Review – Callgrim Custom Corps “Grimwave”
Jesse Moore’s Callgrim (website) had its first Custom Corps launch last month and the entire wave sold out in moments. I had my fingers crossed that I would get one of the truly awesome custom Glyos System (Onell Design) action figures but opening this pack left me feeling as if I had won the lottery.
Grimwave
This Transformers Shockwave-inspired custom action figure is absolutely stunning, constructed of many, many Callgrim action figure parts and then custom painted and weathered by Jesse. And in a move of genius Jesse used a combination of purple translucent and solid purple parts to create Grimwave, so the end result is a figure with a great look that really stands out in my collection.
An Excellent Head Design
The combination of parts Jesse used to construct Grimwave’s head, along with the paint, comes together to create a head that can’t be anything but a Shockwave-inspired work. I was at first worried that the antenna size on the sides of the head was too large, but the more I play with the toy the more I see that Jesse knew what he was doing.
A Weather-Beaten Robotic Monstrosity
Most of the paintwork on this custom action figure is silver and black that gives the toy it’s beaten and bruised appearance and adds that metallic look. I can’t even begin to guess how long Jesse spent on this figure (let alone the entire Callgrim Custom Corps wave), but it had to have been at least an hour of total time just painting the toy. Click on each of the photos in the review and you’ll get a much closer look at the paintwork on the toy.
Original Art
And it wasn’t just a toy in the package. Every single release in the Callgrim Custom Corps release included an original art card by Jesse. I’ve managed to collect some other original art cards by Jesse over the years, so getting two more (I bought two figures from this launch) has me starting to think I need to find a way to display all of these.
When the toys were launched there was also an art book offered that collected all of the card art together. Unfortunately it’s no longer available, but maybe we can talk Jesse into either another run or a completely new art book. I’ll have to call him soon and nag him about creating a new book.
Closing Thoughts
I haven’t tried counting every single part but Grimwave here has gotta be at least 40 or 50 individual parts which means just in toy alone I’ve got about a $20 figure. Add in all of Jesse’s custom work, the original art card, and the unique nature of the toy I feel I really got my $40 work out of this custom action figure.
And being Shockwave-inspired makes it one of the best figures from the launch. I was ready to start trading and making deals to get this when I first saw the pics, so opening the bag and finding it was better than Christmas.
Thanks for a great custom action figure, Jesse, and you’d better already be working on a second Callgrim Custom Corps launch. Don’t forget to make a Devastator-inspired custom in the next run.
Philip Reed also has a Jawa-inspired custom from this launch that he needs to get onto the site. It’s a completely different approach and even came with a droid.
Wow! An amazing figure and an excellent review. Thanks for sharing!
AUUUUUUGH I WANTED THAT ONE
But thank goodness it ended up in worthy hands. 😀 I was worried some of my personal favs like this or the Optimus Prime would find their way to ebay rather than a collector. Many congrats!
Lucky. Still sad I couldn’t checkout with one in my cart.