JACKOFTRADZE Custom Star Wars Action Figures

New Custom - Lightside Darth Revan

2011-09-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

A few months ago I was contacted by a very nice gentlemen from Australia that went by the name of Elock. He asked me to create a Lightside version of Revan for his son's birthday. While I normally do not take commissions I actually had the right parts on hand and the figure formula in my head as soon as I looked at the reference pictures he sent me:

It was such a compelling email from this kind gentlemen from Australia to make his sons birthday very special by having me create a custom figure that his son really wanted to have. I could not say no to that so I took on the job, afterall I knew right away how to make him so the Force wanted this one to happen. I felt this was a fairly easy custom to knock out and it was, I even had some fun with it by giving him some removable hair to display him cloaked or uncloaked. (FYI - I used the official Revan head which is bald so he needed to have a toupee for him if the hood was removed.) I was very happy with the end result, as mentioned I used official Revan parts that I happened had on hand (For those that do not know he is a very hard and expensive figure to come by!) in combination with some custom soft goods I made to complete the look I wanted to achieve. More importantly my friend Elock and his son were very pleased with this custom, that was the most important aspect for me given the sentimental nature of this particular custom. A father getting his son a custom Star Wars figure for his 20 something son is pretty awesome in my book! Anyway, here are the final result of my one time only Lightside Revan:

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

The Little Differences - Snowspeeder, Medical Bay Luke Skywalker & Sora Bulq

2011-07-13T11:07:00.003-05:00

It's been a little while since my last "Little Differences" segemnt so I thought now would be a good time to post one. This week will focus on 3 figures that will help you make you collection more screen accurate and articulated. Best of all, everything is swap and pop in hot water, no tools required! Let's get started....

"Screen accurate" Snowspeeder Pilot Luke
I know what many of you who are reading this may be thinking: "But Hasbro already nailed this figure". For the most part they did, in fact they executed this figure almost perfectly twice with the Legacy Snowspeeder Luke and the Vintage Dagobah Landing Luke. Despite those two superb figures execution there are some colors that are off from the film, at least on the standard Snowspeeder version. Take a look at the ESB still image below of Luke by his crashed Snowspeeder, notice how the pants are a dark orange and the top coat is the lighter orange.

The Legacy Snowspeeder Luke was molded entirely in the lighter orange, the Dagaobah Landing Luke was molded in a much darker orange that gave it the appearance of being wet. Taking the legs and head from the Vintage Dagaobah Landing Luke and swapping them with the Legacy Snowspeeder Luke's legs and head will allow the OCD driven screen accurate collectors to make the Ultimate Snowspeeder Luke. Place both of them in very warm water to soften the plastic and you will be able to swap the parts. (Disclaimer: Please, do not pull a McDonalds coffee customer move and burn yourself. Fun Fact: Hot water is hot so use some caution and common sense while handling it!) Here is the end result:

Medical Frigate Luke Skywalker
This is a really quick head swap mod to make the Legacy Medical Frigate Luke Skywalker more screen accurate and consistent with the rest of your collection. I am a huge stickler for having the same film era head sculpts on my main heroes. In fact more so than ever as Hasbro has been nailing the main heroes heads like no tomorrow. The head included on the regular Medical Frigate release was pretty nice but pales in comparison to the Dagobah Landing Luke head. That figure sports has, in my opinion, the best ESB Mark Hamil likeness of every single Luke figure created. I attempted to swap heads with an extra Dagobah Luke I had in my cistoms bin and to my surprise the head fit perfectly! Not only that the skin tone matched perfectly as well. I absolutely love the end result and it made me appreciate the Medical Frigate Luke more.

SA Jedi Master Sora Bulq
Over the past few years Hasbro has made super articulation the standard, sometimes to the point of going overboard. Back in 2005-2006 we really saw this transition and an elevated attention to detail. One of my favorite figures from the Saga2 line was Sora Bulq the Weequay Jedi who turns to the Darkside after the Clone Wars begin. (FYI - I have made a lot of Darkside Customs of him and it would be a very easy redeco for Hasbro to make him without new tooling. See below for an example...) Sora's upper body is fantastic and the arms allow him to hold his Lightsaber with both hands better than most other Jedi figures. The sculpt is great and the only flaw would be his preposed legs. Interestingly enough the bulk of Sora Bulq (Pun intended) was reused with the Legacy Tarados Gon but they went back and upgraded the legs to be fully articulated. I do not see Sora being reissued or upgraded any time soon so I took matters into my own hands. When I purchased the new and flawless Vintage Kit Fisto. I sent the 2009 Target Geonosian Arena Kit Fisto to my custom chop shop. The upgraded legs on that figure are pretty close to the looks of Sora's so I decided to experiment and see if I could perform a pop/swap with the legs with zero dremmeling. Well, it worked and looks great! This is a great way to perfect a near perfect figure!

Here is one of my Dark Sora Bulq customs in reference to my comment above:

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!

Blog update - 100% Collection Room picture over haul!

2011-07-13T10:00:00.004-05:00

I have not updated my Collection pictures since March of 2011. There have been massive changes to my collection since then. I have upgraded and literally rebuilt entire key armies to a newer and superior versions of the respective troop builder. As always, new figures, vehicles and even some displays have also been added! I reshot the entire room and replaced every single picture in the page section to reflect my latest set display up.

Some changes include:

The phasing out all of my old 2003 era Phase 1 Clonetrooper (Sans some ARCs and the Evolution Clone Pilots). I upgraded my entire Phase 1 army with the new Vintage #45 Clonetrooper! Currently I am up to x55, I will stop around x75.
The Vintage #45 Clonetrooper came with movie accurate two DC-15 guns so I used the leftover ones to upgraded battalions like my x24 Galactic Marines, white CP Galactic Marines, 327th Starcorps, Shocktroopers, Landing Platform clones & Training Clones.
I phased out all of my old AT-RT Drivers with the new Vintage version!
I phased out all of my 30th TAC Tantive BP Stormtooper army of 60 and replaced them with the new Vintage Sandtrooper (sans the gear)!
I phased out all of my old Geonosian Red Battle Droids with the Saga Legends (Small eye) version for consitency!
I created a new hanger bay display that house the new Republic Attack Shuttle, Arc Fighter and more!

Here is a preview of a new set up:

I can go on but it will be more fun for you to look for all of the new details! Enjoy and LMK if you have any questions! WORD!!!

New Custom - Old Republic Return Trailer Smuggler "Cad Solo"

2011-06-26T22:17:00.004-05:00

Man, the CGI trailers for this upcoming Old Republic video game just keep getting better with each release. I personally would not mind seeing a feature length Star Wars movie in this animation style, it's just breathtaking! (It also has more realistic special effects and acting than all three prequel films!) The action is top notch and the visuals keep you coming back for more. There are so many things featured in these videos that I would love to see translated into the toy line. In all three trailers the various characters featured in them are basically carbon copies of familiar characters that we already know in the Star Wars universe. The interesting part is, at least for me, is that I do not mind it at all as they are all very likeable and have enough uniqueness to them to make them stand out.

In the latest trailer one of the stars is a smuggler that is a cross between Han Solo and Cad Bane. I coined the name "Cad Solo" for him, until they give him a real name that is what I am calling him. "Cad Solo" has a classic 80's hero demeanor about him and like any good smuggler he has a pretty tricked out ship. I love the design of his outfit and his ship a lot! (Even his Astromech Droid is really cool!) They did this character justice as he was so bad ass taking out Sith Troopers, trying to talk his way out of his predicament and in true 80's hero fashion he made the time in between to check out the goods on the Twi'lek Sith Agent as she passes by with such coy style. I really love that he was not politically correct and the design team that produced this trailer actually had the Bantha balls to put it in for the effect of characters persona. How utterly refreshing! That earned extra props from me as you know how much I hate political correctness, AKA control of honest thought. I would happily plunk down my hard earned green for him and his ship, even if the ship was $100+! (I prefer a new Dash Rendar's Outrider first however.) I had to take a crack at him for my next custom so without further adieu here is my first "Cad Solo" custom figure:

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome! (BTW - Do not look for me to make his ship, I do not do vehicles! Hasbro, please take serious consideration at making it, I think it would be a hit....)

New Custom - Army of Light Ultimate Lord Hoth

2011-06-17T12:23:00.003-05:00

Lord Hoth ROCKS!!!

(He rocks so much that his is my third post on him!)

I cannot say it enough, (even for the third time) that he truly is the most kick ass Jedi ever! You can read my previous in depth entries that really describe the characters greatness here and here. There is no need for me to cover that aspect of the character again, I rather talk about the real world lessons that we can learn from the fictional Lord Hoth. I believe the main reason that this character resonates with me so much is because he encompasses the kind of role model hero that I grew up with. It also happens to be, in my opinion, the kind of role model that is severely lacking in modern society - a principled, testosterone filled leader with a moral compass of what's truly right and wrong. (Again, I know he is a fictional character but you can still be inspired by and relate things in the real world from fictional characters.) In our modern society there is just too much "emo-ness" jive running amok, especially among our so called leaders. There is also too much compromise of principle which to me is the true measure of a man. Lord Hoth is principled, he is decisive and does not compromise for the sake of getting along. He sticks to his guns and you always know where he stands whether you agree with him or not. In the end, you respect him (and people like this) for his resilience and confidence. When it comes to right and wrong, evil in particular, he understands that you cannot negotiate or pacify it, it just needs to be defeated. When he makes a mistakes he does not cry about it or try to apologize for it while sobbing in blubbering pathetic tears. He takes responsibility for his actions by dusting himself off and doing the best he can to correct the error. How refreshing would it be to see more of that kind of leader instead of the now standard "I apologize..." crap? Hopefully some of you will understand the point I was making here and appreciate it for what it was. I won't harp on that any longer and I am now ready to move onto my new custom of Lord Hoth....

I have not made a Lord Hoth custom figure in a long time. When I finished my last one I knew that the next one that I would make would have to be my best. I would not make another one until I gathered the right parts to do him justice making him one of my best customs ever. Well, I saved a lot of parts for a long time and I was finally ready to tackle my personal challenge. This may come off the wrong way but I really could not be any happier with the outcome, I hope you will feel the same way. If you do not you know that I love hate mail so fire away and rip it a new one. Enjoy!

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Customs - "F-Rate" Obscure Cantina Patrons: Spacer 1 & Debnoli

2011-06-09T17:08:00.005-05:00

When it comes to the Mos Eisley Cantina there just seems to be an endless supply of characters to tap into for future figures. Hasbro has done a really great job at producing the majority of the cantina's patrons throughout the lines 16 year run. They just released Bom Vidam, I already have him and he truly is one of the best figures ever released. Two more patrons are on the way this year that were long overdue resculpts, Dr. Evezan and Ponda Baba. Some cantina patrons are more known and desirable than others. I classify cantina patrons in five categories, A-F. Here are some examples of how I classify some of the patrons:

A-Rate: Greedo, Hammerhead, Walrusman (Ponda Baba), Bith, Muftak, Dr. Evezan and Snaggletooth.

B-Rate: Wuhr, Ellis Helrot, Myo, Miiyoom, Labria, Djas Puhr and Ellors Madok.

C-Rate: Nabrun Lieds, Hrchek Kal Fas, Hem Dezon, Dannik Jerriko, Kabe and Deffel.

D-Rate: Boshek, Leesub Sirln, Kitik Keed'kak, Wisolea, Dice Ibegan, Lak Sivrak and Trinto Duaba.

E-Rate: Danz Borin, Garouf LaFoe, Mosep, Trvizzt, Yerka Mig and Solomahal.

F-Rate: Everyone else.

E and F rate characters have a very low chance of ever being made, but since were are hitting the bottom of the barrel you never know. With so many fans wanting to complete their collection displays with all of the patrons I try to step up to the plate and fill the void of the missing losers. I recently made two F-listers, Spacer 1 and Debnoli.

Spacer 1
Spacer 1 is an interesting cat as he is sporting the same flight suit as Bossk. Actually, Bossk is sporting his flight suit since ANH was made before ESB. You know that during the filming of ESB they were reusing as many props as they can from the first film. They most likely found the suit in their prop box and slapped the rubber alligator mask & gloves on some random stand in for the infamous scene of bounty hunters on the Star Destroyer bridge.(Random fact: IG-88's head was actually part of the bar distillery! So like the flight suit they reused that prop from the cantina) Unfortunately for Spacer 1 he did not get the screen time that Bossk did. In fact, you will struggle to to even find him. Even the still pictures of him have him half covered up by some of the other muppets that were lingering around the bar. I made Spacer 1 before but this time I made him much more accurate with the correct helmet and adjusted the neck strap thingy. I also gave him a human head so he is more realistic and fun to display.

Debnoli
Next up is Debnoli, he actually is a more visible patron in the F-lister category. He was seated near the entrance of the cantina when Luke and the Droids entered. You actually did get a clear shot of his frowning mug as he sat with some dude with a mustache. Debnoli has a real classic 70's look about him but he really does look like the stereotypical disheveled boozer that you would find at your local dive bar. This was my first attempt at Debnoli, next time around I would like to find some better reference on his duds to get it more accurate. For now it's close enough for F-Lister, he should be happy he got this much attention. On top of that he sat his rump at a small table with some guy that had a mustache, that speaks volumes. (Did I mention that already?) I am very happy with the head on this custom, I used the G.I.Joe 25th Serpentor head as the base. From there I sculpted his balding crown making sure to get the uncombed look right. The Serpentor head sculpt really has the same constipated expression as Debnoli so it worked out better than I anticipated. The right amount of paint punches it out.

Rest assured I will be tapping into more E & F listers so stay tuned for more Cantina goodness! (I might even make that guy with the mustache!)

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Customs - "Store Brand" Sith Lords 2: Rise of the Sith Mimes

2011-06-02T16:35:00.005-05:00

I decided to do a sequel to my first "Store Brand" Sith Lords post with some of my more recent generic Darksider customs. Unlike my other batches of Sith Lords, this batch does not have major respiratory issues. There is a catch to this batch however, they are a little heavy on the Sith mime make up! While the Dark side in the Legacy era may be very tempting with all of it's enticing totalitarian power, it really does comes at a high price: You are dyed red and given a lot of "mimeish" tribal tattoos! These Legacy era red florescent fighters are uber sub servant to the cause of the Sith Empire's quest for galactic domination that they are willing to turn into evil red galactic mimes. Everyone hates mimes. Everyone. That really does speak volumes to their principles, it just does not bode well for their wardrobes as they all wear black. They kind of have to, having bright red skin limits your options for the color pallet of your clothing. Lets take a look at this beefy batch of evil (I will end with the two non mime Sith Lords):

Darth Pegwarmious

Based on that alien race of the legendary peg warmer Xizor (He peg warmed horribly in 1996 and on his second run in 2009. You can even still find him on pegs now!) this evil Sith Lord is ready to wait for evil orders from Darth Krayt. He is very patient and is very much used to waiting around.....

Darth Crabbious

Known throughout the galaxy as the most crabby and cynical of Sith Lords, this evil doer is ready to take his bad mood out on the unsuspecting innocent of the galaxy! This front line warrior is heavily armored in an imposing suit of full plate. What most Sith Lords do not know about Darth Crabbious is that he is actually a big softy who loves arts and crafts! He even made his own helmet to go into battle with, the inside lining is made of felt! Legend says that when he was making it it was the only time he was not crabby.

Sith Lord of Darkness v2
Based on my original Sith Lord of Darkness custom, this updated version has a slighly different execution on the head. For this version I used horns that resemble the real Darkness a lot closer than the evil and twisted horns of my first custom. After I finished this custom I realized I forgot to sculpt the ears. I will have to add that next time in my V3 attempt...

Necron, Sith Slayer

This twisted and evil Sith Marauder is the bane to dissidents of the Sith Empire. Sent out to destroy Sith warriors who become a little too ambitious for their Master's tastes, Necron always finds his prey with deadly precision. Having his body severely broken from several battle this Sith Lord is a relentless hunter that will kill his target no matter what. Through the Darkside of the Force he is able to sustain his broken body until his droids repair his body to a functioning vessel.(Like the great Flanneled one I am repeating a similar back story with another character Darth Sion. He is even related to Darth Sion. All Star Wars characters are related to famous ones, it's the rule of the universe!)

Sith Assassin

I am bored of writing bios. The name says it all.

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome! And rest assured more generic JACKOFTRADZE "Store Brand" Sith Lords will grace the blog in a few months in part 3!

JACKOFTRADZE "Craptacular Custom Contest" Winners

2011-06-01T09:50:00.004-05:00

The winners of the first ever JACKOFTRADZE "Craptacular Custom Contest " have been drawn!!! See below if your name was picked and what prize package you won. I will send you an email today so I can get your address and send out your craptacular prizes!

Grand Prize Winner "dew71":

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calendar Poster!

- Vintage Colt 45 Reflective Beer Sign!

- Custom Billy Dee Williams Head Pencil Topper!

- Random Surprise!

Runner up (1st Loser) prize "Tetsuya":

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calendar Poster!

- Random Surprise

2nd Runner up (2nd Loser) prize "Daniel"

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calender Poster!

"REMEMBER THE POWER OF COLT 45 WILL ALWAYS BE WITH YOU, IT WORKS EVERY TIME!"

New custom - Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain

2011-05-23T15:42:00.007-05:00

Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain was a Sith lord that first appeared in Knights of the Old Republic 2 video game. From what we know of Darth Sion he served as a Sith Marauder in Exar Kun's Sith Empire during the Great Sith Wars. He was killed several times but he kept on coming back to life as his pain and anger kept resuscitating his rotting husk of a body. He is like the Zombie Frankenstein of the Star Wars universe for his obvious crusty physical appearance. (He could really use a little moisturizer cream!) He literally is rotting away, and was kept alive by the Dark side of the Force. A small price to pay for being immortal but he is always in pain. Like the typical drug commercial ending disclaimer message, there is a big trade off with a lot of bad side affects that makes you question why bothering with it in the first place. But I digress...

Personally, I think he is a really dumb looking character. I also cannot get into the back story that explains his powers but that does not stop his popularity among fans. (Maybe it's me.) I was asked to make him by a really nice buyer and I could not say no to this particular gentlemen. The unfortunate thing is that someone else bought him when I posted it for this particular buyer. I have to make him again for this buyer who waited so long, my sincere apologies. When it comes to commissions I am a perfectionist I take a really long time so I have to finish the new one for him. (It's taking me forever but I will make it worthwhile!) I thought I would share this one and eventually post the improved one when he is finished. This was the first time I made Darth Sion so I like to make some more modifications on the next one to make him more accurate. Take a look and LMK what you think of this one:

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Chalmun the Wookie

2011-05-20T16:37:00.003-05:00

I love making the many obscure loser characters of the Star Wars universe, so Chalmun the Wookie was a perfect candidate for a custom. If you do not know who he is let me help "edjama-cate" you. Chalmun is the Wookie proprietor of the Mos Eisley Cantina. Not known to many, the cantina is actually named after him. (Chalmun sounds like some kind of fish bait so I guess it's fitting to name a pub something that reminds you of throw up.) He is really, really obscure, more obscure than most I make which really gives him a zero chance of ever being made. Not that anyone is asking for him so nothing lost or nothing gained. As far as I know there are only a few photos that exist of him to base a figure on or get an idea of what he looks like. Those photos were developed in the late 90's so even the few that exist are pretty dated. (It's probably best that he stays in that decades dark corners of things to be forgotten. He are the only two color shots of him that I know of:

I will give some more fun facts on Chalmun before I move on to the custom pictures, I want to torture you some more with useless nerd knowledge. Like most characters in Star Wars he is conveniently related to a main character from the saga. How original. Do you want to guess who he is related to? Yes, he is a distant relative of Chewbacca. What are the chances?.....Really? Must every single character have some relation to the main characters in the movies! Why must this be the case 9 out of 10 characters! Anyway, as far as I know I have never seen a Chalmun custom before, one probably exists but it has not surfaced on the main fan sites. Not that that is important but I do like to occasionally tackle characters that no one else does. Nothing groundbreaking about the custom here but I was really happy with the outcome. I was going to resculpt the hair like the pictures but I liked the idea of a disheveled Wookie running a dirty bar on Tattooine. The old wild west look was too much 90's cheesiness for me to handle. The Sandstorm Chewie head already had a nice drunken Wookie look so just sculpted the mustache. (It looks like he rolled out of the bed after a drunken stooper!) Take a look at and LMK what you think!

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

More Blog updates

2011-05-19T15:50:00.004-05:00

The overhaul continues today with the following updates:

- The Archives of Awesome page has been updated with the return of the 2008 selections. It also includes some new entries and better photos of all of the previous entries. (The 2007 and 2006 selections will be added back by next week.) Here is a sample image of an updated entry:

- The Valley of Shame page has been updated with 5 new selections and some of the previous photos have been cleaned up. I will eventually fix them all to lower the bright flash I used to always have on my photos. I also adjusted the colors and format to jive with the Blog's new color pallet. Consistency is key! Here is one of the new (and embarrassing) entries:

- Some of my most popular posts like KOTOR Armored Jedi Knight, LD Lando and the Obscure Patrons of the Mos Eisley Cantina have had the photos cleaned up to lower the flash and improve the images. I will be adjusting pictures to enhance the quality on other popular posts where the flash is obscuring detail. Man, what a difference in retrospect these changes have made. So much detail was obscured because of the flash, I will not repeat that flash mistake again. Here is a sample of a revised picture (You can actually see his face now!):

There are a lot more updates and additions that are coming to the blog, stay tuned! Next up is the hairy bartender and owner of the Mos Eisley Cantina...

New Custom - Boelo, Jabba's Docking Bay 94 Goon

2011-05-18T16:29:00.002-05:00

Just when you think that you know every character that appeared in the Star Wars movies some obscure scrub of a character seems to pop up on a fans want list for figures to be made. One of those scrubs is Boelo, a goon that was with Jabba the Hutt in Docking Bay 94 when they confronted Han and Chewie. The scene was cut in the original film but was added back in the 1997 Special Edition. Most Star Wars fans have seen the SE ANH movie dozens of times so everyone should begrudgingly remember this cringe inducing added scene (you know, the one with Han's hand magically passing through Jabba's body). Boelo was in the forefront background under the Falcon with his gun drawn to back up his boss in case Han got a little too cocky. He is a fairly memorable character due to the brown lawn gnome hat and trench coat that he was wearing. (There was another memorable goon with him here with a super frothy beard but I will deal with him later...)

I love making the many obscure denizens of Mos Eisley so this guy was a great choice for me to tackle. I think there is a fairly decent chance that we will see an official figure of Boelo one day until then I am happy to make him for you! Take a look at and LMK what you think!

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

The 1st ever "JACKOFTRADZE Craptacular Custom Contest"

2011-05-17T14:43:00.007-05:00

Are you ready to do absolutely nothing and possibly win some sweet Billy-Deelicious Colt 45 swag?

Well get ready, because as a thank to my loyal followers I am going to give away 3 prize packages that are sure to delight the Billy Dee Williams fan in your household! I will be holding a random drawing on June 1st! I will have all of my Blog's followers names in a pot, my 2.5 yr old daughter will pick 3 name tags from the pot that will win the prizes. I will announce the winners here and contact you so I can get the shipping info to send you your loot! It's that easy! Here are the prize package details:

Grand Prize:

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calendar Poster!

- Vintage Colt 45 Reflective Beer Sign!

- Custom Billy Dee Williams Head Pencil Topper!

- Random Surprise!

Runner up (1st Loser) prize

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calendar Poster!

- Random Surprise

2nd Runner up (2nd Loser) prize

- 1986 Billy Dee Williams Colt 45 Calender Poster!

Here is a picture of the 1986 poster (frame not included!)

The Blog Battle Rages on....

2011-05-17T14:34:00.004-05:00

May marks my 5 year anniversary making customs and this June will be the 1st birthday of my customs blog. With that said I decided to totally revamp the entire Blog to celebrate the events and get my Blog back to regular weekly updates! This wass the longest hiatus I took since I started it a year ago. Due to a lot of personal commitments and an honest lack of energy it's been hard to keep up and stay motivated towards it. After a good kick in the rump from my pal stocos28 I decided to get this Blog back on track in a big way. There will be updates every day this week and twice a week from now on. Here are the most recent updates:

- The look of the entire Blog is no longer in a plain black format. As you can see it has a more galactic space feel to set the right mood!

- The Archives of Awesome page was deleted by accident as I was updating it. With the previous versions demise I decided to entirely rebuild it with new entries, revised figure choices and better quality photos that were previously shown! The 2006-2008 entries will be added later this week.

- All side bar page logos and the main logo have been redesigned to better reflect the content!

Upcoming changes will included:

- New custom figure posts starting tomorrow!

- Look for video to be added to the Jabba's Palace and My Collection pages in the 2 weeks once I update all of the photos on the respective pages!

- Updates to the Valley of shame! (I found some real winners when I was rebuilding the Archives of Awesome.)

- Quarterly Craptacular contests with sweet Star Wars swag!

- More interactive features like Polls, Video and more!

So as you will see there is a lot of stuff coming, I am very much motivated again! A big thanks to all of my loyal followers and readers for helping me make this blog successful! The update wait is over and I want to reward you with some cool swag in the next post...

New Custom - Clone Wars Micro Series Nelvaanian Warrior

2011-04-14T16:10:00.001-05:00

Do you remember the very superb Clone Wars micro series that ran 2003-2005? I am sure you do as that series was so well executed and very memorable. A real testament to that series is the fact that we have been given numerous original figures from the episodes. For whatever the reason (Most likely do to the modern CGI CW series) Lucasfilm has put a freeze on Hasbro preventing them from making any new figures from micro series. Despite the Micro CW figure moratorium a Captain Fordo figure somehow managed to slip through and will be coming out this year. Please note that he will be released under another name - "Arc Trooper Commander". That's a pretty clever loophole to get around the ban. There are still several characters from this series that collectors would love to see made, one of them is the Nelvaanian Warrior. In a key episode that literally lead straight into ROTS, Anakin had an important encounter with this alien species that eluded to his fall to the dark side. I was a bit surprised that we did not get an official figure of the Nelvaanian Warrior to accompany the 2007 Nelvaanian Tattoo Anakin. On a side note, I have been using the Hellboy 2 figure of Wink to stand in for the mutated Nelvaanians in my collection. That figure is actually a pretty good match!

I recently picked up the brand new Thor Movie Frost Giant to use for parts, I was not sure what I would use the body for but I usually find a use for most things I buy for customs. I came across an image of a Nelvaanian Warrior the following day and that instantly sparked a custom idea that would use this body as a base. I had an extra Bothan head laying around that was perfect for this custom, it is pretty close to the actual Nelvaanian Warrior design. As usual I repainted the entire figure giving him a more furry look but I went one step further and made him a swappable robotic arm to somewhat recreate the episode. Granted they got fatter and uglier post experiment but I really intended this custom to look closer to a generic Nelvaanian Warrior as seen in the picture. It was more of an extra accessory. Here is the final result of my first Nelvaanian Warrior:

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

Supporting a young fan - The Toys for Eli Toy Drive

2011-04-13T11:52:00.003-05:00

Brian from Customs for the Kid brought a heartbreaking story to my attention last week and I want to help by spreading the word on this good cause. The fine folks from Action Figure Empire are gathering support in the Star Wars collecting community by helping a very young fan with a rare disease. Please take a moment and read about this young fan who could use some support. Here is their blog post:

Today I want to turn this blog's attention to the story of a young Star Wars action figure collector named Eli. Eli is madly passionate about all things Star Wars and Star Wars toys. He's an outgoing little guy with a great big smile and he's also into arts and crafts, and World War 2. Eli is has been diagnosed with a rare life-threatening disease called Severe Aplastic Anemia, a disease of the bone marrow. Severe Aplastic Anemia also affects the immune system making it difficult for those who have it to be out in public. You can imagine how this makes it hard to get out and do things, visit with people, or even shop for Star Wars toys. We here at Action Figure Empire call for your support for young Eli, a fan, and a collector who needs all the support he can get right now. We ask that you donate one or more, Star Wars toys of any kind to Eli. You can Include a message of your own to Eli if you wish as well. Eli will be delighted to receive your generous donations. Please send them to:

Action Figure Empire
114 Oak Street Apt. D
Maybrook, NY 12543

From there we at AFE will then forward your generous donations to Eli. AFE is proud to create and participate in the official Toys for Eli Toy Drive Please take a moment to contribute to Eli's Star Wars action figure collection. Every donation you give helps! Thank you for reading this and thank you so much for your donations! May The Force Be With You All!

As parent myself this story is absolutely heartbreaking, no parent should have to deal with this. I am asking all of my readers to pitch in and give this little boy a little joy as he fights this disease. It would be greatly appreciated.

The Little Differences - Yavin, Stormtrooper disguise, X-Wing and Rebellion Luke Skywalker & Bonus Han in Stormtrooper Disguise

2011-04-08T14:12:00.002-05:00

In the 16 year run of the modern Star Wars line there have been a lot of Luke Skywalker figures released. Some of them have been really great and some of them not so much. It is worth noting that after years of some disappointing releases Hasbro really seems to be perfecting each figure including the main heroes which they have always have seemed to struggle with. In my opinion the current line has never been better in terms of quality and detail. There were some Lukes that were released over the past 3 years that slightly fell short of the perfection mark. The Little Differences segment is all about fixing the flaws of existing figures using existing parts to make them as perfect as possible without a major rework. Unlike all of my past LD segments some of these do require some dremmeling on the swapped heads to sit perfectly on their respective neck posts. I always strive to avoid this but these are very easy to modify. Lets get started and see if these are for you:

Yavin Ceremony Luke Skywalker

Released in 2007 as part of the 30th TAC line this Luke was a really nice upgrade from the 1997 POTF2 one (After 10 years it should be!). Overall this was a well executed figure but he did miss the mark because of his mediocre head sculpt that featured really pale skin and dark hair. (The skin tone color reminded me of when E.T. was found dying in the rain.) I do think we will see a re-release of this figure in the near future with a new head sculpt and a corrected flesh tone. I cannot wait for a re-release as this was one of my favorite get ups for Luke, as usual I decided to fix him. November of 2009 gave us the best ANH Farm boy Luke head sculpt in the modern line in the Resurgence of the Jedi Battle Pack. I stocked up on that figure at the time because I knew I wanted to use the head to fix several of my older Lukes. This head will need to be dremmeled out a little to fit on the Yavin Luke neck post. To match the head flesh tone I swapped out the hands with the AOTC Uncle Owen, they are a perfect color match and fit. I know that is a rare figure as well but fear not, there are other hands that will work just as well. To finish the figure I gave him the new Vintage sculpt Lightsaber to make him as accurate as possible. Here is the final result:

Luke Skywalker & Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise

Next up we have the controversial "too tall" Luke in Stormtrooper Disguise. I agree with most collectors that they should retool some parts to get him more screen accurate. While this is a deal breaker for many I have to be honest, I am not too bothered by it. I am more bothered by the terrible and very narrow head sculpt that looks more like a mouse then Luke. Like the Yavin Luke, I used the Resurgence BP Luke head again. (This mod also requires some dremmeling to get it to fit perfectly.) If you want to slap a Stormtrooper helmet on him you will need the larger sized Legacy Death Star Escape Han helmet, it's still tight. Since I use these in scene displays I have no desire to cover the head but it's really up to how you want to display your collection. I added an extra commlink from Major Panno to complete the figure. Speaking of the Death Star Escape Han figure you can swap that head out on the Stormtrooper body with no dremmeling required, it's a perfect fit. I love having consistency in my collection so these two mods solve the consistency issue. Take a "look-see" at the end results:

Luke Skywalker in X-Wing Pilot gear

Do you notice a trend here? Resurgence Luke head + Dremmel + X-Wing body = A fixed X-Wing Luke. (If you use the Hoth Snowspeeder Luke Helmet it will fit perfectly!)

Luke Skywalker in Rebel Stealth Gear from the Rebellion comic

I really liked the Rebellion comic series, they featured some great EU stories that filled in story gaps during the Rebellion era. The particular issue that this figure was based on was pretty good, I also liked the stealth outfits even though they did not look too "Star Warsish". This was a cool comic pack but Luke's head was a so-so sculpt that looked little too old, it also looked too much like it came from the ESB era. The issue that this was based on actually took place before the ESB, so Luke should look pre Wampa attack with his 70's feathered hair. The head sculpt on Luke was the deal breaker for me with this figure, I hated it. Fear not, I find the perfect head to fix this and it's not the Resurgence Luke head sculpt (See, I can still throw you off!) I did not like the new Vintage Death Star Escape Luke head as much as I did the Resurgence one, They are actually different sculpts which is quite puzzling as to why Hasbro felt the need to redo it again after they finally nailed it. Nevertheless I am glad they made it because it fits this body perfectly without the need to dremmel and it is also more accurate to the comic than the head it came with:

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!

New Custom - Obscure Cantina Patron Tzizvvt "The Bar Fly"

2011-03-23T11:35:00.003-05:00

If you ever need to find an obscure Star Wars character look no further than the Mos Eisley Cantina. It's everyone's favorite galactic Muppet drinking hole filled with some of the biggest C-Listers in the Star Wars universe! It's also worth noting that it's home to a lot of D-Listers as well, one of those happens to be Tzizvvt "The Bar Fly". He is a character that is so obscure that you literally have to pause the movie at a specific time frame and squint very hard to even see him! But fear not friends, thanks to that magical thing called the Information Super Highway (otherwise known as the Internet) you can get a clear look at this cheap 70's inspired alien. I have seen some really lame aliens over the years (Star Trek: the Next Generation anyone?) but I consider this one to be "under the bottom of the barrel". Surprisingly, I have seen this guy rank in some of the wish list polls on the various fan sites. He is one character that I actually root against being made because of the sheer stupidity of him. I also do not want to see a slot get wasted on him, save it for someone more deserving like Ackmena!

I had someone contact me on eBay to request that I take a stab at him. Despite my very upfront bias against him, I can honestly say that I was intrigued by the challenge of making him. His timing was perfect as I was looking for new characters to tap into and once I looked at the picture of him I knew exactly how I would execute my custom. It only required two figures (Wisolea and Yavin Rebel Tech) and a lot of sculpting on the head. As I was sculpting the head I decided to give him a special beverage that only a fly would love! I sculpted some Bantha Poodu to top off his glass off with, I felt it completed him. (Plus it rounds out his stupidity!) Take a look at my first Tzizvvt custom , would you want this character in your collection? I still don't!

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

Introduction to my new statue company - Kozak Designs!

2011-03-15T15:50:00.002-05:00

I want to spread the word on a special project that I have been working on over the past few months in addition to my custom work. If you are Ukrainian or know someone who is you will want to pass this information onto them, they will not want to miss this! While I am not of Ukrainian descent my wife and in laws are. I was inspired over a year ago to design a collectible line of Kozak warrior statues after recognizing a vacuum in the marketplace. My Father-in-law and I teamed up to produce a professional line of statues that could fill that void. For those who are not familiar with the Kozak warriors they are members of a people that descended from a group of runaway serfs who set up a semi-independent military republic in Ukraine in the 15th and 16th centuries. The Kozaks became noted for their military prowess and a symbol of Ukrainian culture.

Each of our Kozak warrior statues will all feature a very dynamic sculpt that has the most accurate details that symbolize the pride and strength of the Ukrainian Kozak. To find a quality Kozak statue in any medium is very difficult to track down and if you do find one be prepared to spend a kings ransom to get it. Most Kozak statues look like cheap Christmas decorations that are often times portrayed as drunks. What if we can offer a statue with superior details, a dynamic stance and something that represents a true Kozak at an affordable price? That's what we have set out to do and that is the mission of Kozak Designs! I would like to introduce our first statue called "Taras"! He is on sale right now and you can see huge pictures and video on the Kozak Designs Blog:

We have a lot of exciting product ideas in the pipeline and will eventually expand into a full website as we get this line fully up and running. I know this is not related to Star Wars customs but the collectible statue genre is somewhat relevant. (I also figured I needed to utilize every avenue I have available to generate interest, awareness and sales!) We are looking at offering a Bronze version and possibly fully painted ones. The Blog will have news, sneek peeks and a lot more content coming soon! LMK your thoughts and please pass on to your Ukrainian friends & family!

Thank you and please pass the Kozak Designs Blog along to friends!!

New custom - Tales of the Jedi Exar Kun

2011-03-11T15:12:00.001-06:00

Exar Kun is one of the earliest and most well known EU characters in the Star Wars universe. For years fans lobbied Hasbro for an official figure of this powerful Sith Lord. Exar Kun was one the first customs that ever made, he was also one of my most popular. I made him multiple times over the years with different figure formulas. I stopped making him once the official was finally announced. He was eventually released in the very hard to find final wave of retail comic packs. I have made several characters over the years that eventually got their official figure treatment from Hasbro. I always have liked the official figure more than my own custom, that is until Exar Kun came along. I felt the official figure was a big let down, while he is not a horrible figure he certainly was not worth the very long wait. If you followed the Hasbro Q&A sessions over the years you would know that this comic pack was pushed back for a long time. You can clearly tell when you take a closer look at the sculpting. It appears it was done in the 2007 time period. How can I tell you ask? Lets start with his meat palm mitts, 2007 was a transition period where better sculpted hands became more of the standard norm. (Think about the 30th TAC Mace Windu, Han Gunner, Luke Jedi hands) Now move to Exar's very restrictive chain mail skirt, he can barley move his super articulated legs. (Remember 30th Tac's Mace Windu, Miiyoom and the Rebel Honor Guard?) Now I admit that I could be reading too much into this sculpt but to further support my observation I will add that this figure's overall proportions are really off. His torso is very narrow with no shoulders, the legs/feet are too big and the arms are a tad too long. When you look at the modern sculpting in the last two years Hasbro has really been dead on, just look at he the new Phase 1 Clonetrooper. I will end my harsh critique on a positive note, the head sculpt on Exar Kun is phenomenal! If it had some more deco on it really would highlight how great it is!

I ordered a case of the final comic packs online so I had secured the sets for my personal collection but I knew I wanted to experiment with some of these figures for customs. I looked high and low at retail for them, I only managed to find one extra Exar Kun set. I used all of the parts except the head and shoulder armor. (I used the cape and skirt on my Naga Sadow and used his Lightsaber on this custom Jedi) Recently when I was making a batch of figures I stumbled upon the Exar leftovers and decided to make a worthy Exar Kun figure. While some details are not 100% I think he looks 10 times better than the official figure. I repainted the entire head to bring out the sculpted details to do it justice and I really am happy how it turned out! It was nice to revisit a figure that I made for years, I have a sentimental attachment to the character. Take a look and LMK what you guys think.

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Armored Sith King of Korriban

2011-02-28T13:57:00.007-06:00

Deep in the dark and dank halls of Castle Korriban, the Templar Knights of the Sith order battle each other for control of the Kingdom. The death of their Arch Duke at the hands of Jedi Master Mugglia has thrown the order into chaos. As the leaderless Sith Knights bicker for blood, the towering Cortis hall doors crash open with a thunderous throw of force. Breaking off of their hinges, the huge metal doors crush the lowly alien underlings that were serving delectable ordure's! As the smoke clears and the green goo of underling gore slowly drips down the walls, a being emerges from the center of the doorway darkness. Standing calmly in the archway is the self proclaimed "King of the Sith". His mere presence oozes with raw power and that power is personified with his gleaming armor of DOOM!!! The Templar Knights are all taken back by the show of force but they are more taken back by the shining bling of the armor. Deep in their dark minds they begin to rethink their own duds…(Insert stereotypical suspense music here.)

Is there an actual King of the Sith in SW lore? As far as I know there is not, I just needed to name this custom something that was fitting to his look. This figure is definitely one of my favorite customs that I have ever made! This was an on the fly experiment that came together sporting one of the most pleasing color palettes that I painted on an original custom figure. This analysis is my opinion, so you may disagree with it. It is worth noting that I have made over 2,500 custom figures. This Sith King custom is one of the standouts that I felt deserved a dedicated post. I liked how he turned out and if you have been following my Blog you know I love making my own original "Store Brand Sith Lords". I will do a follow up to that post next week on the Templar knights that this King commands. In the mean time take a look and LMK if you think this custom is worthy of the title King of the Sith.

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

Blog updates - Collection Room pics, Archives of Awesome and New Logos!

2011-02-24T11:55:00.002-06:00

I have not updated my Collection pictures since December 2010. I have added a lot of figures, vehicles and displays since then so an update was really needed! I reshot the entire room and replaced every picture in the section to reflect the latest set up. Look for some new angle shots of the Mos Eisley Cantina display, they came out great! For those who regularly visit that section this is a whole new experience that you will not want to miss! Below are some preview shots:

I have also added new figures to the Archives of Awesome, created a new Blog banner logo and streamlined some sections of the Blog! Regular custom updates will return as well. I have been very busy with a new project that I will share soon. Look for the next post to be a special one, it will explain the slight slowdown here. It's very cool and for those of Ukrainian descent you will not want to miss it!

The Little Differences - Bespin Guard, Ugnaught and Rebel Technician

2011-02-21T11:47:00.012-06:00

Welcome to February's "Little Differences"! This month I am going to focus on diversifying your Bespin Guards, Ugnaughts and Rebel Technician troops!

Bespin Wing Guards

Bespin, the land of Lando, the city in the clouds featuring a 70's bachelor pad décor that's sure to impress the ladies! Lando knew how to run a tight city, his right hand man Lobot was an integral part of keeping the daily operations running as smooth as a Colt 45! (When you look at Lobot's outfit, outside of the mobile Boom box attached to his bald noggin, he would blend perfectly in Threes Company choice restaurant and bar, the Regal Beagle!) In order to keep the peace in the city Bespin had a police force called the Wing Guard. The guard had a diverse group of people enlisted in it, interestingly enough most of them sported facial hair. Mustaches and beards were all the rage on Bespin, Lando was a real trend setter. (Even the 80's vintage line had a Bespin Guard that sported a huge Foo-Man-Choo handle bar mustache!)

We got our first modern Bespin guard in 2001. While he was a nice figure overall he was not screen accurate as he had an open jacket, they were never seen open in the film. To add to our disappointment, he did not have a mustache. Not too long after that figures release we got another Bespin guard this time it was part of an exclusive Freezing Chamber play set. This figure was a real step backwards, the head sculpt was terrible, it had a huge schnoz and the body was even worse. The outfit was painted on the figure, it literally looked like one of those naked people with an clothes painted on their body. This figure also did not have a mustache, a real negative, it makes Tom Selleck cry. It took 8.5 years to get our next Bespin guard figure, this release was part of the 2009 Legacy line. There were two different heads sculpts one this figure. One was an alien (that was cut from the final film) and the other is questionably considered the modern incarnation of the Black Bespin guard, Sgt. Edian. Why it's questionable is based on the sculpted features of the head sculpt, it appears to be Caucasian but it can also pass for someone of Indian descent. It looks nothing like the actor who played Sgt. Edian. Personally I do not consider this figure him, he is just a generic Bespin guard to me. The sculpt of the figure overall is great, the only real issue I have with it is the height, it's a little too tall. (It's not a deal breaker.) long term, I really hope they re-release this figure with different head sculpts, until they do I took matter into my own hands to diversify my guards. Like all my other "Little Differences" segments these mods require no tools, just extra parts that easily pop and swap. Since I make a lot of customs I have the luxury of having a lot of extra heads on hand to experiment with. I tested a lot of heads that would fit perfect on the Bespin guard neck post. They would also pass the hat test, the hat is a crucial part of the outfit if it does not fit they will not look right as a Bespin guard.. For my custom troops I used the following heads:

- Evolutions TFU Starkiller Jedi Apprentice
- AOTC Owen Lars
- Evolutions A-Wing Pilot Jake Farrell
- ROTJ rebel commando
- EE Comic pack Rohlan Dyre
- G.I.Joe ROC Ripcord (I did dremmel the head on this one)

Ugnaughts

Since we are hanging in cloud city today I will show you some quick ways to further diversify some of the other inhabitants of Bespin like our favorite little piggy people the Ugnaughts. Using both of the Ugnaught releases, I mixed and matched their parts to make them look different. You will see two of the three shown below just have their heads swapped but if you closely look at the third one you will notice it's the second release with the first release's legs. The pants are normally gray on the second release but as you can see they are blue. It's a minor detail but it does help him make look different enough if you interchange the legs. I'm not sure that I have a yearning for more Ugnaught releases after these mods but these can help holdover those who do. they might be waiting a very long time. (If they make a sweet Freezing Chamber Diorama one day I would want more!)

Rebel Technicians

To close out this months LD segment we will leave Cloud City and head to Yavin. to visit the Rebel Technician from the very rare Scramble on Yavin Battle Pack. I bought six of these sets when they first came out so I was more fortunate than other collectors that waited too long to stock up before it became so scarce. Luckily the Rebel Tech and his cool cart are going to re-released this year as an exclusive at TRU. Tungohri, the eBay seller from Hong Kong who gets in SW figures early actually had theses Techs in stock. It was a great way to stock up economically on these guys plus you did not have to wait for the TRU releases later this year. I took advantage while they were in stock on eBay. Like the Bespin guards, I experimented with several different heads that would fit perfectly on the neck post. Like the hats that had to be ones that would also work with the helmet. I have found that the Hoth Rebel soldiers and the new Endor Rebel Commando fit absolutely perfect! (Even the helmets fit great on them!) Take a look at the final result:

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!

New (and Flashback) Customs - Obscure Patrons of Mos Eisley Cantina

2011-02-10T16:35:00.014-06:00

I know have been a little slow on the posts lately but more frequent updates to the Blog will return shortly. That said, I wanted to make up for that with this ginormous post that includes nine customs that all hail from our favorite galactic Muppet drinking hole on Tattooine, the Mos Eisley Cantina! Over the past year and a half I have really focused on some of the very obscure drunks that inhabit the bar. Hasbro is doing a great job of making (and remaking) many of the memorable Muppets that hung out at the Regal Beagle of the Star Wars universe but they still have a long way to go! As usual I do not have the patience to wait years for them to complete the Cantina scene so I like to take matters in my own hands by making them myself. So without further ado lets take a look at some of the back ground bums that we all hope will see official release one day:

Bannis Keeg (1/11)

The other Duro meat! Since 2001 the POTJ Ellors Madak figure has been on his own, his partner Bannis Keeg has been stuck in the Hasbro "To Do" parking lot limbo of unmade figures. When Hasbro gets to him one day many feel they should also redo Ellors as well so both are up to par with today's standards. (I think this is a contributing factor of why we have not received an official figure yet.) Anyway, I think it's worth noting that there is some confusion (and rewriting) of this characters name and even it's gender. Supposedly Bannis Keeg is now named Chachi De Maal and Chachi De Maal is a female Duro! I do not know about you but that's a man baby! And that man is named Bannis! I made my custom a man called Bannis, Chachi loves Joani and belongs in the Happy Days Universe not Star Wars!

Yerka Mig (10/10)

Yerka Mig, was a very plain human male that was standing in the front section of the bar. Unlike some of these other scrubs he actually got some actual screen time. He is somewhat recognizable to fans because of this, he also has a nice close up shot after Han shot Greedo - FIRST! He did not look to phased by the shooting because he was very preoccupied in his thoughts about the Tonnika Sisters. (He was busy building up enough confidence to ask a Tonnika Sister over to his place to listen to some records and share a soda float.) Out of all of the plain humans in the Cantina I think Merka stands the best chance of being made, even Hasbro has stated this. Until then, here is my rendition of the most recognizable human patron.(Kids would go gaga for him!)

Garouf LaFoe (1/11)

What would a bar be without the typical creepy looking guy with a mustache? Garouf does a great job of filling the role out as the resident stache but he also lives up to his creepy status. He is seen ratting out Luke, Ben and the Droids to the local Sandtrooper Squad that are hunting our heroes. He is the second most recognizable human of the Cantina...because of his mustache of course! I think the chances of seeing this guy made are slim to none but you never know. After all Hasbro made a figure of Wedge Antilles in steakhouse waiter attire so there is hope!

Danz Borin (1/11)

Nothing makes more Sci-Fi sense than a guy dressed in a full spacesuit who is hanging out in a bar drinking (with his helmet on mind you) that just happens to be located on the hottest desert planet in the galaxy! As far as I know there is no clear shot of Danz and the below picture is best reference that I could find, it barley shows him! Despite the lack of reference fans still know who this cat is. I do think he is interesting enough as a character that his chances are probably not bad of eventually getting made. Not as cool as Rum Slegg but maybe they can use some of his parts to make this figure more feasible and cost effective.

Arleil Schous the Deffel - V2 (10/10)

I made him before and said what I needed to say on him but I went back to improve the formula/sculpt. You can find my first Deffel by clicking here and compare it with this much improved version! I think it's only a matter of time before we see an official Deffel from Hasbro. This guy is too cool not to be made and he has been ranking high in the fan polls! Let's hope!

Spacer "1" (11/09)

Like Danz Borin this dude is dressed in a full spacesuit drinking on a bar on the hottest planet in the galaxy. This guy is so obscure most fans do not even know of his existence! If you look close you will see he is wearing Bossk's spacesuit. Actually Bossk is wearing his spacesuit! Since IG-88's head was part of the bar distillery the Lucasfilm people obviously scrounged through the props/costumes from A New Hope and reused them for the Empire Strikes Back to save a couple of bucks. This would be one easy figure for Hasbro to make since the bulk of the figure is already made, all it would need it new ankles/feet, forearms/hands and a head!

The Tonnika Sisters - V2 (12/10)

Like the Deffel I have made them before and said what I needed to say on them. Like many of my customs I like to go back and improve them. You can see my first set by clicking here and compare them with this improved set.

Merc Sunlet (1/11)

Yeah, I know what you are thinking but I saved the most obscure for last! Enter Merc Sunlet, Mighty Moisture Farmer of Tattooine! In the words of C-3P0 the chances of this figure being made is approximately 3,720 to 1. If you are enamored with the awesomeness of this character you are on your own to make him!

So, how many of these Cantina patrons would you actually want to see made and actually own in your collection? Who would not want a Merc Sunlet figure?

As always, comments, suggestions and hate mail are welcome here!

New Custom - Gruk The Gamorrean Rancor Slayer

2011-01-26T12:29:00.004-06:00

The new ROTJ wave, in my opinion, is the best wave of SW figures ever! Every single figure in the wave was a home run in terms of detail, articulation and execution. This wave sets the bar without a doubt. (BTW - I just received my case of the AOTC Wave 4 and it also meets that standard, W5 is horrendous.) One of the real standout characters from the ROTJ wave is the Gamorrean Guard. This figure is absolutely stunning! He is decked out with a lot of weapons, articulation, a soft goods skirt and even a removable helmet. The only flaws that I can find with this figure is that the helmet does not stay on very well and it would have been very easy to add a movable lower jaw. (I expect the latter one day in an updated release!)

I had a few requests to make a custom Gamorrean Gladiator that popped up on the Rebelscum customs forum. It was a simple head slap on a World War Hulk body but it was very clever in concept. There was no paint on it but was an interesting premise nonetheless. I want to give proper credit to XBilly_JackX who came up with the initial idea. I like making my own custom combos but I could not resist making my own rendition of this concept by really going all out on this guy. I repainted the entire figure with a lot of details including glossy clear coat around the snout and mouth to give that gooey look. I also incorporated the soft goods skirt, added spikes/horns to his armor and gave him an axe worthy of a Rancor slayer. Take a look at the final results of my take on this concept Gamorrean:

As always, comments, suggestions and hate mail are welcome here!

New Customs - New versions of Darth Malgus, Shae Vilza, Mark Ragnos & Naga Sadow

2011-01-24T10:36:00.002-06:00

Déjà vu? Any time I go back and make a custom I have made before I always strive to improve on the previous version with more details/part formula. I have four "redos" to share today, all four of these characters have been spotlighted on the blog in respective posts. There is no need for a lengthy write ups on each of them, I will let the pictures do the talking. For comparison's sake I have added links to the previous versions so you can see the differences. LMK what you cats think!

Darth Malgus V2 (Click here for the Previous Version)

Shae Vilza V2 (Click here for the Previous Version)

Mark Ragnos V2 (Click here for the Previous Version)

Naga Sadow V2 (Click here for the Previous Version)

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Shadows of the Empire Guri

2011-01-13T22:37:00.006-06:00

The 1990's were...extreme... I mean X-TREME!!! Back then everything had to be and was. Ghostbusters, G.I.Joe, Comic Books, Sports and just about everything else that came out of that decade toy wise. If it was to be truly cool it had to have the word attached to it somehow or else it did not have true 90's street cred. Other than being X-Treme!!! the 1990's did not know what it wanted to be, it was like a cross between the 1980's and the 00's. It was a pretty unoriginal decade that featured crappy music that was mostly on the depressive side, does that sound to negative? If there was one positive thing that came out of the 90's toy era it was the return of Star Wars action figures to the toy aisle in 1995. In an effort to make Star Wars a big deal again the fine folks at Lucasfilm decided to make a big marketing event with the Shadows of the Empire storyline. If you really think about it SOTE was Star Wars X-Treme!!!

SOTE was the untold story of the events that took place between ESB-ROTJ. It also featured some new characters with 90's flare like the Sonny Crockett/Han Solo-ish Smuggler Dash Rendar. SOTE was really the birth of "Expanded Universe". Some say it was the Splinters of Mind's Eye but SOTE is more regarded as the modern incarnation of EU. Other than the infamous peg warming Xizor (Click Here!), it was successful and really helped solidify nerd interest in the brand again. Worthy of note, SOTE was one of the first and most beloved Nintendo 64 games that helped launch that (At the time) groundbreaking gaming platform. It really was a great game that captured the adventure of Star Wars. I remember that was the first platform with a 360 degree view so when I played the Snowspeeder Hoth level my body would turn with the ship and I would often fall out of my chair.

There was a small offering of SOTE figures from Kenner but some of the most popular characters from the story never got their official release. One of them being Xizor's super sexy droid assassin Guri. To this day fans constantly request a figure of her and in figure request polls she usually ranks in the top 5 along with a resculpt of Dash Rendar. I really would love both of those figures along with Leebo and a new Snoova, so consider me an advocate for all things SOTE. I recently took a shot at making a Guri figure that would look great next to the really well done Xizor figure from 2009. (Like his predecessor the comic pack he came in warmed pegs!) I took the liberty to combines some elements of the different reference material so she does not look too 90's-ish. I am pretty happy with the result but I really want your thoughts. Take a look an LMK what you think :

After making this custom I really would love for Hasbro to revisit the 90's and make some new SOTE figures. Who would not want a new Dash, Guri, Leebo and Snoova? Just stay away from Xizor.

As always, comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Savage Opress

2011-01-05T16:18:00.007-06:00

One of the most hotly anticipated characters appearing in this season of the Clone Wars is Savage Opress. He is supposedly related to Darth Maul, was created/partially trained by the Witches of Dathomir and is a double agent who is being fully trained in the Sith arts by Count Dooku! (Who he will later try to kill for revenge). Sounds pretty interesting and I really cannot wait to see this story unfold. (At this point anything will be better than the extremely boring Senate episodes that revolved around tainted lunches in the Mandalorian public school system that Season 3 has become famous for. I cringe when I see Padme in a teaser trailer as it spells doom for the episode!) Some fans were able to see him in action already in December during charity screenings that took place across the country at selected theaters. Word in the nerd world is that these episodes really delivered on all levels. He is absolutely ruthless, crushes the face of a Jedi Master (in such a brutal way with a very pointy weapon, then kills his young Jedi Padawan, kicks the crap out of our heroes and the third episode of the story arc even gives us a big revelation about the SW universe! It sounds like it really does deliver but until I see these episodes myself I need to go with the "Trust but verify" approach. (The Mandalorian soft drink debacle really put a lot of doubt in me.) Here is a good reference pic of Savage Opress:

I had to take a crack at this guy as he looks pretty bad ass. Despite not have a lot of reference there is more than enough to go by. I am sure an animated figure from Hasbro is not too far behind for release. (When that happens he will surely be a scalpers dream for awhile!) I wanted to take a realistic approach and this was my first pass at him. LMK what you cats think?

Would you buy realistic styled Clone Wars figures? I know I would, I would happily fork over my hard earned cash for them. Hasbro is losing a lot of loot with me as I do not collect the animated line! (Hint, hint Hasbro!!!)

As always, comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Warlord Battle Droid TX-197

2011-01-05T15:32:00.005-06:00

Happy New Year!!!

Welcome to 2011 and to my first Blog post of the year! I have been a little behind with updating the Blog as much as I wanted to in the last two months so my apologies to all who follow. I assure you that I have some very cool customs already on tap including some nifty "Little difference" segments ! One of my New Year resolutions is to at least get in 8-10 posts a month, I am aiming for more. I feel that I have made some of my best customs over the past two months so it's time to get off of my rump and start posting them to share with you! Onto the first custom post of the year...

I do not collect the Marvel Universe line of figures as I think they are sub-par to the current Star Wars line in terms of execution. That said, a few of the recent releases have caught my attention. (It appears they are finally improving that line with better sculpts and articulation.) One of the figures that I purchased is from the Iron Man 2 movie line, it's some sort of evil robot drone. I do not know its name and I really could care less as I instantly envisioned a Battle Droid custom the moment my peepers spotted him. I thought it would be cool to build a EU inspired experimental War Droid that the Clones would actually fear in small numbers. EP1 gave us Battle Droids, Destroyer Droids and crushed expectations. EP2 gave us Super Battle Droids and Super Bad Dialogue. EP3 gave us the Octuptarra Droids, Crabs...I mean Crab Droids and a fun flick.

None of those aforementioned Droid designs looked really menacing to me so I always wanted to see more aggressive models that evolved during the war. What if the Separatists decided to build something meaner than a Super Battle Droid with more firepower than a Destroyer Droid? You get the Warlord Droid "TX-197", at least in my world that's what you would get. Whats the significance of the designation number you ask? Nothing, it means absolutely nothing. I made it up on the spot and has no significance whatsoever, it just sounds "Lucasy". For this custom I used some Battle Droid Binoculars as arm blasters (adding the Destroyer Droid blast effects to them), a BD backpack antenna, BD head/hands and some Grievous Blasters to create this experimental Droid. It's more on the paint change side than the parts change but I think he turned out pretty cool. What do you think?

Should I do more Droid customs in the future or stick with the fleshies? As always, comments and hate mail are welcome!!!

A special message from the Christmas Kubuz...

2010-12-25T13:52:00.000-06:00

New Custom - Jabba's Palace Guard Fozec

2010-12-16T12:16:00.008-06:00

One of the greatest things about Star Wars is all of the looming loser background characters that populated the films. Some of these D-listers did not even have a full screen shot and some just had a few fleeting seconds of being barley visible (usually behind another D-Listers head)! There are some exceptions to these characters as some are quite interesting and would make great figures! Despite the screen time handicap the fine folks at Lucasfilm (in an effort to mine every dime out of these films) decided to give the some of these scrubs names and stories to make them more marketable. I think the most famous of all of the Star Wars back ground characters is the "Ice Cream Maker Guy" Willrow Hood. Hasbro did the unthinkable by actually producing an official figure of him after years of fans hounding them and pols requesting him. The biggest thanks goes to Scott over at Jedidefender who spearheaded the cause by creating a website that got other fans on board for Willrow. The figure turned out great and is one of my favorite figures in the line, he is great for customs too! Hasbro earned a lot of Nerd cred with this figure and all they asked was for fans to support him at retail. By supporting him it keeps the door open for other really obscure characters that are such an essential part of this line. Fans did keep their end of the deal by supporting the Willrow figure so he did not peg warm like the very awesome but over produced Yarna.

There are still a lot of great back ground bums and beasts to make. One of those characters that is, in my opinion, worthy of an official figure is named Fozec. Fozec is a human guard who works at Jabba's Palace, he also happened to have decent amount of screen time. If you do not know who Fozec is chances are you probably do, if you saw him:

There were rumors at one point that the actor who played Willrow Hood also played Fozec. It was never confirmed and is pretty irrelevant so there is no need to ponder this niche' theory of geekdom. I thought this would be a great figure to make a custom of given my love for all things Jabba. I came up with the idea after thinking about Willrow and decided to use his head for my second Fozec custom. I also had a spare big Thuggee dude from defunct Indiana Jones line, it was a perfect base to create the mighty Fozec. I added some other parts and sculpted the chest/hood armor. I had a hard time finding reference for him so some costume details are a little off. Here is the final result of my Fozec v2, LMK what you guys think:

I think Fozec would make a great figure to add to Jabba's growing modern ranks of goons. It's worth noting that he is on Hasbro's radar screen, they had him scheduled in the basic figure line several times but he kept getting bumped out for more prominent characters. They did confirm in a recent Q&A that he will be released some day in the very near future. 2013 may be a good time as it's the 30th Anniversary of ROTJ. (Hasbro if you read this please release a Sail Barge too in that year, I will buy two! I am good for it, look at my collection!)

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Customs - "Store Brand" Sith Lords

2010-12-10T16:16:00.011-06:00

Have you ever noticed that most Sith Lords have some serious respiratory issues? While the Dark side may be tempting with all of it's enticing power, it really does comes at a high price, to your breathing! Maybe, just maybe, Sith Lords are so angry because they do not get a good nights rest due to not being able to breathe properly. That said, when I make custom Sith Lords I impulsively have to include some kind of breathing apparatus, attached to their face. (It's just a default bad habit rule that I have.)

I really love making generic Sith Lords, with so many Jedi out there it's nice to have a Sith army to combat them! That aspect alone is what makes the KOTOR and Legacy time lines so cool, you actually see large battles with Lightsaber wielding warriors! Over the years I have made a lot of generic Sith Lords, some were better than others but there are the occasional gems that really came together nicely. I think it's time some of those gems get the front page treatment, it also been a long time since I spotlighted a generic character custom on the front page. Lets take a look at a few "Generic Store Brand" Sith Lords that I made:

Sith Death Adder

Can you guess where hise name came from? For some reason I had the old school Sega arcade game Golden Axe on the mind. (For those younglings reading this who have no idea what an Arcade is, look it up on the internet. You missed out on some good time but you saved some money!) Golden Axe had some influence on this custom and his name, on top of that it sounds like a new class of Sith. The Skulls on a Spike armor combined with the TFU Sith Stalker belt really complimented each other me thinks. I also shredded up the cape to finish up his deadly persona.

Sith Night Creeper

Not sure if this guy can "Creep" around too successfully in noisy full plate armor but the name had a nice ring to it. The paint job on the armor is what I thought made him really cool. I used four different colors to achieve the finish but it turned out great, the pics do not do it justice. I used the head from the 25th Mercenary Wraith figure and gave the face a complete new paint job to look ghoulish. The beady eyed helmet that flips up added a nice "Darth Vadery" reveal touch.

Darth Scabboius

This is the quintessential Sith Lord with bad respiratory issues due to the horrific wounds inflicted to his face. He is a deadly foot soldier of the Sith with a thirst for battle (and picking his face scabs)!

So I would love to hear your thoughts and hate mail. Should I continue to spotlight "JACKOFTRADZE Generic Store Brand Characters" or stick to the renditions of real characters?

The Little Differences - Ultimate Sailbarge, Jedi Knight & Endor Luke Skywalker V2 & Endor Rebel Troopers

2010-12-07T16:54:00.004-06:00

This weeks "Little Differences" segment will start with converting the brand new (and near perfect) Vintage line Jedi Luke figure into his other iconic looks in ROTJ. This first part of this article is a bit of a rehash from a past one I wrote, however I really think it is worth revisiting. If you like to have the most updated figures with previous gear/outfits this is "geared" for you. If you want a trip on the "way back machine" you can see my previous article here. I have to tip my hat off to Hasbro, they finally reached a point where they are really hitting home runs with every figure they make, including main characters which they always seemed to struggle with previously. The Vintage line has been outstanding, keep it up Hasbro!

I will be showing you a few easy mods to satisfy your collection until Hasbro does. They confirmed in 2012 we will see a new Jabba Palace Jedi Luke but do you really want to wait that long? Per my previous article, the Jedi Luke I use to like the most was the Battle of Endor Battle Pack version. Underneath his Camo poncho he had a soft goods Jedi tunic that was a huget improvement from the TAC version. These soft good robes will be crucial to easily modify the new Luke, all you have to do is a simple swap. Next, you need to find a pair of extra hands that match Luke's flesh tone if you really want to get accurate. Remember, Luke only donned the black Michael Jackson like glove after it was shot on Jabba's Sail Barge. (I found a perfect set of hands to use, unfortunately I forgot which figure they came from...) Once you have an adequate pair of hands you will need do the old boil and pop trick to swap them out. Here are two shots of my Jedi Lukes in two different scenes (Note: I bought and modified several Lukes to have them in my specific displays.)

Next up is the Endor Luke, you will be using that leftover Camo Poncho from the figure you "borrowed" the robes from. This is also a quick swap, the helmet does not sit on the new head sculpt perfect but it does not look horrible either. It's also worth noting that this Luke can ride the dated Speederbike perfectly!

Speaking of Endor, these next mods will help you increase the variety of your Endor Rebel Strike Team! Like Luke, the new Rebel Commando is a really well executed figure, his gear and articulation are truly top notch! The only issue that I have with this figure is that he is a beardo! Hasbro really seems to be obsessed with facial hair on their recent Rebel Troopers. This makes army building with them a little less attractive. (I would have bought so many more of this trooper if he was clean shaven.) That said, it is pretty easy to swap heads but this figures neck is not as standard as say the Hoth Rebel Trooper. The neck of this figure lurches forward a bit, so finding the right head to fit properly is a lot more tricky when compared to other figures. Most of the more generic Star Wars heads will require some dremmeling to fit properly on this figure.

I really love retiring older figures so when this new and superior version was released, I knew it was time for my Saga era Endor Rebels to be discharged! I decided to experiment with some of their gear and swap the jacket on the new Vintage Endor Commando to see if it would work. It did, the Saga version jacket fit on the new Rebel fairly well, even the backpack hole lined up! The only downside to this swap is that the jacket limits the figures shoulder articulation. Since I display my figure and not play with them it did not bother me at all. Take a look to see some of the variations I created with different heads and gear:

To continue the experiment further with customizing my Endor troops, I wanted to use the Dressellian Major Panno .I bought several of these lumpy headed aliens to create a squad. (I do expect Hasbro to release a "Pruneface" variant to lead them one day. Until that happens I thought it would be fun to diversify the E.T. squad by using the trusty boil and pop method, I swapped some of his parts with the Vintage Rebel Commando. I used that figures legs and belt harness with the upper half of Major Panno to create a unique looking Dressellian . Major Panno was also a very well done figure, he was so well done that the new Rebel Commando actually used his legs but the Rebel Commando does have a new wider pelvis. The only complaint I had with Panno was that is was very hard to find one that was not crossed eyed. Take a look at this E.T.'s eyes, would you trust him with a gun?

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!

Page Updates: Picture Overhaul on My Collection & Jabba's Palace Display pages!

2010-12-06T16:05:00.005-06:00

Get ready for a lot of custom cheer with an Imperial Class Star Destroyer size update to the Blog this month! I will start by updating my two most popular Blog sections: My Collection Room and the Jabba Palace display pages! It's been well over two months since I updated my collection room pictures and with all of the the great product that was released in the last few months (including the superb ROTJ wave) now is the perfect time! There have been a lot of changes to the display shelves including oodles of new figures and vehicles! I also trimmed some figure fat by shedding some outdated figures and upgraded weapons on my favorite troops. Here is a preview of an updated display shelf to entice you:

As usual, I reshot and replaced every single picture on the page! For those of you that view my collection on a regular basis, it really is an entirely new experience for you! The page still features the super large pictures, just click on them and you will be able to view the details up close.

I also added a lot of detail and figures to my Jabba Palace display page including giving it plenty of green pork! Here is a quick preview:

Enjoy these updates, there will be a lot more updates coming this week!!!

New Custom - Holiday Special Attichitcuk the Wookie ("Itchy")

2010-11-30T13:57:00.006-06:00

I am a huge fan of the utterly atrocious 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special. I love how it's the one piece of Star Wars history that George Lucas does not want to acknowledge. He even went as far as saying that he wished he could buy every copy out there and have them destroyed. Think about it, it's so terrible that even Lucasfilm does not want to squeeze a buck out of it, they just want to deny it's existence. Despite that major handicap for merchandise potential we actually have received two official Hasbro figures from this special, Zutton and the Animated Boba Fett. I really would love to see more figures from this craptacular CBS special get made into plastic. There were some interesting aliens in the Cantina sequence as well as a funky family of Wookies. Of all of the characters that appeared in the show I would prefer that they make Ackmena at some point. I made an Ackmena custom awhile back you can check her out here. Next in line that I would want made would be Chewbaccas father "Itchy". (EU gave him the name Attichitcuk, Itchy was a nickname given to him by humans.) It's worth noting that Kenner actually made prototypes of Chewbacca's family, they actually considered adding them into the vintage line. That would have been pretty cool but I think even back in 1978 they realized how bad it was a decided to forget this debacle ever transpired. Here is a glimpse of the actual Kenner prototypes:

I recently found my DVD copy of this special when I was cleaning my desk. I thought about how bad it was and despite my better judgment I decided to watch it again. I forgot how hilarious Chewbacca's father Itchy really was. From his Muppety flapping lower lip to his addiction to questionable holo table channels (borderline galactic porn) this character really needs a figure. He is just too awesome, look at him:

I wanted to make another Holiday Special custom and Itchy was the perfect candidate. I used a Saga Legends Chewbacca and sculpted the brow, face and lower lip to achieve the look. Overall I think he turned out good but I should have built up the lower lip more to capture the likeness better. It should have had a more overlapping appearance. I plan on taking another stab at him to improve on my first pass at him but I still think he is worth showcasing. Take a look and let me know what you guys think:

I think this figure would have a lot of appeal and would look great with all of the great Wookie figures we have received. They only have to tool up a few parts to build off of the Chewbacca body so it would not be a risky investment. C'mon Hasbro, consider this aged Wookie for the Vintage line. He would make a great exclusive!

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - The Toxic Avenger! (Version 2)

2010-11-17T15:31:00.002-06:00

It's always interesting seeing things come full circle in life, even when it comes to custom figures. This is my second attempt at making a Toxic Avenger custom 1/18th scale figure. The first one I made was back in May of 2009, it was also the first custom I showcased on my Blog! I always wanted to go back to do another one improving on my first creation. I recently had the perfect excuse to go back and make a superior Toxic Avenger custom when my good friend Eric over at Insidious_Customs asked me to join him in a custom contest over at www.customfigurewars.com. The contest had an aspect where you could team up with two other customizers to submit your entries together. To complete our team we recruited my other good friend and fellow customizer, stocos28. Our theme was B-Grade Buddies, Toxie was the perfect candidate for this. I kept my original formula in tact but improved on the sculpting and the overall paint scheme. Take a look at the final result:

The contest ended last night (11/16) and all of the entries are currently being judged by the owners of the site. As I mentioned, Toxie is teaming up with other B-grade characters. stocos28 made In Living Color's "Handi-Man" and Insidious_Customs (Snakeeyes0217) made "Ash" from Evil dead 2. They teamed up to stop a Evil Time-Travelling Tomato! (Does it get more craptacular than that!) Here is a preview pic of our customs together:

In order to view the entire photo comic that Insidious_Customs wrote and created, head on over to www.customfigurewars.com here. There are 3 parts to the comic, so be sure to check them out in order to read the entire adventure! If you like Toxie and the team please vote for us! I will keep you all posted to see how we place. Stay tuned!

New Customs - He-Man & Beastman SW Crossovers!

2010-11-12T16:57:00.003-06:00

Back in June I made my Darth Skeletorious v2 custom figure, I like him so much he is still in my Blog header! He went over very well and the very nice buyer who purchased him really liked him a lot. No surprise, he is a huge Star Wars and MOTU fan so this custom was right up his alley! After receiving the figure he really wanted to add to accompany him with more SW/MOTU crossover figures. I admitted on my Blog that I am not a huge fan of figure commissions, they feel too much like work. I do truly appreciate the requests and confidence but I live a pretty busy life. Adding more "to do's" to my list is something I am less inclined to be open to. That said, this buyer is such a great guy I did not want to say no. I procrastinated but he was very persistent which I truly respect. He was so persistent that after three months of asking I had to make them on principle!

He requested He-Man and Beastman, I wanted to keep the overall Barbarian look for He-Man. I approached this figure like he was as a primitive Warrior who is strong in the Force and gets trained on a remote planet with a stranded Jedi. (I also paid a little homage to the 1987 Dolph Lundgren movie with the cape) For Beastman I used my previous Whipid design but added more of the classic Beastman flare with the Lightwhip from Luminiya. Here are the results, LMK what you think:

Thank you pennyquaz, these were a lot of fun to make!!!

New page added + updates to the Jabba Palace Display Page!

2010-11-12T15:47:00.002-06:00

After a very long hiatus I have finally got off my rump and completed some more details in my Jabba Palace display. It's one of the most popular page sections on my Blog. I have not updated in a very long time, so I do apologize for the neglect. I focused more on custom figures, but given the traffic for that page I promise to give it a lot more attention in the coming months. I am very motivated to finish this display now and I want to move onto the next diorama. (Stay tuned for that!)

Here is a preview of some recent updates that you will find on the page:

New Customs - Nightsisters of Dathomir

2010-11-05T16:49:00.002-05:00

The Nightsisters are a group of Dathomiri Witches who can wield the dark side of the Force. While that may not seem like a big deal, they are quite different from your run of the mill Sith Lord.

This causes a great deal of confusion among the Jedi scholars and even some fans. (There is also confusion among the more casual fan as they think that they are just the stereotypical Hot Topic patron transported into the Star Wars universe.)

The Nightsisters are also more in tune with nature and animals, much like the Druid class of Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 2nd Edition. (How is that for some nerd street cred? Long live the Thac0 system!!!) The Nightsisters can also tame beasts like the Rancor and Wampa using them as mounted guardians to wreck havoc on the innocent of the Galaxy. Any way you cut it, these Nightsisters are very interesting characters, they also seem to be growing in popularity among SW fans because of their proficiency in the Force and their unique looks. It's worth noting that there is an upcoming episode of the Clone Wars that will feature the Nightsisters bringing forth (Jump the shark alert!) Darth Maul's baby brother to kill the Jedi...

After doing a little "Wookiepedia" research on them I thought it would be fun to make some Nightsister customs. I was getting a bit bored of making Mumm-Ra looking Sith Lords. I had some leftover EU Shaak Ti bodies and thought they would make a great base to turn into Nightsisters. Here are the two recent Nightsisters customs:

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom - Resurrected Darth Krayt

2010-10-26T11:19:00.006-05:00

I am a regular reader of the Star Wars Legacy comic series, I think the storyline is quite interesting and it has been worth following. I only buy the graphic novel volumes and not the individual comic issues. It's much easy to follow and much more cost effective to collect. With that said, I am not always up to date on the latest issues as the wait between the collected volumes takes some time. After the apparent Death of Darth Krayt the series lost it's "epic edge" and the story has drifted along in a ho-hum fashion. (Much like season 3 of the Clone Wars cartoon) I was quite convinced that Darth Krayt would return in some stereotypical sci-fi fashion. This is Star Wars after all, predictable cliche's and recycled story lines are part of it's DNA. To no ones surprise he has been revived!!! Who would have thought? At least they did not handle his death/resurrection in a Dallas dream sequence fashion. I found out about his return when I stumbled across an image of the Reborn Krayt in an ad for the upcoming Dark Horse releases on Rebelscum. I looked on Wookiepedia for more information about it and saw pictures of a crusty version of the regenerated Krayt but there were no other images of him in the promo picture costume. Despite not having any other reference on his new costume, I thought it would be a cool custom figure to create. I based the look of my new custom on this lone promo image:

I will have to wait for the release of the new volume to catch up on the story arc but I am hoping that some more images appear of him in his new Sith duds soon. I am very happy that the writers brought back the main antagonists of this timelines story. While the other Sith Mime Warriors are cool, the A'sharad Hett/Clone Wars connection really helped bridge the story lines together. It also gave me a reason to care as some other fan favorite characters appear as well. Hopefully the story's "epicness" will pick up again now that there is a real reason for Cade of embrace his Jedi destiny. I was getting really bored with the very redundant reluctant Jedi drug addict shtick. It was beginning to remind me of the Spider-Man movie plots where Peter and Mary Jane break up, then get back together, then they break up again and then they cry while finally getting back together...again! Seriously, man up, wipe the tears and cut some bad guys up with a Lightsaber already! Who are they kidding? We all know that Cade will eventually embrace his destiny, become a full fledged Jedi, defeat Darth Krayt and his Sith Empire to finally bring peace to the Galaxy while rebuilding the Jedi Order! (Peace will last until the next Star Wars storyline when the next generation of Jedi screws up by being too passively "emo" and gets wiped out yet again. That's where Lukes great, great, great, great Granddaughter must embrace her destiny to save the Universe while restoring the Jedi Order...yet again! You know we would read it. Just admit it to yourself.)

As always your feedback comments and hate mail are welcome!

New Custom (Sort of) - "Snooty Giddy Up" the Kubaz Interplanetary Pimp

2010-10-22T11:15:00.010-05:00

I started customizing Star Wars figures back in May of 2006 and I have not stopped since! As a personal preference, I do not keep the custom figures that I make, only the dioramas. There was one exception I made to my figure rule - My Kubaz Pimp, "Snooty Giddy Up". I made him in October of 2006 from leftover parts as a joke custom. The Kubaz are my favorite Star Wars alien race! My love of the Kubindi started when Garindan ratted out our heroes in Mos Eisley to Sandtroopers and slapped his muppety schnoz by accident (A film blooper they never caught). When I completed this Pimp Kubaz my wife saw him and really loved how he turned out. She loved him so much that she asked me not to sell him, she really, really wanted me to keep him. (Keep in mind she does not care a lick about Star Wars so I found it quite endearing.) I really liked him too, so it was an easy request to fulfill. He has remained in my collection ever since becoming a sentimental staple patron in my Cantina diorama. He even "pimped" for me as my customs mascot until I started this Blog where I went back to my original Duro Jedi alter ego. Maybe I will go back now...

Here is the original look of the figure in 2006:

Recently, when I was adding some new details on my Cantina diorama this custom Kubaz caught my eye again. I noticed that his paint scheme was damaged from handling over the years and it looked a bit dated from my current skill level. I immediately stopped what I was doing on the Cantina and I decided to give my old custom friend some much needed attention. I have come a long way with my customs so I felt he needed to get back up to par with a complete new paint job. Since I was going back to refresh Snooty I also wanted to correct a few parts on him that I was never happy with. I replaced his feet and arms/hands that better suited the figures outfit. He also was always missing a key piece of standard Pimp attire - a plume hat! Take a look at the refreshed and revised "Snooty Giddy Up":

To me, "Snooty Giddy Up" now feels complete and looks better than ever! I found a renewed love for my "vintage" custom. As I mentioned, I made him in October of 2006 and while it was not my intent, I wound up refreshing him 4 years to the date of his creation. Intuition or coincidence? Either way, to me he ROCKS! If you disagree drop me a line and send me some hate mail!

The Little Differences - Target Geonosian Anakin Skywalker, Shaak Ti & Resurgence of the Jedi Luke Skywalker

2010-10-20T14:43:00.007-05:00

The second wave of Target's Geonosian Showdown sets are officially hitting store shelves nationwide as I write this. I ordered and have already received my sets from Amazon.com last week. Like the prior series, some key characters received some nice upgrades like new head sculpts, more articulation and some nice repaints. While some of the figures improved they still have a couple of minor shortcomings but they can be corrected with the right parts! The whole point of the "Little Differences" segment is to show hard core collectors easy ways to perfect their figures without paint or tools. If you are that kind of serious collector read on as this will appeal to you! (Also take a look at my past ones!)

Lets start with the new Anakin. He really is a standout figure and a must buy in my opinion. The new head sculpt is really nice, he no longer has that deer in a head light stare or blonde hair (which he never had) like the previous version. Hasbro also improved the figure's soft good tunic color and the material they made it out of. If that is not enough of an improvement, they also painted the figures molded tunic black. It's a very nice touch that visually blends the soft goods and plastic aesthetics together better. He really is a near perfect figure and the only two flaws that I have found are very minor and very fixable. The belt color is a little too light and it does not have as many paint details as the previous one had. I also noticed that the pant and boot colors are much lighter than the previous version. I was able to easily correct these two aspects with the help of my soon to be retired Evolutions Anakin. By swapping the legs and belt of the old Evolutions Anakin with the new Geonosian Showdown Anakin you can create a more detailed and more screen accurate representation. You will have to use the boil and pop method to modify the figure.

Please note: You should pull off the soft good tunics of both versions BEFORE you plop them in hot water. The hot water will damage the soft good materials. Once removed, all you have to do is gently pull apart both figures then switch the belts and legs. Dry them off and put the soft goods tunic back on. Here is the end result:

Next up is the new Shaak Ti from this series. Like the Anakin, this figure received some new upgrades. The biggest one is her more articulated arms, they now have ball jointed elbows and swivel wrists that allow for better articulation. She has also received a new paint scheme that is more accurate to her on screen appearance. Everything else about the figure is the same as before - or is it? The new soft goods material used on this release feels and looks very cheap. It's very wrinkled and is too frayed at the bottom of the dress. The original ROTS release used a better quality soft goods material. That version was also better constructed as it had a common cloth manufacturing technique that burns the edges to prevent the material from fraying apart.

It's very obvious where I am going with this - swap the skirts! This is one of the easiest fixes as you do not even have to place the figures in hot water to swap them out. For whatever reason, both Shaak Ti figures plastic is soft enough to pull apart with no breakage. Just slowly separate the torso and legs, change skirts then press fit them back together. Here is the end result:

And the final entry in this installment is the Resurgence of the Jedi Luke Skywalker. This figure was released about a year ago in a very hard to find Battle Pack. To date, it's the best ANH Luke Skywalker likeness ever created in the modern line. It's an excellent figure and many collectors would love to have it released on a single card. The only minor complaint it received from collectors generally were the size of the legs. They reused the same legs from the 2004 VOTC Luke, that explains why they are on the small side. They do not pose or stand well either. To make matters worse the foot peg holes are closed up so you cannot place the figure on a stand to prevent him from falling over. I will give the legs one positive, they finally got the color of the boots correct for a change.

I have several of these Lukes in my collection as I like have them for several specific shelf display scenes. It got really annoying as they constantly fell over so I had to do something to correct the problem. Since I was retiring my 30th TAC Lukes anyway I decided to experiment with swapping the legs with the Resurgence Luke. In the end, they fit perfectly and look pretty good on the figure. I wish the color was more accurate like the resurgence Luke legs but it solved the issue. Take a look and see if this "fix" is for you.

As you can see the "Little Differences" can make a big difference to your figures! Until next time!

New Customs - Mighty McSmugglers of Mos Eisley

2010-10-18T10:23:00.006-05:00

It's been awhile since I have made a crossover custom, the last one I made was Darth Skeletorious. I recently was inspired to create some again when I saw a real news story about a front group of dumb Hippies advocating the nationwide ban on the sale of Happy Meals. They want to literally ban the Happy Meal, it's even on a local ballot in San Francisco!!! I actually got to witness some of these losers first hand at a local McDonalds. It was quite a pathetic sight to see a first hand view of a "Protest" of a Happy Meal. Seriously people, with all of the problems in the world you chose to spend your energy on ceasing the production on one of the most beloved American staples of child hood? Happy Meals are awesome and bring a lot of joy to kids, sometimes Happy Meal toys are even better than the "real" ones in stores! They rock! To counterbalance the story a little I will throw this out there: Should you feed your kid a Happy Meal everyday? Of course not, the occasional treat is fine but use common sense and most importantly, moderation. Should you ban them? NEVER!!! Do not blame the Happy Meal for making kids fat, it's called responsible parenting. You make choices in life but in the end you are the architect of your own destiny. (That was the greatest fortune cookie quotes I ever received! It's very true when you think about it...)

So, how does my rant relate to Star Wars customs you ask? Well, I was so annoyed with this story and bearing witness to an actual Happy Meal "protest" that I took my frustration out on my customs. I turned it into funny nerd toy humor. Enter Ronald McAntilles and Grimmacca the purple Wookie! I even created a B-rate photo novel for it!

What if this nonsense took place in a custom galaxy far, far away? What would happen when Ronald McAntilles & Grimmacca the purple Wookie find a bunch of Deathstick head Hippies protesting at their flagship franchise on Tattooine trying to ban the sale of Smiley Meals? Scroll down to find out...BTW - Click on images to make them large so you can read this craptacular story!!!

As always, comments & questions are always welcome! BTW - Anti Happy Meal hate mail is really welcomed! (I would love to highlight the stupidity of it here.)

On an unrelated note, whatever happened to these McDudes?

Page Update - Archives of Awesome! (+ New Logo)

2010-10-14T17:00:00.008-05:00

It's been awhile since I have updated the "Archives of Awesome" section with some new customs so now is a good time to remedy that! I have just added three new 2010 customs to the section with more on the way. (I have to save some to spread out the updates.) If that is not enough of an update for you, I also created a spiffy new logo for the section on the side bar that better represents the section! Still not enough? Well, you will just have to wait for the next update...

O.K. fine. I also overhauled all of the write ups and HTML mistakes that were on the page.

Here is the new logo (Sorry it's blurry when blown up):

Click here to view the page!

Stay tuned and stop back as I have a lot of big updates on tap for the entire Blog!

New Customs - Lord Hoth V4 & Lord Kaan V3

2010-10-12T10:17:00.003-05:00

I love Lord Hoth!

He is the most kick arse, take no prisoner Jedi ever! He does not prescribe to the soft mansy, "emo-ness" of the modern Jedi with all the passive peace, "we must -understand-evil" jive. He understands it just fine and knows that you cannot negotiate with it or pacify it. It just needs to be obliterated plain and simple! When Lord Hoth senses evil he hunts it down to snuff it out wherever creepy place it may lurk. If that is not enough, he will even sacrifice himself in the process if it means destroying it all in one clean shot! He calls evil's bluff by staring it down and beating it profusely. I gave a rave review of the character on my Blog back in June here. I think I said all I needed to about his great feats and awesomeness! I even covered the fact that if the Jedi followed his example they would not have been wiped out as many times as they did. But I guess that would be counterproductive as we not not have the films and EU stuff...

I recently went back to do another Lord Hoth and Lord Kaan as these two are such cool characters. While I made these two many times before this is definitely my favorite pair for the exception of Lord Hoth's chest armor. I did not have the part on hand that I wanted to use on him. I will do another in the coming months but the next Hoth will be my most accurate…

Enjoy! Feedback and hate mail welcome…just not implied accusations that I have to utterly crush with glaring evidence to the contrary...