| Image from Brickpedia |
From the original minifig, I only kept the kerchief, head and hat. I thought I could get away with turning the torso around to make it solid black, but the bandoliers are printed on the back too! This was actually a good thing as it made me get a "suit" torso which looks much better than solid balck would and it has black hands which are better than the brown here. I also ordered a black cape, black legs and a pair of pistols that look more like The Shadow's .45's. They were originally yellow but a little silver paint transformed them to complete the silver plated .45 look. The cape is a tiny bit problematic because of it has to fold under the kerchief which causes one side to flair out.
All in all, getting the parts cost more than the figure itself but the results are better than I could have hoped. I bought all my parts from eBay seller sammy36496 and they get a high recommendation from me! They have a Facebook page where they encourage you to post your customs.
I went a little crazy taking pics of The Shadow because I was having fun with a couple of different flashlights and camera effects. Enjoy! And if anyone can clue me in on the trick of getting more than one photo on the same line, please let me know, it's driving me crazy.
The first one was backlit with a flashlight and enhanced with the ThumbaCam app on my Windows phone to get that smoky look.
This last one is my favorite because of the shadow being cast
Good job with the photography! I noticed some of the words in the book behind the figure were about The Shadow. I like when the text photographed behind an object is actually related! I just now learned about the books and comic books. It's kind of funny, but my knowledge of The Shadow ends with the 1930s! I like to listen to old radio programs from the 30s and 40s online. Although, from what I just read, The Shadow was in pulp magazines before the radio program existed! Anyway, The Shadow wasn't my guess yesterday. My guess was actually Clint Eastwood. :) Now that I've seen the illustrated version of The Shadow, I can see that your LEGO creation is a good match for the character.
ReplyDeleteJustine, now that you say Eastwood I can totally see that connection! I do have a couple of the Shadow pulp reprint books which are what I used for the background.
DeleteIf you enjoy listening to the radio shows, I highly recommend checking out Decoder Ring Theater. They have a long running series of modern old time radio shows (if that makes sense!) There is the Red Panda, a Canadian Shadow-like pulp hero and Blackjack Justice which is a "real world" hard-boiled detective series. As I said, they've been going for a few years now but if you start with the first episodes, the shows improve over time and you'll get more out of them by following the characters from their beginnings.
I'm a big fan of pulp lit, be it heroes, scifi or horror. They just don't make em like that anymore...Ok, sometimes they do but not often!
Totally rad, man. I love it.
ReplyDeleteI love this and is something i been wanting to do with mine but i totally slacked off of. Great job here!
ReplyDeleteGenius!
ReplyDeleteThat is one great custom. I too am a big fan of The Shadow and really enjoy seeing him get a little love.
ReplyDeleteGreat job!