toy photos

Sh*t Got Real JC: Part 2

Wander • Shit Got Real JC

Last week a post about my ThreeA figure "Sh*t Got Real JC" was published.  He rules.  Over the weekend I brought him over to Clough State Park, which I have done with my other ThreeA figures in the past, and spent a lovely afternoon making images with him.

Intimidation • Shit Got Real JC

A word of advice to other ThreeA collectors out there that like to take photographs of their figures:  BE CAREFUL WITH THE WRIST PEGS!  While trying to remove that awesomesauce Mad Max jacket I have for him, I pulled on the sleeve too hard and his wrist peg snapped.  This is the second time I've had a wrist peg snap - the first time was back at the start of 2017 when changing hands for my Blind Cowboy and his peg snapped.  Replacements can be found on eBay, but they are stupid expensive.  So be extra careful when doing anything with the hands or wrists.  I've since cut that long leather sleeve off the jacket, so now it's more of a badass leather vest.  Still looks excellent.

You can see a few more example images I made over on my Flickr page.

Sh*t Got Real JC • Three A Figures

Shit Got Real JC • ThreeA Figure

ThreeA figures continue to control my life.  Oh my god.

This is "Shit Got Real JC".  He's Jesus, only his arms are wrapped in bandages and he's covered in tattoos and he is 100% badass.  He roams the landscape punching out zombies when he can. When I started picking up ThreeA figures my list looked like this:

  • Blind Cowboy/Dead Equine (horse)

  • Tomorrow Kings: Cornelius

  • Fighting/Tracky JC

KDA, my first ThreeA figure, was purchased because at the time he was the lowest priced entry-level figure into the world of ThreeA figures.  He was the figure that told me "Yup, you are going to certainly want the other figures because they are incredible!" and I keep him around because he goes so well with Cornelius, which was my second figure.

There are earlier versions of JC that exist; the body of the figure is different and the head sculpt is vastly different compared to the updated Shit Got Real version. Here are two sample images I found via Googling:

Even starting right at the top of his head, JC has had some adjustments made to him for the revised "Shit Got Real" version.  As you can see in the comparison images, the original JC has flatter hair and a smaller beard.  The revised JC completely makes a new head mold and turns his hair and beard up to 11; a large spikey portion of his hair juts out, his bangs are longer over his right eye, and his beard is much longer.  His "GODLIFE" tattoo is the same, but now there are more additional tattoo's.  On the original JC, his hand bandages were part of his hand cast, but with the new JC, his arms and hands are wrapped up in actual bandages.

Overall it's a fantastic upgrade.  The only "downsides" are that his costume is much more sparse on the revised figure; the original came with a track suit and a zombie head that fit into a satchel that hung around his waist.  The revised JC looks more militant; more badass and more roughed up. Which was something that I was excited about.  Even his feet changed dramatically; the original JC had sculpted shoes whereas the revised JC has faux-leather combat boots that his legs/feet slide into.  It's really awesome.

I had been keeping an eye on JC through eBay, and when one came up at a good price, I jumped on it.  I had a few "custom" ideas that I wanted to add; a weathered leather jacket that I picked up off eBay from a Mad Max: Fury Road unlicensed 12" figure, and a wood/metal sledgehammer that I also found via eBay.  I just thought that this JC would look badass standing there holding a sledgehammer.  Forget swords or guns - he needed something raw and blunt and heavy.  The sledgehammer I found worked perfect. The great thing about 12" scale figures is all the amazing 1:6 scale accessories you can get for them.

Shit Got Real JC • ThreeA Figure

pictured: profile of JC with leather jacket and sledgehammer

I immediately make some portraits of him shortly after he and his accessories arrived, and it also gave me a chance to use this stuff called Atmosphere Aerosol.  I have been using fog machines for toy work for many years, but I've had terrible luck with fog machines; Dave let me borrow his fog machine, and after two uses it clogged up, despite me following directions on how to clean it.  Then, over the last few years, I've gone through two more fog machines - each time following exactly what the directions enclosed with the machine say on how to take care of them, and each time, after only 1 use, they both got clogged up.

So I did some googling and found Atmosphere Aerosol:

It's small and compact, and I hadn't read about any clogging issues with it, so I bought a can and gave it a test with JC:

Shit Got Real JC • ThreeA Figure

The stuff works like gangbusters! Since I'm only shooting small figures with it, a little can go a long, long way, which is awesome!

I also picked up a 1:6 scale Captain America shield for cheap jut for a little extra patriotism:

Shit Got Real JC • ThreeA Figure

I'm looking forward to taking JC out in the warmer months this summer to get some outdoor images with him.  Hopefully Sara and I will take another trip to Clough State Park, where I've taken images of my other ThreeA figures.

I love these figures - so expressive, so badass.  They are so damn fun to make photographs with.