Jump to content


Photo

I'm new.... here at least. ;-)


  • Please log in to reply
10 replies to this topic

#1 THE Mike

THE Mike

    Toys before the light bill.

  • Members
  • 11 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Hamilton, Ontario

Posted 19 August 2008 - 09:18 PM

Hey everyone,
Tiberiusguy emailed me about another thread where one of my customs was being discussed - and an interview I did with the old Communicator Mag years ago.

My name is Mike, and some of you may know me from the Playtrek mailing list. I started the Customizing section on playtrek.com and gained some minor population for my Star Trek customs at the time. (Armus, Ezri, Ensign Nog, Martok, etc).

Due to that mailing list, and because of the very high prices my customs were selling for at the time, I was contacted by a writer for the Star Trek magazine for an article. It didn't pan out, and in that "other" thread I mentioned, I explain why.

I'm going to copy and paste that here as well:

Way back when, someone from the Star Trek Communicator contacted me. He was also a member of the Playtrek mailing list (as many Paramount/Viacom people were).

We talked back and forth, and ultimately he told me he would like to do an article on Star Trek customizing.
It wouldn't be just me in it - but my custom Step by Step write up for how to make your own Ezri Dax would be the feature.

He asked that I take some pictures of the process to make it, and document it along the way. At this point I had no plans to make another Ezri. My plan was to give it away as a prize for that issue. I sent him the photos, he did the article (which I can't seem to find my copy of), and that was that. Or so I thought. Whoever was in charge at the time sent it to legal first - just to be safe. THEY put the brakes on the entire article because it "could cause legal matters" or something or other. He tried without success to make this article come to light, and believe me - I wanted it to as well!!

Alas, it didn't happen, and it became a mystery of the internet. I used to go under the name of Bounty Hunter Toys at the time - now I'm just "MH" (my initials for my name - Michael Heddle) I'm slowly adding all the images of all customs that I've done in the past to my own personal site - feel free to check it out for yourself - http://www.michaelheddle.com


#2 slayerone76

slayerone76

    Guinan's love slave!

  • Members
  • 2,718 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Georgetown, TX
  • Interests:Stately playboy by day ... profitable pimp by night. I like to watch movies, listen to music, go out ... friends ... food ... all the essentials of life.

Posted 19 August 2008 - 09:23 PM

Ohhh, a famous customizer! Welcome!

Here are a few cool things here at Trek Toy:

Trektoy Schematics

The Diamond Mine Q&A and Trektoy contest in the Member's Only Section

The AA/DST Pre-order Checklist

The AA/DST Checklist

Let us know if you need anything.

Jeremy

#3 FHC

FHC

    Owner

  • Owner
  • 4,495 posts
  • Gender:Male

Posted 19 August 2008 - 09:55 PM

Hey there and welcome to the forum.

For those that do not know it, what we have here is one of the better known custom figure makers in the trade. I have seen examples of his work for some time and he has made some cool pieces.



#4 Gordo

Gordo

    Tracking number maniac

  • Members
  • 97 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Posted 20 August 2008 - 05:26 AM

Hi, Mike! Welcome to the forum, and thanks for clearing up the Ezri discussion.

(Tiberius, thanks for contacting Mike!)

I hope you're enjoying your retirement from being a "Bounty Hunter." ;-) I used to visit your store with my brother, Scott, when I still lived in Hamilton. As I recall, it's thanks to you that I have the limited-release 4.5" Movie Beverly and 7 of 9 figures, among a few other hard-to-get items!

#5 THE Mike

THE Mike

    Toys before the light bill.

  • Members
  • 11 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Hamilton, Ontario

Posted 20 August 2008 - 08:46 AM

QUOTE(Gordo @ Aug 20 2008, 07:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hi, Mike! Welcome to the forum, and thanks for clearing up the Ezri discussion.

(Tiberius, thanks for contacting Mike!)

I hope you're enjoying your retirement from being a "Bounty Hunter." ;-) I used to visit your store with my brother, Scott, when I still lived in Hamilton. As I recall, it's thanks to you that I have the limited-release 4.5" Movie Beverly and 7 of 9 figures, among a few other hard-to-get items!


If memory serves me right - your brother collected Transformers as well? (Or maybe it was you!?)
I do remember most of the better customers that came through - so I think I"m right. ;-)


#6 Tiberius

Tiberius

    New Forceaholic

  • Members
  • 817 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Calgary Canada

Posted 20 August 2008 - 09:18 AM

QUOTE(Gordo @ Aug 20 2008, 05:26 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Hi, Mike! Welcome to the forum, and thanks for clearing up the Ezri discussion.

(Tiberius, thanks for contacting Mike!)

Although I knew the recipe was correct, all the talk about being in the magazine was unknown to me. I had Mike in my address book from PT, and thought, he may want to chime in. Next message I get is that he is signing into TT and awaiting approval.
Good to see you here now too Mike, perhaps you can contribute some customs on the pages of TrekToy, without all the "flash"y webpage, perhaps with some descriptions or such. I went to your page, and was quite impressed. Curious who the figure with Ilia's lower body, and Crusher's head is?

#7 Gordo

Gordo

    Tracking number maniac

  • Members
  • 97 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

Posted 20 August 2008 - 10:08 AM

QUOTE(THE Mike @ Aug 20 2008, 10:46 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
If memory serves me right - your brother collected Transformers as well? (Or maybe it was you!?)
I do remember most of the better customers that came through - so I think I"m right. ;-)

Good memory! Scott was the Transformers guy, and I was (and still am!) the Star Trek guy. :-)

#8 THE Mike

THE Mike

    Toys before the light bill.

  • Members
  • 11 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Hamilton, Ontario

Posted 20 August 2008 - 11:27 AM

QUOTE(Tiberius @ Aug 20 2008, 11:18 AM) <{POST_SNAPBACK}>
Curious who the figure with Ilia's lower body, and Crusher's head is?


Dabo girl, Rysa Mate - take your pick! :-)

I'm not sure if I'll be adding my customs on this site - they're hosted there, and that's enough for me. If people "really" want to see them, they can pop over. ;-)

Then again, I might be bored one day and upload them all here anyway!!

#9 TheHSBR

TheHSBR

    Mirror Universe Moderator

  • Global Moderators
  • 3,621 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Chicago, IL
  • Interests:This will be quite the list...Star Trek, Star Wars, wrestling, He-Man, comic books, GI Joe, video games, and most of all collecting action figures!

Posted 20 August 2008 - 05:40 PM

It might also be cool if you stopped by the custom section and took a look at some of our customizers here. A lot of the stuff is pretty impressive!

#10 Gothneo

Gothneo

    Knows Paul Bunyan

  • Members
  • 5,753 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Land of sky Blue Oxen

Posted 21 August 2008 - 05:05 AM

Welcome! Those are some great customs... and a Fascinating story! I wonder if their Legal was worried about copyright infringement? Well, it seems you were ahead of your time as Toyfare publishes custom articles in every issue now!

#11 TheHSBR

TheHSBR

    Mirror Universe Moderator

  • Global Moderators
  • 3,621 posts
  • Gender:Male
  • Location:Chicago, IL
  • Interests:This will be quite the list...Star Trek, Star Wars, wrestling, He-Man, comic books, GI Joe, video games, and most of all collecting action figures!

Posted 21 August 2008 - 06:05 AM

Toyfare back in 98/99 had the same issues where they felt it was infringing. They even ran an article on how ebay items were being taken down due to infringement. Im not quite sure where the issue turned the corner because like you said they are back to doing customs. It was a shame because some of the early Toyfare spotlights were really cool and then all of a sudden they really just dropeed a lot of the big discussions for the same reason. Ironically, now they highlight recently sold customs on ebay!




0 user(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 0 guests, 0 anonymous users