Considering Transmedia and Merchandising: Building an Ambam Figure

To start Ambam, I was going to use a Dawn of the Planet of the Apes Gorilla Action Figure, but soon discovered a King Kong figure that was just released by S.H Monster Arts, and it was perfect, detailed immensely like a Hot Toys figure, but 6 inches tall like a Marvel Legends Figure. The other perfect thing about this figure was it was highly articulated to allow it to stand upright, (as Ambam does).

I also bought this 1/6 scale shirt, that was once it arrived, not like the image below suggested as it was actually more green than cream, which for me meant it was unusable. The reason I was using 1/6 scale clothing (which would fit a 12" human, but this was a 6" figure) was that as a Gorilla he is extremely wide and human 6" clothing would not fit him, so I had to buy bigger clothes and downsize them).

So I used Slideshow Collectibles Obi Wan Kenobi's pants as they had the perfect colour and texture I wanted for Ambam's shirt, and was confident I could make them appear like a shirt.

And so the making began. I cut off the legs and folded the bottom over  to make sleeves, and then glued the top of the sleeve down to the base figure. I then used the top of the pants, turned the inside out and made a cut down the center and folded them over to make them appear to have a collar.

I had also bought a green flamethrower uniform that was 1/6 scale to use as a waistcoat. (Ideally I was going to use a Joker waist coat but it seemed impossible to find without buying the whole figure, which is expensive.) I cut the sleeves off the jacket and the bottom off (as it was too long) to make it a waist coat.

I also had bought 1/6 scale brown trousers (from Hot Toys Bruce Banner figure) to make Ambam's. As the trousers were so big, they still just fitted around his wide waist. I cut off the ends and folded them in and sewed them down to give them a clean finish. I used a thin line of thread from a necklace to use as a belt for this tiny figure.

The belt, however looked unfinished, he needed buckles. So I used a Jack Sparrow 7" figure I had and carved of two of his belts and then carved the buckles off the belts as they looked nearly exatly the same as the ones I designed. I then attached them onto my figure.

The next bit was to make a 2nd belt that didn't look exactly the same as the last. So I used textured wallpaper I had previously applied to a book in A Level, took it off and cut it to the right width I needed, stuck it onto the figure and used the 2nd buckle from the Jack Sparrow figure I had carved off. For his hat, I already had a Jack Sparrow hat from the 12" Hot Toys RAH figure that fitted this 6" figure perfectly, and looked again very similar to what I had designed.

For his Gun and gun holster, I used the holster from a Comedian DC Direct 12" figure but the gun from a 12" slideshow Indiana Jones Figure as that gun looked more 1800's and suited him better. I used another cord from this time a bracelet to act as straps to hold his Gun holster against his leg, and hold the trousers up a bit as they still looked a little long and big on him.

The next step was the characters shoulder strap then held up his machete. I used more leather from the necklace and a small line of black plastic to wrap around his sword (which is an Lord of the Rings Orc sword I sprayed red spray paint on to look bloody, which I felt made the character look a bit more violent).

For finishing touches, I added a pair of handcuffs onto the belt of Ambam, which in my design wasn't originally there but I felt it suit his character (as a sheriff) and added that extra bit of detail, which from now on he will have in future designs. I also got a small silver star which was a decoration, sharpened the edges and added the Sheriff 'S.' After this, the figure was finished.