It's Coming Holme

Quick Christmas Eve blog post, why not?!

A quick look through my folder of pics suggests no obvious Christmas puns to be made, so being as it's the season of goodwill, not only will I spare you the terrible jokes, but I'll also post pics of some figures that I did for charity:

I'll keep it at 4 for now, but there are more! In case you are wondering who the heck these people are, they are fitional, regenerated players on the game Football Manager!!

They featured in a youtube series, which I'll link here, where a fella named Kev took Holme FC from tier 8 to Champions League glory, with both of these players featuring pretty much all the way up the divisions!

If you're wondering about the similarities of the kits, during the series, a debate ensued (this is the internet, after all) about whether the kit was green or black, so I did both to see which sold better in its charity auction... it was green, obviously!

Overall, my charity figures raised over £150 this year, with these 4 contributing a fair whack of that. These ones were for the National Autistic Society (a charity associated with the channel), as you may have guessed if you looked closely at the shirt sponsor, but money was also raised for Cancer research by other figures.

I'll post the rest of the Holme Figures soon.

A couple more Gillingham!

How about a couple of Saturday morning Gillingham figures?! Bet no-one's ever been offered that before!

I mentioned these as possibles in the blog post about my only previous Gillingham figure (Steve Bruce) and what would you know, a few months down the line, here they are!

Gotta say I love the kit on the Wallace one!

And while this is a rare post that doesn't start with words to the effect of"I'm tired and going to bed soon, so it's going to be short"... I'm not very well and tired, so that's why this post is short!

Juve Soccerstarz

Feels like every post at the moment starts with: This is just going to be a quick one before I go to bed (tho I can't be bothered verifying that...)

Anyway, looking through my repaints picture folder on my laptop, these seemed a good choice for today:

I don't know if you've seen, but Ronaldo scored a reasonably impressive goal last night. I don't have the exact stats to hand, but he basically jumped about 40 feet into the air to score a header. Not bad, eh?

So that's why I chose the Juve repaints for today. Nice kit to paint, tbf. I enjoyed these. Halved shirts are preferable to stripes! And, in a view that contradicts my opinion in real life, I love a halved shirt that is one colour on the back, for painting purposes!

The Vertonghen collection!

So, that title... it just seemed to sound like a fashion range, so I went with it. Let's move on.

Here are three Vertonghen Soccerstarz, all in away kits:

To be honest, I have no idea if they are in chronological order... I couldn't be bothered to check!

You may have noticed that I hand painted the sponsor on the 2 AIA shirts, tho if you didn't I guess that's good for me. Unless you noticed that I did for a good reason.

I was very pleased with the... shall we call it 'gold' one? The pinstripes especially on such a small figure were pleasing!

And that's it. I'll leave you with an amusing Vertonghen related anecdote;

I was watching a Spurs game once, with a friend who has no real interest in football. Vertonghen must have been having a good, or at least busy game, because he kept on being mentioned; enough at least for my friend to say: "He doesn't really look Tongan."

Me: "What?"

Her: "That guy. He doesn't look like he's from Tonga."

Me: "Probably because he's Belgian."

Her: "Well, why do they keep calling him 'Jan the Tongan'?!"

This story is mainly true.

Liverpool Keepers

Here's a post for the goalkeepers' union; a couple of Liverpool keepers in unreleased kits:

I've gone with chronological order today!

Both enjoyable to paint... and I don't have much more to say! Maybe it's cos I've been catching up with all my figure related social media duties this morning!!

And with that in mind, find me by clicking the right word if you're a Facebook, Twitter or Instagram kind of person.

Or you could click here to find the youtube channel that I hardly ever add videos to!!

Kalvin Phillips Funko Pop

Hi everyone!

I thought I'd use today's post to put up a picture of the Kalvin Phillips Pop Vinyl that I made for the Leeds That Podcast.

In case you missed it, I appeared as a guest on the show to talk all things being a Leeds fan, but also my figure painting... empire!! Click here if you fancy a listen!!

One of the things they do on the show is  ask the guests to provide a prize for a prize bundle, so I made this:

I was delighted with how it turned out, and everyone at the podcast loved it too. 

So did plenty of Leeds fans, as orders for them flooded in! I'm going to be finishing them all today, or that's the plan at least!!

If you fancy one for yourself, register at Leeds That, for your chance to win one! Or if you want one for certain, get me on twitter or facebook! I'm thinking about doing another run in the new year...

Or one of the current run may become available if any of the buyers pull out! 

Parma x4

In what is becoming a customary late night Friday blog post... I've just about got the energy and inclination to post a few pics, ad their properties (need a bit of search optimisation after all!) and maybe make the briefest of comments!

Here are some Parma players!

Parma have had some beautiful kits over the years, am I right?!

I have no idea whether these are in chronological order, but I have managed shirt number order at least... albeit entirely by chance. Speaking of shirt  numbers; that 86 shirt on Bojinov: All I can say is, you don't normally find such obscenity on this blog!

A few Spurs Soccerstarz

I hear Spurs have got a new manager...

I'll not get into my thoughts on the treatment of Poch too much here (needless to say, I'd take him as Leeds manager after Bielsa!) and just post pics of a few of the players the new guy in town will have at his disposal!

I've just realised that Lloris isn't even available for selection, but I'm not removing him from the post now!!

I've got such a backlog of Spurs figures in my 'repaints' folder on my laptop. Expect to see more soon!!

Real Madrid Icons

A quick post, before I go to bed!

2 massive talismanic figures in the history of Real Madrid!

I really like the Di Stefano one- while it's one of the simplest repaints I've done, it's another case of a simple one being extremely effective... in my eyes at leasr!

And Ronaldo as well!

Lazio x4

As I'm up too early on a Saturday morning, I thought I'd keep the momentum going!

Here's a post that isn't international kits, but still has an overseas flavour! 4 recent-ish Lazio figures!

I liked how these ended up- check out the gold and white trim round the collar and cuffs on the top 2; definitely my favourite bit!

Other comments: I literally had no idea that Nani played for Lazio, and a goalkeeper wearing number 70 is just obscene. That's all.

USA Keepers!

Last day of my blog boost week! Posts on 5 consecutive days- and viewing figures are up! And that's with only one share on my FB page as well!

Anyway, to end the period of obligatory posts (I am going to try to update pretty regularly from now on) I'm posting another couple of international players; USA keepers:

Both Soccerstarz, both with a tricky bit of paintwork on the sleeves! Also another foray into fluorescent paint! But, it's Friday, and I'm tired, so that's it for tonight!

Caniggia Collection!

I said there were some Argentina figures coming, didn't I?!

Here are 3 Caniggias; 2 from Italia '90, and one from USA '94.

And that's it! Short post tonight, cos I committed to one per day, but it's been a busy one, and I want to go to sleep!

British Keepers

Day 3 of blog boost week! Still going with international figures, as it's international week, but today'd specific theme is keepers!

Here are 5 goalies (England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales) in freshly repainted kits, including gloves!

If I can say this about my own work, I'm a big fan of these! The gloves add so much!

I particularly like the patterns on the Jennings Northern Ireland kit!

I can also reveal to you here, that all of these figures are set to feature in the book Glove Story 2, set to be published next year!

Brazilians!

Day 2; Post 2 of my blog booster week!

As we're now officially in an international break, how about some international players?!

Here are some Brazilians *snigger*

My favourite of these is definitely Leonardo, closely followed by Edu. On reflection, I think that's due to the quality of the players themselves... as well as the kits which were a bit more interesting to paint!

I'm thinking there will be at least one more Internationals post this week, possibly featuring Brazil's arch rivals Argentina!

Five Forest Figures!

Well everyone, clearly my level of busy-ness doesn't coexist well with regularly posting high quality blog content!

So, here's the plan: posts every day this week, with plenty of photos, rather than just one or 2.

Let's start with some Forest figures... in no particular order:

Comments:

Benalouane- I like it, first time I've tried painting on one of those protective masks. I was a worried enough to try it out on a crappy old spare figure before accepting the job!

Lansbury and Lester: Lookalikes!

Dawson: I don't remember Forest having an Inter Milan phase!

van Hooijdonk- his name is so long, I had to make the letters smaller on the decal!!

See you tomorrow!

Sheffield Wednesday Funkos

Well, it's certainly been a while since I've been here, hasn't it?! (Right now, I'm wondering how many posts on this blog start with that exact phrase, or at least words to that effect... I'm guessing about 40%)

Anyway, let's get straight to business, with some pictures! And pictures of Funkos at that! There's only one on this blog so far, but I've done quite a few since that one, starting with these:

Early yo mid 90's Sheffield Wednesday kits! I'll let you in on a little secret; these were the first ones that I struggled to get the heads back on, after I removed them for painting! All worked out ok in the end tho!

Keep an eye on the blog, for more funko pictures... in the next 10-15 months if my current rate of writing posts is anything to go by.

You'd be better off following me on Facebook or Instagram, tbh! 

Dortmund, x2

A couple of absolutely classic kits here, both from Borussia Dormtund:

I remember watching the 1997 Champions League final as a child. Riedle grabbed 2 goals as Dortmund, who were considered underdogs, as I recall, went on to earn a 3-1 win. 

I remember it feeling really dramatic... but that was more down to Ricken, really! Anyway, what a kit!! This repaint is only the second time I've used fluorescent paint, and it was perfect for this kit.

As requested, I also added the Champions League logo on one arm, and check out the hand-painted stars on the other!

Not got as much to say about this one... except I loved Rosicky when he played for Dortmund! I think the white number on the black strip, which is pretty difficult technically. ended up looking pretty good!