Character Conceptions – Ice

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Today, I thought I’d share a little bit on my character, Ice. I made this character as a bit of a rival or perhaps even antagonist for Firestone. As Firestone has the power of fire, Ice has the power of, you guessed it, Ice!

He has sort of a “cold” and stern personality type. A bit different from Firestone’s more free spirited nature. Ice comes from a wealthy and privileged family background. He has a knack for collecting beautiful jewelry.

One thing that I found that I like when coming up with this character, is that since he has Ice powers, I shaped his hair like an ice cream cone. I thought that was a fun and “cool” touch. I like to make certain things stand out that add fun or personality to the characters that I create.

I feel like he will make a great looking figure. The image above is sort of the idea pose for him to have in statue form.

Anyways, that’s all I’ve got for today. Until next time!

The Iron Dragon

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This is my character, The Iron Dragon.

He is a villian that shows up later in the series.

Moving forward, I may be sharing small snippits, characters, and designs for my characters, without giving too much away, of course.

I imagine that he will appear in Wave 2 for the toy line that I am developing. So there may be a small but of time before he shows up as a action figure/statue.

Stay tuned!

What is Firestone Comics?

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So just what is Firestone Comics?

I decided to go with the name Firestone Comics, as I named my imprint after my character “Firestone”. Idk, I just figured since my character has Fire abilities, perhaps it should reflect somewhere in his name… Then, I just decided to go with Firestone Comics. Some of my short gag comics, or quick 1 shots were based off my character Firestone and a few other characters. That is the origin of Firestone Comics.

Its funny right, I wasn’t the type of kid who read comics for entertainment when I was a kid. Look, don’t get me wrong, when I was a kid I liked Spider-man, X-Men, Batman and many other characters when I was a kid, just like everyone else. But there was really no real way for me to get my hands on comics when I was a child. Most of my exposure to American Comic IP come from cartoon shows and video-games.

Y’see, my generation was the video-game generation for our primary source of entertainment. In years prior, it was all about the big two American Comic book giants, “Marvel” and “DC” comics. Those two were the main factors when it came towards creating comics. But moving onwards to the 90’s and 2000’s comic books had to compete with the new kids on the block for the attention of its target demographic. Video-game giants, Nintendo, SEGA, Microsoft, and SONY had entered the fray as the rising dominant force for the male entertainment attention demographic. This is the generation and demographic that I was a part of.

Also, growing up in an impoverished city, below the poverty line, with a household of nearly 10 people, and a family who has limiting beliefs about money and spending, comic book stores were a far off thing. Keep in mind, at this age of my adolescent years, I knew nothing about comic book stores. I didn’t even know they existed. I probably would have went to one or two had they been around my community or if I knew of their existence.

Nearing this time is also when the Asian explosion of Japanese Manga and Anime made a huge boom in the United States. Heroes and stories of past icons like Batman and Spider-man were being left in the past for new exciting stories from our Japanese counterparts. Comics and anime from series like DragonBall Z, Naruto, Pokémon, and many others had grabbed the attention from traditional American “superhero” comics. Once I got my hands onto this new form of entertainment, I never looked back.

In much of this, I was always somewhat of a creative child. I loved to draw some of my favorite characters when I was young, as most kids do. I had many complete, and incomplete sketchbooks of my favorite characters, Sonic the Hedgehog, Sora, and many of my own characters.

I decided that along my journey, I would make my own stories and characters.

These days, I am more into producing toys and action figures. I have shared some of my process on this on this very blog, but there is more to come. Ultimately, my dream is to make characters, toys, and express whatever creative outlet that I have, make lots of money doing what I love, and getting all of my goals and dreams out, leaving nothing behind.

Part of this blog is to share a bit of my journey.

Anyways, that is a small snippet on what Firestone Comics is, and the origin of how things came about.

More to come!

Firestone Comics figures – Wave 1 Development

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Hello beautiful world! We are nearing into the joyus and warmful summer of 2026! I think that this would be an excellent opportunity to share some of my ups, downs, and many lessons I’ve had on my journey so far.

As I mentioned in my last post, I have created and completed the design for my character, “Firestone”. I am very grateful and proud of myself for all of the hard work, dedication, and focus that I have poured into that part of my journey. I have learned a lot about the production of creating an action figure. However, I have run into some temporary setbacks that halt my production from going forward in that particular space.

At this time, I can not exactly move forward with the production of my articulated version of my action figure. I have looked and spend time effort and money on ways to overcome my setback, but I cannot move forward with it at this time with the current toolset that I have. The good news is, when I have more available tools and options, I can carry on and pick up exactly where I left off, and begin to produce a specific batch number and ship them out!

I actually say this as an opportunity for me to reflect on what I have learned up to this point, and apply it to other areas of my future of production.

Some of which I will be sharing here in this post!

For starters, I decided since I cannot move forward with my articulated action figure, I can apply what I learned to a separate project that I can continue. I decided to make a small production run of Firestone, as well as a few other characters that I have created. I decided to create a small batch of interchangeable figures, the start of a toyline starring Firestone, and other characters that I have made. Here is what I have completed.

Two Firestone color variants, red and blue!

I have made the upper and lower bodies interchangeable and swappable!

Viola! Firestone comes to life!

I have to reiterate that I am extremely proud of myself for the hard work I have applied to make this happen… I believe that with continued effort, sacrifice, and focus, I will be able to create comics, and action figures full time. I believe that we were put on this Earth to be all that we can be. I feel like becoming my best self is my way of giving back. To make something that will impact others in a positive way, and to leave something behind that will far outlive me.

I believe that there is a lesson in all things, and setbacks, we jut need to understand the lesson that is being shown before us, and apply it to get the outcome we want.

In my last post, I showed a character that I created and will be turning into an action figure. That I am still working on. Behind the scenes, I am tweaking the character design, and his backstory a bit. Look, trust me, I have my hands full with a lot on my plate! I am really excited for all that I have been working on.

Lastly, I think it may be a good idea to revive my old YT channel, or social media. Many people I know have encouraged me to get back on my social media grind, and promote my characters, comic story, and toys there. I can’t disagree. I feel as though I would waste a lot of time on social media, so I decided to erase it several months ago. I think it may be a good idea to document on social media moving forward. More on that later…

Until next time!

-Hakiem

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Development Diary 3 – Firestone Action Figure vol. 3

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I am proud to present that I have completed the first part of my journey in creating my action figure for my comic and toyline. It was a lot of interesting steps to be made in order to complete this figure.

I worked really hard with my professional sculptor, in order to get the figure to look as close to my character, “Firestone” as possible.

With that being said, I have run into a TON of issues now that the design process has been completed. I don’t even know where to begin, but for starters, when assembling the figure, I am finding that the parts do not match completely and in a smooth and concise manner. This can be from a number of issues, but I suspect it is from the specific output from the manufacturing side of my 3D printer. There is a lot of technical knowledge needed for projects like this, and I am by no means an expert in this field. However, like most things in life, this will be a challenge I overcome in order to continue forward with goals, dreams, and vision. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not one to give up and quit so easily. Nothing like learning some new skills, right?

In all honesty, I was a bit stumped, and did not know if I should even bother posting my progress up until this point. I figure that the hard obstacles and roadblocks are all apart of the journey, and I should document them as well. I have a few other projects I am working on in regards to this as well.

I guess I will end this on a note of gratitude on this journey and endeavor.

A big part of how I got to where I am in this current moment, is because I have decided to shift my perspective and focus onto continuous and rapid growth. That starts with accountability, and in this case, gratitude.

I have the resources to even get this far because I have bettered myself, and cherished every dollar that I have earned, whether that be a major amount of money, or a minor amount of money, and invested it in myself and my future. I’ve been staying out of the mix, and just been focused on me.

I think that sometimes, when you are a giver, you have a natural inclination to want to help others. I myself fall into this category. I decided that I would give to myself, and life, the Universe, and God has been working itself out for me. And to that I say thank you. Gratitude comes full circle.

In any case, this serves as an update on my journey.

So whats next? Glad you asked! Here is a short roadmap…

I will be working on opening up my online shop. That is my next major milestone…

I also have a TON of unfinished comics for several different characters that I will be uploading and archiving here. Completed or not, it makes no sense for me to just have tons of finished and unfinished work just lying around. I’m putting them out for the world to see!

Lastly, one major takeaway I have learned from this part of my journey, is – creating action figures takes a lot of time, money, effort, and energy. This is true for most worthwhile goals in life. In this particular case, it also helps to partner/work with people who understand your vision…

With all that being said, I will be moving on from action figures for now, and developing statues and character busts for my brand… More on that in the future.

But before I go, I will share a sneak peak of a character that I have in mind moving forward in the statue/ character bust route…

This is a character that I created and owned. I think he will make a great statue. I have a short pilot comic that I will perhaps share in the future, as well as a bit of his backstory.

As always, enter your email to stay updated and get notifications on when I post!

Development Diary 2 – Firestone Action Figure 2

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I’ve been diligently continuing on my path towards creating a toy line for my comic, “Firestone”. Today, I thought I would share a bit more of my progress on my journey.

I think one particular area that I have struggled with is the likeness of the character. I have decided to make some alterations and sacrifices in order to make this figure a reality. For this figure, I decided to have Firestone’s hair sort of blown off to the side, as it seemed to have his long hair flowing down as very difficult.

This is the initial design I had for the toy. I used som AI tooling for the side profile image.

I also feel like I struggled with the 3D artist I hired for this project is having a hard time understanding my vision on getting the characters likeness to be as close to the 2D drawing as possible. I blame myself for this, as I believe that as a leader, all of the responsibility falls on me to get the desired outcome needed for this endeavor. But I can’t sit around in sorrow for the unfortunate mistakes and misunderstandings made in this project. It is best to take accountability, learn from this, and apply the lessons learned and move forward. A good result from making these mistakes early is that I now have the knowledge and understanding to fix these misunderstandings if they ever come up again.

This is one of the early concepts that were made for Firestone.

I was very impressed with the manner of sculpting that was produced, but ultimately I felt as though the end result did not look like the 2D drawing of Firestone.

Firestone 2.0 Anatomy looks great, but the face looks a bit off.

In any case, I went forward, understanding that these are perhaps necessary sacrifices for now, and I can move forward with this project, and learn from it going forward.

Another mistake I made was not being as clear as I possibly could when designing the articulation and joints for this figure, a mistake that literally cost me a lot of money! Although this can be rectified in the future, I learned that it is best to be very specific and leave no room for misunderstandings with high cost projects like this. It can literally cost you!

Despite this error on my end, I am pleased with the quality of work that has been accomplished so far.

I am much more thoughtful with my financial responsibilities with this project. I take pride in the fact that I can use my money as a tool. It helps me get the desired outcomes that I want for myself. It also empowers my future. I often hold my head high and laugh to myself, asking myself if I am a visual artist, or a toy developer at this stage. I suppose this is a good problem to contemplate myself with. It can be great for further marketing myself.

I have learned a great deal in my time dedicating myself towards this massive endeavor. I am really proud of myself for coming this far in my journey. I have always been a ambitious and driven person. Despite many of the major setbacks, and learning experiences that I have had in my life, I can finally see my vision coming into reality. I have struggled so much in my artist journey, and in some cases, getting completely off my path, and wanting to give up on my goals and dreams. As I continue moving forward, much of the work I have been toiling away at and working in silence on is starting to pay off.

Ultimately, I see myself continuing to learn more about the toy industry. I believe that I will have continued success in this field. Long term, I can see myself producing toys and artwork fulltime. My end goal is to become a full time creator for my brand. I feel as though I am on the right path.

If you would like to follow my journey, please enter your email into the field below! You will get updates as soon as they’re posted.

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