Play Arts Final Fantasy Customs of Zelu1984

I got into Play Arts when Kai is already making waves so i missed the older Play Arts Final Fantasy lines, well, except for a couple of Advent Children figures. It's kinda ironic since i am a big fan of the Final Fantasy series. All i know is that Square-Enix did not care to finish the lines, hence, they are missing some of the most memorable and key characters for each line like Final Fantasy 8's Seifer, Zell, Quistis and Irvine or Final Fantasy 9's Beatrix and Steiner and Final Fantasy 7's Barrett and Cid. There must be legions of fans out there that are yearning for some of those to be produced and wondered how their collection would look like if only Square-Enix continued with the lines. Well, i am fortunate enough to make the acquaintance of this guy...

Actual pic of Zelu1984

...who literally made that fanboy dream a reality. You don't believe me? Check out the rest of his pics after the jump. And oh, Click Zelu1984's name for his deviantart site.
I joined FinalFantasyMerchandise forums as a full member (after some months of being a lurker!) only recently and I met Tomasz Rozejowski, alter-ego of Zelu1984, a Play Arts Final Fantasy Collector who's the proponent of the"Do It Yourself" doctrine, the anti-thesis of  "cross your fingers and wait for Square-Enix to complete what they started" (and, neglected, darn!).Well, can't blame him, he's got wicked-mad customizing skills and his masterpieces are indeed things of beauty.

Play Arts Final Fantasy 8 - what might have been. Irvine, Selphie, Squall, Edea, Rinoa, Zell and Quistis. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Irvine, Squall and Play Arts Zell. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Edea, Play Arts Ultimecia and Play Arts Rinoa. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Selphie, Rinoa and Quistis. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Seifer and Play Arts Edea. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Seifer and Squall. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

See what i mean? Touring his thread is similar to getting an exclusive visit to the "lost character archives" of Square-Enix. Now i would not try explaining how he does these customs since all my customizing knowledge can be written on the side of a matchbox and still leave room for a couple of Play Arts Kai reviews. 

Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Uh, hey, is that a Play Arts Fran? yes it is. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Garnet variant and Play Arts Beatrix. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Penelo. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Recently he also conceived and created his own unofficial volume of Play Arts Kai Final Fantasy 13-2 figures which include Noel and Caius. Tom actually consider these as his finest customs yet. It's difficult to disagree with that.

Now beat that Square-Enix! Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Kai Caius. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Play Arts Kai Noel. Photo courtesy of Zelu1984

Having seen a lot of custom figures, i can say that what set his works apart is the charm that they actually look like official Play Arts figures: no overdone paint apps, retention of the basic mold used, overall look is consistent with the older Play Arts, etc. You can check out more of his works on Zelu1984's Deviantart site and also at FinalFantasyMerchandise forums.

Psstt...i think he's also accepting commissioned works but you better ask him yourselves.