Set Pieces?

When you outfit a particular figure to your satisfaction, do you then preserve it as is dressed, or just take it apart and rework it after a photo or two?
I find I am tending more to keeping figures as "finished" now.
I used to have what amounted to a naked cast on call and a costume department but as different and definite characters gel, my own collection is becoming much more "set".
What happens with yours?

Great question

Yeah I'm with you. I usually leave them dressed...mainly because I'm lazy

With My modern figures , I usually have a character in mind , and so once he is done I tend to leave them that way , occasionally over time I might not be so happy with them , so swap them out or upgrade . With my vintage collection I aim to get them as mint and complete as I can , so yes once they are dressed they tend to stay that way .

Rogue-Trooper wrote:

I usually leave them dressed...mainly because I'm lazy.

Same here. Lazy, plus often with limited hobby time. Dressing and re-dressing figures is not the fun part of the hobby for me. Since I am usually creating "characters" for stories, I tend to leave them "in costume" for future screen appearances. This sometimes necessitates... or helps me justify... having multiples of some figures, so I can keep them in different costumes and not have a need to change them often.

SCU_HQ wrote:

so I can keep them in different costumes and not have a need to change them often.

I know you possess a few Phicens Dave, and I have it on fairly good authority that they can be difficult customers when it comes to putting on costumes.

MAM presents his own challenges having such HUGE hands that are NOT removable. That means if I have to unpick a seam in the sleeve of a jacket or a shirt to get it on, and then sew it back up as close to invisibly as I can, well it's certainly staying ON!

once I like their look, I tend to leave them that way. It is no fun especially, constantly unlacing and re lacing tall boots.

Page_2 by Gary Menten, on Flickr


And there are a lot of tall boots in my collection....081521_0012 by Gary Menten, on Flickr

Kimono Troop Command wrote:

 It is no fun especially, constantly unlacing and re lacing tall boots. And there are a lot of tall boots in my collection....

Good grief! That looks like a nightmare Gary!
I quite understand your reluctance to offer your ladies a choice of footwear.
I had enough trouble with a few sets of Japanese waraji a while back.
Don't know about you fellers but as my hands undergo the vicissitudes of time, the fingers seem to be becoming less dexterous, making a lot of fine scale work a bit frustrating.

my fingers are much less dexterous than when I was younger, especially in my left hand, where I have mild arthritis. Fortunately, I'm right handed. A good number of my figured however do wear jackboots, but even these can be a pain to get on. There there's this lady....

It took quite a while to dress her and the boots were a real pain to get on...don't get me started with the stockings.

090421_0011 by Gary Menten, on Flickr

LeStryge wrote:

SCU_HQ wrote:

so I can keep them in different costumes and not have a need to change them often.

I know you possess a few Phicens Dave, and I have it on fairly good authority that they can be difficult customers when it comes to putting on costumes.

MAM presents his own challenges having such HUGE hands that are NOT removable. That means if I have to unpick a seam in the sleeve of a jacket or a shirt to get it on, and then sew it back up as close to invisibly as I can, well it's certainly staying ON!

Phicens are much easier to dress when you wrap plastic wrap around the limbs. Then the trousers or jackets just slide over the arms or legs. It's getting the trousers past the bum that can take a while.

Perhaps I can appreciate your difficulties.
In trying to adapt an Ernie Pyle body to a Mini-Me, the legs were far too spindly. I thought I had resolved the problem when I saw this for sale.



I suspect it's made from the same material as a Phicen. Anyway it arrived and took literally around an hour and a half to maneuver the damn thing onto the figure.
Yes, up over the bum was VERY difficult, but getting the legs to fit on properly was a nightmare.
Anyway, the result looked fine, as long as the figure was standing upright. If you tried to bend the knees to allow the figure to sit or otherwise pose then the results looked terrible! The material folded and squelched in a most unnatural way with huge bulges sticking out on each side of the knee.
So bad I decided to take the "pants" off, ....which was almost as difficult as getting them on!
NOT a recommended exercise!

LeStryge wrote:

Don't know about you fellers but as my hands undergo the vicissitudes of time, the fingers seem to be becoming less dexterous....

For me it's the eyes. When I put on my Plus Fours, I'm not heading out for a round of golf, I'm slipping on the ol' readers for some doll dressing time! A searing spotlight of some kind is also helpful.

SCU_HQ wrote:

For me it's the eyes. When I put on my Plus Fours, I'm not heading out for a round of golf, I'm slipping on the ol' readers for some doll dressing time! A searing spotlight of some kind is also helpful.

I can deal with the eyes, which by and large are still damn good.
Unfortunately I suffered carpal tunnel syndrome, worse in the right hand. I was persuaded to have the operation, and whilst it certainly relieved the pain, the manual dexterity is now nowhere near what it was in that hand. Thankfully I was neither a concert pianist nor a violinist.

Ah, the age old question . I do tend to keep most of my figures dressed in ways I happy with. However, I do have a select few that are re-used for character parts as and when I need them. My biggest problem is, I do tend to swap clothes around too, even on finished figures!

Blondeactionman wrote:

My biggest problem is, I do tend to swap clothes around too, even on finished figures!

And of course you are at perfect liberty to do so!
There's no correct way, I was interested in what others do because my own collection is kind of becoming "set" with emerging characters!

Is it heresy to say that I do not particularly enjoy dressing and re-dressing figures(?) Well, I kinda don't. So once I have a figure put together, I tend to want to leave it that way. I do like the strategy of having several of the same sculpt so a particular character can have different looks without a lot of fuss.

But what really annoys me (and, of course, I realise I am doing this to myself) is when I have to borrow items from a finished figure for the new figure. Then later my once finished figure is now missing items.

gibri wrote:

But what really annoys me (and, of course, I realise I am doing this to myself) is when I have to borrow items from a finished figure for the new figure. Then later my once finished figure is now missing items.

Then you have to decide whether to put things back on the original figure, ...or leave them the way they are?
Or go and buy another item so that both figures can look "complete"?
Oh I've been there!

LeStryge wrote:

gibri wrote:

But what really annoys me (and, of course, I realise I am doing this to myself) is when I have to borrow items from a finished figure for the new figure. Then later my once finished figure is now missing items.

Then you have to decide whether to put things back on the original figure, ...or leave them the way they are?
Or go and buy another item so that both figures can look "complete"?
Oh I've been there!      

Right, to buy another set of binoculars or another MG, but it gets even worse when you buy another machine gun knowing full well you have another one in the spares box but are too lazy to dig around for it and it's easier to add it to your Monkey Depot order...

gibri wrote:

. . . but it gets even worse when you buy another machine gun knowing full well you have another one in the spares box but are too lazy to dig around for it and it's easier to add it to your Monkey Depot order...

... ... ...

Yup! I'm all too familiar with that situation!

gibri wrote:

knowing full well you have another one in the spares box but are too lazy to dig around for it

Oh DEFINITELY!
When I first mooted downsizing my home, I started packing everything into neatly labelled boxes.
Then when my home sold quickly I went into panic mode and just shoved things any old how, particularly all my 1/6 props, scenics and accessories.

Now, I KNOW I have something somewhere but just where the hell it might be is another matter.
As you say, it's far easier to just order another than to tear the place apart looking for it.
I do however find some interesting things I'd quite forgotten I had when I finally get to open some of those boxes....

LeStryge wrote:

I just shoved things any old how, particularly all my 1/6 props, scenics and accessories.

Now, I KNOW I have something somewhere but just where the hell it might be is another matter.
I do however find some interesting things I'd quite forgotten I had when I finally get to open some of those boxes....

That is me, unfortunately. Around 2000 or so I discovered when I was in burnout and not looking,
there was a surge in 1/6 figures and accessories. So I started collecting things as fast as I could and with
storage constraints I was boxing stuff together to keep from running out of room.

Now I'm searching for stuff, and as I do I find things I had forgotten about.

About 10 years ago we moved house and my collection got all boxed up. Our new house (new! - we've been here 10 years!) while bigger than the old one is laid out in a way that doesn't really allow for any sort of permanent large display - the only two walls where I could have shelves or cabinets are in direct sunlight.
So as a result I can only have maybe 6 guys out at any one time.
And being naturally lazy that means that those 6 could be out for a year or so before getting rotated.
Recently though, I've been going through my storage (the amount of head re-stringing I've had to do is crazy) but the amount of stuff I've rediscovered makes the process kinda fun.
Did find a complete boxed vintage VAM helicopter pilot that I've absolutely no recollection of buying.

The-Procrastinator wrote:

Did find a complete boxed vintage VAM helicopter pilot that I've absolutely no recollection of buying.

Now THAT is a real find! Don't think I have anything as neat as that hidden away in my archives, but you have inspired me to dig deeper.....!