"BO KATAN" created by Customs for the Kid & CloneCommanderJay

Bo Katan is a character that really needed to be released in action figure form.  I know we really wanted to have her here at home.  For some reason Hasbro is hesitant to release female characters in their toy line.  Bo Katan was an immediate fan favorite from The Clone Wars TV series. Unfortunately, it appears that she won't be released any time soon , if at all, even though she has a huge fan following.  Especially among the fangirls.  I wanted to get this figure posted after I read an awesome article by Teresa Delgado Lutha of the Star Wars podcast "Fangirls Going Rogue" addressing the gender divide that currently exists in the Star Wars community.  We've been advocating for Hasbro to design their toy line with fangirls in mind for a long time now on our "Customs for the Fangirls" page.  Teresa's article is a must read that I hope results in some Star Wars activism from the fans.  Hopefully one day we'll see Bo Katan on pegs, preferably in a 2-pack with Duchess Satine to make it easier to sell. Unfortunately, at this point in time, making your own is probably your only chance to have her in your Clone Wars action figure collection.

I first saw this action figure on the Facebook page of Star Wars customizer Wraithnine.  It was his friend Jay Butterworth's Bo Katan custom, and the artist was selling the figure.  Jay Butterworth aka CloneCommanderJay was new to customizing and he hadn't yet learned to tackle the issue of paint rub on the articulating joints.  He sold me the figure under the premise that I would fix the paint rub for him.  I used my Dremel to reduce the joints, added some needed sculpting to the helmet and lower torso that was absent. Elias painted a new headsculpt for Bo Katan that we purchased from Audes Workshop on eBay.

Now I didn't do the build on this figure, so you'll have to bare with me.  I will do my best to cover the recipe.  The lower legs are from the Clone Wars Death Watch Mandalorian Commando action figure, the thighs are from the Clone Wars Aurra Sing action figure but have been modified with my Dremel to remove some strapping, the torso was from an Isabet Reau action figure with sculpting on the lower part of her armor under the belt, also swapped out the belt to make it more screen accurate.

I'm not sure what helmet was used, but Jay did the sculpting around the eyes. I did the sculpting along the bottom of the helmet.

Hope this post inspires more versions of this character in action figure form.  This collaboration was loads of fun!

"BO KATAN"

created by Customs for the Kid & CloneCommanderJay

"Bo Katan" Headsculpt 

created by Audes Workshop and painted by

Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

Headcast by Audes_Workshop

This is how Bo Katan looked before Darth Daddy's minor modifications.

Dad's "Bo Katan" action figure was featured on Jedi News.

 This action figure was featured on the "Fangirls Going Rogue" Facebook page.

This action figure was featured on the "FanGirl Zone" Facebook page.

Article about the Great Gender Divide:

http://www.jedinews.co.uk/news/news.aspx?newsID=15684

Teresa makes an appearance on the Star Wars Report to discus Star Wars Rebels, her article on the gender divide and the marketing of Star Wars Rebels:

 http://www.starwarsreport.com/2014/02/23/gender-and-the-star-wars-rebels-marketing-swr-122/

Fangirls Going Rogue FB page: 

https://www.facebook.com/FangirlsGoingRogue

PHASE II - PRE VIZSLA

"FEMME MANDO" created by Darth Daddy

Recently JediStyle, one of Dad's all-time favorite customizers, sent him a message, and asked Dad if he could commission him to make a custom Star Wars action figure.   Since Dad was always such a huge fan of his work, Dad immediately asked if they could do a figure swap as payment.

Dad has long admired JediStyle's creative character creations, his ability to apply paint in such a way that the colors REALLY pop, and are expressed with such beautiful contrasts.  JediStyle has a great eye for color and he's one of the best painters in the Star Wars custom action figure community.

I don't have a Star Wars custom created by JediStyle in my collection, and I can't tell you how happy I am that I will soon. 

For the figure swap they both agreed to create either a bounty hunter or a Jedi for each other and mail it when they were finished.

Dad didn't feel like he had any good Jedi fodder, at least not at the level to reach his standards.

Which meant that Dad would be making a bounty hunter.  As I saw Dad make this action figure, I kept trying to talk him into letting me have it.  I tried to talk him into just starting a completely new figure for JediStyle.  It didn't work.

At first Dad was going to try and create some crazy alien bounty hunter, but after seeing JediStyle's Mandalorian series, Dad noticed that there were no female Mandalorians on display.  That's when Dad decided that instead of doing an alien bounty hunter, he was going to create a female Mandalorian bounty hunter.

Dad also wanted to make this his first attempt at creating a steam punk action figure.  Dad used metallic paints and healthy amount of dark washes to add the steam punk touches.  The rocket pack contributed well to the look as well.  Dad wanted to keep the figure versatile by keeping the steam punk elements subtle and not too overt.  To do this he made the headpiece removable; held in place with magnets when being used. We had recently watched Tank Girl with Lori Petty and Dad said the shapes of the headgear were influenced by the imagery of the movie.  I love how Dad highlighted the femininity of the figure with the bright hot pink colored tones against the worn desert mud washed yellow.

I love female Star Wars action figures because they aren't produced as widely as the males. I know. Many would argue the the Star Wars action figure line has been the most generous toy line when it comes to creating toys featuring characters of both sexes.  I would agree, but toy customization really brings out possibilities that would never come into realization at the mass production level.  I definitely try to even things out in the street scenes of my play environments and to do that we have created a lot of female custom action figures in this house.  This figure ended being one of my favorites of Dad's.  I especially loved the sword with the Mandalorian symbol sculpted into the hilt. 

As hard as she was to give up, it's cool to know that I have a JediStyle custom action figure coming my way.  Definitely worth it!  Look for the action figure that JediStyle created in December's Customizer Spotlight.

FEMME MANDO

created by Darth Daddy

 
Dad's Femme Mando was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.