CAL-EL Customs and Why Our Carded King Is Important to Our Community
By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios
About two weeks ago, I opened the Twitter app to find myself and three other members of the community immortalized in 3¾-inch form.
I was fucking blown away.
The character’s head looked crazily like me, complete with sunglasses. It also had a freaking Destro head! And the weaponry honestly looked like it had been chosen straight from my own personal arsenal.
The more I looked at it, the more I thought, This is absolutely perfect.
Flawless, even.
After checking out the rest of what would become Wave 1 — G.I. Dave, Metal Twister, and Big Red — I realized they were ALL flawless. I mean, the head sculpts were insanely accurate.
Then, wave after wave, a Who’s Who of our Twitter community started popping up. Some were “found” at CVS. Some were “found” at Ross. But ALL of them were fucking awesome.
Every single drop has featured faces that are eerily similar to the people they represent — and I absolutely mean that as a compliment.
The latest wave featured my brother Marky Potter, and the face was just perfect. The red beard, the expression, the sculpt — it seriously looked so much like Mark that I still can’t believe it.
Brother Gnawgahydes HogFat had two boars and gear that perfectly fit him. Brother Ellis had animals and a sawed-off double-barrel shotgun that was absolutely perfect.
And, of course, there was a GOAT with Brother Jesse.
This entire endeavor by our Carded King is important because it has become another massively awesome part of our community. It checks every single box that makes this place great.
The attention to detail. The face sculpts. The weapon choices. The animal companions. The card backs with names and insignias.
Hell, even the price tags are 1000/10 perfect.
All of those details show just how much care and love our brother puts into these creations. In my opinion, it is one of the coolest community projects we have ever had.
I am glad everyone is giving Cal his flowers because what he is doing is so fucking great.
So great, in fact, that I felt the need to say it again here.
Cal has become an integral part of this community.
He has been so incredibly important to the Animus Raffle. He is one of the most supportive and hilarious people on the timeline. He is actually out there doing good work in real life, and it needs to be said that his impact on this community has been significant.
And then there is his absolutely ridiculous collection of figures of every kind imaginable.
The dude takes great photos. He creates awesome setups. He supports other people. He contributes to the community. And, most importantly, all of those good deeds inspire other people to do the same.
That matters.
Because what makes this community special has never just been the toys.
It is the people.
It is brothers supporting brothers. It is people using their talents to make someone else smile. It is taking something as simple as action figures and turning it into friendship, creativity, generosity, and memories.
That is exactly what Cal is doing with CAL-EL Customs.
Brother Cal, I hope you feel the love from this community now and always, because this community absolutely feels the love coming from you.
You’re an amazing dude.
And you rock the motherfucking house down to the ground.
HELLS YEAH, BROTHER.
By Destro Designs – Viper Den Studios
CAL-EL Customs and Why Our Carded King Is Important to Our Community