Meanwhile - At the Hall of Justice

We’ve talked about making your own action figures before – but today we’ll focus on a specific tutorial: Zan and Jayna, The Wonder Twins.

The Wonder Twins were made-for-TV super heroes, debuting on the 1970s Super Friends cartoon. I can hear the television executives now:

“We need more teenagers. We need twins! We need alien twins!! We need one of them to turn into any kind of animal, mythical or real!!! And we need the other one to turn into water!!!!”

And thus, The Wonder Twins were born. Those executives must have been on to something, because my daughter loves them. There can never be enough girl superheroes, and Jayna is way cooler than her brother (and most of the other guys as well). The only official Wonder Twins action figures made were Comicon exclusives in the DC Universe Classics scale. This makes them (1) out of scale with the rest of her superhero toys and (2) very, very expensive. If you want the bonus pack with their monkey Gleek, just forget about it. I refuse to spend that much on a toy. So, I had no other choice than to roll my own.

When choosing a scale, I went with the 1980s Kenner Super Powers line because I have a near complete set of figures along with the Hall of Justice that my daughter and I actually play with. The rest of the cast and their home base were ready to go. The Super Powers series is nearly identical to the later Toy Biz DC Comics Super Heroes line, which has cheaper plastic and lamer features. You can find “well loved” versions of these toys on eBay that are inexpensive and perfect for customizing.

Ingredients: Super Powers Superman (Zan), Super Powers Wonder Woman (Jayna), black sculpey oven-bake clay, acrylic paints, Mod Podge, Sharpie Ultra-Fine markers.

Tools: Dremel, sandpaper, X-acto knife, heat gun (optional)

Step 1: Begin by cleaning the figures, especially those that may be well played with, to see what you’re working with.

Step 2: Remove all “signature” elements of the character that don’t need to be ported over to your finished creation. In Wonder Woman’s case, this meant getting a haircut via the dremel and X-acto knife and having the embossed pattern of her bustier removed by sandpaper. This part was creepy and definitely had the vibe of abusing dolls (isn’t that how serial killers start out?). Do it quickly.

Step 3: Sculpt any new signature elements that the figure needs with Sculpey clay and attach it to the figure. Zan and Jayna both received custom hair. Once the clay is carved and ready, set the clay with a heat gun or use the oven-bake directions. Be careful when baking your action figure. The plastic will begin to melt and they may get a bit deformed. Plus, you may be introducing chemicals into the place that you prepare your food. That’s why I prefer a heat gun. You can concentrate the heat, it’s faster, and you don’t have to worry about ruining the figure.

Wonder Twins Power - Activate!

Step 4: Paint your figure using acrylic paints, letting the paint dry between coats. For details, use the ultra-fine sharpies. For the chest emblems, I created the logos in Photoshop, printed them out on standard office paper and then glued them to the figure with Mod Podge. When you’re done, seal the entire figure with Mod Podge. After the seal has cured, they’re ready for play.

You do need to be more careful with your custom figures if you plan to actually play with them. They are not as robust as their store-bought cousins. I also had to make a conscious decision to not sweat the small stuff and not try to make a picture-perfect recreation (I totally skimped on the collars – I knew they wouldn’t last five minutes).

When we completed the project, not only did we have another cool toy to add to our shelf; but an object that serves as a lasting reminder of what was important for my girl when she was five.

“Form of – An Eagle!”

“Shape of – Water!”

“Real spacey, Zan. Real spacey.”