YAKFACE SECRET SANTA 2014 featuring DAN of the DEAD & DARTH DADDY

For the last 4 years, I have been creating custom action figures for Yakface.com's Secret Santa event.  It's my favorite way to celebrate the holidays since I joined the Star Wars customizing community.  The Yakface forums are where I started posting my artwork when I first started making action figures, and where I made my first friendships with my peers.  Dan of the Dead was also an artist who frequently posted there and I loved his work a great deal.

I wasn't sure what characters he had or didn't have in his collection so I figured I'd do a creative build for his gift.  Ever since Hasbro cheapened their production standards in their 3 3/4" line, I have been using whatever remaining fodder I had to create characters that were considered cannon, or at least had "Legends" status.  It had been ages since I made a character from my own imagination. Dan of the Dead had a real talent for creative builds himself. and I remember that he admired some of my previous builds.  I knew that this was the perfect opportunity for a return to form and make a figure that I had bouncing around my head for a while now.

I knew I wanted to make a Whipid custom, and that Whipids were known for being successful big game hunters.  I had a mold of PeakOB1's narglatch headdress and I knew a cast from it would be the perfect accessory for the build. I also sculpted onto a K'Kruhk head to make some unique facial hair, and created my own hands and feet for the figure.  I used the Merumeru figure for my base torso, and by the time I was done,  I really loves how the figure turned out.

"WHIPID BIG GAME HUNTER"
created by DARTH DADDY

Elias hasn't been able to keep his hands off the gift we received from Dan of the Dead since we got it in the mail on Monday.  I kept noticing him taking breaks every five minutes, picking up the box and gazing at the swoop within as he worked hard at translating the Aurebesh note we received with our gift.

I was extremely excited when I found out the Dan of the Dead was our Secret Santa this year.  I was always a huge fan of his work, and I've always wanted one of his customs in Elias' collection.   Dan was such a huge influence in my development as an artist.  He was one of the more active customizers in the Yakface forums when I was just a beginner, and I definitely looked to him as one of the artists I hoped to emulate as I dove deeper into the practice of making my own action figures.

AUREBESH NOTE

The note we received from Dan of the Dead written in Aurebesh.

TRANSLATION

Greetings Sentient,

And congratulations on your acquisition on your Die Industries Scatterblast Class Swoop. As you know, Die Industries patented dual intake engine gives your swoop unparalleled power, and the Scatterblast's unique over/under engine configuration is certain to turn heads!

Regrettably, recent Imperial regulations prevent us from installing the full advanced weapons upgrade you requested!  We have credited your account for the cost of the package and hope you enjoy the complimentary, personal defense weapons upgrade installed in its place! Imperial regulations for the require us clarify that the requested detail paint scheme is to no longer be known as "Rebel Red"! The Imperial Security Bureau has suggested "Compliance Crimeon" as a replacement!

At Die Industries, we understand you have a choice when it comes to purchasing swoops and other high-end performance speeders, and we appreciate the chance to serve your repulsorcraft needs! We'd also like to wish you a Happy Life Day (barring any local Imperial sanctions regulating the observation of said holiday in your particular sector.)

Sincerely,

Faded Datheon (Dan of the Dead)
Chief Engineer

"Die Industries Scatterblast Class Swoop"

created by Faded Datheon aka Dan of the Dead

Click the links below for more of Dan the Dead:

http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?t=2056

and:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=2656.0

Be sure to check out his blog:

STAR WARS CUSTOMS 

FROM PREVIOUS 

SECRET SANTA EVENTS

2013

 VINTAGE DROID

created by Hyperdrive

2012

YAKFACE.COM SECRET SANTA 
CUSTOM ACTION FIGURES

created by CHEWIE

"Abyssin & Vurk Zombies"

 created by Darth Daddy

"XEVEN"

created by Darth Optimus

"SECRET SANTA MANDO"

created by Darth Daddy

"Darth Zannah"

created by Darksider80

"RODIAN SNOWSPEEDER PILOT"

created by Darth Daddy

"Mandalorian"

by Luke Spryalker

2011

SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS
by Darth Phantom

SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS
by Darth Daddy

2010

SECRET SANTA CUSTOMS

by Chewie

"Zombie Jedi"

by Darth Daddy

MERRY CHRISTMAS 
& 
HAPPY LIFE DAY!

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