My name is Joshua Adrian Aristoza, and Im a seasoned action figure customizer at DoubleThwip Customs which is a flourishing business that I own and manage. We provide unique and high quality custom action figures for various collectors, both locally and internationally. DoubleThwip Customs is proud to partner with the all-new DAILY GUARDIAN in promoting the hobby to the local scene, bringing awareness to what we do as customizers and collectors, and to take down the prejudice that surrounds the hobby of collecting figures.
LIFE STORY
Ever since I was a kid, Ive received gifts of toys from my parents and relatives for special occasions. My best memories in my childhood would involve opening a balikbayan box from my late grandma from the states, and digging through it to look for the action figure that I know has my name written on masking tape placed over the front. Over time Ive built up a few laundry baskets worth of plastic toys and figures, and most of the time those figures were missing parts of their limbs, and bodies. This was due to the fact that I was incredibly interested in finding out how the toys worked, how their joints moved, how the electronics were set up inside of the bodies, etc. and because of this, my mom gave me the nickname The Destroyer. Little did I know, that was the start of how I learned a new hobby that would become my passion.
Over the course of my teenage life, I went through the usual stages of trying to be cool and liking what the cool people liked, even when it meant that I had to let go of my hobby of collecting. Ive sold some of the figures, and kept the ones that had sentimental value to me, and thankfully, those were the ones that pulled me back in to collecting. During my college life in the University of the Philippines Visayas, Ive learned that no one cares if youre cool or not as long as you treat others right. Ive learned that I can be open to what I love to do, and I started to revive my passion for collecting in the first year of college, back in 2014.
THE BEGINNING OF DOUBLETHWIP CUSTOMS
Now, as many collectors will tell you, this isnt a cheap hobby, not by a long shot. As a student, I didnt have the means of buying the high end figures that real collectors have, so I learned to love what I can afford with my saved up allowance. Ive also grown up with a business acumen of sorts, earning my own money by selling sticker sheets and other accessories during grade school to my classmates. This prompted me to try and profit from my old toys so that I could get enough money to buy figures of the characters that I really like, namely Spider-Man figures. While I was streamlining my collection in 2015, and looking up the figures I would be able to buy, I stumbled across a Facebook group called Likha (Filipino Toy Customizers). Back then, I had no idea what customizing was and why people would even think about taking apart a figure that they spent money on just to put it back together again with new paint and parts. But then I remembered I had that tendency as well when I was growing up. After looking through the posts on that group (which included a lot of helpful tutorials), as well as asking questions from the experienced admins and customizers, I decided to try my hand at it. In a nutshell, customizing figures is the process of taking an existing action figure of one character (say, Batman for example) and turning it into someone else (like Spider-Man) with the use of sculpting materials and paint to add new details to the base body. Mind you, I didnt know a thing about sculpting or painting back then, but I was eager to try anything. My first custom figure wasnt the best, but its still with me to this day, to serve as a reminder of where I came from and how I can improve everyday.
Fast forward to 2017, Ive started to gain traction as one of the up and coming Spider-Man collectors and customizers in the country. I know for a fact that there were a lot of people better than me back then (even up until now) but I never took that negatively. Instead, I used that as an inspiration to always better myself with each and every custom. From 2014-2017 Ive always posted my stuff on my personal account, both on Facebook and Instagram. But then a harsh comment about my hobby was personally said to me, and I decided to move my collection and customizing posts to a new home, which is what DoubleThwip Customs is now today. That experience taught me that sometimes insults can be the one push you need to achieve something greater in your life. Thanks to that one person, I was able to pursue my passion of customizing, and I was able to reach a bigger audience through my Facebook page.
After graduating as a cum laude with the degree of B.S. in Business Administration Major in Marketing in 2018, Ive found that the lessons Ive learned in UPV are incredibly useful and applicable with the way I run my business today. Right now, DoubleThwip Customs caters to clients of all shapes and sizes, as well as different locations. Ive had commission requests to make figures of Marvel and DC heroes, anime characters, and even concept characters that come from the imagination of my clients. Since 2017, Ive learned the ropes and have expanded my business to collectors from the US, Singapore, Hong Kong, Sri Lanka, and Canada. Ive also garnered multiple awards from online competitions between international customizers wherein Filipino customizers and I represent the country in unofficial online polls to determine which customs are the best for that month.
But all those things would mean nothing if I wouldnt be able to bring pride to Iloilo in what I do. I make sure that my page showcases the fact that DoubleThwip Customs is proudly Ilonggo, and with this partnership with the Daily Guardian, I hope to be able to make this known to my fellow Ilonggos as well. In the upcoming issues, we hope to be able to shed a bit of light on the history of some of the characters that I make into figure form, so that the readers may also be exposed to the rich background that the Marvel Cinematic Universe barely scratch the surface of.
Excelsior!
