I ask fwooshmembers questions.
They asnswer them.
Rateeg – " oh yes. pinoy!"
Where do you live?
Right now I reside in Melbourne Australia. Though I wanna live in "Hobbiton"!
Where did you live previously?
I grew up in the streets of Manila, Philippines. "Far east" for those who don’t know where my country is located.
Why did you move?
Have to work my butt off. Experience different climates, people, food, and culture… I want "green"!
Where do you work?
Right now I’m working on a watertank company. We do molds and casts of watertanks for homes and buildings.
Can you describe what you do at work a little more?
Very complicated. Haha!
We make watertanks for buildings and residential houses. We actually cast them through rotating moulds and put it in a very huge oven. At the same time I learn how to mould and produce casts through oven baking. We also produce spoilers and extended bumpers for cars.
Who is in you family?
I have one father, one mother, one brother and two sisters.
Any pets?
I had pets all my life. From land animals, water pets, air flying creatures up to the endangered ones. But right now I left my only pal at home, PENNY. He’s my stud Labrador. Named him after Penny Hardaway coz he was born on October 1, some NBA fans might know what number "1" means for Anfernee Hardaway.
When did you start playing guitar?
I think when I was in the 7th grade I started listening to grunge/rock music and inspired me to purchase an practice guitar. Slash of guns n roses made me play the "geetar"!
What are your future plans?
I plan to live my life to the fullest with no regrets. And I also plan to have my own private MARVEL Superhero museum at my own house. That includes some of my Marvel sketches and paintings, statues, Action figures and customs.
Do you have formal art training?
Fortunately I have. But I missed out on my sculpting class. How ironic coz I do sculpting on my customs. Haha!
Do you know any other fwooshers?
I know a few of them; some I have met and some I have not met.
Some good people I met are goddlefthook, loosecollector, bino, manknee, liquid, hobbymaster_2003, etc… they are all Filipino.
My good buddies on the net are doubledealer (one of my mentors and also a Filipino if I may say), Kyle Robinson, grandpa, geejay (also a Filipino), and so many good people I have talked to on the net that I haven’t included on the list.
You know Bino? How do you know Bino?
Oh yeah, I know him… he lives near our place in Manila. and he’s a good friend.
he’s one rising star in customizing. He has a lot of potential and he listens good on advice for painting and sculpting. I would not be surprised if he would become one of the best soon. Though he needs to make me one custom for my collection. haha!
How long have you been customizing?
as far as I can remember I started late December 2005. I picked up an R2D2 lunch box and repainted it into R4. I guess repainting is a custom too.
How large a role does your girlfriend partake in customizing?
I gotta admit Mrs. Rateeg is better than me in terms of customizing. We always exchange ideas and tricks. She has her strong points and she has her weaknesses too. We are nowhere in the league of the best customizers in the world. We still have long stairs to climb.
How do you choose what to make?
I love the anatomy of WO-MEN.
I always love doing females. the reason is I do not see good-looking female figures around, especially from factory made figures. somehow I think most customizer focus on male or big badass figures, but I must say good-looking females are one of the hardest customs to do.
Do you do more commissions or ebay customs?
I do not do commissions right now coz I can’t commit myself on doing them because of my current work. but I’ll try to squeeze in one custom at a time in the next few months after I move to another house. I will start selling some customs soon on ebay so watch out for it.
How long does it take to make a custom?
All different.
Some make me one whole day to finish and some would take one full month. but it all depends really on the details.
How much of the day is dedicated to making customs?
3 to 5 hours!
What is your favorite custom that you made?
hmm… tough choice…
but I would have to go to my favorite cat (Tygra) because he was so very special to my childhood and plus he was featured in TOYFARE #128 and TNI’s Cool Custom of the Week.
Your talent goes from painting to sculpting to detail.
From cars toTransformers to Thundercats.
From GI Joe to Valiant to Epic to Marvel and then from smaller sizes to larger sizes…
All different aspects of the hobby in high quality.
nah.. I don’t consider my customs to be in high quality. There’s more space for improvement.
Have you tried Apoxie Sculpt?
I do not know where to buy it but I would hella wanna try it.
I’m using milliput right now coz i cant find a good epoxy clay here…
Do you think the customizing hobby is greatest in Philippines?
It’s fast growing now. Everybody I think tries it there back home. This June there will be a custom con in Manila, and I wouldn’t be surprised of there are a lot of entries.
What is in your collection?
Umm… I have a diverse collection. I’m a rock fan so I collect music icons mcfarlanes, I’m a 80’s cartoon fan so I collect them action figures. And I am a big MARVEL fan and I think the coolest superhero ever made was THE DAREDEVIL. I don’t know, there’s something about him that resembles me. Plus he’s one of the most believable characters out there.
Do you miss your home?
like what Steve Austin always love to say…
”HELL YEAH! “
Where do you vacation? Where would you like to vacation?
I haven’t had my vacation in years. I need one though… I would like to go to New Zealand and visit the mountains.
What other sites do you visit?
Porn sites!
Just kidding… but I frequent TNI, figurerealm, hisstank, toysoup, comiccrypt, and the local toy forums in the Philippines.
Like this one
http://rateegcreations.8.forumer.com/
And this one
http://customsphils.9.forumer.com/index
This youtube shows two child Television stars who go to a Con and meet Ms. Rateeg for a tutorial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtb8-xfWqho
What do you spend your money on?
DVD’s!
What is wrong with you?
I have an aching back that I carry for almost 3 months now. Help me!
What does "Pinoy" mean?
oh yes. pinoy!
"Pinoy" is short cut name for "a Filipino".
If anyone of you is into black-eyed peas music, there’s one song in one of their albums called "Filipino". APL of black-eyed peas composed it, for all of you to know he’s a Filipino and he’s proud of it.
Thanks Rateeg!
And thank you for the time and this interview. One of the best interviews I had. It’s a pleasure.
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