This custom is based on Cable's outfit in the recent "Bosom Buddies" arc in issues 20 through 23 of Cable & Deadpool. Since that was the arc where I really started to get over my hate, that's where I went.
The base figure is Black Panther, from Marvel Legends Series 10. I liked the base for a couple of reasons. First, the BP torso is just beefy enough - in his recent incarnation, Cable is still a big guy, but not quite as wide as he looked in the 90's. The proportions here worked out well. The texture also let me get the effect I was looking for - with the costume predominantly one color, I thought it would be more interesting with the textured body.
But most importantly, the BP body works well with the Marvel Legends Deadpool. Since I'll be keeping these guys together, I wanted a body that was bigger than Deadpool, but not one that would dwarf him completely.
I did make some modifications to give him a little more height. First, I gave him boots from a Marvel Legends Bullseye. They're just a bit taller than Black Panther's. I think the left one is taller than the right - not by enough to make me fix it, but enough that I have to take special attention when posing him so he doesn't look lopsided.
I also modified the neck, extending it to give Cable a more regal look. This wasn't exactly my idea. I broke the neck peg off in Black Panther's head when I removed it, but that was a fine enough excuse to prompt the neck extension.
And yes, the head is quite obviously from the Punisher from ML 4. I think it works for Cable in this body size, but I don't know that I modified it enough to make it more Cable and less Punisher. I smoothed out his chin and forehead, removed some of the battle scars, and added those boyish tufts of hair in front. I still see Frank in there. Any suggestions?
Cable's left arm and hand come from the leftover Deathlok I used to cobble together
Forge. It's actually Deathlok's right arm with his left hand swapped on, a combination others have used before me. That still left me with a shoulder and forearm to add grooves to. In each case, I used a dremel to remove the top layer of plastic, added a layer of sculpting medium, and then added the lines in with an exacto knife.
For the shoulder, I used plumber's epoxy so it would be a little more durable. For the write, I used Super Sculpey so I could take a little more time. Since I had to extend the neck anyways, I used the same technique with plumber's epoxy on his left side, so he has grooves up there too.
And although it's becoming the bane of my customizing existence, I went ahead and added as many seams and straps as I could stomach. His zipper seam uses the stretchy bead string I first used with Deadpool. I don't know if my super glue is getting old, but I had a really hard time getting it to hold this stuff down, especially on BP's bumpy torso.
The rest of the straps are rubber bands. I had depleted my wife's supply of rubber bands with the last few customs I did, and she replaced them with ones that were color-coded by size. If you look closely, you'll see sections of unpainted rubber band in purple and pink. It's the kind of thing that I'd really want to fix, if the custom wasn't already in the "finished" category.
For some final touches, I added the belt from Punisher and some assorted parts left over from Deadpool. The belt is not actually glued down to the body - that's so it can conceal the swivel at the waist but still retain the articulation. The downside is that the buckle (just another piece of rubber band on top of the one used to connect the two ends of the belt) doesn't exactly lay flush to Cable's torso. Not sure if I'll be able to fix that - but then again, it's Cable, and I hate him anyways.
