DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: "CAPTAIN REX's AT-TE" by ERIC BERRY aka HOLE IN THE GROUND PRODUCTIONS

This Rebels version of Captain Rex's AT-TE is a custom that many artists wanted to build ever since season 2 of Rebels premiered. Yet you need more than just desire to make it happen. Probably the coolest custom I came across since the start of the new year, Eric Berry's Rebels AT-TE has all the add-ons that give an already large vehicle an even bigger presence. There’s so many delicate parts and an abundance of details crammed into this lush playset. Eric admits that he had to “split the difference” on some things, as the toy is close to 80% in scale to the figures. As a result, some things like the cannon are somewhat bigger than they should be, even after compressing the parts in size. For example, he stated that you can’t pivot the cannon too far or it eventually hits the antennae. Most of it was scratch built. Lots of tiny little parts and details. Other cool features are a working rear door, cranes that rotate and pivot, and a folding rear ladder. My favorite part of the build was the work he did on the interior. He made only one bunk since they’d sleep in shifts, on the floor, or in hammocks in the command center. Then he tossed in a couple chairs, and a dejarik table. Opposite the bunk is a small galley and up on the wall they have a mounted battle droid head, “Clanker”, as a joke from their former days in the Grand Army. Other features inside include a rifle rack, welding gear, and storage above the bunk. Almost all parts are plastic except for some cargo boxes that were wood and skinned in styrene. 

This is one beautiful piece. Museum worthy. I hope one day he offers casts of all the accessories he created for this piece so he can make AT-TE conversion kits for sale in his diorama parts webpage so we can make our own at home. 

Chris Seekell from The Star Wars Underworld Visits "Customs for the Kid"

Earlier this week, Chris Seekell from The Star Wars Underworld came to our home to see the "Customs for the Kid" collection first hand.  While he was here, he filmed the part of our collection that was on display and had a chance to interview Elias and me. The interview covered our origins as a customizing team and we shared information about our Customizer Directory page as well as where you can find information about custom action figures in our personal collection made by artists from all around the world.  Chris Seekell's mini-documentary should be released in a few weeks, so keep your eyes open for a future post on our blog that documents his visit.

photo by Chris Seekell

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: LORD SIXTH CUSTOMS

David Rodriguez, aka Lord Sixth Customs is a Spaniard who has been living in England for almost 4 years now. He has been collecting figures for more than 15 years (mainly Hasbro, Kotobukiya and Sideshow). He always loved people's customs and thought that he would never have the skills to make his own. His first crack at customizing started almost two years ago; as a fan of the Boba Fett from the "Holiday Special", Lord Sixth Customs thought that it would be a cool idea to paint the version from Kotobukiya in tenth scale. The final result was good, but not as good as he had hoped. From that moment, he kept painting different figures, and working with different scales, doing good and bad things, learning from the mistakes, and little by little improving his skills. He's very humble, and he'll still tell you he is a rookie, but anyone who sees his work knows that he has some serious talent. He have been posting my work as "coleccionismosw" on the Sideshowcollectors forums, but it was an improvised name that he never liked, so in order to create something a bit more original he created the "Lord Sixth" moniker with the "Sixth" to represent the scale he works in. Definitely check out the links because this artist has a large body of work to explore.  Most of his customs were still in Spain and he didn't have the ability to photograph them for this feature but plenty more photos exist in the provided links.  Enjoy!

You can see Lord Sixth Customs on display at Sideshowcollectors:

http://www.sideshowcollectors.com/forums/star-wars-custom-figures-and-dioramas/142239-coleccionismosw-1-6-customs.html 

Lord Sixth Customs Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/lordsixthcustoms

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: CELEBRATION ANAHEIM - ACTION FIGURE CUSTOMIZING PANEL

So if you all have been wondering why I haven't posted in a while, it is because I have been working on developing content for the upcoming Action Figure Customizing Panel being held at Celebration Anaheim. It is only the second time ever that this panel is being presented at a Star Wars Celebration. The first time was at Celebration VI. Jamie Follis aka Sillof will be hosting the event once more on Friday, April 17th from 12:00pm to 1:00pm on the Collector's Stage 210AB.

Sillof will provide the audience with an introduction to the hobby, and explain the different types of customs that exist. He'll even give a brief overview of how custom action figures are made, how to disassemble and reassemble action figures, sculpting help, paint tips, as well as information on molding and casting.  Other topics covered will be 3-D printing, as well as the supplies and resources that Star Wars custom action figure artists utilize in their step-by-step process.

There will also be a customizer showcase featuring some of the most talented Star Wars customizers in the hobby today.  The five artists being featured are: PeakOB1, Sillof, Sith_fire30, Chewie, and me, Darth Daddy. It's a huge honor for me to be one of the featured artists at this year's panel. Unfortunately, I will not be attending Celebration, but I'm glad I will still have some kind of presence at the event.  The Panel will also have the best Celebration exclusives available, random giveaways of Star Wars custom action figures created by the featured artists.  This is one panel you don't want to miss.

The event will be sponsored by Aves and Sculpey. Also be on the lookout for Sillof at the Diorama Workshop located at the Hasbro booth where he will be teaching classes on how to build Star Wars custom action figures.  Class participation is limited so be sure to sign up as soon as you get to Celebration so you don't miss your chance to be taught by one of the masters.

by Darth Daddy

by PeakOB1

by Sillof

by Sith_fire30

by Chewie

If you were bummed that Hasbro had no 3 3/4" exclusive for Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015, fear not.  The artists that are being showcased at the Action Figure Customizing Panel have provided some of the coolest Celebration exclusives ever available at a Star Wars Celebration event.  Artists like Chewie, PeakOB1, Sith_fire30, and Elias of Customs for the Kid have all provided unique action figure art that will be given away to lucky attendees at the Panel.  

Last Celebration more than half of the people who were waiting on line for the Action Figure Customizing Panel had to be turned away once the room filled to capacity. so if you want to get one of these exclusive items, you better get on line for the panel early.  It's a must see event!  Be there on Friday, April 17, 2015 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm at the Collector's Stage 210AB.

 "Commander Faie, Commander Cody & Admiral Screed" created by Sith_fire30

 "Imperial Troop Transport Pilot" by Elias

 Vehicle and additional figures not included.

"The Force Awakens" Han Solo created by Chewie

"Star Wars: Rebels" Lando Calrissian created by PeakOB1.

This video was put together by Darth Daddy of "Customs for the Kid".  It was created to play during the Q&A of the Action Figure Customizing Panel at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim this past Friday.  The video features almost all of the Star Wars custom action figure artist's work Customs for the Kid have archived here on our blog. We hope it's a nice surprise for the artists whose work appears in the video to know that their work was planning on being displayed in front of the Celebration audience this year.  

http://www.sillof.com/C7-Custom_Figure_Panel.htm

DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: My Kind of Scum

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer My Kind of Scum in his latest post over at The Star Wars Underworld.

CLICK HERE TO READ

Loje Nella

My Kind of Scum (also known as Craig in other 'real world' circles) was born in Ohio and currently lives in Wyoming. He has been a fan of Star Wars since seeing A New Hope in theatres (meaning he's old). Over the years, his fandom has only grown through the Original Trilogy, the Prequels, releases by West End Games, and the enormous catalogue of the Expanded Universe/ Legends. The first customizing he ever did was when the POTF2 line was in its infancy. He would heat figure's joints to bend them into poses, and changed out figure heads, etc. 

Later, after seeing what other customizers were accomplishing he was fully drawn into the customizing world and has been seriously customizing ever since. Currently, he's trying to teach himself how to sculpt and to add articulation to figures so that he can take his customizing to the next level. He prefers to create his own characters and has been doing prep work for years on a photonovel series that he hopes to one day get off of the ground. He cites Star Wars customizer/photonovelist, Chewie as one of his greatest inspirations. 

Click this link to see more from

My Kind of Scum