Here at home, one of our favorite episodes of The Clone Wars is "Bounty Hunters" from Season 2. The episode is based on Akira Kurosawa's classic film "Seven Samurai" and it did a wonderful job paying tribute to one of the masters. I'm a huge cinefile, and I collect movies the way Elias collects Star Wars toys so the "Bounty Hunters" episode will always have a special place in my heart. This episode was really exciting for me as a Kurosawa fan. I've acquired almost all of his films over the last decade and a half while working to complete my library of Criterion Collection releases. To have an episode of The Clone Wars that not only featured Hondo Ohnaka, my favorite Clone Wars character, but also paid tribute to one of my favorite directors of all-time was a real treat.
As I watched the episode for the first time, I secretly hoped that Hasbro would one day release a Battle Pack of the infamous "Seven Samurai" crew from The Clone Wars. As I saw plans for Embo and Seripas to be released, I started to get really excited that Sugi and Rumi Paramita may not be far behind. Unfortunately, they never were produced. While Hasbro did end up producing 5 of the 7, Sugi and Rumi never made it to store pegs. Rumi Paramita's fate probably had a lot to do with Hasbro's decision on whether or not to produce the toy, but we always felt that Hasbro made a huge mistake not making Sugi, since she had such an enormous fan following. Their absence left us feeling like we had an enormous hole in our collection that we desperately wanted to fill.
Peakob1 was so successful creating a version of Sugi for himself, that a few months ago I commissioned him to make Elias one too. The results were beautiful. Peakob1 is definitely one of the most skilled customizers out there today. Once Sugi was in hand and posed on Elias' Clone Wars shelf, I decided to get the materials to make Rumi too. Peakob1 and I spend a lot of time on the phone talking Star Wars together, and when I mentioned that I was planning to make a Rumi, he volunteered to take on the project. Since he did such a wonderful job on Sugi, and I am already swamped with all the projects I already have started, I felt like it was a great idea. Was it ever!
With Hondo's Pirate Gang already created, I can now say that we finally have a completed set of action figures from The Clone Wars "Bounty Hunters" episode, and I can't tell you what a great feeling that is. Thank you, Peakob1 for helping to make our dream a reality!
"RUMI PARAMITA"
created by Peakob1
QUICK HEAD SWAPS
These are just two head swaps that you may want to try yourselves at home.
Head: Star Wars 2012 Clone Wars Action Figure CW No. 12 Obi-Wan Kenobi
Body: Star Wars 2009 Clone Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Freeco Speeder)
Body: Ahsoka Tano (with Rotta The Hutt), Star Wars The Clone Wars Collection, 2008
Head: Ahsoka Tano (Cad Bane's Escape), Star Wars The Clone Wars Collection, 2011
Peakob1's "Rumi Paramita" was featured in Yakface.com's "Customizer Mega Spotlight".
Peakob1 on Facebook:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5631
Peakob1 on Droids & Ewoks:
http://droidsandewoks.forumotion.com/customs-and-art-f13/
Peakob1 on Jedi Defender:
http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=20796.0
To go to the ebay page of Peakob1 click below:
http://myworld.ebay.com/peakob1/?_trksid=p4340.l2559
