I agree. Looking at the official rule, I would rule that it isn't a custom/mod so the opponent wouldn't even have the opportunity to deny it's use.

By my lawyerly reading of the figure modding rules, I'd actually say that this don't cover paint jobs. Sculpts are explicitly covered, but not paint. As written, I'd think that if you want to give Batman a Hostess® Fruit Pie instead of a batarang your opponent could veto that figure. Meanwhile, if you instead just chose to paint that same Batman as Adam West Batman instead of Christian Bale, the rule wouldn't allow your opponent to stop you from playing it.

I ran into a situation as a judge where I almost didn't allow a mod. A player had replaced a SI Spider-Man sculpt with a E Sin Spider-Man sculpt. I didn't realize that he was using the SI Spider-Man and thought he was over on points. There were not other changes than the sculpt swap. It was very misleading. He made it clear during each match which Spider-Man he was using, though, so I allowed it and the other players didn't mind. It did illustrate a situation where not allowing a mod would be justified, though.

to me, that's a sculpt swap, not a mod. that could be potentially deceiving, and even possible grounds for DQ. Keeping the sculpt and adding chrome, or making the figures eyes look less like Cookie Monster, or adding dots of paint for tattoos shouldn't be an issue.

The paint job is part of the sculpt. It would be a very deep rule if they had to define every aspect of the sculpt as you can change the physical configuration of the figure, its paint job, or even giving it a clear by shiny coating. Any of these things would be a physical change to the entire sculpt.

That is certainly a grey area. Paintng some minor colors of a piece isn't ruled as a mod...changing an entire sculpt is. I repainted a Batman black and grey instead of blue and grey but it is still the original sculpt and dial. I guess it is up to the local judge to make the final call.

That's the biggest question. Locally I'm not worried about it but if I wanted to play my Batcycle at something like Gencon and added a bit of "chrome" to it, would I be taking an unnecessary risk?

But a paint job is part of the sculpt. In the last few Batman sets there are three different Batmans all with the same sculpt but a slightly different paint job. If I moded one of the Batmans by simply changing his paint job to look that of the other duplicate sculpt, that could possibly be grounds for a DQ since the figure looks exactly like an existing figure and would do far more to confuse the opponent than to completely change the sculpt.

Yes, you would be. First, you always want to clear it with the head judge of each event to see if he would even allow the use of your mod. Then, you should always be ready with an untouched version of the clix in case your opponent invokes the PG rules as previously listed in the thread. Whether the change is very slight or hugely significant, it still falls under the same guidelines.

I agree. I forgot to mention though that I am the local judge, so if you play at my venue, you can use the mods...as long as the dial is the original and you didn't go crazy with altering the sculpt to the point where I cannot recognize who the character is anymore.

I play mods all the time. I haven't had anyone say anything, but I only play locally. My mods are usually clearly representing the same character, but in a different costume. I haven't gone to Gencon. Those people are dinks, I hear.

Seriously, I think anyone who tries having you DQed for a repaint or paint touch-up like the OP's suggesting isn't doing it because of some fear it would be confusing what it represents. They are probably looking for an easy win. Now, a figure swap between commonly used sculpts may be confusing, but a unique repaint shouldn't confuse anyone.

If someone is looking for an easy win, can you blame him for doing whatever it takes to guarantee the W? You have that possibility when playing for highly sought-after prizes. As I said above, though, there are plenty of reasons to object to a custom which aren't done simply to get an easy win.

If YOU didn't bring YOUR A-Game to GenCon by not following the rules and having the proper piece in addition to your mod, can you blame him for jumping on the opportunity? In my opinion, no. You didn't follow the rules. He just called you on it. You can label the guy a dink all you want, but there is only really one person to blame...you. If you leave an opening like that, don't get POed when someone takes advantage of it.

Does it suck? Yes. Would the judge hate to make such a call? Yes.
The bottom line, however, is that when you are playing at that level, you should be at the top of your game. If you fail to follow the rules for team building, you certainly aren't at the top of your game.

Yep. Win the game by playing the damn game.

Agreed. I swapped my Tab App sculpts with their Chaos War counterparts, and I can definitely see where one might be confused.

Yep, sure can. Again, win by playing the damn game.

Though I'd love nothing more than to have such a person call me on a custom, pull out the original figure, and say "Yeah, sorry, we'll have to have one of those pesky 'matches'. Terrible, I know."

1. Can and would!

2. It'd totally be my fault for allowing the opening. I'd have a changed opinion of the person in question, however, and wouldn't be terribly upset if I never had to interact with said person ever again.

It'd be funny to do that with a chase... the look on your opponent's smug face when he thinks "No way he has an unmodded Sinestro Batman .... buwahahah... WHAT?!?!?!"

This discussion should only apply at high level events, paint jobs and sculpt swaps at a local level shouldn't be a problem.

But what if the sculpt isn't the only thing you've changed? You may say its just a sculpt mod or paint job, but what if it's not?

What's the problem in bringing an extra copy of the figure?

I love mods and paint jobs (my tabapps are swapped), why would you take the chance at Gen Con? What makes the person who questions your mod terrible?

If someone brought a printed out custom PAC and referred to it for wordings for powers, would you double check the official PAC?

This is all from a cover your ### point of view. I personally like customs and don't care if your batman is green and orange.