Our Custom Funko Pop For SG:A's Rodney McKay

John and I are big Stargate:Atlantis fans, and the one actor I've most wanted to see at Dragon Con for the last several years has been David Hewlett, aka Dr. Rodney McKay.

 Or should we call him Meredith?

Needless to say I was over the moon when Hewlett announced he was finally coming to Dragon Con this year. With only had a few weeks' notice, John and I decided to revisit some slightly familiar territory, and make Hewlett his very own custom Funko Pop! doll.

John made the box, I made the doll, and here's the finished product:

McKay wears several different uniforms throughout the show. I decided to go with this one, because it's relatively simple:

In fact, it was SO simple that I decided he needed a prop of some sort.

 

Hopefully you SG:A fans can tell that's a ZPM he's holding. For you non-fans, a ZPM looks like this:

 Which I discovered is a bit tricky to capture on a 2-inch scale with paper clay. o.0

(I added a couple of coats of Mod Podge to make it extra shiny, so that helps a bit.)

Our McKay wears the world's tiniest arm patches: each is a whopping .25 inches tall.

So, how'd I do it? Well, you'll laugh, but these are the two Pops I combined:

Yep, I used a Crowley. I found it poetic. Plus the head shape was perfect.

(For you newbies; our last custom Pop figure WAS Crowley, which I'm sure is what convinced Funko to start making their own. ;)) 

I won't give you a step-by-step, but here are a few handy tips:

- A Q-tip dipped in acetone will take that beard RIGHT off.

- A Dremel is perfect for sanding off shirt pockets/cuffs.

- Thin your water-based craft paints way, WAY down to avoid brush strokes.

- You can re-position arms by slicing them off at the shoulder/elbow, & then re-attaching with epoxy.

I think you'll agree, though, that the box is what REALLY sells it. Pun (always) intended.

 

John has become the master of custom Funko boxes. Since there are no Stargate Pops at all, he had to make this entire design from scratch! He did all the adjustments in Photoshop, printed it on 2 sheets of glossy photo paper, and then used spray adhesive to attach the paper to thin poster board. From there, he assembled the box, re-using the plastic window from one of the original boxes.

Check out the sides and back:

 Isn't it perfect? And since the back usually has all the other figures in the set, John did this instead:

 

Trolling level: HIGH

We chose the number 418 because McKay's (and Hewlett's) birthday is April 18th.

And here he is, all packaged up:

We presented Hewlett with his Pop on Sunday at Dragon Con. His handlers were rushing him a bit since he had a flight to catch, but he was incredibly sweet and more than a little incredulous at our work. (He even asked if my ZPM was 3D-printed!) 

Unfortunately photos aren't allowed in DCon's signing area, but David promised us he'd tweet it, so I hope I get to add a pic of him with his Pop here sometime soon!