Subterranean Custom Contest
Never again shall your toys feel sunlight on their faces! A terrible calamity has made the surface of the planet uninhabitable and all life has been forced underground. The goal of this challenge is to make a custom figure showing us what you think your favorite character(s) would look and act like if they had to spend their lives deep beneath the earth. Maybe they've mutated to adapt to their new environment or perhaps they're employing special gear to help them survive--it's all up to you and your imagination. This is essentially an "alternate reality" type of thing, so, wow the voters with your creativity!
Here are some examples to get you thinking:
1) Iron Man wearing a special suit of armor designed for tunneling, that's outfitted with interchangeable drills, rock-crushers, etc.
2) Tremor Punch He-Man riding his trusty annelid mount, Battle Worm.
3) A blind Namor The Sub-Mariner, living in an underground lake, who's more fish than man.
4) Magma Mane, a My Little Pony made entirely out of lava, that frolics in the planet's molten core.
5) Poison Ivy utilizing luminescent fungi instead of plants.
6) The Thing with the entire surface of his rocky body covered with sharp stalactites and stalagmites.
- Please don't make characters that normally live underground, like Marvel Comics' Mole Man, The Time Machine's Morlocks, or Dungeons & Dragons' Drow. The core concept here is to adapt a surface dweller to a subterranean setting. However, for story purposes, it's fine to build relationships around "the locals"; for example, it'd be logical to have April O'Neil and Casey Jones permanently relocate down into New York City's sewer system with the TMNT.
- There aren't any size or scale limitations and you should feel free to use whatever base bodies, parts, materials, tools, and techniques you want to customize your underground dwellers.
Please remember to follow the
Contest Rules and to
Vote Fairly.
Contest Winners:
1st
2nd
3rd
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What are the rules of the contest?
- Please use the form here to submit your custom figure.
- At least a paragraph description is required with your entry. This paragraph, at a minimum, should answer the following questions:
- How was this custom customized?
- How does the custom fit into the contest theme?
- You may submit up to three different entries for the contest.
- Please only submit figures that were created for this contest. Do not submit old figures from the Showcase or previous contest entries.
- Your entry should not be posted on this website, any other website, or anywhere on the internet until the contest is completely over.
- The pictures for your entry will remain hidden until the contest ends and the voting begins.
- Your identity will remain hidden until after the voting completes.
- Do not include names, logos, signatures or anything on the pictures that will give you away as the creator of the custom. We want to keep the customizer's identity a secret until the contest is over.
- Don't wait until the last day to submit your entries. If your internet is down, or something happens beyond your control, you will miss the contest! Also keep in mind how many customs you can submit in one day. You may not be able to submit all your entries in one day.
- The contest is purely for fun... well... and bragging rights!
How does the contest voting work?
Anyone can vote for their favorite customs in the contest, you don't even have to submit anything to the contest! You do have to be logged-in to your Figure Realm account though so we can keep track of the votes. Only appointed Figure Realm staff can see the votes, so anonymity is guaranteed. Voting begins once the entry deadline is met and lasts for a week.
It's hard to choose just one custom to vote on when there are tons of great entries, so Figure Realm has a unique voting system where you can vote on ALL the customs! When you click on an entry to view, there's a bar with buttons on it that lets you give the custom anywhere from 1 to 5 Stars. 1 Star means you think they could have done a better job on the custom while 5 Stars means you think they did a perfect job. The votes for each entry are added up when voting is closed and averaged-out to determine the winners. Also, don't abuse the system. Don't give your own custom 5 Stars and then give everyone else 1 Star to boost your rating. Remember, the votes are monitored.
Some points you might consider when casting your vote: Is the figure well-made? Is the paint smooth or crusty? Are there noticeable fingerprints on the sculpted parts? Is it an original custom? Is it accurate to the source-material (comics, photos, description in a book)? Are the pictures clear enough to see the details? Did the creator take the time to include a back-story or recipe? Is the custom so unbelievably awesome that you'd trade your dog for it?
Craftsmanship and creativity are major factors to consider, but ultimately your vote should depend on how much you like the custom, and how well you feel it fits the contest theme.
What is the contest schedule?
| Begins: | Contest Closed |
| Ends: | June 30th, 2012 - Last day for submissions. No exceptions! Cut off is at midnight Central Standard Time. |
| Voting: | July 1st - 7th. |
Example Pictures for Ideas
View Contest Entries 
User Comments
Yes, Killer Croc would be all right (while he does tend to hang out and travel through the sewers, he also spends a lot of time above ground as well, so I wouldn't consider him to be a character that's already subterranean.) Remember that you're supposed to be adapting the character to a subterranean setting though, so your custom shouldn't be a "normal" Killer Croc, you should change him in some fashion to reflect an underground lifestyle.
-JT