Years ago, I bought the 3.75" Gandalf released for the Hobbit movie. As my collection is mostly Marvel, with a few DC chars, old Gandalf was a little bored, all alone. So I decided to give him company, and to find him someone/something to fight. The scene from the LoTR movie when Gandalf confronts the Balrog is a classic and a personal favorite, so I thought it would be nice to recreate it on my shelves.
After some research, I found out there was a Toy Vault figure, released prior the movies, that was almost good in scale and not too expensive on the backmarket.
I cut the head, resculpted the upper part of the face (nose, eyes and eyebrows), added horns from a Narnia fig, modified neck joint, added a LOT of flames made from hot glue, gave him a whip mad from optic fiber wire... Painted with orange-yellow and different shades of red.
Now my Gandalf has someone to talk with ! (though he may not exchange kind words...)