Editor's note: This interview could've been added to a number of the different features we publish here on the blog, including "Featured Fan" or "Customizing Corner", but since the focus of today's article displays such a diverse creative output, we felt it was most appropriate to feature his work under our "Artist Spotlight" banner.
To get started, please introduce yourself!
Hello everyone. My name is Emil Wickman. I am from Sweden and I love toys. I also love playing games with my friends. Games with minifigures, board games and role playing doesn´t really matter as long as it lets me use my imagination and be creative in some way. I am also a lucky husband to a wife that encourages my interests and a proud father of two wonderful and crazy girls.
How did you first get introduced to Mythic Legions?
Having collected toys for about a year, I saw a picture of my favorite action figure - Trap Jaw. Only it wasn´t Trap Jaw. It was this supercool character named Kronnaw who looked so very much like my all-time favorite character. Hurrying to check this up I found that it was part of this line called Mythic Legions. I was immediately caught by the awesome details and so I started reading everything I could find about Mythic Legions. I watched the related YouTube videos multiple times and figured I couldn´t just sit and wait for Kronnaw to be released. I decided to get just a few figures. Yeah...just a few.
What are your favorite kinds of Mythic Legions figures?
Well among all amazing figures in this line, some appealed to me a little extra. When I saw the skeletons, my heart screamed WOW! I was lucky to find a seller in Europe who had some Skeleton Legion Builders. That same seller had some Templars to sell which I wasn´t too interested in at the time. It just so happened to be that I changed my mind and had to buy those as well after a while! If I have to choose, it has to be the Skeletons. Necronomicus, Eathyron and Illythia are my favorite factions and I can never forget the first time I held Mandibulus in my hands. You know what this line really did to me compared to all other toy lines I collect? Most other toys that arrive at my house makes me super happy and all that, but then I put them on a shelf to display. What I noticed was different with my behavior when it comes to Mythic Legions was the fact that I kept taking them out and reposing them. This hasn´t stopped. They really bring back all happy memories I had playing with toys as a kid. They really take me to these imaginary places I want to go back to again and again.
What got you started on customizing Mythic Legions?
By the time I got my first Mythic Legion figure, I had never done any customizing. I guess the first step I took was when I got my Gideon head and needed to swap parts to get him a body. The Cabal and the amazing customizers I found there was what triggered me further. The first three people I saw posting customs was Nikki Nicole Chaney, Dennis Derby, and Jeremy Girard. They had done so much and I loved looking at what they had done. Then I looked further and realized this was a thing - customizing I mean. So many people with so many different ways of customizing these figures. Something within me urged me to do a custom action figure and I realized I had to try it. I have always loved toys and always loved to paint (though mostly digitally) and now I was going to try to merge my interests. I really, really enjoyed it. My first custom painted figure was a Vampire Warrior and the community was so welcoming and encouraging. That is by far the best thing with the Cabal. No one is making a fool of you for trying. On the contrary, there is so much positive energy in that group.
I know you´ve also done some 3D sculpting to create add-on heads for your custom Mythics. Tell us about that.
Yeah, I have always dreamt of sculpting in 3D and now I got myself a good reason. I loved the Vampires but didn´t have a head for my part-swapped-built Baron Volligar. I bought a software that wasn´t too expensive and started to try it out. I was going for this powerful old being who already has done all there is to do in numerous lifetimes. One who has created a mighty empire and a huge army but he is so weary of existing, but still he continues to live. As if he is on the search for something. A friend had a printer so we did some testing to try getting it printed in the right size, which was tricky since the software I was using didn´t use inch or mm.
I have also done one other head for a Mythic Legions figure and that was when I got myself an orc body through a trade. I didn´t have an orc head so I sculpted one. I did the heads before I had started painting custom figures so these heads were actually the first custom painted parts I did. I actually hadn´t planned to sell them but someone asked me after having seen photos of them and I was really encouraged by that as well. I would love to do more head sculpts, but as of right now I don´t have access to a printer and so it is hard to try out what size they should be before I upload them to Shapeways, which is the only channel I have tried to sell the heads through.
Besides creating custom action figures, you’ve also done some really cool artwork. Talk to us about the great Mythic Legions cartoon piece you showed off recently.
I love drawing and love to try out different styles. I think I can partially blame Eddie Salvatore III for this piece having this particular style. My first plan was to draw a realistic piece of Brother Mandibulus, but a day before I started this Facebook let me share a memory of an old illustration I did of my D&D group that I drew in a more cartoony style. Eddie liked it so much and his energy was contagious. I decided I wanted to draw it in this style. The first step was to decide what characters to use. It was not that easy, but I ended up going with the faction leaders and just a few others. Some darlings I removed at the last minute. Eddie got to see the early sketches and wished for a bare chested dwarf so I added that. In the piece, I wanted to add many details that to most would seem as just random funny things but to me and maybe other Mythic Legions fans would be something more. In the center, we have the big feud between Attlus and Attila and their friend Otho who struggles to cope with them arguing. We have Jjuno who is angry with Attlus and try to catch him in her snare and the Azhar and Zazhar situation where the brothers are not totally separated. Of course there are things that don´t mean anything and are just meant to be silly.
It’s great to see such variety of creative output from you! Do you have any current projects you are working on or any future plans?
Thank you. I just finished a female vampire custom, Aels Kin. I had so much fun working on it and I was so happy with it. Before that, I did the rather silly portraits of me as some characters from Mythoss but that was just me having fun one afternoon. I am just really enjoying the community and this hobby. There are so many things I would love to try and we shall see what is doable and not. I am really looking forward to do some more sculpting as well and finding an exciting new way to get my sculptures into other fans and customizer's hands!
As for the toys themselves, what are your “wish list” items for future Mythic Legions figures?
This is the best line to collect and there are so many possibilities as a customizer with what is available. I wish to see what is going to be included when the Necronominus wave is coming (If there will such a wave that is). That is probably what I am most looking forward to when it comes to future releases.
It would be cool to have a Mandibulus plush toy :D
In closing, where can fans follow you and see more of your work?
I am publishing all my customs and Mythic Legions related things on the Mythic Legions Cabal group as well as on my Instagram account @emil.wickman.
Published on 06.09.20