) are far more adamant in their complaints to HT.

Stryker2011 wrote:Truer words were never spoken, my friend. I have always found it annoying that Hot Toys seems determined to never give their male figures with long hair the real thing, and now they seem to be sliding backwards on some of their females. So frustrating. But unfortunately the insecure males who hate rooted hair (“I don’t like collecting Barbie’s!”) are far more adamant in their complaints to HT.

I think I miss a lot by not being a member of the Sideshow Freaks board. If that's where you encounter this sort of silliness. I mean, to each his/her own, but come on. By the same token that you need soft good to allow for realism and articulation, you need "real" hair for long hairdos.

GubernatorFan wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:Truer words were never spoken, my friend. I have always found it annoying that Hot Toys seems determined to never give their male figures with long hair the real thing, and now they seem to be sliding backwards on some of their females. So frustrating. But unfortunately the insecure males who hate rooted hair (“I don’t like collecting Barbie’s!”) are far more adamant in their complaints to HT.

I think I miss a lot by not being a member of the Sideshow Freaks board. If that's where you encounter this sort of silliness. I mean, to each his/her own, but come on. By the same token that you need soft good to allow for realism and articulation, you need "real" hair for long hairdos.

It is where I see it the most. And I also find it funny when someone does what you have done, and many of the same people that complain about rooted hair compliment the work done by those customizers. To me, with all the “realism” of these figures to give them plastic hair reverts them back to Toys, instead of High-End Collectibles. I get that not every factory can pull off rooted hair well, but the more they work at it, the better they will get. Giving up after a couple of let-downs is just taking the easy way out.

You are becoming the master at adding real hair. Looks great. Keep 'em a comin. Whose next?

Forgive me if this is a silly question, but how exactly do people complain to Hot Toys? Is HT just reading the SSF boards and pandering to their every whim? Or is there some other way people complain to them, like via social media? I’m just confused as to why a company like that would be listening (and catering) to just one particular group of outdated dudebros on one single forum...

ETA: And thank you, GF, for the detailed explanations of how to make the accessories more screen-accurate. I have no idea how many KP parts I’ll be able to pick up, but I’ll see what I can do. I think even just fixing the Mr. Toys necklace so it’s not so long might help.

I do think your modded KP headsculpt is now the better of the two in terms of likeness to Conan Arnie.

Stryker2011 wrote:It is where I see it the most. And I also find it funny when someone does what you have done, and many of the same people that complain about rooted hair compliment the work done by those customizers. To me, with all the “realism” of these figures to give them plastic hair reverts them back to Toys, instead of High-End Collectibles. I get that not every factory can pull off rooted hair well, but the more they work at it, the better they will get. Giving up after a couple of let-downs is just taking the easy way out.

Interesting paradox. And completely agree about HT shooting themselves in the leg by failing to provide for this basic bit of extra realism.

actionfiguremovies2 wrote:You are becoming the master at adding real hair. Looks great.  Keep 'em a comin. Whose next?

Thank you very much! I'm not sure who's next, I have no one specific in mind at the time, but either a made up/fantasy character or the next head sculpt I want that comes with stupid molded long hair is a likely guess.

skywalkersaga wrote:Forgive me if this is a silly question, but how exactly do people complain to Hot Toys? Is HT just reading the SSF boards and pandering to their every whim? Or is there some other way people complain to them, like via social media? I’m just confused as to why a company like that would be listening (and catering) to just one particular group of outdated dudebros on one single forum...    

ETA: And thank you, GF, for the detailed explanations of how to make the accessories more screen-accurate. I have no idea how many KP parts I’ll be able to pick up, but I’ll see what I can do. I think even just fixing the Mr. Toys necklace so it’s not so long might help.

I do think your modded KP headsculpt is now the better of the two in terms of likeness to Conan Arnie.

Good question. Is there HT presence (open or secret) on Freaks?

You're very welcome. If you want to stick to the Mr Toys necklace, which is not right in itself or right for that look, remove the fangs -- or maybe it easier to simply transfer the pendant to another piece of string. If you pick up any KP parts, the sword (just fine as is) and the necklace (for modification) might be the most useful, especially if you don't want to mess with the head sculpt and its components.

And thank you very much, glad you approve!

Aw, you are welcome! And yeah, obviously would rather be screen-accurate, but just figuring out how to make do with what I’ve got at hand. If I can, I will try to get those two parted-out KP items, as I do think they would improve the overall figure. : )

Truer words were never spoken, my friend. I have always found it annoying that Hot Toys seems determined to never give their male figures with long hair the real thing, and now they seem to be sliding backwards on some of their females. So frustrating. But unfortunately the insecure males who hate rooted hair (“I don’t like collecting Barbie’s!”) are far more adamant in their complaints to HT.

thanks, had to read the middle part twice and to make sure first: i read correctly and not had to many beers under the spanish sun and second: not spit out said beer laughing and gurgling at the same time who on earth would value a part of his hobby differently based on the used materials as if the people in question wouldn't doubt his "masculinity " in the first place anyways for collecting "dolls"
i don't think the average joe is shunning rooted hair AND on the other hand is perfectly on board of the top of the 1/6 "kids toy" is made of plastic as well o.O . if someone was to make fun of the topic seeing a grown person with 1/6 stuff in hand or on shelve would be reason enough.
the old boss of mine, who might i say would be the german counterpart of a proper english gentleman( if such a thing exists ) always made fun of my "nazi barbies" in a way we both had a good chuckle. i used to orderd the figures directly to my workplace, still do, for i am there 10 hours a day.
he was kind of fascinated though still deemed them "unnecessary" for the served no other purpose but to be posed.
never had a problem with my hobby being public(occasionally i ask for coworkers opinions for they are honest based on the fact that they don't give a damn in the first place ) even my wife doesn"t mind and while she comments about the buildings i create for my dioramas, she's not very fond of the violence portrait within.
other than that its my business in terms of how i spend my money and my time.

so if my "masculinity" would depend on rooted or molded hair i'd be in deep trouble.
fun fact, if anything, molded hair looks far more like ken from barbie, sooooo

skywalkersaga wrote:Forgive me if this is a silly question, but how exactly do people complain to Hot Toys? Is HT just reading the SSF boards and pandering to their every whim? Or is there some other way people complain to them, like via social media? I’m just confused as to why a company like that would be listening (and catering) to just one particular group of outdated dudebros on one single forum...    

ETA: And thank you, GF, for the detailed explanations of how to make the accessories more screen-accurate. I have no idea how many KP parts I’ll be able to pick up, but I’ll see what I can do. I think even just fixing the Mr. Toys necklace so it’s not so long might help.

I do think your modded KP headsculpt is now the better of the two in terms of likeness to Conan Arnie.

It’s my understanding that the majority of comments reach them via Facebook. They don’t always care what people think, and don’t always change things based on those complaints, but JC Hong has his own Facebook account, and he listens quite a bit (he’s pretty much the Star sculptor for the majority of HT projects). Many people recently complained about Amadala at the cons, and he posted that it was just an early prototype and that many upgrades would be made — so, as I said, he does listen. Though some things can’t always be changed with so many people getting the final say.

Ah ok, thanks for explaining. I figured it must have been via some form of social media, so that makes sense. : )

Yet another nefarious side to social media (as if we needed another)? Although in principle, like the Force, social media is grey and can be used both for good and evil. JC Hong listening should generally be a good thing, but like Mark said, it's more complicated than that.

Not at all a Conan fan, but what you ended up with looks a hell of a lot better than what you started off with.

ThePhotogsBlog wrote:Not at all a Conan fan, but what you ended up with looks a hell of a lot better than what you started off with.  

Thank you very much! That is high praise indeed. I can relate, as I too can appreciate well done figures and customs regardless of whether they are my thing or not.

excellent mod !!
well done !

Allotropos wrote:excellent mod !! well done !

Thank you very much!