My first ever [Nendoroid] custom!DiaryPrevNextPrevNext

Hi MFC!

Im back with a first timer for me! I have never done a custom before despite having a few ideas fly back and forth over the years since I started collecting Nendoroids. Yall have also inspired me a bit after reading some amazing custom articles/tutorials. So finally, I decided to do one myself!


Ok, so a little back story. Ever since ITEM #1086738 was announced, I was extremely hopeful that he would come with a plethora of accessories; one of which including the eye beam lasers and yes I know they are called space ripper stingy eyes but lets all be real honest: that's a dumb name and I refuse to use it. . Sadly, after it was officially revealed, I was bummed. Not only did he not come with a lot of other cool accessory pieces (remember his ice powers? his arm veins? head regeneration? Clearly not Medicos (¬､¬)), but effectively his eye lasers were completely omitted. JoJo nendos are sadly facing the same accessory drought as many other modern nendoroids, but this was one I was not going to push aside. Determined, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Once grappled with the vision (pun-intended), I decided to go searching! The best place for effect piece parts is at the good old Chibichopshop! There, I thankfully managed to stumble across ITEM #396859 parts. They had his laser eye effect pieces on sale, but without the accompanying face plate. These effect pieces have plastic stubs at the end so that they can slot into the face plate holes (where the eye socket was). Hopeful, I decided to snag the opportunity and bought them. However, now came a new challenge: without a faceplate, what to do with the lasers? I first brainstormed a way to snip off the plastic stubs and attach them directly to the faceplate. But in doing so, I would risk a few things: melted/scratched eye decals, reapplication of glue material, and unsteadiness. Ultimately, I decided to forgo the direct attachment and went with the original application method: insertion into hole/slot.

Thus, I had to acquire the new sacrificial faceplate lambs. After scouring the chibichopshop site for MONTHS, I finally got a pair of faceplates from ITEM #1086738 and ITEM #806023. While I know--as a true jojo fan ( ∙_∙) ( ∙_∙)>⌐■-■ (⌐■_■)--that DIO never had the eye lasers due to his "Jonathan" issue, I grabbed one anyways as the first sacrifice to the custom gods. He came without his moles (from the original 2019 release) so he came already defective and therefore, felt ok with customizing on him. Once these two face plates were obtained, it was time to get creative!

Firstly, I knew I had to create new holes into the face plate to begin the process. Funny enough, my mom got roped into helping me as she saw me struggle doing two things at once. I was trying to heat a small, thin nail (without burning myself mind you!) and apply it straight into the eye. So we tag-teamed: one person to hold the Nendo plate and the other stab it.

Beginning of procedure:









Admittedly, I was a bit hesitant--and worried--that not only we were going to mess up and effectively ruin the face plate, but also hurt myself or my mom. Immediately, we noticed that the plastic (pre-covid, DIO) was a bit sturdier than the one after-covid (Dio) so it took a bit more fenagling of the needle to pass through. After struggling for a few minutes, we got the darn thing through! Once through, we wiggled the needle while it was still hot to allow for more room for the next step: screw. The plastic stubs were not only big, but also half-mooned shaped. So we needed to create enough room to slot the piece comfortably without it sliding out. The screw was not only bigger than the needle, but had enough groove to create more room for the stub to go through.

Screw application:







[For anyone worried about the welfare of Dio/DIO, just know he deserves a bit of pain. Just ask Jonathan]

Then, after screwing the initial screw in a few times to remove the excess plastic, we moved unto a bigger and final screw that was roughly the same size as the plastic stub. Screwing it in a few times (from the front and back), my mother and I did a final assessment to determine if we needed to reheat the needle to provide more room for the laser. Thankfully, the last screw did the trick and we were able to plug in the effect pieces! A bit snug, but a few more twists of the larger screw fixed that issue.

Demon Dio/DIO:





Effect piece in faceplate:










Now, it was time to put the customs to the test~! ^^


Dio:











And for the grand finale, DIO!







Overall, I am quite satisfied with the end result! For my first ever custom, I am quite proud (and of my mom of course! ^^). My mom even got super invested during the creation that she asked me when I was going to do the next one so that she can help! For now, I think I don't have any other ideas but who knows! I may do this again in the near-future. It was a lot of fun and the end result came out great! ^^

Let me guys know what you think in the comments down below! Was I too cruel to Dio/DIO or is it karma ten-times fold for all that he did to the Joestars? I'll let you be the judge! Shamefully, he will always be one of me meow-meows despite the amount of crimes he's done in the past >>; Thanks again for reading my post and have yourselves a wonderful rest of the week! ^^