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

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

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

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

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...