It's been about 5 or 6 years since I created any customs themed around the X-Men. For a while, I had been thinking about dropping not only one, but a series of customs themed around the popular mutant superhero team. The plan was to pick 5 team members and make customs themed after each of them, which turned out to be a challenge deciding which ones I wanted to go with. I still have other team member ideas, so I will probably do a second (and maybe third?) part to this series. But in the meantime, here's the 5 that I chose to start out with:
1. Cyclops
Real name: Scott Summers
First Appearance: The X-Men #1 (1963)
Powers & Abilities: Powerful optic blasts, energy resistance, hand to hand combatant
Cyclops was my first choice and one of the most obvious. Considering that he's the team leader, it was pretty much a no-brainer. I knew off the bat that the Air Force 1 low was the shoe I wanted for this custom. The color gradient effect on the swoosh was inspired by his optic blasts.
2. Wolverine
Real Name: James Howlett (aka Logan)
First Appearance: Incredible Hulk #180 (1974)
Powers & Abilities: Adamantium claws and indestructible bones via Adamantium, enhanced strength, durability, stamina and reflexes, enhanced senses, healing factor
There was no way I was going to start this series without the most popular member of the X-Men and most popular mutant overall. I made an Air Force 1 High version about 6 years ago and wanted to go with a different design and shoe this time. I even flirted with the idea of going with the brown costume, but the blue and yellow just hits better to me.
3. Storm
Real Name: Ororo Munroe
First Appearance: Giant Size X-Men #1 (1975)
Powers & Abilities: Weather manipulation/control, flight
This is another theme I had done previously, but this time, I wanted to do something based around her white and yellow costume that was popularized in the 90s Fox cartoon series. I wanted to keep this design fairly simple with it focusing primarily on the lightning effects that come from her powers.
4. Beast
Real Name: Henry "Hank" McCoy
First Appearance: The X-Men #1 (1963)
Powers & Abilities: Superhuman strength, genius level intellect, enhanced agility, stamina, and reflexes, razor sharp fangs and claws
This is one theme I had never done and actually decided on it when I was between working on the Cyclops and Wolverine pairs (the first 2 pairs I completed). I wanted to keep it inspired by Beast's look by keeping the shoes primarily blue.
5. Colossus
Real Name: Piotr Nicolayevich "Peter" Rasputin
First Appearance: Giant Size X-Men (1975)
Powers & Abilities: Superhuman strength, Metal mimicry
I knew off the bat I wanted to include Colossus in this series. He may actually be my favorite member of the X-Men, and I remember I used to always wish that they had made him a regular in the 90s series. In fact, I had actually planned to do a Colossus custom 2 years ago on a different shoe, but I reworked the idea to go on a pair of Nike dunks (I had the original shoe laying around my office but had done nothing with them so this was perfect). These are my personal favorite out of the entire series.
I may add some of these to the store section over the next couple days, so keep checking the new arrivals and comic book & animated themes sections of the site, or if you don't want to wait until then, send a message through the contact form at the bottom of the page and let me know which custom(s) you would be interested in!
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