This section of the blog we created
to showcase custom action figures that are not in our collection. We
can't buy them all and Dad certainly can't make them. This is a great
place to find awesome custom action figure artists that we aren't able to showcase in
Customizer's Spotlight because their work hasn't found their way into our
collection yet. Believe me, it isn't because we wouldn't want these
incredible action figures. It is also be a place where you can find
action figures made by individuals that we DO have featured in Customizer's
Spotlight, but again these figures are ones that sadly are NOT in our
collection. We will still be providing links to see more of these artist's work
than what you see here, and we will provide you ways to obtain their customs if
they have any for sale.
If anybody were to ask what
customizers influence us when we create a new action figure, these artists
below would be a great start. Hope you enjoy their work as much as we do.
_________________________________
JUSTIN COOK aka CHEWIE
Justin Cook, who is also known in
the Yakface Forums as Chewie
is by far one of the most talented customizers out there. He is an
administrator over at Yakface Forums and he oversees the custom
creations part of the forum. He
is also the creator of "The Enloe Chronicles" which
is probably known to be one of the most famous Star
Wars photonovels there is. He has such an incredible body of work. His
paint application is truly inspirational
and he is probably the most generous customizer
when it comes to providing his fans with the recipes for every figure he makes.This page is about customs I would
want. And to be honest, I would want all
of these.
CHEWIE
These are three
places that are the easiest places to see more of his work:
Yakface
Forums:
(great
place to find action figure recipes)
The
Custom Alliance:
The
Photonovel Alliance:
(for
a good read...)
________________________________________________
LUKE SPRYWALKER
Luke Sprywalker hails from another father and son customizing team.
He has been displaying his customs since 2008 and has put out some great action
figures. He did some really nice customs of the Rogue Squadron that are
top notch and his speeder bike and Mandalorian is one of the best customs I've
ever seen.
Luke
Sprywalker
Click
the links below to check out Luke Sprywalker's latest customs:
______________________________________________
STORMFORCE CUSTOMS
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Hailing from a small village in the
UK, this customizer has created some unique looking Jedi that I
haven't seen anywhere else. It's because of these creations that
his work found its way onto this page. Truly awesome stuff. Dad might
have to hit him up to find out how he makes his molded heads and what he makes
them out of. I like to push Dad every now and again... keep him on his
toes.
STORMFORCE
CUSTOMS
Click
the link below to check out more from Stormforce Customs:
_______________________________________________
DAN OF THE DEAD
One of my favorite parts about writing this feature is introducing you all to the artists who have influenced me on my journey through the world of Star Wars custom action figures. One artist that really stands out and always releases one exciting figure after another is Dan of the Dead.
Although Dan gets most of his notoriety for his G.I. Joe custom action figures, his Star Wars figures are certainly nothing to scoff at. He always makes such creative characters and his color pallette constantly demands my eye's attention. He always takes such great photos of his action figures, and a lot of customizers could learn a lot from Dan about how to present one's art. Best of all, Dan of the Dead is another artist that provides the recipe that he used to make every one of his figures. A trait I have always admired a great deal.
Dan has played with and taken apart toys all his life. On his blog, he's very open about his dabbling with customizing action figures for as long as he can remember. Dan of the Dead really got involved in the hobby in 2009 after he was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma/vestibular schwannoma. His surgery came and went, and somewhere during his recovery, toys became art and art became therapy.
Not only is Dan an incredibly talented artist, but he also pens some super cool stories about the action figures that he makes that are always a lot of fun to read. Hopefully his art will be just as inspirational for you as it was for me.
Dan
of the Dead
Click
the link below for more of Dan the Dead:
or
go to his blog:
_____________________________________________
TOKIRAVENSKY aka RAVEN SKY CUSTOMS
Tokiravensky
Click
the link below for more action figures made by Tokiravensky:
____________________________________________________
MERCURY ART STUDIOS
Michael Martinez of Mercury Art Studios did a little bit of everything
in all scale, and was a Star Wars fan for years. He was killed on July 2, 2011
in a head on collision with a drunk driver leaving behind a daughter and his pregnant fiance,
Hollie. The 27 year old from
Georgia wasn't just one of the coolest customizers out there, he was
also a good friend. When Dad first started customizing, Mike and
Dad would spend time chatting on
Facebook about customizing and the joys of
fatherhood. He would share
stories of his little girl holding a Dremmel
to action figures and making the appropriate sound effects as she imitated her dad. He would always speak about his family with
great adoration. Mike was always so generous and eager
to share his wealth of customizing
knowledge and help Dad out with tips or
parts for a new customizing project. To
Dad, Mike was truly an
inspiration. I think at some point or another, all
customizers have often dreamed about
what it would be like to earn a living solely from the toys we produce.
Mike was doing just that.
Mike told Dad he was able
to support him and his family by making just ten custom action figures a week and selling them on ebay. We've loved his customs ever since we first saw them on Yakface.com and
couldn't tell you how saddened we are by
the loss of one of the greatest talents within this community. Mike you will truly be missed.
MERCURY
ART STUDIOS
Click
any of the three links below for more from Mercury Art Studios:
________________________________________________
Sith_Fire30
Dayton Allen who also is known
throughout the Star Wars customizing world as Sith_Fire30 is the envy of
every customizer. He currently publishes a blog which features updates of
his ongoing series of custom figures, from their early concept to
finality. For you diorama fans out there, he posts updates of working and
finalized constructs. He also posts how to's, techniques and ideas to
better help fellow customizers in
obtaining their custom goals as well as his own. He works in coordinance
with Flickr to create galleries of his past work. He's creating the most
amazing sculpts you'll ever see and his action figures are definitely attention
getting. So much so that Sith_Fire30 was recently featured in the
latest edition of Star Wars Insider, Issue 121. Sith_Fire30 is a
customizer I love to follow.
Sith_Fire30
Click
any of the four links below for more from Sith_Fire30:
_________________________________
INCOM aka Mr. Black's Customs
When Incom isn't working in
business services, this customizer hailing from Hengelo, Netherlands is
busy making some of the sweetest customs you'll ever come across.
His swoop bike racer is one of Dad's all-time favorite customs. We
were really happy to see that he is posting once more in his blog and we
recommend you become a follower of his work, because he won't disappoint.
Incom aka Mr. Black's Customs
Click any of the links below for more
from Incom:
_________________________________
ORDER66CUSTOMS aka FRITZKRIEG
Order66Customs, also known as
Fritzkrieg has already been showcased in our Customizer's Spotlight. We
have several pieces made by this artist and Dad says those custom
action figures are some of his favorites in my collection. Not only are
his action figures good, but his custom vehicles are the coolest I've ever
seen. He has been customizing for years now and a look at the body of his
work will illustrate just why his customs are among the "Customs I
Wish I Owned." Wish I had some more of his customs in my
collection.
Order66Customs
You can find Order66Customs action
figures here:
The work of Order66Customs in the
Yakface Forums:
_________________________________
Richard Mingoia a.k.a darknsour
This father from New
Rochelle, NY has been customizing for a few years. He belongs to other
customizing site's like Yakface, Rebelscum, ffurg, and banthaskull.
He too does customs with his son who
is 10. His son tells him what he likes and what he thinks is
cool and he tries to make it for him!
He's old enough to say that he saw a
New Hope in the movies when it 1st hit in 1977 when he was just shy of his 13th
birthday!!
He loves to customize Clones and
Mando's the most but also loves doing Jedi also.
He loves making customs out of leftover
parts!! As you can see from his post's.
darknsour
Here is a link to see more from
darknsour:
_________________________________
STRONOX
If you ever find that you want to explore other custom action figure blogs besides ours, we highly recommend visiting the blog of Stronox.
Every action figure is created maximizing every figures articulation
with paint applications that are to die for. Each figure captured with
his exceptional photography skills. He is great too if your tastes
venture outside the Star Wars galaxy. Stronox makes custom
Marvel, DC Universe Classics, G.I. Joe, Warhammer 40k, Predator, and
more. Anyone who geeks out over action figures would love his blog. It is a beautiful gallery of his work. When Stronox isn't parenting, he's either customizing figures, drawing, painting, reading, collecting toys, or gaming.
STRONOX
You can get to the blog for Stronox by
clicking the link below:
You can see more Stronox by clicking
the link below:
Go to his ebay sales page:
_________________________________
Darth
Kikinou
Darth Kikinou is not only a
customizer, but he is also the creator of www.thephotonovelalliance.com a hub for photo
novel creators to show off their Star Wars custom action figures and
dioramas. On his site you can find links to his gallery and recipes for
the custom action figures too.
Darth Kikinou
You can see more Darth Kikinou by clicking the links
below:
_________________________________
Peakob1
Chad Peak (aka: Peakob1 or
CAP) has been a Star Wars fan
all his life. He makes customs for the love of the hobby and you won't
find a more dedicated fan. He hopes one day that he can have an entire custom
collection simply because it is personalized to him and he never seeks
financial gain by doing his customs, although he has done a few
commissions at reasonable prices. Peakob1 (peek-O-B-One) started customizing in '95. He
doesn't count some of the vintage Ewoks that he colored over with black
and brown markers as a kid.
He refers to his style of
customizing as "hard sculpting" opposed to using sculpy to mold
his own figures. He uses bits of existing parts and dremels those down to
make a new result. He believes that it makes for a much stronger
figure because he's a little like Jar Jar, "hesa clumsy" and
often drops figures. Usually they don't break if he builds them
properly. He finds customizing very exciting and he has many projects on
the horizon. Hope you enjoy his customs!
He displays his customs on Yakface,
Droids and Ewoks, and Jedi Defender.
Peakob1
For more images from Peakob1 click
here:
here:
and here:
_________________________________
VON
REINHARDT CUSTOMS
Von Reinhardt aka Darth Von
Frost is a 41 year old customizer from Canada and has been a Star
Wars fan since he can remember. He owned a ton of original toys
back in the early 1990's but had to sell off that collection.
In 2010 he was bit by the Star Wars bug after seeing a few of the new
and amazingly detailed action figures and started to collect once
again. But now he will only buy figures that he really wants or
toys he could use as custom fodder. He does not collect vehicles or
ships because he feels they are expensive and take up way too much space.
After seeing some amazing customs
from JACKOFTRADZE and buying an abundance of customs from him, he,
like us, thought he'd try to create some of his own.
He then started his own blog, I
{HEART} STAR WARS this month to showcase some of his own
customs, and also show some of the new figures that are coming out.
He has been making his own customs since SEPT 2010. ...so he says he is
still honing his painting skills.
VON REINHARDT CUSTOMS
You can see other custom action figures
made by Von over at Imperial Shipyards at this link:
or at his blog:
_________________________________
DARTH DEPRESSIS
Darth Depressis is from The Woodlands, TX. He is known for his unique action figures and weapon creations. He was the creator of the Sequel Trilogy Photo-Novel series,creator of the Twelve Part Memoirs of a War Profiteer Series and was Head of PNN - Photo-Novel News from 2008 to 2009. Aside from continual photonovel work he is currently in the process of creating his own non-Star Wars related animated features. Enough talk check out his one of a kind custom action figures in the video below.
Darth Depressis
You can see other custom action figures made by Darth Depressis at these links below:
You can view Darth Depressis' photonovels at these links:
_________________________________
MUNGO BAOBAB
Chip Currin, who is known to many by
the name Mungo Baobab, is a 36 year old from Nashville, TN. He has
not been customizing very long, but he has put together a nice collection
of custom action figures which focuses on Jedi. Mungo
actively posts his work at Yakface and the Imperial Shipyards.
Mungo Baobab
You can see Mungo Baobab's custom Jedi
action figures at these two links:
_________________________________
Wraithnine
Wraithnine lives on the southeast coast of Essex, UK with his wife,
3 boys, and his cat Meg. He has been customizing Star Wars figures and
vehicles for about 3 1/2 years now. He mainly creates Astromechs
and Clones. He also reviews Star Wars products on Youtube. Before he
customized Star Wars action figures, he was an avid collector/painter of
Warhammer40K. Wraithnine is currently a moderator on
www.imperialshipyards.net and has been a die hard Star Wars fan since '77
.
Wraithnine
You can see more custom action figures
from Wraithnine here on Imperial Shipyards:
Wraithnine has a channel on Youtube
under the name of Rasputin37 that you can find here:
He posts as Wraithnine on Rebelscum.com
here:
_________________________________
SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700
Kevin, or SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700,
is a customizer we introduced you to in our Customizer Spotlight
#3
with his Vergere action figure. When he sent us some more images of
his custom action figures, it was only natural that we feature him on our
Customs I Wish I
Owned
page as well. He started making custom Star Wars figures in 2007. He said
his wife Lynn bought him a Han Solo figure as a birthday gift. “You
should always get at least one toy on your birthday,” she said.
His own collection started
shortly after. He thought about making a battle mock up of 100-200
Jedi and Sith, a scene that he imagined would be in the Clone Wars!
The prequels went down a different path however…
Soon he had around 50 custom Jedi
& 50 Sith (Jedi spray painted black). A few months later he
began to get bored with just doing simple figures, so he started to
experiment. He went through a phase where he made a lot of alien Jedi .
He also did more interesting Sith Lords. Lynn then suggested that
people might be interested in his figures, so he put some on eBay and his new
hobby started to generate some interest!
Now four years later & around
300 customs under his belt, SWK KUSTOMS specializes in fully articulated
figures!
SWK KUSTOMS (kr2700)
SWK Kustoms creates fully articulated
and detailed Custom 4” figures. Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, Marvel or
anything you can think of. With SWK you can also become your favorite
character as well: Jedi, Sith, Storm trooper, Mandalorian and much
more. Figures can be purchased upon request. Price is based on how hard the
piece is to make, usually between $50-150. All figures come with specialized
weapons or gear & name plate stands.
Add an SWK action figure to your
collection today!
Visit him on Facebook:
Check out his "profile page"
on ebay at:
_________________________________
RustyCustoms
Rusty from Australia has been collecting for about 9 months and customizing for
about 4 months. We know its not very long but as you can see he
skips no detail and does a great job providing good, accurate and
unique customs. He runs a Star Wars custom blog featuring his work
and we recommend making frequent visits to see what he has in store for
you. But as we always say... enough talk, let's see what he's got!
RustyCustoms
You can get to RustyCustoms blog at the
link below:
or email RustyCustoms at:
_________________________________
SPUDAFETT
Devin, aka SPUDAFETT, has been
part of the customizing community for more than 2 years. Primarily
a Star Wars customizer SPUDAFETT has been known to dabble in other
genres as well. Including G.I. Joe, Marvel, and DC. His
primary scale of choice being 1:18th figures and vehicles. Many of
his Star Wars customs are re-creations of his favorite characters using
parts to make them super-articulated and thus more poseable and
playable. This usually means adding new points of articulation to
existing Star Wars figures or recreating the figure on a super
articualated GI Joe body.
SPUDAFETT
You can see more custom action figures
created by SPUDAFETT at these three links:
_________________________________
SILLOF
Sillof is pronouced
"Si" (like Psi or Sci-fi ) and "llof" (like cough or pilaf)
and no it is not his real name. He's a high school history and film teacher. He
has no formal art training, other then art classes in middle school. If
something turns out good, he says it is just from years of practice, or luck.
He started building custom figures and dioramas when he was a kid. He opened a
website in 1999. It was then called "The Wookie's Workshop" and "The
Wook's Workshop". before he had his current website www.Sillof.com.
His work has been featured online on
blogs, websites, and online news services, newspapers at the local, national
and international levels, in books and magazines nationally and world wide. His
customs have even been featured on television in local news, national news,
cable, and overseas, in independent films as props, costumes, and set designs.
His action figures have been publicly displayed at contests, fairs, &
conventions including 3 of the 4 Star Wars Celebrations. Most recently his work
has been seen in Toyfare and Star Wars Insider Magazines.
Unlike other customizers, Sillof has
gotten away from faithfully creating characters and has begun to redesign these
figures in various time periods or aesthetics. He creates these works out of
admiration for their original designs, but rather then just recreate someone
else's work he enjoys putting his own spin on classic characters, as well as
creating his own new characters. This is all just the creations of his spare
time. He starts with a general concept or direction (samurai for example) Then
he brainstorms what he wants. This is mostly done in his brain. Then he makes a
list of adjectives and descriptions of the character, maybe a little back story
and the physical elements he wants to include in the figure.
He then begins the actual construction.
He usually works on all of them at once. So while the glue or paint is drying
on one he works on another. Some parts of the figures are recycled from
existing toys. They are cut off and glued together. Sometimes he sculpts over
the old toy parts. Sometimes he dremels down the part using it more as an
armature and sculpts over it. Often times, he will sculpt an entire new piece.
Some of the figures are completely built from scratch. It really just depends
on what he wants, needs, and what he has on hand in his various drawers of
parts.
He sculpts using a 2 part epoxy polymer
sculpting compound called Apoxie Sculpt by Aves Studios. You mix 2 parts
together and then in few hours it is hard a rock. It is not as easy to work
with as sculpey but more then makes up for with it's durability. Sillof says
it gets easier to work with practice.
His action figures are just
incredible...customizing genius that is better seen then explained. Therefore,
head to the video and let him show you what he's got.
SILLOF
You
can see more custom action figures created by SILLOF here:
http://www.sillof.com/
We also recommend checking out his "Toy Wars" film series where he brings his action figures and dioramas to life at this link here:
http://www.sillof.com/Toywars.htm
http://www.sillof.com/
We also recommend checking out his "Toy Wars" film series where he brings his action figures and dioramas to life at this link here:
http://www.sillof.com/Toywars.htm
_________________________________
Hangarbay94
aka julianmaurice
Julian aka Hangarbay94 is an
avid Star Wars fan who has made a name for himself by customising vehicles
and creating photo novels.
His work is featured on Yakface
and Imperial Shipyards where he is also one of the moderators.
His latest project a graphic novelization of the classic PC game X-Wing
Alliance features a mixture of his custom figures, dioramas and
vehicles as well as creative artwork produced using Adobe Photoshop.
Julian is self taught and admits to being heavily influenced by Yak
Chewie and other contemporary photo novelists.
Amongst his more notable custom
projects Julian specialises in making flat pack and easy to store
dioramas, including a large scale (fold away), LED lit Endor Landing
Platform a huge flat pack Death Star Hangar and a Calamari Cruiser Hangar
bay.
Julian has also produced a movie
novel called Darkchild, which he admits to being a little more than
he could chew and sadly the project remains unfinished a chapter 3.
Every time I see his work, Dad and
I just sit there and wonder how he finds time to do it all and to
the levels that he accomplishes. He's just phenomenal and raises
the bar for the whole customizing community. You just have to watch
this video.
Hangarbay94
NEW SOUNDTRACK ADDED BY HANGARBAY94
You'll find Julian's X-Wing graphic
novel at:
Also check out his Darkchild series on
his Youtube Channel at:
_________________________________
CloneSniper78
Tom Christensen is a Star
Wars and G.I. Joe customizer from Phoenix, Arizona (USA). He is better
known as CloneSniper78 on the Imperialshipyards.net
website, and as AZMarineSniper on youtube.com. He has been a Star
Wars fan since the early 1980's when he was a young boy.
CloneSniper78
You can visit his Youtube link here:
You can read his Imperial Shipyard
posts here:
_________________________________
CLONEHEAD
Clint Conrad, known as Clonehead at
imperialshipyards.net, has been a Star
Wars custom maker for about 5-6 years now. He got into doing Star Wars customs
when trying to promote his ebay
store,
he noticed how much hype and traffic that other seller's star wars custom
figures and vehicles were getting. Being a lover of plastic modeling in
his youth, especially of military armor models, clint figured that he
could put his painting and building skills to the test and try to make a
custom figure to sell on ebay. Well, the experiment worked and within a
year he had made and sold at least 100 customs "some with
dioramas" to buyers in at least 30 different countries. 4-5 years
ago, a buyer directed clint to a star wars collecting and custom forum
where he posted alot of work and met the admin of the future
imperialshipyards where he was invited to form and moderate the customs
and diorama boards when the site was created.
Sometime before the Imperial Shipyards
site was born, Clint was having a hard time finding some of the parts
from hard to find figures that he wanted to incorporate into his customs
so, having a little knowledge of molding and casting from his military
modeling days, Clint started making parts to use on his custom figures.
It wasn't too long after that Clint decided to start selling his castings
to the other custom makers and has ever since. You can find auctions for these parts in
his ebay store and now at his resin
parts for sale thread
at imperialshipyards.net
CLONEHEAD
Clint has posted custom work at
several sites but as moderator, considers himself at home at the
shipyards where he has placed pics and wip commentary in his custom
figures reloaded thread, his Clonehead's
custom figures #2 thread, and in his Clonehead's
dioramas thread, all at imperialshipyards.net.
_________________________________
HEMBLE
Ron Hembling aka Hemble Creations is
a name that almost every Star Wars customizer knows. He's famous for
creating lifelike dioramas filled with custom action figures that are
among the best ever made. This Australian native is definitely within the ranks of the top three Star Wars customizers of all-time. His paint applications add so much realism with their masterful weathered appearance. I can recognize a Hemble piece
immediately because there is no one else out there quite like him. He
has a signature look that creates such uniformity when looking at all
his pieces as a group. They would all display so well next to each
other. Hemble's work is consistently classy. One masterpiece
after another. I love the way he captures and exhibits the world that
Lucas created.
Hemble is unique in the community for sometimes turning his super-articulated action figures into frozen statuettes. Once he poses an action figure in his diorama and gets it into its desired position, he will sculpt over the joints and hide the parts of the action figure that take away from the sculpts sense of realism. By the time he finishes hiding all the lines in the figure that could only come off a machined assembly line, Hemble has a piece like the one pictured below.
This
artist really shows his mastery by being able to work within so many
different scales. I can't tell you how many customizing contests I took
part in where Hemble took the top prize. Hemble's been one of the most supportive members I've come across in the custom action figure community and talents like Hemble don't come around as often as we all wish they would.
RON HEMBLING aka HEMBLE
You can see more of Ron's work at his
website or at many a custom forums which he frequents, below are just some he
goes to.
_________________________________
LUCASCLONES
Lucasclones is a customizer of
mostly custom Star Wars clone and Mandalorian action figures. He particularly
favors ARC troopers and has been alongside fellow customizer Wraithnine
creating some Republic commando squads. He is very proud of his Clone
Wars style Delta and Omega squad from the Republic Commando novels.
His work can be found on Imperial Shipyards custom figure Forums and on
Flickr, as well as featured in his videos from Youtube. He also
customizes G.I.Joe figures and posts them on his Flickr photostream and
on a G.I.Joe fan website called Joedios. We also recommend
visiting his new podcast with Imperial Shipyards administrator Tamer called
Custom Action Figure News.
Lucasclones
For the link to lucasclones on Imperial
Shipyards go to :
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0
For the link to lucasclones on Flickr
go to :
For the link to lucasclones on Youtube
go to :
Go here to listen to the Custom Action
Figure News podcast:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/podcasts/index.html
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/podcasts/index.html
or
If there is anything you would like him
to feature on a future podcast be sure to let him know at:
_________________________________
Christoph, aka FialaFernbrugg, from Austriaisperhaps the only customizer from his small country. He has been customizing Star Wars figures and vehicles for about two years now. His focus is on Clones and Revell vehicle customs. Recently, he has started with technical drawings of Star Wars weapons and lightsabers. He is also known for his custom action figure stands and bases.
You
can find his stuff on www.imperialshipyards.net and also on YouTube
where he shows most of his customs with a short tutorial.
FialaFernbrugg
You can see FialaFernbrugg's custom
action figures on Imperial Shipyards at the link below:
as well as his vehicles here:
and FF's technical drawings here:
FialaFernbrugg also has a channel on
YouTube that you can find here:
_________________________________
JACKOFTRADZE
JACKOFTRADZE is a professional Toy
Designer who has been working in the industry for over 10 years designing
real toy products! He has been a very committed 1/18th scale Star Wars
collector since 1991! He collected when no one cared about Star Wars and
has been with the line ever since. He recently created a blog and as you
read his blog you get the unique perspective of a Toy Designer and a
Collector. He has been an active eBay member for over 10 years and for
over 4 of those years he has been creating custom figures to enhance his
collection. He has a lot of cool customs and insights to share that
I think you will enjoy.
The first three custom action
figures we ever bought were from this great artist. It was his action figures
and blog that inspired the "Customs for the Kid" blog and gave me the
thought to ask Dad to make custom action figures for me.
JACKOFTRADZE
_________________________________
Captain Lux of the 327th Star Corps
.jpg)
.jpg)
Damien, is a Star Wars Fan from Buenos
Aires, Argentina. We know him at Imperial Shipyards as Captain Lux of
the 327th Star Corps. He is 22 years old and started customizing
about a year ago. He also draws and has been collecting manga and anime
ever since he was 5 years old. His favourite saga movie is The Empire
Strikes Back. Looking at his body of work one thing can certainly be
said, "He likes the clones a lot!!!"
CAPTAIN LUX
If you would like to see more custom
action figures from Captain Lux, look no further than this link.
.jpg)
_________________________________
SITHHAPPENS
SITHHAPPENS
lives in North Carolina. He has been a Star Wars fan since he was
five years old. He has been creating Star Wars custom action figures for
about a year now. He was greatly inspired to create custom action figures when
he saw the work of customizer Rundown and is further inspired by
the work of the customizers found on ImperialShipyards.net. He recently started
a blog of Star Wars customs located at http://sanitariumcustoms.blogspot.com.
SITHHAPPENS
To see more custom action figures
created by SITHHAPPENS, you can go to his forum thread on Imperial Shipyards
located here.
_______________________________________________
RUNDOWN
Rundown Customs....aka ric.sea.jedi....aka
Sean....started on ebay buying and selling vintage Star Wars when he came
across some custom Star Wars figures and became interested in what he saw. He
watched many customizers for a long time and began his research. Finally, he
picked up a paintbrush in 2007. Since then Sean has made over 300 custom action
figures. More than 200 of which have been private commissions. Rundown
says that he truly enjoys the hobby and enjoys requests as well duplicating
characters not yet made in toy form.
RUNDOWN
To
buy custom action figures created by Rundown visit his ebay page
where you can also contact him about commission work.
To see more customs created by Rundown you can visit his forum thread over at Imperial Shipyards.
To see more customs created by Rundown you can visit his forum thread over at Imperial Shipyards.
_______________________________________________
BOTWT
Our latest customizer hails from Grand
Island, NY. BOTWT says he is still trying to figure out this
collecting and converting thing, but he says he does okay for a
neurologically damaged oaf. He credits his great wife of 8 years
who allows him to spend loads of cash on his hobbies
and to act like an over sized child of 40 years…but he's sure
that fills her need to mother something. BOTWT was only 7 years
old when Star Wars came out and became an instant fan, he had been
out of the collecting game for quite some time and has only recently started
back up with a few of the Clone Wars figures. He said he thinks he likes
them because of the "cartoony-ness" of the figures reminds him
of the original figures he collected when he was a kid. He recently started a
blog of his custom action figures and he hopes his blog encourages you in your
collecting and customizing of Star Wars figures.
BOTWT
For more custom action figures by
BOTWT, check out his blog:
Head over to his ebay page where he has
some great customs for sale :
_________________________________
JEDI MINSTREL
Jedi Minstrel has been customizing
for 3 years. After coming across some websites that feature custom
action figures, he has had the bug and just can't stop. His latest
project includes creating customs for all the major characters from the
Republic Commando novel series by Karen Traviss.
Jedi Minstrel
You can see these, as well as other
customs, at Imperialshipyards.net.
If you are interested in a commission piece, please send a personal
message through Imperialshipyards.net.
_________________________________
GHOST
CUSTOMS
Customizer ghostskull18 has only
been posting his custom action figures in forums since the beginning of this
year, and we think he has some great original pieces that grab one's
attention. When this 20 year old customizer was asked to provide a little
bit of information about his customs, he simply asked that we let his customs
speak for themselves.
ghostskull18
You can see more custom action figures
created by ghostskull18 at Yakface, Imperial Shipyards, and Echo Base.
_________________________________
BugSkirt
To celebrate Day 2 of BugSkirt's Jedi
Week we are doing a feature of his work that is being added to our "Star
Wars: Customs I Wish I Owned" page. Dad has been a long time fan
of BugSkirt ever since he first started to scour the forums
to see what people were making. We have been following his blog
ever since we started our own and we can tell you his customs are nothing
short of amazing. BugSkirt kills his audience with
creativity showing them action figures you just don't see anywhere
else. We're still trying to figure out what he used for his heads.
Florida-based action figure
customizer BugSkirt, or John as most folks know him,
has been a Star Wars fan since the summer of 1977. The
Florida sun and cousins wiped out his original Kenner toys, but he began
figure collecting again with the arrival of the POTF2 toys.
He started tinkering with custom figures around 2005 and the hobby
has increasingly become a focus of limited spare time.
BUGSKIRT
To contact BugSkirt by email:
To see BugSkirt's Picasa Webalbum
click:
To view BugSkirt's blog click:
Feel free to comment or visit him on
Facebook:
________________________________
StarWarsGeek
StarWarsGeek has been making
custom items for the past 20+ years, and isn't afraid to branch out into other
territories, whether it be for a part, or for inspiration. He's made figures
and vehicles from Star Wars, GI Joe, Marvel Universe, Video Games and other
properties as well. He also does minibusts, statues/maquettes, and even a prop
or two from time to time. Currently accepting commissions, you can contact him
at his website (http://www.starwarsgeek.net) or via any of the
social networking sites listed at his site
StarWarsGeek
The Animoto video application Dad uses
kept cutting off the heads of the action figures in the photos we had of
StarWarsGeek's work. It was driving Dad crazy. Dad has the same
problem when he tries to make videos of our customs. It's because
Dad and StarWarsGeek use customized framing in their pictures. Dad
had to manually reframe the photos to make sure the best parts of the
figures were emphasized. Unfortunately Dad lost some of the
lettering on some photos to save the heads. Dad was really bummed about
it because StarWarsGeek does such a stellar job when it comes to
presenting his work.
_________________________________
Stocos28
Our latest customizer, Stocos28,
is from New Jersey and he specializes in custom 3 3/4" figures for the
adult collector. He offers great customs that can be played with. He's huge fan
of Star Wars, G.I. Joe and all things 80's. Stocos28 has been an
ebay member since July of 2005 offering custom action figures to the ebay
community. With a 100% positive feedback score from over 1,350 ebay
buyers, we think it's safe to say he puts out exemplary work. We bought a
human Jedi named Kentar Framic from Stocos28 a while back that we
featured in our Customizer Spotlight and recently added a second custom
action figure created by Stocos28 to my collection, Jedi Master Ey'
Dee. Stocos28 is humble and he will tell you that he's no
Sith_Fire30, but in our opinion he's working real hard at getting there and
the results are evident. This talented customizer even offers resin cast
sculpts from the customs he makes over at Slayer Design Studios. If you
ask us Stocos28 is a customizer to watch. You can start watching
by taking a look of Dad's video featuring this super talented artist's work.
Stocos28
You can view the ebay page for Stocos28
and see his items listed for sale at:
http://myworld.ebay.com/stocos28/
http://myworld.ebay.com/stocos28/
You can also email him at:
To purchase casted action figure parts
from Stocos 28, visit his page over at Slayer Design Studios:
_________________________________
JediMerc
+-9-.jpg)
JediMerc is a Star Wars
fan going on 28 years. He specializes mainly in 3 3/4 inch action
figures. He especially loves customizing main characters from comics and
video games in their alternate outfits. Like Dad, he also enjoys
creating/customizing characters that would be the "average Joe's" of
the Star Wars universe. JediMerc realized he wanted to customize action
figures at 7 years old when he used a screwdriver to melt burn marks into a
Vintage 8D8 droid, although, he really didn't get heavily into customizing
until a year or so ago. Dad says he was a fan of JediMerc's work
when only three of his customs were posted in the forums. He said he knew he
wanted to feature the work of JediMerc in our "Customs
I Wish I Owned" page but he just had to wait until we had
enough figures to put a video together and feature his awesome
customs. Since posting in the forums JediMerc has
already won Luke Sprywalker's "No Paint Kit Bash Contest" over
at Imperial Shipyards this past February and we have a feeling that it won't be
the last time this customizer is in the spotlight.
JediMerc
To see more action figures created by JediMerc
click here:
and:
.JPG_thumb.jpg)
_________________________________
Marcus
Starkiller
We came across the Star Wars custom
action figures of autistic customizer John Bandow, aka Marcus Starkiller while
surfing the forums of Rebelscum and like us he's a huge Star Wars fan. We
were really impressed with not only his customs but also the work he put into
their presentation. This customizer has created a great deal
of our favorite Clone Wars clone commanders not in their animated look but
instead with a more realistic flavor for those of you who wish we could have
these characters in a more basic line. We can't say how impressed we were
with his action figures, and we are sure that you will be too!
MARCUS STARKILLER
To see more action figures created by
Marcus Starkiller click here:
_________________________________
Colins Customs
Colin Hobbs self portrait custom
action figure.
Our latest customizer, Colins Customs, is a 36 year old customizer from Bedwas, Wales. We were introduced
to his customs from his entries in the Create a Wookielover1138 Contest
and when we saw his Facebook page we were really impressed with the customs we
found. He tackled a lot of customs we didn't see anywhere else and not
only did he create a lot of modern looking Star Wars custom action figures, but
he also creates a lot of great custom Vintage action figures too. After
looking at his great body of work we came to the conclusion that our Customs
I Wish I Owned page wouldn't be complete without the addition of customizer Colins Customs.
COLINS CUSTOMS
_________________________________
Christopher aka Droidworld, has
been making custom figures and dioramas since 1978, when he used a marker to
change R2-D2 into another robot and put him in a bookshelf diorama with packing
material walls and a cut out door. He has improved since then, though
still uses found objects and dollar store materials to manipulate and expand on
what Hasbro/Kenner has to offer us. (Or has not offered us!) Droids,
being his first love, have been the focus of his customs, but as he started
seeking other customizers on the internet, through Curto's Alliance, NiubNiub's
Universe and Forgotten Force, he has expanded to humans and aliens of the Star
Wars universe as well. Now showcasing his work on Rebelscum and Imperial
Shipyards, he is quite happy pass on any information that has helped him along
the way.
DROIDWORLD
Check out Droidworld's custom threads
at Rebelscum:
and
Diorama threads on Rebelscum:
Check out Droidworld's custom threads
at at Imperial Shipyards:
Diorama threads at Imperial Shipyards :
_____________________________________________
TK-9849
TK-9849, the poster boy for
Action Figure Empire, official mascot, and founding member, started
collecting action figures as a young kid. He was turned on to the world
of pop culture, sci-fi, and all things nerdy by his father who also
worked for many companies including Lucasfilm, Marvel, DC, Jurassic Park,
Warner Brothers, Visa, Exxon, Shell, Goosebumps, Ghostbusters, Hasbro,
Mattel, and many other licensing companies, creating toys, sculptures,
artwork, and holograms. Together they collected movies, comic books, and
of course, action figures. For TK-9849, collecting, especially
toys and comics, has always been a joyful experience and one that brought
him closer to his father. To be a collector is another way to be a
serious and dedicated fan of a franchise, story, or toy line. Having
studied art in College, TK-9849 started to apply his imagination,
combined with his creativity, to his collection of Star Wars action
figures (having spent thousands of dollars in amassing it) and thus
created kit-bash/part-swap custom creations. The fun is in the challenge
of not painting anything, nor permanently altering anything. All items
are removed and the figures are returned to their original states after
photographing each custom creation. He has also been known to
branch out into charity work for young collectors in need. He pioneered
the Toys For Eli Toy Drive (with the help of Darth Daddy,
Tamer, ISY, Rebelscum, Yakface, and many
more) to bring hundreds of Star Wars toys to a young fan in a difficult situation.
Nothing compares to the giddy rush that comes from scoring some new
figures, opening them and posing them, photographing them and reviewing
them on the Action Figure Empire
Blog,
and then using their pieces for future custom figure projects!"
TK-9849
"Plastic is a way of life" --TK-9849
AFE Blog:
AFE Facebook page:
AFE on Imperial Shipyards:
Look for fodder on eBay and Star Wars
items for sale under seller name:
_______________________________________________
stitchfett
Dad came across the work of stitchfett while searching ebay to find cool custom action figure auctions to post to the blog's Facebook page. stitchfett had created a unique sculpt that Dad never saw before. Something stitchfett has labeled as the Microman series. The action figures have incredibly good articulation and an assortment of interchangeable hands. Dad reached out to Yovitt Planadeball a.k.a stitchfett of Puerto Rico, with 100% Positive feedback, you can't go wrong.
There is a time when a kid is supposed to grow up, mature and get rid of his toys... well stitchfett will
surely tell you that he didn't quite do that and that's how he ended up
the man he is today (lol). He still remembers using toilet paper
dowels, card board & clear blisters to make ships, painting his
figures with Testors paints, and playing with them under his bed. His
advice to beginner customizers, the secret to success is practice. By
failing you discover new techniques that no one else could teach you,
but most importantly... it's about having fun!
stitchfett
You can go to the ebay page of
stitchfett by clicking the link below:
_______________________________________________
Flaccideagle
Flaccideagle is a thirtysomething
from New Jersey, and has been collecting Star Wars since his high school
days. He used to customize POTF2 figures for a while in the mid
1990's, and 1:6 Scale for a few years before finding ImperialShipyards.net
site, and turning his attentions towards Star Wars vehicles and the
occasional figure. All of his recent customs can be found on the
Imperial Shipyards Forums.
We've been huge fans of his work ever
since the first time we saw it, and we especially love the vibrancy of his
color palette. A true master!!
Flaccideagle
To see more from Flaccideagle check out
his other customs at the links below:
and
_______________________________________________
Helix88
Twenty-three year old customizer Helix88
from Utah is one cool artist. He sports some of the coolest paint
applications you'll see in the Star Wars custom action figure world. He
has been customizing for over two years now and he has created some really well
executed pieces of art. But don't take our word for it, check it out
yourself. We're sure you'll be impressed.
Helix88
To see more custom action figures from
Helix88, check out his thread over at Imperial Shipyards:
_______________________________________________
TTT
TTT's dad collected Star Wars figures in the 70's-80's, him
& his brother used to modify their toys as kids, usually with a bench
vice for Hot Wheels and a lighter for their model planes/cars.
In
high school he started getting into model cars and got pretty serious about
them for awhile, but eventually got out of it.
In
1998 he became a serious toy collector, everything from HotWheels/NASCAR,
Spawn, Star Wars, GI Joe and Transformers.
In
2007, some toys had fallen off of a shelf, everything was OK except for a
Transformers Alternators Smokescreen figure, he was busted in half at the
waist. TTT replaced the figure but now had this busted useless
piece...what to do ? He thought..."Hey, I used to paint model cars the
same size as this !...maybe I can customize this, huh?" But being busted
in half, he wasn't about repaint the whole thing so he came up with adding some
battle damage...why not - nothing to lose. So he started one day, just went at
it, melted some bits, dremeled off chunks, it was fun and it worked rather
well. Soon, he had to do another...and another...and...well the rest is
history.
He
started collecting G.I. Joe 25th in 2008 which lead to customizing them shortly
after and here we are today.
TTT
now specializes in pretty much
anything, models, figures...cars, statues...nice clean and shiny to rusty,
burned and trashed & zombiefied. Most know him for battle damage
& zombie type work. 2012 marks 5 years of TTT "torturing
your toys".
Ever
wonder what the zombie apocalypse would like like in the Star Wars universe.
Check out these customs. The paint work is just phenomenal.
TTT
To see more customs created by TTT go to:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7082.0
_______________________________________________
JediStyle
Yeah, we know it's been a long time since we added any Star Wars customizers to "Customs I Wish I Owned", but our delay came about when two of the customizers that we were going to feature had some new additions to their families. Knowing all the demands that can be put on a parent when a little one comes into the home, we did our best to give them some time to adjust to the new changes.
All that said, you are in for a real treat and let it be said that the delay in our "Customs I Wish I Owned" posts will be well worth the wait.
JediStyle not only has one of the coolest monikers in the Star Wars customizing community, but he also has creativity and skill that fits his name. This Southern California customizer was one of the first artists that really caught Dad's eye when we first started making our own figures and posting in the Yakface forum. JediStyle created some of the most unique Jedi action figures that we ever saw and his unorthodox color combinations make every figure he creates just pop. We just love this customizer's imagination and his creations are a testament to how far reaching it is. There is so much to appreciate in every unique piece. To this day we still haven't seen anyone who paints quite like him and our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page would have never been considered complete unless he was included. Just looking at his work when putting together this video, we learned how painting a wash over your figure can really enhance the appearance of the figure and provide you with an action figure that while being created before the implementation of ball joints and super articulation stands a figure that anyone can admire and appreciate.
Dad has been wanting to feature the work of JediStyle ever since we started to create the "Customs I Wish I Owned" posts, but for a while JediStyle took some time off from the hobby. Fortunately, he's back now and still has the ability to unhinge jaws.
He's created so many Star Wars custom action figures that Animoto wouldn't let Dad load all the pics that we had. Because Dad loves JediStyle's work so much, leaving some of his action figures out of the video was just torture for him, but Dad was able to get a great introduction to JediStyle's awesome creations from his earliest figures to his latest show stoppers. All that said, grab the popcorn, sit down, hit the play button, and enjoy!
JediStyle
To see more Star Wars custom action figures created by JediStyle go to:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=357
_______________________________________________
drod26
drod26 is an engineer during the day and a dedicated father and husband. When he is not attending to his family or doing house work, he is digging throughout his pile of fodder, consulting art books, looking at the color wheel for inspiration for his next custom. His style is to come up with a well-designed character visually and aesthetically. drod26 got started customizing in 2011 when he joined YakFaceForums and his inspiration to customize came from seeing all the great work there and the welcoming members like Chewie.. If you like his work drop him a line. Want to know what his recipes are? Just ask, he will gladly share them with you. Unfortunately, he doesn't do commissions at this time.
drod26 was the first subscriber to our blog and it's really cool that we now have the honor to share his work with all of you. Dad and drod26 started making customs around the same time and were fellow padawan learners over at Yakface.com. Dad is really blown away by the paint work of drod26, especialy on the horns of his Iktochi custom. Dad hopes one day he can paint as well as drod26. This video is a must see!
drod26
Your can see more of his work at:
_______________________________________________
Mando Assassin
We know that it's been a long time since we did one of these video posts and it isn't because we don't want to. Truth is, it has been hard to track down customizers to get their work shown. We're hoping more come forward because we certainly sent out plenty of feeelers.
Our latest inductee is 11 year old, Zach Mann aka Mando Assassin. Back in 2009 when he was only 8 years old, he saw Wrathnine's customs for the first time...and he's been hooked ever since! He started to customize in 2010 with Sharpies then moved on to paints. When he saw the Clone Wars TV show, he loved it! He's also a huge fan of the Original Trilogy too. One day he though to himself, "What if I mashed these AWESOME ingredients together. That is how he came up with his really cool Clone War conversions. Now they are his main focus. He has even got into sculpting.
Mando Assassin
Your can see more of his work at:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7626.0
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7626.0
_______________________________________________
Wookie-Balls
Ray, Wookie-Balls, is 37 (just) and lives in Buckinghamshire in the UK. He is a lifelong Star Wars fan having first seen the movie projected in his own bedroom wall in Berlin in 1978 (the joys of being an army brat.)
He works in London - but lives in the countryside with his wife (another Star Wars fan and Gamer!) and his Dog Halo (beamed after a 2000AD character.) He enjoys SciFi, GMing RPGs (SW, Aliens and Supernatural.)
Customizing wise - he prefers the realistic style of figures over CW ones. His projects have included "A Clone squad (The 349th)", an all new Shadows of the Empire Line, Expanded Universe New Jedi Order figures and some Star Wars crossovers including 2000AD and the Centurions!
Rays other major hobby is the restoration of classic Kenner Star Wars toys - he started with his own much loved figures and ships and has since moved on to rescuing beaters that he discovers on his travels.
Ray has completed commission work for collectors however his pieces are for display rather than play! He can be contacted at ray7@btinternet.com.
He works in London - but lives in the countryside with his wife (another Star Wars fan and Gamer!) and his Dog Halo (beamed after a 2000AD character.) He enjoys SciFi, GMing RPGs (SW, Aliens and Supernatural.)
Customizing wise - he prefers the realistic style of figures over CW ones. His projects have included "A Clone squad (The 349th)", an all new Shadows of the Empire Line, Expanded Universe New Jedi Order figures and some Star Wars crossovers including 2000AD and the Centurions!
Rays other major hobby is the restoration of classic Kenner Star Wars toys - he started with his own much loved figures and ships and has since moved on to rescuing beaters that he discovers on his travels.
Ray has completed commission work for collectors however his pieces are for display rather than play! He can be contacted at ray7@btinternet.com.
Wookie-Balls
Wookie-Ball's older customs (rephotographed to a better standard are here):
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album/Wookie%20Customs?src=www
Wookie-Ball's vintage restoration work is hosted here:
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album/Restored%20Vintage/?sa=true
And Wookie-Ball's most recent customs including his Imperial Judge and New Jedi Order Luke Skywalker are here:
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album
_______________________________________________
YAKFACE
Well,
as you know, we are always on the hunt to find you a new customizer
every month. Well, being it's Halloween, we figured we'd give you all a
treat and show you the customizer for November one day early. So here
is some Star Wars eye candy that is so big that you won't fit in that
bag you carried along on your door to door shuffle. We'll leave the
"tricks" to Yakface, the latest customizer being featured here on our blog. If you see the customs he has created you'll see that he has plenty of them up his sleave when it comes to paintwork and action figure creation.
Brent Gothold (AKA YakFace)
is a 27 year old father who works in the video game industry but spends
his spare time creating Star Wars customs. He posted his first custom
Star Wars diorama at age 15 and is currently posting custom figures at
the Imperial Shipyards. Brent mostly creates characters from the
original Star Wars trilogy but is working on making some original
characters that will fit nicely among the characters from a galaxy far
far away. A talented sculpter and painter who is trying to make "toys"
transform into art peices and be viewed as such.
YakFace
YakFace can be contacted about tips or commissions at brent.gothold@gmail.com or http://www.imperialshipyards.net
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_______________________________________________
Hyperdrive
When it comes to customizing, Hyperdrive's signature "weathered
and worn" soft goods are unique. He has been honing his craft for many
years with no studio, only his wife's sewing room and kitchen island. It
takes about a week to create each figure with great care and attention
to detail. Each piece starts with an "ultra articulated" custom base
figure, sanded down to remove any features that may reveal a bump or
bulge from under the custom clothes. The clothes are then custom crafted
to the size and shape of each figure for the best possible fit. Hyperdrive strives
for maximum articulation underneath realistic cloth giving the figure a
realistic look. Some of his favorite characters include, Kenobi, Qui
Gon Jinn, Vader, Yoda, General Veers, Watto, Maul, Greedo, Jawas and
Gamorreans.
Hyperdrive's soft goods work is just amazing! Once we saw his figures we knew we had to include his work amongst the other artists we have featured, because our visual museum just would not have been complete without him. Hyperdrive is the guy that should be hired by Hasbro to handle all the soft good clothing design on future figures going forward, but don't take our word for it, check out his custom action figures in the video below.
Hyperdrive's soft goods work is just amazing! Once we saw his figures we knew we had to include his work amongst the other artists we have featured, because our visual museum just would not have been complete without him. Hyperdrive is the guy that should be hired by Hasbro to handle all the soft good clothing design on future figures going forward, but don't take our word for it, check out his custom action figures in the video below.
Hyperdrive
To see more Star Wars custom action figures created by Hyperdrive, click the link below:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=6760
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=6760
_______________________________________________
DARTH DUSTY
Darth Dusty is an artist that has been drawing, painting, and sculpting for over twenty-five years, and customizing for over ten. He mainly enjoys customizing figures from the expanded universe of Star Wars, and creating characters of his own, but also indulges in other areas of Pop Culture. The goal is to give people something rare, and unique, and also to challenge himself to make customs of characters that may never see the light of day on a store shelf.
Creating figures for adult collectors, he loves the use of cloth goods, and hand sculpting new parts. Darth Dusty uses many materials, such as, Acrylic Paints, Apoxy Sculpt, Casting Resins, and even puffy paint, as key elements in each creation. Darth Dusty researches many of the figures he plans to build to get as much accuracy as possible without compromising the functionality of the action figure.
Fairly retired from doing commissioned figures, he loves hearing ideas on what figures to make. Darth Dusty keeps a list of characters on the back burner, so expect to see plenty more figures to come.
Although he was just featured in our Customizer Spotlight last month, we figured now ould be the best time to feature the rest of his work while interest was high. If you thought the Force Unleashed II Starkiller that Dad got me for Christmas was cool, you should see his other customs. Check out the video and prepare to be entertained.
DARTH DUSTY
Take a look at Darth Dusty's Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com/DarthDustyCustoms
Also be sure to frequently check out his eBay page:
thinkinink1972
_______________________________________________
Quantum 7 customs
Quantum 7 customs, ( a.k.a Joseph B. ), has been customizing action figures now for about 17 years. Most of Q7 's first custom work was focused around Star Wars after the re-release of the Power of the Force line in 1995. He first started off with just very simple repaints of these Star Wars figures and then graduated into the cut, glue & paint phase. Later, after discovering Super Sculpy, he moved into sculpting some of his figures.
In 2002, with the introduction of the Marvel Legends line Q7 began to turn his attention away from Star Wars and began customizing the newer, highly articulated Marvel 6 inch figures. He learned a lot during this time period and he would later use this new learned skill to return to his roots, Star Wars custom action figures. Carrying over what he learned from customizing larger action figures provided him greater ability to create more complex Star Wars customs.
Quantum 7 customs now customizes many different toy lines: Marvel Legends, Masters of the Universe Classics, GI Joe , DC Universe Classics, Marvel Universe 3 3/4'', but he will ALWAYS return to his first love, the line that got him into customizing, STAR WARS!!
"I find so much inspiration in other artists work. There are some truly GREAT talents out there. I draw inspiration from all of them...and I might borrow a technique or two , LOL!"
- Quantum 7 customs
Quantum 7 customs
You can see QUANTUM 7 customs work on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Quantum-7-customs/147471345354607?ref=tn_tnmn
and here on Figure Realm:
http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigures.php?op=4&id=1634
Older work here:
http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigures.php?op=4&id=924
"I'm just a normal, run of the mill, average guy who loves toys and and art. I grew up in central Florida before I moved away when I was 27. I now reside in South Carolina where I have converted an entire room in my house to display my toy collection. It is in this room where I work diligently..."
- Quantum 7 customs
_______________________________________________
The Spectre
This month for our "Custom I Wish I Owned" feature, we figured we'd introduce you to the army building of talented customizer The Spectre.
Not only does this customizer know how to swell his ranks with style,
but he has created the coolest horde of Star Wars space pirates that we
have ever seen - complete with ship.
Hailing from northeast New Jersey, The Spectre
has deemed himself the President and Founder of the CSOTC (Customize
Something Other Than Clones) Society. It's cool to see what can be
accomplished with the old POTF figures because with Hasbro going back to
limited articulation in their Star Wars figure line, we need someone
like The Spectre to give us hope that customizing won't die out with super articulated figures showing up in only limited amounts.
The Spectre
Visit The Spectre on Facebook:
Check out his custom action figure thread on Imperial Shipyards:
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I-AM-BOBA-FETT
Like most children of the 70's I-AM-BOBA-FETT was blown away by Star Wars when he saw it in the theater in 1977. Even as a very young boy he knew this movie was special and was more than just a summer Saturday night's entertainment. Star Wars has continued to be a part of I-AM-BOBA-FETT's life all the way through to the present. He began customizing figures at the age of five. I-AM-BOBA-FETT began sculpting in 1999 as a way to alleviate boredom and stress. He has continued to make custom figures, vehicles, and full scale life size props (including his own complete suit of hand forged Mandalorian armor, jetpack, and helmet made of stainless steel) for over 25 years now for fun and profit.
I-AM BOBA-FETT takes commission work. For those looking to have an awesome custom item made give him a shout. He offers fair prices and quick build times for his custom creations. He can be reached at: riffvalleydesignworks@yahoo.com.
I-AM-BOBA-FETT
4 links to I-AM-BOBA-FETT's work:
http://s798.photobucket.com/user/I-AM-B ... t=3&page=0
(click on "show albums and stories") for the pictures of his work.
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5431&start=225
(click on "show albums and stories") for the pictures of his work.
http://www.imperialshipyards.com
under I-AM-BOBA-FETT screen name there.
http://www.ebay.com
under I-AM-BOBA-FETT screen name there too.
under I-AM-BOBA-FETT screen name there.
http://www.ebay.com
under I-AM-BOBA-FETT screen name there too.
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D&DCUSTOMS
We
love nothing more than finding a customizing outfit that just blows our
minds. I mean these figures are just off the charts! One look at the
6" creations of D&DCUSTOMS and you will spend your money on
this artistry to compliment Hasbro's Black Series line. These figures are
just amazing and are sold exclusively on eBay. In 2008, D&DCUSTOMS
mostly created Dungeons and Dragons, G.I. Joe and Marvel figures.
Fortunately for Star Wars fans they have made some of our favorite
characters too. These figures are perfect collectibles for adults who
like articulation and poseability in their figures. Their Ahsoka's to
die for. What are you waiting for? Watch the video and run to their eBay store before these figures are all sold out!
D&DCUSTOMS
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EMPIRE
Yes, usually "Customs I Wish I Owned" features Star Wars custom action figure artists, but this time we could not help but feature a diorama artist that created the mother of all sci-fi playsets. EMPIRE built a spaceport for his two young sons and pulled out all the stops.
About 99% of the structure is wood, mainly a mix of 5/8" plywood for the actual buildings and 3/4" for the landing platforms. Most all the piping, panels, circuit boxes, furniture, cabinets and other greeblies are wood also. EMPIRE can usually do the construction of a building within an afternoon but the interior layout, painting, details and props/furniture can take a week or so.....usually longer because he works on about 6 different sections at the same time plus he didn't really draw up any plans ahead of time. Each building can be removed so the whole playset is basically modular. By the time EMPIRE had built the 3rd or 4th building, he realized the whole thing was pretty much going to be a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle. So far, it all measures about 6 feet long, around 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall.....yeah, it takes up a little bit of space, but several kids can play on it at the same time. Built on top of a Thomas the Train Engine track table that his children out grew, EMPIRE decided to just build on top of it to keep the diorama all contained. It reminded him of an oil platform and he thought that would make a neat idea for a shanty town built atop some giant abandoned mining rig. He figured if he built the buildings completely separate of each other with out test fitting then it might give a bit more random haphazard appearance as he wanted the spaceport to look. Once the large buildings were in place then he could see what gaps he had available to add more structures. Since he started running out of space, the whole playset grew upward in levels and EMPIRE started bridging platforms with stairs and catwalks. It was really more of a free build situation and just see what happens. EMPIRE stacked the modules as high as he needed because with the structure made of plywood, he could attach the individual buildings in odd ways but the entire structure would still be strong enough to support a Millennium Falcon or any other over-sized ship or building. EMPIRE caught his 6 year old standing in the middle of the street level one day, and when he asked what his son was doing, he told him, he was Godzilla. EMPIRE kinda knew then that it would probably survive at least a few years.
About 99% of the structure is wood, mainly a mix of 5/8" plywood for the actual buildings and 3/4" for the landing platforms. Most all the piping, panels, circuit boxes, furniture, cabinets and other greeblies are wood also. EMPIRE can usually do the construction of a building within an afternoon but the interior layout, painting, details and props/furniture can take a week or so.....usually longer because he works on about 6 different sections at the same time plus he didn't really draw up any plans ahead of time. Each building can be removed so the whole playset is basically modular. By the time EMPIRE had built the 3rd or 4th building, he realized the whole thing was pretty much going to be a 3 dimensional jigsaw puzzle. So far, it all measures about 6 feet long, around 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall.....yeah, it takes up a little bit of space, but several kids can play on it at the same time. Built on top of a Thomas the Train Engine track table that his children out grew, EMPIRE decided to just build on top of it to keep the diorama all contained. It reminded him of an oil platform and he thought that would make a neat idea for a shanty town built atop some giant abandoned mining rig. He figured if he built the buildings completely separate of each other with out test fitting then it might give a bit more random haphazard appearance as he wanted the spaceport to look. Once the large buildings were in place then he could see what gaps he had available to add more structures. Since he started running out of space, the whole playset grew upward in levels and EMPIRE started bridging platforms with stairs and catwalks. It was really more of a free build situation and just see what happens. EMPIRE stacked the modules as high as he needed because with the structure made of plywood, he could attach the individual buildings in odd ways but the entire structure would still be strong enough to support a Millennium Falcon or any other over-sized ship or building. EMPIRE caught his 6 year old standing in the middle of the street level one day, and when he asked what his son was doing, he told him, he was Godzilla. EMPIRE kinda knew then that it would probably survive at least a few years.
This spaceport started out with the idea of being basically a nexus of all sci-fi worlds. EMPIRE's kids play this way anyway, (EMPIRE does too) mixing all their 3.75" toylines into their adventures. If every sci-fi universe were a major city then this spaceport would be a back roads truck stop where your action figures can all converge, refuel, pick up supplies, get drunk, have an alien tryst, and get into a gun fight. This also frees EMPIRE from anything needing to be screen or story accurate. Basically anything goes when it comes to the design theme of the whole structure. He wanted something along the lines of Mos Eisley meets Blade Runner meets Deadwood. EMPIRE thought the name "Rot Gut Station" sounded great for this.
ROT-GUT STATION (Spaceport Playset)
created by EMPIRE
This diorama is just packed full of cool environments. The diner you can access from the back of the bar. It's all a marketing ploy, place the only true restaurant on the station where you have to walk past the bar to get to it. However, they do serve actual waffles there. There is also a spiraling tower directly above the bar along with the gun shack. The doctors office lobby is a lot of fun. EMPIRE did a search for medical wartime propaganda posters and medical lobby posters and found some great material. Sure it's skirting the line of "mature" a little bit but he figured the playset will "grow" with the kids as they get the in-jokes hidden around the spaceport. EMPIRE just recently released pictures of the Council Chamber/Courthouse building. He wanted something for all the political robed figures to gather in with out needing to build an immense Galactic Senate chamber. He figured it would make a neat conference room for crime bosses or shady senators. Plus he wanted it to perform double duty as a courthouse setting. (EMPIRE loves those random "on trial" episodes you see on Farscape and Star Trek etc.) He figured with the spaceport being somewhat less refined than a more "civilized" outpost, that the courtroom would probably have ads posted within it, sort of like a little league ball field. Just below the courthouse is the jail, cargo bay and garage. EMPIRE had no intention of building the entire 3 room wing off the side of the playset table, but when he finished constructing the courthouse he realized that it was WAY bigger than he thought it was going to be, much heavier too. The new section was built to support the courthouse but EMPIRE really dug how it turned out, and a jail adds a bunch of adventure possibilities especially for a small city. He originally was going to do an actual cell with bars and a locking door but once locked up, it's difficult to interact with the figures that are in the jail. The cheap, easy and effective "sci-fi force field" seemed to work much better. Plus it gave him a way of attaching and hiding the lights behind the force "ring". EMPIRE's still adding more to the cargo bay but his kids realized it made a great getaway route when breaking out of jail and jumping off the loading dock onto a waiting speeder. To the left of the jail is a garage/launch bay for a Police cruiser. A Robocop Police Jet fits the bill nicely. EMPIRE will be adding a catwalk from the jail to the garage. One of our favorite additions is a docking port for TIE fighters off the edge of the main landing platform. Basically the rear end of the TIE's old battery compartment slips right into the socket and it places the hatch at a convenient easy in easy out level for the pilot. It also frees up a good chunk of platform area for other ships. I really loved the 7-Eleven news stand and Wang's Taco's. We were really excited when we saw he posted pictures of the inside of the Hotel too.
A lot of the detail work like grime on the walls or slight shadows where edges meet are just quick dry brushing techniques, usually taking no real time at all. The posters, place mats, signs, banners, the vending machine etc. are just grabbed from image searches, re-sized or manipulated, printed from EMPIRE's home printer and then glued directly to the painted wood surfaces. He uses either spray adhesive on the back or super-glue over the paper to give it a slight sheen with a worn thru appearance. The cash registers in Mel's Diner and The Blue Waffle are from a couple of Playmobil school cafeteria sets. The cash registers in the 7-11 and the Toy Barn are wood that he just sanded in to shape. The computer with keyboard in the med center came from a dollhouse miniatures shop. The vending machine and arcade games are actually pieces of a 2x4. He just cut the basic shape, sanded it all smooth, printed a little artwork and glued it to the wood. He found tons of great items in dollhouse shops like miniature pots and pans, coffee cup, food, bottles etc. Oh and everything, minus the obvious action figures and vehicles, is basically glued, screwed or pegged in place. This way the kids won't lose all the little bits and EMPIRE won't have to set it up more than once. His kids do have a box of random items and props they can use and setup in the playset like fire extinguishers, tools, storage boxes, flashlights etc. He also used industrial strength double-sided mounting tape to lock down some items where it's too awkward to put a peg or screw down. The items won't break free unless it is pried loose with a blade.
This is by far the coolest action figure playset that we have ever seen and it's a more than worthy addition to our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page.
To read more about this cool playset, check out EMPIRE's diorama thread:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=7262
http://www.ebay.com/usr/empiretoyworks
www.facebook.com/pages/Empire-Toy-Works/409113052607214
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Lately Facebook has been a great place for us to find Star Wars customizers. Our latest customizer, Harry Flügge of StarconstruX Customs has been posting some spectacular eye candy lately and we just had to share his latest offerings with all of you.
This customizer from Germany has an OTC focus specializing in Dad's
favorite Star Wars scenes...the Cantina and Jabba's Palace. Harry has
been doing his best to fill in all of the unreleased background
characters, as well as modifying existing figures to create an
incredibly awesone custom collection. Hope you all enjoy his work as
much as we do. Be sure to click the links at the bottom to see more from this amazing artist!
Harry Flügge of StarconstruX Customs
Check out more of Harry Flügge's Star Wars custom action figures on his Facebook page.
Also be sure to visit his webpage:
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Patricio Berroeta
aka Pato Berroeta
One of my favorite thing about Star Wars custom action figure art is that it's a global phenomenon. Patricio Berroeta aka Pato Berroeta
lives in Santiago, Chile. He is a graphic designer, art digital
director, illustrator, comic artist, Star Wars figures collector, soccer
fan, goalkeeper, drummer and action figure customizer.
Pato started to display his customs in 2011, and he has had a personal goal to complete all the characters that were not produced by Hasbro for the Battle of Carkoon, Jabba's Palace and the Mos Eisley Cantina scenes to add to his personal collection. His representations of these characters are just spot on and every time I look at them I think about how much I'd like to add one of his customs to my own collection.
Sometimes he does figures from other Star Wars episodes, but only when spare pieces allow . He is inspiring me to take up his cause and make these much needed additions to my own collection.
Pato started to display his customs in 2011, and he has had a personal goal to complete all the characters that were not produced by Hasbro for the Battle of Carkoon, Jabba's Palace and the Mos Eisley Cantina scenes to add to his personal collection. His representations of these characters are just spot on and every time I look at them I think about how much I'd like to add one of his customs to my own collection.
Sometimes he does figures from other Star Wars episodes, but only when spare pieces allow . He is inspiring me to take up his cause and make these much needed additions to my own collection.
Patricio Berroeta aka Pato Berroeta
Here are some links to the work of Pato Berroeta:
Custom figures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pberroeta/sets/72157632870643826/
All his figures in order (even with covers):
http://www.facebook.com/patoberroeta/media_set?set=a.10151400434033650.1073741825.719453649&type=3
His"Work in Progress" album:
http://www.facebook.com/patoberroeta/media_set?set=a.10151585511698650.1073741828.719453649&type=3
Cantina Mos Eisley Diorama (2012):
http://orden99.cl/cantina-de-mos-eisley/
Also be sure to check out his comics pages and illustrations:
Comics pages
http://www.facebook.com/patoberroeta/media_set?set=a.340566438649.150326.719453649&type=3
Illustrations.
http://www.facebook.com/patoberroeta/media_set?set=a.311719368649.146152.719453649&type=3
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PULPY FICTION
"BOBA FETT"
created by Pulpy Fiction
Pulpy Fiction from Brantford, Ontario has a signature style when
it comes to customizing his 6" Star Wars custom action figures. His work
looks as if it just jumped off the page of a beautiful comic book. He
is remarkably skilled. This is an artist you will want to watch. Not
only can he paint his awesome creations with great precision but he can
create tailor made soft goods to dress them in. His sculpts of Chewbacca
and Boba Fett are just jaw dropping and his photos look like they could
adorn the cover of an old pulp novel. If his future projects look as
eye catching as these figures, we have one very cool journey ahead of
us. He still has many projects on the way, and I mean MANY.
PULPY FICTION
"CHEWBACCA"
created by Pulpy Fiction
LINKS for PULPY FICTION:
Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/pulpy.fiction.7/about
https://www.facebook.com/pulpy.fiction.7/about
PULPY FICTION Blog:
http://pulpyfiction.blogspot.com/
http://pulpyfiction.blogspot.com/
On Figure Realm:
http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigures.php?op=4&id=4975
http://www.figurerealm.com/viewcustomfigures.php?op=4&id=4975
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JVCustoms
"Ahsoka Tano"
created by JVCustoms
Recently Dad set up a deviantART page to help promote my blog. While setting up the page, Dad found the art of JVCustoms on the site.
JVCustoms is a professional figure customizer of 3 ¾ inch through 1/6 scale figures, as well as, vehicles from miniatures to 3 ¾ inch figure scale. He also dabbles in traditional drawing and digital art.
His tools of the trade include Vallejo Artist Acrylics & Varnishes, X-Acto Knives, Custom-Made Tools, Sandpaper (120 thru 400 Grit), Nail Files, Detail Paintbrushes, and more for Custom Figures. Pencils, Inks and Charcoal for Drawing and Photoshop for Digital Art.
JVCustoms is not currently accepting new commissions but he sells from his own collection often and will entertain offers for many of his already-completed customs. He also sells his customs on eBay.
JVCustoms is a professional figure customizer of 3 ¾ inch through 1/6 scale figures, as well as, vehicles from miniatures to 3 ¾ inch figure scale. He also dabbles in traditional drawing and digital art.
His tools of the trade include Vallejo Artist Acrylics & Varnishes, X-Acto Knives, Custom-Made Tools, Sandpaper (120 thru 400 Grit), Nail Files, Detail Paintbrushes, and more for Custom Figures. Pencils, Inks and Charcoal for Drawing and Photoshop for Digital Art.
JVCustoms is not currently accepting new commissions but he sells from his own collection often and will entertain offers for many of his already-completed customs. He also sells his customs on eBay.
JVCustoms
"CUSTOM Y-WING"
created by JVCustoms
JVCustoms on deviantART:
http://jvcustoms.deviantart.com/
JVCustoms on eBay:
http://www.ebay.com/usr/psychotropia76
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Evilivo
This holiday, Customs for the Kid can't express how thankful we are that we can keep adding to our archival list of super talented Star Wars custom action figure artists,
month after month. Customizing Star Wars action figures is an art form
that continues to grow more and more popular with each coming year.
Every time we start to fear we'll eventually run out of new artists to
introduce you all to, ten more artists pop up that show us how silly our
worries were. More and more artists are continuously springing up all
over the world. Our latest customizer hails from Eastern Europe.
Featuring some of the most impressive paint applications in the
community today, Evilivo is shaping up to be one of our favorite Star Wars customizers!
Evilivo
(Ivo Domozetov from Bulgaria) was introduced to Star Wars at age 5, and
immediately fell in love with the movies and the toys. He's been doing
fixes to his action figures since his early years with the Vintage
Kenner toy line and now later with Hasbro's revived line. Over the years
customizing action figures replaced playing with the figures. Evilivo
works as professional sculptor and jeweler and the attention to detail
that his job requires definitely spills over into his artistic creations
as well. He usually just alters
and improves existing figures, since securing multiples of some figures
is much harder to do in his part of the world, but don't let that
diminish your curiosity. His work is just beautiful and he has the
ability to make the paint applications on his figures "pop" like no
other artists out there. The internet gave Star Wars customizer Evilivo
the opportunity to discover the customizing forums at different Star
Wars sites where he said he has found his "new family". We love having
him as a part of it. His work continues to inspire. Take a look.
Evilivo
Here is the link to Evilivo's thread in Yakface forums:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7321
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7321
And this is Evilivo's Star Wars Customs album in Photobucket:
http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/domoz ... t=4&page=1
http://s1180.photobucket.com/user/domoz ... t=4&page=1
His e-mail address is domozetov@yahoo.com and he would like to try his hand at commission work, so reach out and contact him if you are as impressed with his work as we are.
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Glorbes has been customizing for just under ten years, but he can remember fashioning crude representations of Star Trek and Star Wars
subjects from cardboard as a child in the 80s.
The idea of modifying existing figures never occurred to Glorbes until
he stumbled upon several online customzing sites, and was primarily spurred on
by the works of Iron Cow and Doubledealer, who specialized in super hero
customs in 6” scale. Over time, Glorbes
began experimenting with several methods, and eventually embraced mixed media,
combining sculpting compounds, plumber’s epoxy, fabric, and leather. He eventually developed a signature style that
evoked elements of old sci-fi and horror movies, lurid pulp fiction covers, and
‘diesel punk’ aesthetic, giving classic character designs a bizarre, but
familiar twist.
By 2007, Glorbes began making vehicles for 6” scale figures,
starting with a Flash Gordon rocket composed of large juice bottles. This transitioned into some crude styrene
creations, and then things went crazy from there. While action figures are what got him into
customizing (and he still makes them!), creating custom vehicles and props from
scratch has developed into his passion.
Having kids has also emphasized the importance of creating quick, cheap,
and sturdy builds that look good and can be played with, which has led Glorbes
to trying his hand at using various types of cardboard as a medium.
His cardboard Star Destroyer and Jabba's Sail Barge are two must see
builds. He now builds most of his stuff with his kids
in mind, which has made his projects even more fun.
Glorbes
You can find more of Glorbes work at his blog:
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localgotal
Star Wars customizer localgotal does not physically create his action figures with plastic. Instead he makes a digital custom.
What is a digital custom you ask? Let's hear a description from localgotal himself.
"By "digital custom" I mean that I've taken various images of other
figures from across the web and in Photoshop pieced them together to
create an image." - localgotal
His imagery can best be described as a Star Wars collector's wishlist of
vehicles and action figure that they'd like to see released before it is
too late. If Hasbro wants to know what collectors would like to see in
2014, check out Yakface.com presents...Concept Series: Action Figure Customs by localgotal.
I can't pick a better voice to speak to what I know I want as a
collector. His recurring feature on Yakface.com only started in
November of last year, but what he has put on display is exactly what I
I'd like to see next month when Hasbro has it's big reveal at Toy Fair
in NYC. Clear the parking lot! This is the last chance for these
figures to be released with all the new product that will be produced
with the new films. Once the new Trilogy comes out, OTC and Prequel
localgotal has
such great eye and his representations of the character from the films
is spot on. He definitely picks the best parts from everywhere and fits
everything together seamlessly. I almost wish this stuff was reality
and I'd be able to bring it all home. Hasbro's investors are sleeping
at the wheel. Stockholders need to take a more active role in the
companies that they invest in. I wish this was Hasbro's selection in
2014 giving a last hurrah's to the OTC to prep everyone for 2015.
They'd make a fortune of off me!
I want localgotal in charge of the Star Wars line going forward. We need to change the guard. Yakface.com stumbled upon greatness when they found localgotal.
WARNING:
THE IMAGES YOU ARE ABOUT TO SEE ARE MOCK UPS AND ARE NOT PRODUCT THAT
YOU WILL SEE RELEASED... ALTHOUGH, I WISH IT WERE.
localgotal
CLICK BANNER TO GO TO THE CONCEPT SERIES INDEX
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Parintachin73
Parintachin73, aka Blaise Bear, hails from Kingston, NY where his time is divided between working full-time, being a parent to a beautiful little girl, freelance graphic designing, and cramming in as many hours at his customs workspace as possible. He has been doing custom figures for about 7-8 years now with an emphasis on Star Wars figures. Although he has been known to delve into the world of superheroes from time to time, his primary goal these days is to expand his skill set and take on new challenges.
Parintachin73 is a veteran with powerhouse skills. I really love his paint work. His colors are so rich and warm. Very nice on the eyes!
The creativity in his builds is evident too. The head he used for his Mara Jade custom action figure is a head that I've never seen used before and it is the most flattering version I've come across. His Mythos Obi Wan Kenobi in 3 3/4" scale is just awesome! So well done!
Parintachin73
Link for his work on rebelscum.com:
Parintachin73's customs thread
For commissions please contact:
blaisebear@yahoo.com
Also check out DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER featuring
Parintachin73:
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CloneTroopr
CloneTroopr started customizing in 2010. He aims to make figures that
either Hasbro will never make (especially characters from games, books,
etc., since Disney has now forbidden Hasbro from making any EU figures),
has made badly, or sell for ridiculous prices online. Since his start,
CloneTroopr’s learned many techniques in customizing from his fellow
customizers, practice, experience, and just plain accidents. To keep the
cost low, CloneTroopr’s fond of utilizing household materials to make
his figures with items such as bread ties, old pens, and otherwise
recyclable plastic. CloneTroopr also loves the Knights of the Old
Republic and the Old Republic video games, which is where he gets most
of his customizing inspiration (he currently plays as Kavyne, Republic
faction on the Harbinger server).
Here on Customs for the Kid, we recognize we haven't given enough love to the Old Republic when it comes to putting custom action figure art from these games on display, which is why we felt it was so important for us to feature CloneTroopr this month. Hope you all enjoy!
Unfortunately, although CloneTroopr has been asked on multiple occasions, he doesn’t have any plans to do commission work in the in the present or near-future because of how busy he is with work (although you never know, “the future is always in motion”).
Here on Customs for the Kid, we recognize we haven't given enough love to the Old Republic when it comes to putting custom action figure art from these games on display, which is why we felt it was so important for us to feature CloneTroopr this month. Hope you all enjoy!
Unfortunately, although CloneTroopr has been asked on multiple occasions, he doesn’t have any plans to do commission work in the in the present or near-future because of how busy he is with work (although you never know, “the future is always in motion”).
CloneTroopr
If you really want to contact him with a commission offer, you can always reach him on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clone.troopr
Links to see his work on Imperial Shipyards:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7528.0
*Note: There is a table of contents of his work on the first post on page one of the ISY thread
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CloneTrooprs-Customs/174144516097873
YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CloneTroopr
*Note: He has plans to make videos of his work.
YakFace Forums:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7540
Links to see his work on Imperial Shipyards:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7528.0
*Note: There is a table of contents of his work on the first post on page one of the ISY thread
Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/CloneTrooprs-Customs/174144516097873
YouTube Channel:
http://www.youtube.com/user/CloneTroopr
*Note: He has plans to make videos of his work.
YakFace Forums:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=7540
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Hunter Knight Customs began in 2008 when they made a car for the Hollywood movie "Sex Drive" after that they started a custom action figure division which became their main product line. HKC is owned by Chris "Hunter" Diaz and since then they have made more than 1000 figures for the commercial market, from Masters of the Universe, Marvel Legends, Marvel Universe, DC Universe Classics, and Star Wars. HKC has been featured on sites like MTV and He-man.org. Hunter Knight Customs main website http://www.hunterknightonline.
We have two action figures created by Hunter Knight Customs and we couldn't be happier with his figures.
HUNTER KNIGHT CUSTOMS
Facebook page:
Instagram:
Online store:
Youtube channel:
Check our weekly Ebay custom figure auctions:
http://tinyurl.com/hunterknight
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DarthSinister
Charlie White aka DarthSinister got his start customizing MEGO superheroes at a young age in the 1970’s and eventually moved on to Star Wars and Micronauts. After putting down customizing for decades he began to feel the artistic flicker resurge after becoming inspired by the artists around the web. His first step back into the hobby began on the RebelScum web site when he launched his digital customs or “PoorMan’s Customs” thread in 2009 using only images from the internet and a photoshop program. He heavily promoted the old MARVEL comics Star Wars series, giving them a much needed facelift in an attempt to bring modern relevance back to the beloved characters. He now resides mainly on the Imperial Shipyards, and while still doing digital imagery, he has begun a shift to actual hard customs since 2013.
DarthSinister's work is really nice on the eyes so be sure to take it all in. We never were exposed to the Marvel Star Wars comics here at home, but upon seeing the figures DarthSinister has created inspired by these comics, we'd sure like to see this part of the Star Wars universe more in depth.
DarthSinister
DarthSinister on Imperial Shipyards:
DarthSinister: A Different Point of View:
DarthSinister on eBay:
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Whiskeytango
Whiskeytango started customizing in 2009 after finding the excellent work of some of the greats on thefwoosh.com. He toiled away on comic book figures, ignoring his true love, Star Wars, until his dream of 6" figures was realized with the release of the Black Series.
Now he spends his time working on custom versions of characters who get official releases announced right after he finishes, which doesn't make him angry at all. Not a bit. Not... not even a little bit.
We figured it was time we show off some of the talented artists working in the 6" scale since we haven't dove into the larger custom action figures that are currently being produced just yet. Whiskeytango has been making some amazing figures in the new action figure sca;e and after seeing what he's accomplished, we're eager to see what else he produces in the future.
Whiskeytango
Figurerealm gallery:
Fwoosh gallery:
Whiskeytango on Facebook:
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IRON-COW PRODUCTIONS
Matt ‘Iron-Cow’ Cauley’s background lies in the visual arts. Born in Dallas in the fall of 1973, he eventually relocated to New York to attend Parsons School of Design. Shortly after obtaining his degree in Illustration, he began working for Bloomberg LP as a Broadcast Designer while further developing his illustration and toy design work.
In 1999, Matt formed Iron-Cow Productions, LLC to better serve his illustration, animation, design, and toy production clients. Matt's work is regularly published and exhibited worldwide. He gained further exposure in the toy design world as a featured contributer to ToyFare Magazine. There are over 50 ICP-designed action figures that have hit the shelves since that time.
Matt eventually relocated the Iron-Cow Studios from New Jersey to New York in February 2013. During this upheaval, Matt decided to take on some small action figure customizing projects here and there until his studio was fully up and running. To keep things simple, he began experimenting with some Vintage Star Wars projects. These were never meant to be anything too complicated: simple headswaps and repaints were all he wanted to do. As luck would have it, nostalgia, combined with fun quickly blossomed into a massive 28 figure endeavor.
This was just the beginning. Matt had such a fun experience with the retro figures that he quickly began work on his next wave of Vintage Star Wars. There are currently over 60 new figure projects in the works that will be unveiled early next year.
IRON-COW PRODUCTIONS
You can see the first wave of Vintage Star Wars custom action figures here:
http://www.ironcowprod.com/plastic/odds-ends/
http://www.ironcowprod.com/plastic/odds-ends/
Matt’s illustration, broadcast, fine art, and toy design portfolios can be seen at the official Iron-Cow Prod. website at:
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JRNY FAN
Last time we featured a customizer that made Star Wars playsets it went over really well and ended up being one of our most popular posts. That's why we're giving you some more of what you all desire, and there is no other artist that is better to take you along for a ride than JRNY FAN!
His Mission? Star Wars Playset Awesomeness. And this guy really brings it!
JRNY FAN gave up hope long ago that Hasbro would ever give him the playsets he'd want. When the Star Wars line was relaunched in 1995, he wanted to have “one of every figure” that appeared in the films. He's been collecting Star Wars since he was 4 in 1980, so he really likes to integrate homages back to the vintage Kenner playsets wherever possible. His goal is to create playsets that would fit in his shelf space and give his figures worlds to inhabit, just as the old Kenner playsets used to. So, he tried his hand at crafting his own using a plastic called Instamorph (learn more about working with it). And even more recently entered the world of 3-D printing, which is helping him achieve some very impressive looking pieces.
Much like how George felt about his films, JRNY FAN's playsets aren’t “done.” He's always revising them, integrating new ideas, and reinventing past creations that are super functional from a design standpoint.. He wants them to be constructed entirely of plastic - no foam, glue, clay, and ideally no paint. While he's certainly going for the spirit of the film, he's not trying to create a inch-by-inch recreation of the set and shooting exteriors. Instead, he's trying to create something that would come close to a "toy.” Aside from furnishings and accessories, these playsets are generally one piece, not held together by glue. He's been using a combination of PCL moldable plastic and PLA for 3-D printed pieces. He finds that the more that he works with the material, the better he gets at manipulating it. JRNY FAN has no real art background and he hasn't sculpted anything since he was in 4th grade.
The bad news is, Star Wars and the toys are the property of Lucasfilm/Disney/20th Century Fox and Kenner/Hasbro. His playsets are not for sale, simply personal custom display pieces. The good news is that he offers a link on his website for Downloadable 3-D Models. He also has a small web store with small diorama pieces that are worth a look at too.
JRNY FAN gave up hope long ago that Hasbro would ever give him the playsets he'd want. When the Star Wars line was relaunched in 1995, he wanted to have “one of every figure” that appeared in the films. He's been collecting Star Wars since he was 4 in 1980, so he really likes to integrate homages back to the vintage Kenner playsets wherever possible. His goal is to create playsets that would fit in his shelf space and give his figures worlds to inhabit, just as the old Kenner playsets used to. So, he tried his hand at crafting his own using a plastic called Instamorph (learn more about working with it). And even more recently entered the world of 3-D printing, which is helping him achieve some very impressive looking pieces.
Much like how George felt about his films, JRNY FAN's playsets aren’t “done.” He's always revising them, integrating new ideas, and reinventing past creations that are super functional from a design standpoint.. He wants them to be constructed entirely of plastic - no foam, glue, clay, and ideally no paint. While he's certainly going for the spirit of the film, he's not trying to create a inch-by-inch recreation of the set and shooting exteriors. Instead, he's trying to create something that would come close to a "toy.” Aside from furnishings and accessories, these playsets are generally one piece, not held together by glue. He's been using a combination of PCL moldable plastic and PLA for 3-D printed pieces. He finds that the more that he works with the material, the better he gets at manipulating it. JRNY FAN has no real art background and he hasn't sculpted anything since he was in 4th grade.
The bad news is, Star Wars and the toys are the property of Lucasfilm/Disney/20th Century Fox and Kenner/Hasbro. His playsets are not for sale, simply personal custom display pieces. The good news is that he offers a link on his website for Downloadable 3-D Models. He also has a small web store with small diorama pieces that are worth a look at too.
JRNY FAN
Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured JRNY FAN in his latest post over at The Star Wars Underworld.
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MARK TELFER
Mark Telfer, is a 42 year old Star Wars customizer from Edinburgh, Scotland where he lives with his loving wife, and 7 year old daughter who likes to join in his painting activities. Although imaginative as a kid, he never knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, at 42 he can safely say that he still doesn’t. In fact if you could see his Star Wars collection you may argue that he has never really grown up. He originally started towards a career in football with a local Edinburgh club Hibernian, but unfortunately experienced several injuries, which still trouble him today, and had to forgo his dream. He later found himself working in banking, for 20 years now, which was more through necessity rather than by design. Mark hasn’t really complained, while not very satisfying, it afforded him a happy life with his family.
As a kid born in 1972, Mark spent a good portion of his life with Star Wars than without, something that many generations since thankfully also share. He attended each of the 6 films with much anticipation and was lucky enough to attend local 1st day releases for each. The arrival of his early bird mail away figures remains a happy memory. Today, he owns a massive 3 ¾" collection and blossomed into a new hobby… customizing.
He’s collected 3 ¾” figures since childhood, from Episode IV to date, encompassing Vintage, POTF, Prequels, Clones, Rebels and most likely onwards. He’s managed to hold onto most of his collection, although he sold a near mint Vintage Blue Snaggletooth and carded Lando General when he needed some money. He admits a slight tinge of regret regarding the two figures sold.
Balancing full-time work, raising a young family and coping with an illness, Mark wanted to find something to distract him that he could be passionate about. With his love for collecting Star Wars figures, Mark decided he could take on customizing action figures as his new past time. So for the past year, Mark has been visiting and reading websites dedicated to customizing. Through the many fantastic sites out there, Mark discovered a thriving community.
Since then Mark has been gathering fodder, fabrics, epoxy putty, molding kits, paints and tools over the past year. Roughly one year into his new hobby, Mark ventured outside of just repainting figures and has worked his way into part swaps, and hard sculpting. Because Mark just got his start, he doesn't feel particularly good in any one discipline, but continues to persevere. He prefers to work with fodder from damaged figures, since he doesn’t have the heart to dismantle a perfectly good figure.
He doesn’t plan his figures out too much, he just rakes through his fodder and uses his imagination. He always tries to look out for things around the home which can be re-cycled and repurposed for his new hobby.
In March this year, Mark was invited along with Rebel Allegiance UK member Keith Armour, designs Clone Trooper armor, to Edinburgh local FM radio ‘CastleFM’ for a show dedicated to Star Wars movies and collecting. He’s currently in discussions to continue this program through podcasts, which should be fun.
Star Wars Custom Action Figures
created by Mark Telfer
Mark's website:
http://aberhibsfc.wix.com/tmark-customistation
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BRAD HARRIS
With 3-D printing now becoming more and more popular, Star Wars fans are quickly approaching a new golden era where artists can manufacture their own custom toy designs and make them look just as good as the large manufacturers.
One of these artists, Industrial Designer Brad Harris, has had some of his work make the rounds on some Star Wars fan sites recently and for good reason. His designs and execution were just top notch! Not only did he create some pretty awesome additions to any Star Wars collection, but he even took the time to do the packaging for his creations. Harris is definitely a designer we'd love to see working for Hasbro in the near future. The Krayt Dragon, Rathtar, Rancor, and TIE Defender he produced are some must see designs! I don't know about you, but I will be bookmarking his webpage to see what else this amazing artist will produce. I envy his skills!
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Oldboy Custom Tattoo Shop are a small pack of Thai tattooists located in Bangkok, Thailand that have followed their interest in action figures and collectibles to create some truly original custom sculpt work with realistic details and paint apps. They started off a few years ago in 2012 collecting 1/6th scale figures. After collecting for a while, they explored different techniques of sculpting and painting figures heads with the objective of trying to achieve the most realistic effects possible. They told us that it took a very long time to refine their techniques, but during that time their interests moved down to the 6" scale due to there being very limited artists/customizers for this scale. They wanted to position themselves as a recognizable and distinctive 6" scale customs maker. For now, their focus is totally on 6" scale headsculpts and soft goods for mainly the Star Wars line (Black Series/Bandai S.H. Figuarts) due to their passion and love for the movie. They also have plans in the future to explore the Marvel line and have speculated moving into the Art/Designer toys industry.
As for materials and techniques used to achieve their works, Oldboy CTTS sculpting is done with Super Sculpey Firm, along with carving/sculpting tools that are all available online. Their head repaints/paint are done purely with a hand brush using a variety of different paint types (acrylics mostly, and washes/enamels) to achieve different effects desired.
As for their future work, they will be striving to accomplish the very challenging work of creating characters from the Star Wars universe that have not received the attention that many fans that they talk to really want! Therefore, a few characters shortlisted are Qui-Gon Jinn, variations of Obi-Wan Kenobi, and as for the Marvel line, they really want to have a take on Tony Stark. Also some projects on hand that are really close to going on pre-order within the next few months are their Daniel Craig headsculpt. Last but not least, they will be doing a special give-away when their Facebook page reaches the 5k "likes" milestone, which will be their George Lucas headsculpt. This will be a really limited piece ( >10 worldwide). They will be announcing a small activity for all their fans to have a chance to receive it!
Oldboy CTTS
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TheRealMarch4th
TheRealMarch4th has been customizing for 2 years now. His work immediately caught our eye because he was one of the few artists out there making Clone Wars custom action figures. He paints, he kitbashes, and he sculpts too. The entire customizing package. He loves customizing figures from the Star Wars animated TV shows and making Mandalorians. The scope of his work even dives into the Expanded Universe/Legends. His early work like most customizers focused on making Jedi action figures, but once his skill set expanded so did his character choices from which he drew his inspiration. He is hoping to create more figures from Star Wars Rebels, Clone Wars and even the old Droids series in the upcoming months. We talk to this customizer frequently and his enthusiasm for the hobby is infectious.
TheRealMarch4th
To see more of his work visit his Instagram page:
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Lately, there are a large number of Star Wars custom action figure artists displaying their work on Instagram, and there is where I found the latest artist to be added to our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page, CANTINA_SCUM. The artist's customs remind me of figures I used to see in the Yakface Forums when I first started customizing myself, back when there were an abundance of super-articulated figures on shelves and a plethora of parts to choose from. Fan fiction customs were everywhere to be found in those times and new creative creations could be found around every corner. Then the 5poa figures started to dominate the collection and well, beautiful figures like CANTINA_SCUM's started to disappear and weren't as prominent as they once were. His builds totally tap into some nostalgia for the good ole' days here at home reminding us of artists like Chewie, Incom aka Mr. Black's Customs and Dan of the Dead. We really are excited to see more customs from this artist in the years to come.
CANTINA_SCUM
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Stan has done something that we have been wanting to accomplish for a long time, fill in a Mos Eisley Cantina and Jabba Palace display with many of the unreleased characters that were never turned into action figures. He even took some of the characters that had been released and improved upon them by adding articulation and more screen accuracy. We have been slowing adding some of these figures to our collection and hope to fill in our shelves as well as Stan has with his collection.
We had the pleasure of becoming friends with this Star Wars custom action figure artist earlier this year and we are really impressed with his creations. Recently, he started making some head casts of some of his original sculpts and sent some samples to some of us in the customizing community. We were big fans of the Tzizvvt and Atheloe head sculpts that we received, and we highly recommend following this artist's work as he continues to create his noteworthy contributions!
STAN
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clubobiwan
Jason Peterson aka clubobiwan doesn't like to recreate what we've all seen on screen before. He more or less explores the gaps between the stories, and even creates his own with original characters. He started off displaying his builds in the art cabinet at his local toy store. He received lots of favorable feedback from the store employees about patrons reactions to his work, but always seemed to miss them viewing his builds.
In the summer of 2016, Jason Peterson started an Instagram account called clubobiwan as a reference to Indiana Jones and Star Wars. clubobiwan has become very important to Jason. Although he only recently started using the persona on Instagram, before that he used the moniker for over 10 years starting as the name he used with online gaming. He says that the account provides him with an amazing amount of inspiration from all of his feedback from fans. He said that his relationships there have really helped him hone his skills.
Jason said his older brother pressed him to start the Instagram account. Both of them have had a passion for Star Wars long before it was cool. He hesitated to post on Instagram at first, because he felt the builds didn't display as nicely when they were photographed. It was the desire for feedback that made him take the plunge.
His process typically starts with finding as many G.I. Joe base figures and accessories that can be converted from their military usage to the Star Wars galaxy. Converting G.I. Joes is important to him because for nearly 30 years he's always loved the articulation of G.I. Joes, but not so much the characters or the universe itself. Now his figures receive all the best Star Wars accessories from his 5poa Star Wars figs and became something entirely different in the end.
We're a big fan of Jason's creative builds and the noticeable Ralph McQuarrie influence on his work. We wish we had his photography skills too. The way he incorporates nature into the photos of his custom figures is just gorgeous!
Be sure to visit the link to his Instagram account below!
We're a big fan of Jason's creative builds and the noticeable Ralph McQuarrie influence on his work. We wish we had his photography skills too. The way he incorporates nature into the photos of his custom figures is just gorgeous!
Be sure to visit the link to his Instagram account below!
clubobiwan
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Sneekpick Custom Studio
Based out of California, Sneekpick Custom Studio started about six years ago. Inspired by a love for action figures, and for the lack of characters that we really wanted to see in the market with no chance they would be made, Sneekpick tried their best to fill in the gaps in our collections with the help of friends and clients from all over the world. Sneekpick Custom Studio is pretty confident that they can make any character that you can imagine. While they hold a special love for the Star wars Universe, they also love G.I. Joe, DC, Marvel, Robotech, and Call of Duty among many others. They take very seriously every commission they receive, and try to represent each character as closely to the original as possible, working in the small details and articulation to make sure that at the end you are happy with the custom figure that you receive from them.
Sneekpick loves the creative process, the design, the building, painting and the passion! Just head to their Facebook page for all inquiries!
Sneekpick Custom Studio
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While it is true that we solely collect 3.75" figures, we found the work of Jason Harrop aka Harrop Customs noteworthy enough that we wanted to feature his work nonetheless. One of our biggest reasons for featuring him is for what he has been giving back to the community. I was first exposed to his work over at the Star Wars Two Suns 6" Customs Facebook group that he created and put together with friends, Cubescity Customs. The page was created to help out action figure enthusiasts who are interested in customizing by bringing many talented individuals together to inspire and collaborate on their creative action figure ideas. The group was a really cool place for me to see what Star Wars custom action figure artists are doing in another scale. From resin cast character kits to informative tutorials that will help you fine tune your skills, Jason has made some awesome contributions to the page and to his portfolio. We highly recommend 6" collectors take notice of this artist so you don't miss out!
HARROP CUSTOMS
LINKS TO HIS WORK:
FB Group (Star Wars Two Suns 6" Customs)
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CubesCity Customs
Bryce Cooper aka CubesCity Customs started with purchasing just a few 6" figures 3 years ago, and from there his mild curiosity grew into a full collection. Soon he began seeing customs that others were making and decided he'd give it a go, making some of his own customs. Bryce got his name out there with his first big commission project, an old Ben Kenobi. Unfortunately, he later realized that commissions were taking up all his free time, and customizing felt like more like a second job than a hobby. So he stopped taking commissions and focused more on individual customs for himself.
He then met Jason Harrop, and they both realized that we had a real knack for making these custom 6" Star Wars figures. They then formed a relationship where Bryce would supply Jason with soft goods for their projects and Jason would supply him with head sculpts and later on full casting kits. They then decided to form Two Suns 6" Customs to share their work and to help others with their customs giving advice anywhere they could. The Facebook group they formed took off like wildfire!
CubesCity Customs
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BAD BATCH CUSTOMS
Some of the best customizers out in the world, still don't have a social media presence where you can see their work. This is very much the case with Bad Batch Customs. The father and son team from Louisiana have been sending me pictures of their work for a year now and their work is just amazing. They have sent me images of numerous custom Star Wars vehicles as well as an incredible Yavin Base diorama that they built in their garage.
They just sent me a ton of pictures of their latest completed "AT-OT" project that I just had to share with you all. The project consists of two AT-TE toy frames cut in half, and then secured together to make a four-legged frame. Once the frame was all set, they used a Dremel and Plexiglas to create the remaining shape by cutting up a Force Awakens Millennium Falcon and then shaped those pieces to fit cover the exterior. They said each part was a learning process, but a great learning lesson. Once the basic shape was made. the wiring, magnets, and lights went in.
Check out the video I put together from the pictures and video they sent us. If you look at the background, you will see their epic custom Yavin Base diorama.
Want to see more of their work, well, I just had them set up an Instagram account so you can all continue to follow their future projects. I suggest that you all do!
BAD BATCH CUSTOMS
"AT-OT"
This is another ship we were able to watch the build from start to finish. We admittedly thought this was a near impossible ship to produce a custom version of, so it was very nice to see BAD BATCH CUSTOMS prove us wrong. We are very impressed with the way this project turned out too; from the paint all the way to the engineering that was implemented to have their LAAT/c actually carry the AT-TE toy. We especially loved the Rishi Eel nose art on the ship!
"LAAT/c"
created by BAD BATCH CUSTOMS
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RAIDER OF THE LOST ART
Hendrik Van Doorn aka RAIDER OF THE LOST ART is a one-man custom figure creating initiative, made by a fan for the fans. His work focuses on background characters from the Original Star Wars Trilogy, but he has recently made a bunch of highly desirable figures from Rogue One too. He has been creating hundreds of figures on a commission basis for collectors from all over the world. Constructed at his home in Belgium and then shipped out to his fans that span from Singapore across to the United States. He performs special requests like blister carded figures and boxes that are accomplished in cooperation with fellow customizers. He has been creating custom action figures for the last three years. While he'll humbly tell you that he is still learning, evolving, and hopefully, making progress, we are quite sure when you judge his work for yourself, you will agree, he is already well accomplished in the art form. Any interest in his work, just shoot him a message. He will reply to every possible question you have.... any at all.
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@the.lost.waves
It has been quite awhile since we featured a digital action figure customizer. Truth is, there aren't many out there. What is a digital customizer you ask? Well, a digital custom isn't something you can exactly hold in your hand. It is more conceptual, but no less fun. These customs were not created on a workbench, but were the products of a skilled artist that slaved away for hours on Photoshop.
@the.lost.waves has been taking time between college courses to promote a "what could have been" action figure line if the animated Clone Wars action figure had returned with Season 7 of the show being launched on Disney+. In addition to that, he plans to venture into other Star Wars properties such as making battle packs for Battlefront II, and plans for The Mandalorian.
The animated Clone Wars toy line was Hasbro's most popular toy line. Hundreds of figures were made to support the show. Unfortunately, the toys that were made only covered the early seasons of the show and the later seasons being the most popular had little representation in plastic. Dedicated collectors of the toy line still fantasize about its return so they can one day achieve a complete collection.
He hopes to venture into the world of physical customs himself, saying "I want to make a Clone Wars figure CW28 (custom) no one has ever done before."
Here at home we have been doing our part to achieve that goal and have always chopping at the bit for a Kalani action figure. Especially after him appearing in Star Wars Rebels later down the road. So when we saw his version of the droid he earned a lifelong follower.
So many important characters were never released. The artist states that he created the characters he did "because they never had their debut in any way. I find it really weird that they are such iconic characters and don't have their action figure yet."
We have been closely watching his Instagram feed of @the.lost.waves for months now. Every new post, he drops another release we would have snatched up in seconds if they were available in stores.
With all things Clone Wars being such a hot property it is a real missed opportunity on Hasbro's part to not reintroduce them in the animated 3.75" scale. This artist shares our pain and that is what inspired him to create these images. That and the reduction of quality in the 3.75" action figure line.
As for the artist's plans for the future, he's most excited to create a General Pong Krell and Admiral Trench. To follow his work, you can find him on Instagram @the.lost.waves and on Twitter @waves_lost
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Audes_Workshop
Cal of Audes_Workshop is a customizer from the Midwest US. He grew up watching the original trilogy on VHS but was never aware that there were toys to be had until the third grade. When a friend brought an older sibling’s AT-AT to school one day for a class presentation, he was in awe. He bought his first Star Wars figure, a TIE Fighter Pilot, soon afterward, and has been collecting ever since.
Although Cal enjoyed swapping character accessories and outfits and loved reading through the custom submissions in ToyFare magazine growing up, the process of building figures himself always felt a bit daunting. Having only performed head swaps and repaints previously, he made his first true custom figures to properly populate the TVC Tatooine Skiffs. The positive feedback and guidance he received after sharing them with the community at Imperial Shipyards encouraged him to continue his customizing journey.
What began as a sort of completist’s compulsion has become a therapeutic pastime (perhaps it is still sometimes a compulsion). Cal has come to love working with soft goods and experimenting with mixed media and plans to continue expanding his print selection. He feels honored to be in the company of so many talented artists and passionate fans. The ability to share his love for Star Wars with others has provided a wonderful respite in current times.
Dad said that Audes Workshop is one of the best 3.75" customizers out in the community today. A true standout artist. His soft goods work is just amazing. The 3D resin casts that are available in his eBay store are must purchase items. What we love most about this artist is how generous he is with his recipes and his process which are listed in detail on his Imperial Shipyards thread in their forums. His talent is just off the charts and he is an artist who will have a lot of great customs in his future!
His custom action figures from The Mandalorian are just phenomenal and we felt his work would be a fitting way to celebrate the release of Season 2 of on Disney+ today.
Audes Workshop
Audes Workshop on Imperial Shipyards
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We encourage all customizers
who would like to see some of their customs displayed on our "Customs I
Wish I Owned" page to email us any links you would want us to post at:
(Any customizers
that we have posted up on the "Customs I Wish I Owned" page
that would like their video available in high definition HD format, please
contact us by email.)
