Over the last few years, Funko – a popular toymaker – has created five different Pops of Alex Ovechkin including a Chase figurine with the Stanley Cup. Three Of Ovechkin’s teammates have been immortalized in vinyl too, but none of them have been his longtime running mate, Nicklas Backstrom.

So Katherine (@JessamyGriffin), a Capitals fan living in Tokyo, decided to take matters literally into her own hands.

“Everyone does fandom differently, some people watch, some people shout on Twitter, some people collect, some create,” Katherine said. “As a collector, I enjoy what I buy. This means, gasp – I open, for example, McFarlane NHL toy boxes and display my figures! Resale value? Sunk. Steve Dangle? Fainted dead away. Ditto Funko figures, and even worse – I have no compunction about modifying things. Like the limited edition Ovi figure – I was annoyed they didn’t give him proper yellow laces. I decided to go the whole hog and silver his hair up as well.”

Katherine also felt like “Funko Ovi needed a Backstrom. We have Funko Holtby, Carlson, Ovi again – no Backstrom? Ridiculous. They should sell them as a set.”

So last winter, Katherine was decided to reunite the two babes and make a Backstrom figurine herself. The project first started with her looking for a character that had the right hairstyle to be Backstrom. She turned to eBay.

“As it turned out, the bobblehead Agent 13 of the Marvel Universe was best,” Katherine said. “For the hockey body, any cheap left-handed shooter would work, preferably with a red jersey. Jonathan Toews, is in fact a cheap toy, comparatively, and common.”

With the Funkos acquired, here’s how Katherine turned Agent 13 and Jonathan Toews into Nicklas Backstrom.

Step 1

Dump Toews in hot water to soften the glue holding his head to his body. Grasp Toews firmly by the head and skates; rip his head off. Very satisfying.

First mistake: Agent 13 was a bobblehead, and needed to be converted to a stable head. After removing the head from the spring, I had to mold a plate out of Fimo and glue it in. So, add unexpected sculpting to this project.

Second mistake: – Thinking Backy should have a white jersey. I had to cover the red jersey with so many layers of thin white acrylic. SO many. But it helped, due to the water slide decal issue.

Step 2

There are better Funko modders out there, with fancy airbrushes and plastic clays. I wasn’t about to invest that much into this, so acrylic paint and brushes were best. Thin the paint out to a milk consistency and build layers to avoid obvious brushstrokes. I am not great at fine detail painting, so the stripes are not as clean as they could be.

Third mistake: Most Funko heads have painted hair and eyes, and the base plastic is skin tone. Agent 13/Backy needed to have their luscious eyelashes removed with acetone on a q-tip. To my horror, when I gently rubbed, the eyelashes and the very flesh tone itself came off. The base color was blond hair! And thus Backy lost his eyelids. Great. More painting, with finicky flesh tone matching.

Step 3

Achievement, months in the making due to frustration: Waterslide decal maker, beginner level. Find the best font for Backstrom’s nameplate, numbers, and work it up in Photoshop. Waterslide decals are colored ink printed on clear film. I couldn’t print white ink, so it was ‘easier’ to make Backy with an away jersey and drop the blue and red logos on that.

Step 4

Hairstyling. I decided Backy needed actual goldy locks, and used a gold pearl acrylic over the yellow base hair, and gave it depth with some brown shading. I used masking tape to do the eyebrows in a thicker shape. The paint is a little thick on them, but it works.

Step 5

Protect the decals and make it more Funko-like with a clear acrylic matte finish everywhere except the skates and stick. This really helped the final look, worth the investment in a little bottle.

Step 6

Jam Backy’s head through the hand-sculpted Fimo plate onto the neck post.

Step 7

Profit?? Pose the Funkos; admire. Ovi and Backy together – there is a rightness in this, and I feel at peace when I see them.

So, the little project took months on and off, working when I felt like it. I learned some things, solved some problems. Is it a perfect mod? No, the paintwork is a bit sloppy. Would I do it again?

Well. Let’s just say that Devan Dubnyk Funko coincidentally has the same hairline as Anton Khudobin.

“After me, I pass it to you.”
After ages of delay and procrastination deciding how to customize, @OriginalFunko Ovechkin gets his Backstrom.

Pleased with how Backy came out.
I used a Jonathan Toews body and Agent Carter head to achieve it. pic.twitter.com/LGDZlHY0Kf

— jessamygriffin (@JessamyGriffin) November 3, 2020