A Journey to a Spider-Man TbLeague M32 Body Swap Step by step (Work in Progress)

[actionfiguremovies]

I thought it might be good to show what it takes to do a TbLeague body swap on a Hot Toys Armor Spider-Man MK IV step by step. This will be a work in progress, so as parts come in, I will update this post. So lets get started.

Here's what we have so far. The Red body is the original Hot Toys Spider-Man body. You will notice that there are quite a few differences compared to a standard HT body. Neck, wrist connectors and ankle joints.
DSC09960 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

You will need to cut the seam on the suit to remove the body. Since Hot Toys started sewing their suit up years ago, cutting them out is the only way to remove the suits. (Boy, do I miss the age of zippers and Velcro). Anyway, cut along the Right side. This is what they do to sew the character into the suit. The stitching looks different from the other Left side and is usually space wider than the original stitching on the other Right side.

DSC09962 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09963 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Next you will have to drill out the neck and wrist pegs as the suit is tucked into them. Do this slowly. You do not want to damage the suit. Once it's pulled away, just take it out and lay it to one side. You will not need it again. WHen the Neck and wrist connectors are removed, you can take the suit off the body..

DSC09970 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09971 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09967 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09966 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09965 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Pull the suit down to the feet Expose the ankle and heel. Next you will have to unscrew the ankle from the feet. It's one long screw and a small Philip's head screw driver will do the trick.

DSC09969 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

DSC09964 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

The next thing I did was remove the red shoe feet, but learned that this is not necessary. You can leave them in the suit. I was going to just put standard feet in their place but with a little modding, the red shoe feet work and look better. I'll show this in the next pictures.

DSC09968 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Here are the red shoe feet after the mod. I took a regular Tbleague foot and removed the white ankle connector by cutting both sides to the foot to peel the heel down. The white foot connector pops right out with ease. I did a little dremeling on the red shoe foot so I could super glue the Tbleague white ankle connector into the red shoe foot. Now it will attactch perfect to to the TbLeague M32 body with ease. This red shoe foot mod can be done without removing the feet from the suit like I did. The red shoe feet attach to the soles that are on the bottom of the suit. Live and learn.

DSC09961 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Okay,well that is all for now. I'm still waiting for my M32 body to show up. Should be here any day. So keep an eye out for future post. i hope this has been helpful for your future body swap. Feel free to ask questions if something was not clear.

 

[darth dennis]

You are a braver person than I am! Good luck and looking forward to the results!

 

[actionfiguremovies]

You are a braver person than I am! Good luck and looking forward to the results!

Thanks so much, but I purchased this as a parted out item not a complete figure, but that has not stopped me in the past LOL.

 

[Gipetto0812]

Hey AFM, general phicen/tbleague question: how'd you remove the socket for the feet ball joints from the phicen feet without destroying the foot or socket to get to it? Or am I looking at the pics wrong?

 

[wamphyri13]

Hey AFM, general phicen/tbleague question: how'd you remove the socket for the feet ball joints from the phicen feet without destroying the foot or socket to get to it? Or am I looking at the pics wrong?

If I'm reading him right, he destroyed the feet to get the joint out. He just didn't show the photo, but he did mention cutting both sides and peeling the foot.

 

[actionfiguremovies]

If I'm reading him right, he destroyed the feet to get the joint out. He just didn't show the photo, but he did mention cutting both sides and peeling the foot.

You called it, buddy. That is correct. Thanks for answering that.

 

[Gipetto0812]

If I'm reading him right, he destroyed the feet to get the joint out. He just didn't show the photo, but he did mention cutting both sides and peeling the foot.

You called it, buddy. That is correct. Thanks for answering that.

Thanks guys. Sorry I missed that part. Skimming too much during break time :

Thanks for breaking down the process AFM.

 

[actionfiguremovies]

Thanks guys. Sorry I missed that part. Skimming too much during break time :

Thanks for breaking down the process AFM.

My pleasure brother.

 

[Omega9300]

My pleasure brother.

Yes thanks for this!

I do not have this figure but I think it is so cool of you to take the time to provide these instructions/suggestions in a way that makes it easy for fellow members to follow.

 

[wamphyri13]

Have we no progress on this endeavor? I, for one, have been captivated by this task and anxiously await it's outcome. (like them fancy words? I know about six more)

 

[actionfiguremovies]

Yes thanks for this!

I do not have this figure but I think it is so cool of you to take the time to provide these instructions/suggestions in a way that makes it easy for fellow members to follow.

Thanks. It my pleasure. I know I've seen a cool custom and wanted to know the details to make my own. Some tell, Some Do not. I want to be part of the group who tell/shares.

Have we no progress on this endeavor? I, for one, have been captivated by this task and anxiously await it's outcome. (like them fancy words? I know about six more)

LOL. Glad to see you checking on my progress. As Tuff Puppy said abut his progress report: "I have made no progress... That's my report". Seriously though, I'm still waiting on the M32 body to show up on my door step. Don't worry my friend, I will not leave anyone hanging. As soon as the parts get here, work will resume.
Thanks again for checking. I do appreciate it.

AFM

 

[Furyan]

This is great thanks for sharing! Is it possible to get some pictures of the inside of the suit like beneath the chest area? Just curious what it looks like in there. Thanks.

 

[actionfiguremovies]

This is great thanks for sharing! Is it possible to get some pictures of the inside of the suit like beneath the chest area? Just curious what it looks like in there. Thanks.

Here you go my friend. The suit is still sewed on one side, so I can't turn it inside out because of damaging it. So here's a picture from the side, spreading the seam out enough to see the area you asked for. I also used a flash to get enough light in there to see something.

DSC09972 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

 

[Furyan]

Interesting thank you!

 

[actionfiguremovies]

Hey there to all that have been following on this adventure. It is finally done and here are the pictures. Hope you like them. Feel free to ask questions and I'l do my best to answer them. So let's get going....

Here is the TbLeague M32 body that I used. It is wrapped in Saran Wrap to get the suit to slide on better and not bunch up the silicone skin.
IMG_20210419_205336930 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

So far so good. The fit is tight but it is going on okay.
IMG_20210419_212441020 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

A little further...
IMG_20210419_212447678 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Okay let's skip a littler further ahead. It went pretty well.
IMG_20210419_213800053 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

The neck was going to be the next challenge.
IMG_20210419_213815968 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

SO here he is next to his buddy Scarlet Spider. He's in the suit completely, but not sewed in. There are still some minor work needing to be done on the soles of his shoes. They need to be reattached.
IMG_20210420_112225676 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

And here he is. All done. So let's strike a pose!!
IMG_20210420_134840265 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Testing articulation too.
IMG_20210420_134938580 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

How about some in the air shots?
IMG_20210420_135235165 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Lets push it now and see how dynamic we can get.
IMG_20210420_135625450 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

IMG_20210420_140003121 by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Spidey-M-Town by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Spidey-Alleyway by A.F.M. Productions, on Flickr

Well that is all for now.Thanks for sticking with me. Until the next custom. AFM. Peace out!

 

[Furyan]

Amazing thanks for sharing!

 

[Rainbowsteve]

I just don't understand this at all. If you wanted to pose a spiderman like that, why not just buy marvel legends? Imo, all this did was ruin the figure.

 

[actionfiguremovies]

I just don't understand this at all. If you wanted to pose a spiderman like that, why not just buy marvel legends? Imo, all this did was ruin the figure.

I appreciate your opinion, Marvel legends are 6 inches 1:12 scale. You need to understand we do stop motion animation in 1:6 scale. All the sets and vehicles are 1:6 scale. So to have a 1:6 scale Spider-man, that looks more real than a Marvel Legends, that can do poses that the HT figure cannot, is of great importance to me.
There are some here who actually want to know the process of how these body swaps are done. I've gotten many request in PM's. So where you are entitled to your opinion, please respect and understand you might not be seeing the real reason for what I'm doing. I would prefer you ask then giving your uniformed opinion. What we do is all about doing stop-motion animation in 1:6 scale and not just about collecting figure to place on a shelf, even though, for those that do that, that is perfectly okay for them. So, if you do not have a question about this process, feel free to pass the post by. I'm only interested in trying to help those achieve IMOH a better poseable figure.

Amazing thanks for sharing!

You are very welcome my friend. Thanks for following. i hope it was helpful.

 

[darth dennis]

I appreciate your opinion, Marvel legends are 6 inches 1:12 scale. You need to understand we do stop motion animation in 1:6 scale. All the sets and vehicles are 1:6 scale. So to have a 1:6 scale Spider-man, that looks more real than a Marvel Legends, that can do poses that the HT figure cannot, is of great importance to me.
There are some here who actually want to know the process of how these body swaps are done. I've gotten many request in PM's. So where you are entitled to your opinion, please respect and understand you might not be seeing the real reason for what I'm doing. I would prefer you ask then giving your uniformed opinion. What we do is all about doing stop-motion animation in 1:6 scale and not just about collecting figure to place on a shelf, even though, for those that do that, that is perfectly okay for them. So, if you do not have a question about this process, feel free to pass the post by. I'm only interested in trying to help those achieve IMOH a better poseable figure.

You are very welcome my friend. Thanks for following. i hope it was helpful.

Very cool! The poses look great and appreciate the step by step process. I'm still too chicken to try it, but it's cool to see the how-to.

 

[actionfiguremovies]

Very cool! The poses look great and appreciate the step by step process. I'm still too chicken to try it, but it's cool to see the how-to.

It is my pleasure brother. At least you know if you ever want to give it a go, there is a place that shows what you will face. It can be done and I'm always here to give more detailed advice. I've learned so much from others here, I'm honored to return the favor. Thanks for following the process. There's always more to come.