History Main / AceCustom

* Invoked with 3-Times and Masa in ''VideoGame/SuperCosplayWarUltra''. Being the game's {{Char Clone}}s, 3-Times is a more powerful red-colored version of the standard rank-and-file [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zaku mooks]], and Masa basically ''is'' Char wearing a red suit of Zaku armor and sporting an expanded moveset.

* [[http://www.gentoo.org Gentoo Linux]] is aimed at people who want to do this to their whole operating system. And for people who don't want to compile all their programs from source, there's [[https://www.archlinux.org Arch Linux]].

-->--'''Shotaro Kaneda''', ''[[Manga/{{Akira}} AKIRA]]''

** Wrestling/TedDiBiase's Million Dollar Championship, while not a sanctioned championship, nevertheless was an excellent heel heat building device with the kayfabe reason for it being that since The Million Dollar Man was unable to win or buy the WWF Championship, he simply had his own made. It was billed as being valued at a million dollars,
though in reality cost in the region of $40000-50000. There were also a small number of other champions, most notably Wrestling/StoneColdSteveAustin in his Ringmaster persona.

** While not seen on TV, since it got lost in transit but was later recovered, Wrestling/TheRock had a custom belt of his own, the Brahma Bull belt. The concept was dropped quickly as it was felt that the idea was too similar to the Smoking Skull. Nevertheless, the belt built up a mystique surrounding it to the point that [[https://shop.wwe.com/en/the-rock-brahma-bull-replica-championship-title-belt/p-37756341297780+z-883-587313011 it's available as an official replica]].

** Some of the later WWF Hardcore champions, such as Wrestling/JBL and Wrestling/TommyDreamer, had their own variants of the belt (the former had a Smoking Skull variant, the latter, a replica European title belt with a New York licence plate over it). This was due to the original belt, which had been deliberately worn and damaged looking to begin with, being so damaged that it was unusable.

** The Shinkiro is an interesting case; it's the Ace Custom of Lelouch vi Britannia, who's actually pretty bad at straight combat. However, it's tailored specifically to his strengths, wielding a scattering laser cannon and a BeehiveBarrier that require a mind as quick as his to coordinate properly; in his hands it can single-handedly clear an entire battlefield in moments. It also utilizes extremely non-standard controls, which suit Lelouch perfectly but would be actively detrimental to normal (or even ace) pilots.
** The page image is actually a subversion; though it's given a fancy head ornament, Lelouch's first personalized Knightmare is [[RedShirt a standard rank-and-file Burai]]. This reflects his only average piloting skills compared to the ''real'' aces of his forces, Kallen and Tohdoh. His Burai is just given a distinctive look so that his army ''knows'' [[FrontlineGeneral he's there fighting alongside them]], per his philosophy.

** ''Anime/GundamWing'' has an [[InvertedTrope inversion]] with the Tallgeese, the first combat-worthy mobile suit, which was so incredibly high spec that it killed several test pilots by subjecting them to stronger G-forces than their bodies could handle; it ended up serving as the template for all of OZ's later production models, most prominently the Leo (which is ''specifically'' a tuned-down Tallgeese with the shoulder thrusters remove and without the cosmetic stylings). When Zechs Merquise brings it out of the mothballs 20 years later it still outclasses everything short of a Gundam because it was made ''that'' powerful. Treize's Tallgeese II is a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]], since it's just a replica of the original Tallgeese with a few minor cosmetic alterations. The Tallgeese Flugel from the ''Glory of the Losers'' manga plays it straighter, replacing the original's backpack verniers with a set of angelic wings (the ones that would end up on the Wing Zero). While the Tallgeese III from ''[[MobileSuitGundamWingEndlessWaltz Endless Waltz]]'' is at its core another replica of the original Tallgeese (this time with a Gundam-like faceplate containing a pair of Vulcan guns), its ''weapons'' are a massive upgrade: the [[{{BFG}} Mega Cannon]] is a beam weapon whose output rivals the Wing Zero's infamous Twin Buster Rifle (and even has its own independent nuclear reactor to power it), while its shield has a built in "heat rod" whip copied from the Gundam Epyon.

** Because many 'mechs are very, very old, many warriors with older machines have had to replace too-expensive or outright lost-and-forgotten older systems and weapons with substitutes, which end up creating a sort of ad-hoc Ace Custom out of necessity. The quality of these machines varies quite a bit depending on what components were being replaced by what. This can lead to very scary Battlemechs being paper tigers because their powerful systems and weapons have been replaced or stripped, or it can lead to an awful surprise when a disreputable "white elephant" or otherwise unassuming design suddenly whips out a PPC.

* As with most MechaGenre tropes, subverted by Anime/ArmoredTrooperVOTOMS. Chirico does spend extensive time customizing a couple of the ''[[MadeOfExplodium many]]'' Scope Dogs he uses over the course of the series, but it rarely increases their survivability. During the first arc, he customizes a junked AT by welding on [[MoreDakka many guns]], with his friend painting on the iconic [[RedRightHand Red Shoulder]] to intimidate their opponents. A later arc has him rewriting another Scope Dog's battle computer in order to keep up with a next-gen AT model.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'':

** In a [[{{SubvertedTrope}} subversion,]] a later episode features a Neo-Nazi challenging Revy with [[HandCannon one of]] [[{{BFG}} his own]], but he spends so much time ''bragging about it'' [[TooDumbToLive that Revy has time to casually reload and cap him in the chest.]] Lesson learned? An ace custom does no one any favors if you don’t ''use it.''

* Used frequently in the ''Franchise/{{Gundam}}'' metaseries, from Char Aznable's [[RedBaron iconic]] [[RedOnesGoFaster red]] [[MookMobile Zaku II]] in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'' to Amuro's custom-build-from-scratch Nu Gundam in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Char's Counterattack]]''.

*** Or the Turn X which got curbstomped by Sazaki's [[LuckilyMyShieldWillProtectMe Gyan]] [[MoreDakka Vulcan]].

* ''Anime/PanzerWorldGalient'': [[TheDragon Hy Shaltat's]] [[HumongousMecha Wingal Zee]], which has a silver coat of paint and [[DualWielding wields two tomahawks]] (instead of one, unlike the others [[AMechByAnyOtherName panzers]]).

** While everything an [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Ork]] [[TheEngineer Mekboy]] builds can be classed as a custom job, the Mek’s personal conveyance will be a truly unique piece. Whether it is a Warbike, Buggy, Speedsta, Deffkopta, Battlewagon, Wazbom Blastajet, [[HumongousMecha Morkanought, Stompa or Gargant]], the vehicle that a Mekboy builds for himself will typically be festooned with a plethora of powerful, if temperamental, experimental weaponry and equipment such as [[DeflectorShields Kustom Force Fields]], [[TractorBeam Lifta-Droppas]] or Destrukta Rokkits. Of particular note is the [[CoolBike Bike of the Aporkalypse]], a heavily kustomised warbike ridden by the [[BadassBiker Bad Ork Biker]] Mek Wazdakka Gutsmek that he is constantly tinkering with and upgrading. The exact rules for this warbike tend to change with each edition of the game but they always include a large and powerful ranged weapon[[note]]which was a battle cannon in 2nd Edition and a Dakkakannon during 4th Edition[[/note]] and with massive recoil.

* Invoked with 3-Times and Masa in ''VideoGame/SuperCosplayWarUltra''. Being the game's {{Char Clone}}s, 3-Times is a more powerful [[UndergroundMonkey red-colored version of the standard rank-and-file]] [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zaku mooks]], and Masa basically ''is'' Char wearing a red suit of Zaku armor and sporting an expanded moveset.

** While ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'''s [[AMechByAnyOtherName E.S. (Ein Sof) units]] are primarily {{Super Robot}}s due to them resonating with Vessels of Anima (hence Ein Sof meaning "infinite" or "unending", words that you'd normally apply to the aforementioned Super Robots), they seem to be built, designed, and most especially ''customized'' to reflect their respective pilots and their fighting styles. For example, E.S. Asher seems to be built for [[MoreDakka ranged]] [[MacrossMissileMassacre ballistics]] similar to Jr. himself, E.S. Dinah is all about [[LaserBlade energy]] [[EnergyWeapon weapons]] like KOS-MOS, E.S. Reuben wields [[CoolSword swords]] like Jin Uzuki, and E.S. Zebulun is primarily an [[WhiteMagicianGirl ether]] [[CombatMedic wielder]] like MOMO.

* In ''Webcomic/LegostarGalactica'', [[TheEngineer Chief Engineer]] [[WrenchWench Shauna Finelli]] has reverse-engineered the X-111, Johnny's SuperPrototype SpaceFighter, to build multiple fighters like this, from scratch, but usually for other people; as she points out, [[ImADoctorNotAPlaceholder she's an engineer, not a pilot]]. Her creations include the ''Lil' Bastard'' for Belinda, the ''Asp'' for Colleen [=MacMillan=], and after the X-111 is lost, the ''Doombee'' for Johnny.

** In a [[{{SubvertedTrope}} subversion,]] a later episode features a Neo-Nazi challenging Revy with [[HandCannon one of]] [[{{BFG}} his own]], but he spends so much time ''bragging about it'' [[TooDumbToLive that Revy has time to casually reload and cap him in the chest.]] Lesson learned? A ace custom does no one any favors if you don’t ''use it.''

** Jetstream Sam from ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', being the only (mostly) human enemy in the game, not only has a custom blade [[AppliedPhlebotinum that can cut through nanomachine-based armor]],[[note]]His sword is noted in particular to be one of the best high-frequency blades in existence at the time of the game, specifically because it's been converted from an existing, high-quality 16th-century sword, rather than the sort of mass-produced things that Raiden in the prologue or the various other mooks across the game use[[/note]] but also a mechanical sheath for it made out of the receiver for an M16 that ejects the blade at high speeds, allowing him to draw (and, by extension, strike) fast enough to match the speed of the near completely robotic Winds of Destruction. He barely even needs it to [[JustForPun disarm]] Raiden at the beginning of the game.