Posted by Christoph S
Okay, here is my list of my personal favourite custom minifigures of this year. First I have to say this year was awesome, we got many new players and a lot of characters that I wanted for a long time. So a big thanks to all the customizers out there for doing an amazing job!
There have been so many things going on this year, a lot of Up’s and Down’s: we got scammed by CyclopsBricks, 3D-printed parts became standard for many minifigure accessories, SH Minifigures made an awesome comeback, there was a slight increase of prices, many new resellers, Christo didn’t deliver (:P), at least 3 customizers started releasing the Metal series, and on it goes… 😀
However, I feel the custom collector community is still very strong and customs become even more common these days due to the Instagram popularity.
Because of the big amount of custom minifigures this year, I had to think very hard which ones I wanted to include on this list and choose the ones that really excited and surprised me the most. You will find that there is not a single Christo custom on this list, because he didn’t send me the new ones I preordered (just a little backorder of older ones) and I refuse to include renders. I also want to mention Diamond Custom Bricks as best newcomer of this year and even though I will not include Paris’ Comedian on this list, his shoulder armor piece was my favourite custom part of this year. And last but not least I really want to thank you guys for enjoying my minifigures and pictures with me and for almost 500 Followers! Well, let’s get this party started.
10) Catwoman by Bel’s Figure. Bel’s Figure is a very special customizer. They don’t neccessarily aim for designs closest to original characters, but try to find their own designs that they think would fit the characteristics of particular characters the best. This is what made their Catwoman so special. There are so many different little details to be found all over her body, but they fit together very nicely to make a great costume. The printing quality is very high quality and the colors are crisp. The custom molded helmet piece also includes printing which fits the overall design. They only thing that I am not fully satisfied with is the eyes, while I love the grim smile, they could be more Lego-like.
9) New 52 Shazam by ParisCustomBricks. Since the minifigures with molded parts are still in production I obviously couldn’t include one of them though I am very excited to receive any of them. Still, the new Shazam easily makes this list, because of his crisp printing and his awesome smile. I think this version represents the comic original best out of all the Shazam customs that we got so far. I even don’t like the SDCC classic as much as this one, he looks so serious. Most important of all, Brothersfigure never finished the duo so we were stuck with a new 52 Black Adam for so long without ever getting his rival. ParisCustomBricks really made sure that they would go together perfectly, design-wise.
8) Jack by WallerCustoms. I am a big Marvel fan when it comes to movies, but there were a few DC movies that were just awesome. So for example the Burton Batman movies from the 90’s. I think we never got DC movies that close to comic books besides those. Jack Nicholson was an awesome Joker and so I was really excited when this minifigure was released. WallerCustoms managed to capture all the amazing details of this custume and especially the faceprint is fantastic.
7) Kid Flash by Funnybrick. This one is easy. Delivering a minifigure that hasn’t been there in official form staying close to TLG’s design templates, print in the highest of quality’s and give it a custom headpiece that doesn’t make it stand out too much in an existing collection. This is the perfect recipe and Funnybrick is next to Christo on top of the list when it comes to Lego-like minifigures in my opinion. You don’t always have to overdue it to create awesomeness.
6) Cable by BrothersFigure. This character was dearly missed, since there is no Deadpool without Cable. I am so glad that Brothersfigure released this particular minifigure without any type of coating, because this would really mess up the colours. From the custom hairpiece to the chrome printed arm and the sheer amount of pouches they managed to capture the comic design perfectly. What really stands out is the gold plating in the left eye, this one is awesome.
5) Dark Phoenix by Lab9 x UG Minifigures. I am not really sure how the collaboration of Lab9 and UG works, who makes the designs, who makes the custom parts…, but I am glad that they decided to go this way. There were a lot of awesome releases so far and my favourite has to be this awesome Dark Phoenix comic version. The torso print is so awesome and you can’t argue that UG’s gold printing is smooth as can be. The custom hairpiece is hard plastic and is very ambitious, because it gives the minfigure the enraged look that makes this unpredictable character so intimidating. The eyes are also amazing.
4) Infinite Arachnid by Phoenix Custom Bricks. Now on to my top favourites of this year. Infinity War was without a doubt the most anticipated superhero movie of this year and it was clear from the beginning that the custom minifigures would come flooding. Fun fact: This minifigure by PhoenixCustomBricks is the minifigure I was most asked about this year by Non-Lego or Non-custom fans, because Tom Holland Spiderman was so popular in the media that everybody at least knows about him and was taken by surprise how incredible a minifigure design could look. Chapeau Adam, you jumped your borders. 😀 Me, I had to look at the official minifigure design for a second to realise that simply everything about this custom minifigure is so much better. I am in love with the expressive eyes and the contrast of gold and blue simply looks amazing.
3) Future Batman by UG Minifigures. This one surprised me most. It is actually a videogame design of Batman Beyond and I don’t play Batman video games, but I wanted to get this minifigure for the great helmet piece. When it arrived I was so amazed about the red chrome plating on the torso and legs, because you couldn’t see that on the sample photos. UG have really outdone themselves with this minifigure, they captured so many details and the custom molded helmet is so awesome and totally different from all the Batman helmets we have gotten so far. These fully armored minifigures are also the only ones where I excuse front toe printing (I usually hate this).
2) Jean Grey by Diamond Custom Bricks. What can I say, I really love the X-Men and I have waited for a classic Jean Grey since TLG released their first X-Men characters. Now, years later we have finally gotten a minifigure that is better than I had ever imagined her. You can see that Diamond Custom Bricks really work hard on their designs to make them perfect as can be. We even will get a new printed legpiece for this minifigure in the future to make it more smooth. Overall the exact representation of her comic design really blew me away. I especially like the faceprint and the custom hairpiece.
1) The Dark Knight by Phoenix Custom Bricks. After a waiting time of 2 years finally the main character of my favourite Superhero movie is here. Phoenix Custom Brick’s design does this character justice, it is utterly without flaws and this minifigure deserves nothing less than #1. I think the most stunning part is the perfectly aligned mask that gives the minifigure so much character. The extremely detailed work, the high quality custom molded parts and his need for perfection make Adam my favourite customizer there is. I am glad that I was part of experiencing the step by step progress to make an end product that good. I am now only hoping for a Joker from Phoenix to go with it.
That’s all folks. At least for this year. What are your thoughts on these and which were your favourites?
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