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.

Saturday, December 29, 2012

SECRET SANTA GIFTS RECEIVED

When Dad got home on Christmas Eve he found two packages in our mailbox.  Two packages that contained several Secret Santa custom action figures. For the last three years now, Dad participated in Yakface.com's Secret Santa event. This year, Dad was assigned Star Wars customizer Justin Cook aka Chewie as the recipient of his holiday custom creations. Chewie had us our first year participating in the event and he was kind enough to send us two custom action figures rather than just the single required figure the event promoted.

Dad wanted to return the favor when he participated in this year's event. Dad thought Justin would appreciate two unique Star Wars zombies.  Off went the figures and we awaited to see who our Secret Santa would be.  Dad was floored when he saw who our Secret Santa was...and even further blown away when he saw what was inside the package that was sent.  Chewie was our Secret Santa and he had sent us three Star Wars custom action figures.  He also sent us Dad's favorite figure of his, Kelos!  Also included in the package was an Utai Traveler and one cool looking Weequay.  The paint apps on the Utai really excentuated the sculpt of the figure.  The Weequay's paint had beautiful contrasts and masterful use of paint washes.  The gift was so generous.  Thank so much, Justin.  Dad's going to be sporting a permagrin for months





YAKFACE.COM SECRET SANTA 
CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES
created by CHEWIE






"WEEQUAY"
created by Chewie
 











"UTAI TRAVELER"
created by CHEWIE
 























"KRELOS"
created by CHEWIE



















 SECRET SANTA FIGURES SENT:

 Abyssin & Vurk Zombies
 created by Darth Daddy




Imperial Shipyard's Secret Santa
Custom Action Figure 


Yakface.com's Secret Santa event has always been a huge provider of Christmas spirit in our home and was a real influence on Dad's decision to run a Secret Santa over at Imperial Shipyards this year.

Darth Optimus created the Falleen custom action figure pictured below for Dad's Secret Santa gift for participating in the Imperial Shipyard's Secret Santa event Dad hosted.  We were really impressed with the action figure when we got in the mail earlier this month.  It's been torture waiting to post this figure and having to hold out until our other Secret Santa action figures arrive.  The figure even came with a great short story attached to it.  Dad was really happy that we had another Black Sun member in the house.  Especially since Dad had recently created a Guri.   Hope you enjoy the Falleen action figure as much as we do.  Thank you, Mike!

Darth Optimus hails from Texas. His name reflects his love of both Star Wars & Transformers. Darth Optimus works in the animal care field and is married with two children. He has been customizing off & on for 12 years....more so in the last two than in the last ten. He started out painting Battle Tech minis and progressed to making custom figs from Toy Biz X-men figs.  Darth Optimus next went to Transformers and completed probably two dozen figures....including a team of Junkions. Most recently he made the transition to Star Wars figures due to swappability with the different 3 3/4" lines...as well as, the possibility to do vehicles.

Fan Fiction Story by Darth Optimus:

"The Falleen known as Xeven was a young, promising, up-and-coming mercenary serving a long-term contract with Black Sun during the Clone Wars. After the execution of Order 66, the newly-formed Empire placed bounties on the heads of all surviving Jedi. The Black Sun organization picked up several deathmark contracts and assigned several in-house hunters to the task of finding the Jedi. Xeven was among those chosen.

A capable tracker, Xeven found and dispatched several Padawans and minor Knights over the next three years. His confidence grew with each victory and he believed that no Jedicould defeat him. He was wrong.

An encounter with an unidentified Jedi (but surely of Master level) left Xeven without both his hands. Turning to a Black Sun affiliated cyberneticist, Xeven chose to utilize hands from a Magna Guard series droid as replacements. Xeven meshed quickly with the robotics, and was on the hunt within a week. He is constantly on the look out for the Jedi who maimed him.

Xeven's weapons of choice are fairly basic. He prefers the Relby-v10 micro grenade launcher favored by Trandoshans as his main weapon. He carries an onyx-handled Westar-34 blaster pistol on his hip as back up. The weapon is the same style carried by his idol, Jango Fett. Lastly, Xeven carries an adamantium battle blade that has been in his clan for generations."



"XEVEN"
created by Darth Optimus
















Darth Optimus even included this custom Star Wars stand.




RECIPE:

Topknot: AOTC Aurra Sing
Head: Comic Pack Prince Xizor
Torso, Arms and Kama/Sarrong: TCW Embo
Hands: TCW Magna Guard
Legs: TFU Kota's Elite
Large Gun: TVC Bossk
Pistol and Holster: TVC Jango Fett
Melee Blade: Parts bin




 SECRET SANTA SENT:

SECRET SANTA MANDO
created by Darth Daddy




CHRISTMAS FIGURE SWAP
with Darksider80


When Dad organized this year's Secret Santa over at Imperial Shipyards, Darksider80 stated that he wanted to participate early in the sign-up process, but forgot to send his mailing address before the deadline arrived.  Dad matched everyone up, and then after all the emails were sent, Dad heard a response from him.  Dad felt bad leaving him out of the event, especially since he was relatively new to the custom action figure forum community.  The last thing Dad wanted was for this talented customizer to feel left out by a new community he was choosing to participate in.  As a solution Dad decided to create one extra figure and do a figure swap with Darksider80 on top of the one he was formally doing for the event. 

After being totally wowed by the plethora of Star Wars custom figures on the internet Darksider80 was inspired to bust a couple out himself! The purpose of his blog is just to share his work, get feedback and make connections with other people who love Star Wars, toys, and creative expression as much as he does. He love comments, whether you love his stuff or downright hate it, so leave your opinions for him to see! He is always open to ideas and suggestions for new projects as well.

Inside our package from Darksider80 was a Darth Zannah custom action figure from The Old Republic and masterfully produced at that.  Thanks so much  Noah.  She's gorgeous!



DARTH ZANNAH




"Zannah, known as "Rain" during her childhood, was a Human female from the planet Somov Rit. She was recruited to fight for the Jedi's Army of Light during the Ruusan campaign of the New Sith Wars but, after arriving on Ruusan, was separated from the group during a Sith attack and presumed dead. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, she had been saved and befriended by a member of the native Bouncerspecies called Laa. When the Brotherhood of Darkness later unleashed a planet-wide Force storm, Rain survived by instinctively enveloping herself and Laa with a bubble of Force energy. Not long afterward, the young girl watched as Laa was haplessly killed by Jedi scouts. Stricken with anger and grief, she unwittingly gave in to the dark side and murdered the Jedi. Her display of rage attracted the attention of the war's only surviving Dark Lord, Darth Bane, who decided to take her as his apprentice. Rain cast away the handle of her youth and instead embraced her birth name, becoming Darth Zannah.

Zannah's preliminary Force training took place on the planet Ambria and involved the study of ancient Sith magic. In her tutelage under Darth Bane, Zannah executed a variety of missions designed to incite anarchist movements throughout the Galactic Republic, including manipulating the terrorist Anti-Republic Liberation Front into a botched assassination attempt on former Supreme Chancellor Tarsus Valorum. From Hetton, the ARLF's leader, Zannah also recovered information regarding the creation of holocrons, a secret highly sought by her Master, who later killed Hetton after Zannah tricked him into an attack on the Dark Lord. When the parasites that comprised Bane's body armor began to cause him concern, Zannah was tasked with infiltrating the Jedi Temple archives on Coruscant to obtain information about the creatures. Her mission complete, Zannah was surprised to encounter her cousin Darovit, who confessed that he had exposed her presence to the Jedi. Zannah fled Coruscant with him and met Darth Bane on Tython, where the Sith prepared to battle the pursuant Jedi. Despite their numbers, all of the Jedi were slain, although Bane was grievously wounded and on the brink of dying. Zannah returned with her Master to Ambria and demanded on threat of death that the local healer save the Dark Lord, which he agreed to do only after Zannah revealed the Sith presence on Ambria to the Jedi. She betrayed and killed the healer upon completion of the procedure and also used her power to drive Darovit mad. The respondent Jedi assumed that he was the Sith Lord they sought and killed him, effectively convincing the Jedi of the Sith's final eradication. With no surviving witnesses, the existence of Darth Zannah and her Master remained safely anonymous.

The Sith relocated to Ciutric IV, and over the course of ten years, Zannah grew to be an accomplished Sith sorceress who equaled Darth Bane in strength. When she failed to confront him for the position of Dark Lord, Bane believed she lacked initiative. However, Zannah had already begun to contemplate his demise. On a mission to Doan, she learned of a Dark Jedi named Set Harth and enlisted the reluctant young man as her apprentice. Zannah returned with him to Ciutric IV to confront her own Master, only to find that Bane had been captured by the Doan Royal Guard. She then returned to Doan, where she infiltrated the place of Bane's imprisonment. She located Bane and fought him, but their duel ended in a draw when both were forced to flee the prison. Soon after, Bane, who had taken the Iktotchi Darth Cognus as his new apprentice, called Zannah to meet him on Ambria, where they dueled for the final time. Zannah was initially overwhelmed by her Master's attacks, but she was able to use her sorcery to injure him. As a last resort, Bane attempted to transfer his essence into her body, but was defeated when Zannah's spirit condemned his to the void of the dark side. Zannah then took Darth Cognus as her apprentice and continued Bane's legacy as Dark Lord of the Sith.



"Darth Zannah"
created by Darksider80

















 SECRET SANTA SENT:

RODIAN SNOWSPEEDER PILOT
created by Darth Daddy





Friday, December 28, 2012

MY CHRISTMAS HAUL

Hi everybody.  I just thought that I would share some of the cool presents I found under my tree courtesy of Santa.  Dad put most of my presents away already, but I was able to snap a few photos of some of my favorites.  Hope you enjoy!




NABOO N-1 STARFIGHER
created by Hasbro





Jocasta Nu
Brian's Toys Exclusive created by Hasbro





MTT
created by Habro









MTT DROID FIGHTER
created by Hasbro





Yoda's Jedi Starfighter
created by Hasbro









CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #25: 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.

Below is the "Force Unleashed II Starkiller" custom that Dad bought from Darth Dusty to give me for my Christmas present this year.  The whole diorama is just incredible.  Especially the two charred Stormtroopers that he included.  I just love this custom action figure diorama!





"The Force Unleashed II
Starkiller"
created by Darth Dusty









 














Darth Dusty's Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/DarthDustyCustoms
eBay seller: thinkinink1972





Saturday, December 22, 2012

DAD's SECRET SANTA GIFT for LUKE SPRYWALKER


"SECRET SANTA MANDO"
created by Darth Daddy



Well Dad finally finished the last Secret Santa that he had to make for the event he was coordinating at Imperial Shipyards and shipped it off to Luke Sprywalker.  Dad knew that Luke Sprywalker was on a Mandalorian kick and Dad wanted to send him a unique Mandalorian to replace the one Luke Sprywalker sent me for my Secret Santa.  Dad modified and resculpted the head of AOTC Orn Free Taa and mounted it on the body of a Legacy Rancor keeper.  Dad used the upper arms and lower legs of a Yaarna d'al' Gargan to make the arms for this figure.  Dad said he modified Yaarna's calves to look like the arms of an old Italian woman.  He used the upper legs of Yaarna for his custom as well, and attached them to a severely modified Apoxie Sculpt creation that used the lower torso of the Rancor Keeper as a base.  Dad kept the boots of the Rancor Keeper for his figure's lower legs.  The hands of the Orn Free Taa were modified so they would swivel.  By the time Dad finished the figure, I wanted it.  Dad went crazy with the picture taking on this one, so instead of posting a few pics like we normally do, Dad made a video.  We still have more Secret Santa customs that we received to post so be sure to check back later this week to see them when they are up for all to see.




The helmet was made from two helmets of a CW Heavy action figure, the top part of the Rancor Keepers weapon and the strap harness that comes with the G.I. Joe Zombie Viper.  The horns were from an AOTC Mas Amedda.




To make the shoulder armor, Dad created a skeleton from a Chewbacca waist piece that was cut into small sections dremeled down and sculpted over to get a hairy look.  He then used modified removable Mando armor of a Jango Fett to make the chest piece and stomach armor that he attched to the figure.  The soft goods Dad used were left over from the Clone Wars custom he made of Mother Talzin.




He kept all the accessories removable and included a Greedo soft goods vest as an alternate outfit for when the action figure was not all suited up.  Dad knew Luke Sprywalker sometimes made his figures with alternate looks so Dad thought it would be a fun touch. 




Dad created the jetpack with Apoxie Sculpt and a defective cast of CW Death Watch Mando jetpack that he got for free from SithHappensDad crated the jetpack so the unidentified gun could attach to the jetpack.  The missle was from the battle axe of a CW Savage Opress.  The jetpack attaches with a magnet that Dad concealed with Apoxie Sculpt under the hairy shoulder pads.




The alternate gun was from CW Heavy and the gun that attached to the jetpack was from some G.I. Joe fodder that we had. 






SECRET SANTA MANDO
created by Darth Daddy





Dad's "Secret Santa Mando" video was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.