New custom - Darth Sion, the Lord of Pain

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

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

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

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"

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....

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

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

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

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"

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!

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

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!