Community Spotlight – Topher Putnam

For the first Community Spotlight of 2023, we are highlighting the work of Christopher Putnam, a professional illustrator, animator and storyteller who recently started crafting custom Metroid action figures based on many characters of the series. We hope you’ll consider checking out more of his work on his social media pages!

Topher Putnam

I’m Christopher “Topher” Putnam. I’ve been an illustrator, animator and storyteller my whole life and have worked in film, books and television for the last decade. I’m currently working on the animated adaptation of my comic book, K9: Dusk Bay Chronicles, of which there are currently six issues. A few years back, I developed an animated series on PBS called Bug Bites that ran for two seasons, where I served as creator, voice actor and animation director. I recently co-published two books in a children’s book series, Perfectly Normal Everyday Boy. I have always loved action figures and have been collecting since I was 4 years old. I’m currently the owner of the world’s largest documented Wario Collection, of which I have about 100 pieces of collectibles and memorabilia. What can I say? Wario is the greatest character ever. My Venom collection is also growing quite large, as I’ve just purchased a second 4 tiered display cabinet for it. While I have always loved the Metroid franchise, I was disappointed to see how few action figures have been made of the incredible cast of characters. With my recent completion of the Metroid Prime Trilogy, my fascination with seeing these characters come to life finally came to a head.

I’ve always wanted to make action figures, so I did a lot of research into how to do so. My wife and I invested in a couple of 3D printers, both resin and filament, in order to start sculpting and crafting objects for our various projects. My wife, Chloe Putnam and I, have a popular YouTube channel and business where we make costumes, cosplays and content for children. Chloe is a very talented seamstress and has amassed a nice portfolio of costumes and cosplays, so she took point on breaking our printers in, by practicing making props and accessories for our costumes. Chloe was kind enough to help me start my journey into making custom action figures. My first couple of figures came with some hurdles, as I wanted them to be as articulated as possible. This resulted in a lot of experimentation with various sculpting materials and adhesives, such as Apoxy Sculpt, Resin and much more. My first 3D printed figure was Dark Samus, and while I would love to go back and make her better, I am pleased with my first piece. This began a six month adventure, where I developed my skill and began creating figures of as many Metroid characters as I could. I eventually found a great way to adhere joints and articulate each figure properly to the point where they move just like a figure you would buy from a store. I think Noxus has the most complex articulation out of all the figures so far.

Painting each figure was my favorite part, as I love to paint. I realized quickly that the realistic designs of the characters demanded a higher focus on realism and shading, so I eventually invested in an airbrush gun that allowed me to fine tune the paint jobs of some of the later figures. I’m particularly fond of how Rundas turned out. I’m also very fond of collaborating with other creators when it comes to bringing these characters to life. So many talented modelers and creators contribute to this community so I’m glad to have them as partners in a few of these endeavors. A few of these figures use bases from existing figures, and include hand sculpted pieces to transform them into something new. Ghor is an example of one of these. Alongside Metroid, I also make customs from the Wario and Spider-Man series, and have plans to venture into even more franchises. Keep an eye out… I may not be finished with Metroid just yet!

Our Thoughts

Glaedrax

I absolutely agree with Topher on the lack of Metroid themed figures out there. His fantastic work clearly shows that there are tons of characters that would make great figures and merchandise for the series outside of Samus! My favorite are Noxus, Sylux, Kanden and Ridley. It’s so nice to see collectible figures of these characters, the details are really cool! Hopefully Nintendo will eventually decide to make more of them in the future.