*ADULT SUPERVISION & PROPER SAFETY EQUIPMENT ARE REQUIRED WHEN UTILIZING THE TOOLS, PRODUCTS & TECHNIQUES DESCRIBED HERE ON OUR BLOG TO CREATE STAR WARS CUSTOMS.
To all our fans in the Woodbridge, NJ area, Customs for the Kid will be attending Star Wars Spectacular in Woodbridge, NJ this weekend. Darth Daddy and Elias will be there with an assortment of customs created by Customs for the Kid,as well asseveral other customizers featured on the blog. Stop by, we'd love to meet
you. Other artist's work being featured at our table will be custom
action figures created by: Luke Sprywalker, Hangarbay94, Stronox, Peakob1, Lucasclones, Wraithnine, Sillof, Chewie, and more. It's a chance to see some really signature pieces in person. We look forward to seeing you all there.
Now, this is some inside scuttlebut talk from the custom action figure community that I'm getting ready to share with all of you. Believe it or not, most of the artists that create these custom figures talk to each other, and rather frequently at that. We all chat about the history of the art, where to get our supplies for the cheapest, and share tips on how to achieve desired results on a project that we have tasked ourselves with.
Anyway, here's the scoop! If you think Hasbro's figures are getting expensive, the price of custom action figures has skyrocketed, and for good reason too. A lot of conversation has been had on this topic within the community and from what I can tell, the history of price points for custom action figures starts around the time Customs for the Kid got into the hobby and started this blog.
Our blog got started when I bought Elias a few Star Wars custom action figures created by a customizer named JACKOFTRADZE who sold custom Star Wars action figures for around $30 - $125 per figure on ebay. Every Sunday night at 9:30pm EST, JACKOFTRADZE would post at least five new figures a week on his ebay store. Let me tell you ALL the figures made by JACKOFTRADZE were
masterfully crafted. The action figures that went for the most money
were just the more highly sought after characters that people wanted in
their collection. Characters like the Tonnika sisters, Fozec, Jaina Solo, or a Jedi Master Luke Skywalker would be available in an ebay auction or if you got there early enough, you could grab a figure at a "Buy It Now" price. Rarely did the "Buy It Now" price go over $40, but it sometimes did. The cost of the figures were insanely cheap and they sometimes sold out in minutes! Highly sought after figures increased in price whenever they were the center of bidding wars. Looking back, JACKOFTRADZE was a lot like Santa Claus. He made beautiful toys and practically gave them away for free. His prices were so low that very few customizers could compete in the market at all.
Tonnika Sisters
created by JACKOFTRADZE
Consumers familiar with the auctions of JACKOFTRADZE had unrealistic expectations when it came to cost. They started to approach other customizers that were looking to sell their art with severely lowballed offers whenever they tried to commission work from these artists. As a result, most customizers refused to sell their work. Heck, the parts used to createone of JACKOFTRADZE figures almost always outweighed the price of his entire completed figure. He never even charged customers for his labor. Not for assembly or for painting it. He was a customizer that just enjoyed creating the figures, while pulling down a couple of hundred a week to support his hobby and buy more supplies.
If you were a collector of custom Star Wars action figures, this was the Golden age. Beautiful works of art were available for so cheap. The only negative, any customizer who wanted a return on his parts and his labor was lowballed and usually to great insult. Customers wanted the JACKOFTRADZE price. Consumers need to realize that JACKOFTRADZE was an exception and not the rule. There are several customizers who create action figures professionally and it is their only job. They support their families with the sale of their art.
Now this is by no means a criticism of JACKOFTRADZE. He has every right to sell his work at any price he feels fit. Personally, I'd like to thank JACKOFTRADZE, because if it weren't for him, there would be no Customs for the Kid,
there would be no blog, and I wouldn't have found my way into this fun
and rewarding art form. Elias loved his work and his blog. So much so, that he wanted us to get in on the action, create our own toys, and start our own blog. The custom action figures of JACKOFTRADZE have been an inspiration in our home and are awesome
addition to our collection. Years later they are still proudly on display in Elias' room. We have almost 20 of his action figures.
Unfortunately for the consumer, this all came to an end. One Sunday, about a year ago, his store didn't restock and there have been no new figures since. Almost immediately custom action figure prices started to soar. Collectors who were used to paying low prices were now spending up to $250 for an action figure made by artists like Mercury Art Studios or Stronox, and the prices are still going even higher. Now when you search on ebay for custom action figures, you have two types of custom action figures. The very cheap custom action figures and the very expensive.
Vilmarh Grahrk by Stronox
While you can still find cheap Star Wars customs on ebay, the cheaper figures aren't of the same quality as the ones that were created by JACKOFTRADZE. If you want action figures from an artist of his skillset, be prepared to spend big money for a good quality action figure in today's market. It's getting to the point where $250 is cheap. And for good reason.
These aren't just action figures. They are
action figure "art".
Hasbro can sell their action figures for a low cost because their
figures are mass produced, and the company is able to make the
money back for the time that was invested to create their prototype
figure. Think of it as consumers crowdfunding the creation of a figure for a company by absorbing the costs if creating the prototype. When you commission a custom, you are absorbing 100% of the labor and production costs yourself and the more expensive Hasbro's figures get the more expensive it becomes to make a custom figure.
Now, we definitely have several figures on this blog that wouldn't be
expensive. For example, there are several figures on here that I threw together in under an hour just to have a custom action figure posted on the blog for
the week, but a majority of the figures on this blog
were
created with parts from three or more figures that all had to be
purchased to create a new figure. The parts alone for a custom action figure can usually run $50+ per
figure creation. Customers want maximum articulation in an action figure if they are going to make a purchase, and that requires more expensive figures ($15 - $30+ for
each figure used to create the custom) to meet their demand. I've
seen customizers use over $100 in parts to kitbash just one figure.
Consumers of action figure art really don't understand what goes into making a figure. Hopefully, by the time they finish reading this article they will be a bit more educated and they will see the logic behind the higher price point.
It could also be helpful if I explain exactly what a consumer should expect if they decide to commission an artist to make them a custom action figure. First, don't treat the transaction like you are walking into a store to make a purchase. Art means you have to work around the creative schedule of an artist. What does that mean? Simply put, it means the artist finishes when they finish. Believe me... you want a good product, so it isn't wise to nag, rush or bully the customizer to get your figure faster. These figures are very labor intensive. Action figures like the Ziro the
Hutt I created took 3 ten hour sittings of sculpting, followed by painting, and I still
don't feel like he's done. That is why the cost of figures is going up.
I don't know many artists who would accept less than $100 for 30 hours of labor and on top of that not be reimbursed for the supplies. Customizers definitely deserve a living wage and not even an entry level wage. An entry level worker is not a skilled worker, most of the artists who create these figures are extremely skilled. Customizers are changing their perspective on what they feel they deserve and who can blame them?
Anytime anyone contacts us asking for us to make a figure for them, we are always
flattered and honored that they would want one of our figures, but when approaching any customizer for commission work be prepared to pay and pay handsomely. It can take anywhere from 5-20 hours to make a figure depending on the amount of work involved and you are asking a complete stranger to invest that on your behalf. Just painting a figure takes almost 5 hours even before sculpting is even figured in. Respect these artists the same way you would a plumber, mechanic, or any other professional individual you solicit services from.
The action
figures on display here on the blog are all one-of-a-kind pieces and some can go for hundreds to
sometimes thousands of dollars depending on what it is. That puts a lot of these figures out of most people's financial reach. But, well, isn't that why art that is in galleries goes for so much.
I recently sent an email to JACKOFTRADZE to figure out what happened and why he quit selling. I haven't heard back, but he is certainly missed.
Feel free to leave comments below. We'd love to hear your thoughts on the topic.
-Darth Daddy
Lucasclones and Tamer were
joined by a very esteemed panel of custom action figure artists to talk
about the very controversial subject of commissioning a custom action
figure project. Just what is a fair price on a custom action figure or
vehicle? Custom Action Figure News aimed to cover this entire process from start to finish, including both the commissioner and the commissionee perspective. CAFN would like to thank Luke Sprywalker, Darth Daddy, and Ratfink's Customs for giving CAFN some time to talk about this.
So Dad was spending a few hours today updating our "Customs I Wish I Owned" archive page. As he was working, he came across the video for his friend Rob, aka Stronox, and realized that our video for his work was last updated in 2011. Stronox is very well known in customizing circles for being the artist that we all aspire to paint like. I know I'm an admirer. Dad and Stronox go way back to when we first started this blog. Stronox if you're reading this, Dad says he's looking forward to catching up. Ever since Rob had a schedule change at his job, Dad finds that he usually has to be in bed before Rob is available to talk so he can be up and functioning for his own job.
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 figure's 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.
On Saturday, when Dad ran down to the mailbox, he came back into the house with a gift from one of my all-time favorite customizers, Stronox. When Dad first started customizing, one of the first friends that he made in the community was Stronox, who has some of the best customs in the Star Wars galaxy. If you ask anyone who frequents the customizing forums who their top ten favorite customizers are, I bet you Stronox would be on everybody's lists. His paint applications are out of this world and his attention to detail is second to none. He started off creating toys for his son and this later led to a lot of commission work from fans. Lately he has taken a break from commissions to work on more personal projects, so anyone that has a toy created by Stronox is extremely lucky to have one. When he first started creating customs, his work was predominantly Star Wars characters, but his most recent work features more G.I. Joe, popular super heroes, and a customizer line called Desolation.
I was always a huge fan of Stronox's version of Vilmarh Grahrk, so getting a super-articulated Villie created by him was about as cool as it gets. Thanks so much Rob! He's awesome!
Vilmarh Grahrk by Stronox
You can get to the blog for Stronox by
clicking the link below:
Dad wants to apologize to everyone for falling behind on our "Customs I Wish I Owned" postings. No need to worry, we have plenty of new customizers on the way for you all to check out. Dad has four new artists that he is waiting to introduce you all to in the weeks to come.
We also have a lot of new pieces to feature in our "Customizer Spotlight" with Star Wars custom action figures created by customizers Luke Sprywalker, Peakob1, Sillof, Omar Rivera, and two new additions created by kr2700/SWK Kustoms and Wraithnine who have been featured before in the "Spotlight".
To hold you all over, Dad just updated the video for Stronox in our "Customs I Wish I Owned" archives. Check out what he has been working on since Dad completed his last video.
STRONOX
Stronox is a 33 year old nurse from Pennsylvania. When he isn't parenting, he's either customizing figures, drawing, painting, reading, collecting toys, or gaming.
The customizers keep rollin' in for the "Customs I Wish I Owned" page. New additions to the page are darknsour, Stronox and Darth Kikinou. Richard Mingoia a.k.a darknsour
This 46 year old 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.
Stronox is a 33 year old nurse from Pennsylvania. When he 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:
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:
