We're going to use some odd action figures to make Guy. For the figure's body, we're going to use an X-Force Black Tom figure. It's short enough to be in scale with other figures we've made like Booster and Beetle, but bulky the way a bruiser like Guy should be. For Guy's head, we're going to use Lt. Stone from the G.I. Joe Extreme line. While this line of figures came out something like five years ago, there are still plenty of these things taking up valuable shelf space at toy stores across the nation. So by using Lt. Stone's head for Guy Gardner, we're performing a public service to the toy-buying community. Besides, Stone has that sneering Guy Gardner snarl. It's a perfect head for this figure!

Our first step in making Guy will be to remove each figure's head and put Stone's head on Black Tom's body using the tried-and-true "boil-and-pop" method. If you're not familiar with this technique, click here to read a column that explains everything you need to know about swapping action figures' heads. Don't worry if Stone's head is a little loose in Tom's neck; between primer, paint, and sealer, things will tighten up nicely by the time we're done.

Once the heads are in place, we'll need to start stripping down some of the details on the figure. We'll start with the shoulder pads, and cut them away until the figure's shoulders are fairly smooth. Next we'll carefully, carefully cut off the edges of the "V" shape on Tom's chest, and sand down that edge to even it out with the rest of the figure's torso. Next we'll cut off the black tab that sticks out of the figure's right forearm.

Our most extensive cutting will involve shortening Black Tom's elongated fingers. This will be fairly simple on the left hand, where the fingers are separate and extended. All we have to do is cut away at the fingers until they look human. On the right hand, however, the fingers are not only grouped together, but the plastic with which they're made is much tougher than the plastic on the left hand. So we have to be careful to cut the fingers in such a way that they continue to look like individual fingers and not just a slab of plastic. The best thing to do is use cut along the line created by the first knuckle of each finger.

Since this figure involves so much cutting, a word about safety: always, always, always cut away from yourself. Keep your fingers out of the way of the blade. Exacto blades are sharp, and if you don't believe me, I've got an inch-and-a-half long scar on my left hand you might want to meet.

So: Once we've finished cutting our figure, it's time to start sculpting with our patented air-drying Das Pronto clay. First we'll smooth out the figure's shoulders, which should be pretty well hacked up by this point. Next, we'll fill in the holes in the figure's right palm, right shoulder, and right forearm. These are all left over from some sort of firing mechanism the figure once had; since I got Black Tom out of the dollar box at a convention (let's have an "AMEN!" for the dollar box!), I don't know any details of what this mechanism entailed.

After we've patched things up, we'll take wrap two strips of clay around the tops of the figure's gloves. Next we'll sculpt Guy's distinctive bowl haircut. To do this, we'll wrap the top of the figure's head in a fairly thin layer of clay; we only want this to be thick enough to cover up Stone's buzzcut. Then we'll work the clay into a bowl shape, and use a carving tool to add some lines to make this look like hair. We can also add a hint of a part in the front if we don't like the straight bowl cut look.

The next-to-last thing we'll sculpt is Guy's jacket. First we'll run a thin strip of clay up the right side of the figure's torso. Then we'll take a longer, wider strip of clay and wrap it around the figure's neck over the shoulders, and cut it to look like Guy's collar. It's important to have a good reference picture when you're doing this. You may also find it easier to sculpt the collar in sections and piece them together as you apply them to the figure. Finally, we'll add a small circle of clay on the middle finger of Guy's right hand; a guy's got to have a ring, after all!

Once we're done sculpting, we'll prime our figure with a thin, even coat of white acrylic spray primer. This will make it much easier for us to paint on the figure's plastic surface. As always, use the primer in outdoors or in a well-ventilated room so that you don't inhale any harmful primer fumes.

When the primer dries, we can begin painting. First we'll use our light peaches-and-cream paint on Guy's face. Then we'll paint the gloves, belt, and collar white, and drop white stripes down the outer sides of the figure's legs. We can also use a small brush now to paint Guy's eye sockets and teeth white. Next we'll mix up some dark orange paint to paint Guy's hair and eyebrows. As long as we're on the face, we can also paint blue irises in Guy's eyes.

Now we'll move on to the costume! We'll break out the green paint (of course) and paint Guy's jacket, ring, and boots. Then we'll use black paint for Guy's turtleneck collar, sleeves and legs, although we have to be careful to leave a white stripe running down each leg. Finally, we'll paint a white circle at the center of Guy's chest, and then carefully paint a classic Green Lantern Corps logo in the center of the circle.

After that, we'll spray our figure with a quick coat of sealer, and we're done! Guy can join our custom figures of Blue Beetle, Booster Gold, Fire, and Ice in the Custom Justice League International!

NOTE:  I saw a Spiderman figure recently that has him wearing boots very similar to Guys!  It is one of the water web spideys.