Guri was a Human replica droid, designed to be an almost perfect replica of a Human female, and the only one of her kind engineered as an assassin. She was created around 7 BBY by the Imperial researchers Simonelle and Massad Thrumble for Prince Xizor, head of the Black Sun crime syndicate. After being sold to Xizor for nine million credits, Guri served as his lieutenant and was one of the few individuals the necessarily paranoid crime lord believed he could trust. Xizor left Guri to attend to much of the day to day running of Black Sun and many incorrectly assumed that she was the leader of the syndicate. Guri also served as an assassin, eliminating several of Xizor's enemies, including Imperial Advisor Fendrilon Koozar, the Ubese bounty hunter Boushh and the leaders of the rival company Ororo Transportation.
In 3 ABY, Xizor charged Guri with arranging the assassination of Luke Skywalker, hero of the Alliance to Restore the Republic and son of Xizor's rival, the Dark Lord of the Sith Darth Vader. After an attempt on Skywalker's life by a Black Sun operative failed, Skywalker's friend Leia Organa sought Xizor's help in uncovering who was behind it. Xizor sent Guri to rendezvous with Organa and bring her to him on Coruscant. Skywalker later attempted to rescue Organa, infiltrating Xizor's Palace and confronting the Dark Prince. During the encounter, Guri fought with Skywalker, but was defeated by the young Jedi. However, Skywalker spared her life and Guri was able to escape the subsequent destruction of the palace.
After the fall of Black Sun and the death of Xizor, Guri set out on a personal quest to locate Thrumble and get him to purge her assassin programming so she could start a new life, though Xizor's niece, Savan, attempted to stop her and to ensure the droid's continuing service to Black Sun. Despite Savan's efforts, Guri was able to track down Thrumble on Hurd's Moon and was successfully reprogrammed. After defeating Savan, Guri teamed up with Dash Rendar, working together as a mercenary team before agreeing to serve as the template for a new range of human replica droids.
Dad has been saying he was working on a Shadows of the Empire Guri action figure for months now. He said that when Hasbro created Prince Xizor and didn't make a Guri action figure it was like creating a Jedi and not including his lightsaber. When Bastilla Shan came out, Dad sanded down the entire action figure to create a skeleton on which he sculpted the Guri you see pictured here. The only other part from an action figure that was used was a heavily modified POTF Lando Calrissian General's cape. Pretty much the entire figure is a sculpt, except the face. Dad only sculpted the hair around the face. Since the images of Guri that Dad used to help him create the figure were so diverse, Dad felt comfortable taking some artistic liberty and keeping the face that was already there. I must admit,although the sanded down skeleton was sitting on the shelf for months and I was starting to wonder if he was ever going to finish, I feel like Dad did a super job and I dare to say it's his best figure yet.
Dad also used green stuff for the first time to sculpt the fabric at the front of the figure. He found it very difficult to work with and did a majority of the sculpting on that piece by sanding it with a Dremel. Later in the day he found some liquid green stuff that he found much easier to work with.
I can write all day about this figure, but I want to get this post done so I can watch the Star Wars Custom Action Figure Panel on Imperial Shipyards in an hour. Lucaslones of Custom Action Figure News and Imperial Shipyards are showing it live at 11:15am EST on Sunday, August 26th, 2012 on their home page. I can't wait to watch Sillof, Sith_fire30 and Luke Sprywalker discuss the history and the hobby of Star Wars action figure customs. Dad says Guri is Custom for the Kids Celebration VI exclusive tribute figure to help promote the event and the hard work by his friends on the panel.
"GURI"
created by Darth Daddy
"Shadows of the Empire:
Luke Skywalker"
created by Darth Daddy
This action figure was inspired by customizer Wookie-Balls.
This Luke is made from a TVC Endor Capture body and saber. TVC Bespin Head, blaster and belt. The vest is from a Rebel Fleet Trooper and it isn't accurate to the cover of the book.
Dad's Guri action figure was featured in Yakface.com's Customizer Mega Spotlight.
