AGE APPROPRIATE WARNING

*ADULT SUPERVISION & PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT ARE REQUIRED WHEN UTILIZING THE TOOLS, PRODUCTS & TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HERE ON OUR BLOG TO CREATE STAR WARS CUSTOMS.

Thursday, May 17, 2012

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #3: SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700






Kevin, or SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700, created two very cool figures in my collection. A Jedi version of me that he sent as a gift for showcasing his work and a Vergere action figure that we bought on Ebay when we first started collecting custom Star Wars action figures. SWK Kustoms 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 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!




VERGERE
created by SWK Kustoms






kr2700 designed and executed this wonderfully sculpted action figure from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. With a customized head, soft good skirt, and a borrowed body from Hasbro's Wioslea action figure, his Vergere action figure is top notch.





kr2700 has made a Vergere action figure 8 times already. Email him at kr2700@yahoo.com and see if you can talk him into making one for you.




With a long history like Vergere's, this is an action figure that is capable of providing hours of play time in your Star Wars universe.




Vergere (pronounced /vɚ'ʒɪɹ/) was a Fosh Jedi Knight in the waning years of the Galactic Republic. Almost immediately after she hatched, Vergere was taken under the wing of Jedi Master Thracia Cho Leem, who later instructed her in the ways of the Jedi. In 33 BBY, Vergere was part of a Jedi task force sent to Asmeru by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum to capture the leaders of the Nebula Front.

According to an account given by Lumiya to Jacen Solo in 40 ABY, Vergere was a rogue student, secretly studying sources outside of approved Jedi doctrine. Lumiya claimed that Vergere's studies of other rogue Jedi, including Count Dooku, had led her to Darth Sidious, and at some point between 32 BBY and 29 BBY, Vergere became a student of the Sith Lord. According to Lumiya, Vergere subsequently attempted to kill Sidious when she discovered the extent of his megalomania, but her murder attempt failed, forcing her to flee from his assassins, accepting a mission from the Jedi Council to Zonama Sekot, where she was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and disappeared in 30 BBY, finding the Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot and secretly living with them for half a century.

During the time of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Vergere reappeared and tortured Jacen Solo, wanting to turn him into a future Sith apprentice. She was hunted by the New Republic and hid herself, helping Warmaster Tsavong Lah and other Yuuzhan Vong as well as Solo.

At the climactic Battle of Ebaq 9, she sacrificed herself, killing many Yuuzhan Vong and saving Solo. By 40 ABY, the Sith revealed that Vergere had also, secretly, been one of them. Eventually, Vergere's training helped turn Jacen into Darth Caedus, the Dark Lord of the Sith.

It is possible that her difficulty to be easily categorized as a Jedi or Dark Jedi inspired the retcon that re-classified Vergere as a Sith. As Vergere's final words affirmed that she saw herself as a Jedi, it is possible she saw no difficulty in holding allegiance to both the Jedi and Sith orders simultaneously, that she believed herself to be redeemed by her actions prior to her death, or that she entirely rejected the moral restrictions of both the Jedi and the Sith, a potential view similar to that of Kreia in the distant past. It should also be noted that Vergere appeared as a Force ghost to Jacen Solo shortly after her death, an ability usually manifested by (redeemed) Jedi.

(Taken from Wookiepedia at: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vergere)













Jedi Elias Fulton
created by SWK Kustoms













Visit him on facebook: www.facebook.com/swkustoms

Email him at: SWK1138@yahoo.com for a quote.


Check out his "profile page" on ebay at:
http://myworld.ebay.com/kr2700?ssPageName=ADME:X:CEM:US:1181


Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Vintage Headswaps



We really liked the new head sculpts on the light up lightsaber Qui Gon Jinn and Obi Wan Kenobi so we did a head swap with them so we could use them on my Vintage figures instead.


SKILL LEVEL: BEGINNER

Monday, May 14, 2012

2012 CLONE WAR CLONE CORRECTIONS or why is Hasbro not trying to meet consumer expectations?


Recently in Star Wars collecting circles there has been a real uproar over Hasbro's recent decision to  minimize the amount of articulation in the Clone Wars figure line.  The Clone Wars figures were Hasbro's most popular selling Star Wars line and by removing working joints at the wrists, knees, and ankles, Hasbro has taken the action out of the figure.  Hasbro made a blanket statement that expressed that children aren't concerned with articulation in their action figures, but from the perspective of this child consumer, kids are very interested in having maximum articulation in their action figures.  Especially now that I can only buy one figure with my weekly allowance after Hasbro inflated the price while at the same time massively reducing the quality of their action figures. Thankfully our fodder bin had two very articulated older versions of both Rex and Wolffe that Dad used to super articulate the 2012 Clone Wars versions of these fan favorites.  We saw some really stellar versions of these characters given the same treatment by other customizers that were a lot more impressive, but Dad just went for the quick fix on these two so he could work on some more pressing projects that he was enjoying more.






 CAPTAIN REX and COMMANDER WOLFFE
created by Darth Daddy







Dad grabbed the bucket and paladin from the 2012 Clone Wars Season 4 Captain Rex action figure.  He then opened the hole on the bottom of the bucket with a dremel so it could snap onto the neck post of a spare Rex we had from the Clone Wars episode "The Deserter" when Rex was wounded and housed in the home of Cut Lawquane until he recovered.  





The figure now has knee, ankle, and ball jointed wrists!





Dad left the blast mark on the chest.






The figure we used even had a head  for when Rex took off his bucket.  





There's nothing better than a quick fix. 





For this figure Dad boiled and popped the legs off the two Wolffe figures we had and cut off the hands off of the new 2012 Wolffe.  Dad then drilled two small holes in the end of the wrists of the figure. Then Dad popped the ball hinge wrists off the older Wolffe and inserted the pegs into the newly drilled holes.





 Dad modified the pegs of the old Wolffe figure at the hip's hinge to make them small enough to snap into the hip of the new 2012 Clone Wars Wolffe and then used a black wash to weather the legs to match the rest of the figure.









SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE




Rex and Wolffe were featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.





Please Hasbro correct your oversight in next year's line of action figures.