ACFS Phantom11 - American Custom Figure Symposium 2007 1/6 12 Inch Action Figure Toy Show

1. How long have you been collecting and customizing the 1/6 scale and 12-inch action figure hobby?

My collecting started pretty much when the first G.I. Joe was introduced back in the 60's. I was 2, and can safely say I STILL remember that Christmas when Joe arrived. The number of figures I had expanded with the number that were available, as I would constantly ask my parents for the latest one each Christmas or birthday. When 1/6 figures more or less disappeared in the mid-70's, my collection pretty much disappeared, too, until I had the idea to buy my brother an old G.I. Joe for his birthday in the late 80's. A trip to the flea market revealed that there were LOTS of vintage Joes out there, and the collecting bug hit me HARD. I started collecting old Joes first, and then it seemed like everyone had the same idea. As renewed interest in 1/6 grew, and new manufacturers started releasing new 1/6 figures, my collection once again started growing by leaps and bounds. I've been customizing them since about 2004.

2. How did you get started in the hobby?

I've got CustomDawg to thank for that! After a chance encounter with his website, seeing his amazing custom work and reading his philosophy about customizing and his own story of how he got involved, I was hooked. 100 %. I'd been doing work on building and painting garage kits, some in 1/6 scale, often customized, but never made the leap to doing similar work on figures. CustomDawg's work, and the links he provided to work being shown by artisans in Asia, as well as many incredibly talented artisans here in the U.S., changed that for me.

3. We all have other hobbies that we like, but why this one? What is the main “hook” that inspires you to continue your passion for this particular hobby?

I think it has to do with my enduring and very long standing fascination with the human form. I've been doing 2 dimensional art since a very young age, and went through an arts curriculum (oil painting, watercolor, sculpture) during part of my college years. All throughout that time, I was obsessesed with depicting the body in ever more realistic fashion; be it a painting or a sculpture, or even a model kit. For me, the ultimate creative challenge was to take a base material, whether it be resin, or plastic, or oil paints and canvas, and recreate what I consider to be one of the most beautiful and complex of organic forms. I think my initial fascination with 1/6 action figures lay with the combination of a ready made realistic looking form, PLUS the ability to pose that form; giving one the ability to create mood using "body language", and so further replicate a sense of life in something that is lifeless. Customizing just pushes that ability to fool the eye even further, to the point where a photo of an action figure could cause someone to think, even only for a second, "Hmm, is that a REAL person?"