This is my original take on Ben Grimm/The Thing for the Unite the Elements contest.

Luck: I wasn't planning on entering, but a few weeks ago I was sifting through my fodder drawer and had bulldozer there and the thing from the ronan series. I guess the orange was the magic connection in my mind.

Concept: I immediately thought, "Why not do a thing figure that is big and bad and in mid-transformation!?" I saw images of Ben transforming and I was not satisfied with him going human-orange goblin-rock monster. I realized that my idea wasn't canon and he became more like the other Fantastic Four characters, with control over his powers. I have never seen one like it in all the toy and comic reference pics I searched through, so it was a matter of imagination. Perhaps this Ben Grimm has full control of his powers and he's a beefy dude who works out and gets more girls than that whimpy Johnny Storm? I like that version.

Piecing together: To my amazement, the lower legs of the thing and his arms fit PERFECTLY on bulldozer. No modifications at all. I had to heavily modify the neck for the steve rogers head to fit just right.

Sculpting: Aves apoxie. I had the reference for the rock patterns on the arms and lower legs, so it wasn't incredibly difficult. Just combine the apoxie, let it set for about 15-20 mins, make the sculpt into flat sheets to cover areas I wanted to detail. Then I let it set another 15-20 mins. I proceeded to add the detail with a dental tool, and when an hour and a half passed I went in with a plastic sculpting tool to round some edges and smooth it out.

Painting: Airbrushed the skin tones first with Tamiya. Then started with a orange-red mix and built up the rock areas to a yellow orange. I then made a wash with some citadel paints for the skin, wiping lightly with a t shirt, and added a dark brown wash on the rocks, also lightly wiping. I dry brushed the skin tones with a light tone, and the rocks with a bright orange(not to make it bright, the orange doesn't cover incredibly, it was just to try and balance the tones after the wash hit him. Undies were airbrushed blue and light blue.

Seal: The sprayable jar of testor's dullcote!

"IT'S CLOBBERIN' TIME!"

*update* second picture is an update! I forgot to add a 4 somewhere...just sculpted what would be a badge or some sort of attachment most every superhero has. thanks!

Update 2- I am selling this figure, thought I'd put the update with eBay listing attached for any folks interested in this fella! Thanks again people!