"Star Wars Stop Motion ARC Troopers" by NIVREREXFILM

EASTER BASKET TREATS

Just wanted to share some cool video treats that we saw on YouTube that we really enjoyed.  The first video is pretty old, but it has always been one of our favorites.  The Kessel Run Review was a great show.  If only Jesus brought the Kessel Run Review back from the dead with him.  Their commercials were hilarious and to be able to watch them back-to-back, all in a row, is pure joy.

The second video is an awesome cardback creation tutorial from DS Customs for all you customizers who want to put your favorite custom on a card!

Have a great holiday everyone!

Kessel Run Review - Season 1 & 2 Commercials featuring Jabba's Dancers created by Darth Daddy

DS Customs Custom Action Figure Cardback Making Tutorial Update

STOP MOTION STAR WARS VIDEOS by Nivrerex

This week, we were contacted by YouTube filmaker Nivrerex about commissioning Dad to make him some Clone Wars custom action figures.  This Mexican director has made some of the coolest Star Wars stop motion videos we have ever seen and we knew once we saw them that we had to share them all with you.  I'd love to see some of Dad's Clone Wars customs appear in his films.  Below are three of his videos.  Hope you all enjoy them as much as we did.

YakFace Added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

Well, as you know, we are always on the hunt to find you a new customizer every month.  Well, being it's Halloween, we figured we'd give you all a treat and show you the customizer for November one day early.  So here is some Star Wars eye candy that is so big that you won't fit in that bag you carried along on your door to door shuffle.  We'll leave the "tricks" to YakFace, the latest customizer being featured here on our blog.  If you see the customs he has created you'll see that he has plenty of them up his sleeve when it comes to paintwork and action figure creation.  We'll even cap things off with a detailed view of the menacing monster shown above that Star Wars customizer YakFace created when he was only 15 years old!

Brent Gothold (AKA YakFace) is a 27 year old father who works in the video game industry but spends his spare time creating Star Wars customs. He posted his first custom Star Wars diorama at age 15 and is currently posting custom figures at the Imperial Shipyards. Brent mostly creates characters from the original Star Wars trilogy but is working on making some original characters that will fit nicely among the characters from a galaxy far far away. A talented sculptor and painter who is trying to make "toys" transform into art pieces and be viewed as such. 

 YakFace

SLAVE LEIA

by YAKFACE

YakFace can be contacted about tips or commissions at:

 brent.gothold@gmail.com 
or 
http://www.imperialshipyards.net

Wookie-Balls added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

"LE-BO2D9 aka Leebo" 

created by Wookie-Balls

Ray, Wookie-Balls, is 37 (just) and lives in Buckinghamshire in the UK. He is a lifelong Star Wars fan having first seen the movie projected in his own bedroom wall in Berlin in 1978 (the joys of being an army brat.)

He works in London - but lives in the countryside with his wife (another Star Wars fan and Gamer!) and his Dog Halo (beamed after a 2000AD character.)  He enjoys SciFi, GMing RPGs (SW, Aliens and Supernatural.)

Customizing wise - he prefers the realistic style of figures over CW ones. His projects have included "A Clone squad (The 349th)", an all new Shadows of the Empire Line, Expanded Universe New Jedi Order figures and some Star Wars crossovers including 2000AD and the Centurions!

Rays other major hobby is the restoration of classic Kenner Star Wars toys - he started with his own much loved figures and ships and has since moved on to rescuing beaters that he discovers on his travels.

Ray has completed commission work for collectors however his pieces are for display rather than play! He can be contacted at ray7@btinternet.com.

Wookie-Balls

Wookie-Ball's older customs (rephotographed to a better standard are here):
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album/Wookie%20Customs?src=www


Wookie-Ball's vintage restoration work is hosted here:
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album/Restored%20Vintage/?sa=true

And Wookie-Ball's most recent customs including his Imperial Judge and New Jedi Order Luke Skywalker are here:
http://m194.photobucket.com/albums/red5_album

Frank Diorio's Diorama Workshop Week in Review : August 12 2012

Star Wars: The Clone Wars Season 5 "Darth Maul & Savage Opress Fighting ...

Peakob1's video updated

Chad Peak (aka: Peakob1 or CAP) has been a Star Wars fan all his life. He makes customs for the love of the hobby and you won't find a more dedicated fan. He hopes one day that he can have an entire custom collection simply because it is personalized to him and he never seeks financial gain by doing his customs, although he has done a few commissions at reasonable prices. He started customizing in '95,but that's because he doesn't count some of the vintage Ewoks that he colored over with black and brown markers as a kid.

He refers to his style of customizing as "hard sculpting" opposed to using sculpy to mold his own figures. He uses bits of existing parts and dremels those down to make a new result. He believes that it makes for a much stronger figure because he's a little like Jar Jar, "hesa clumsy" and often drops figures. Usually they don't break if he builds them properly. He finds customizing very exciting and he has many projects on the horizon. 

Since Peakob1 and Dad just finished working together on my Hondo Ohnaka Pirate Gang, it felt like a good time to show you the other action figures Peakob1 has created.  This video is a great introduction if you are new to his work.  We know you will enjoy his customs!

He displays his customs on Yakface, Droids and Ewoks, and Jedi Defender.

Peakob1

noir wars movie by Sillof

  http://www.sillof.com/


We also recommend checking out Sillof's"Toy Wars" film series where he brings his action figures and dioramas to life at this link here:

http://www.sillof.com/Toywars.htm

drod26 added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

drod26 is an engineer during the day and a dedicated father and husband. When he is not attending to his family or doing house work, he is digging throughout his pile of fodder, consulting art books, looking at the color wheel for inspiration for his next custom. His style is to come up with a well-designed character visually and aesthetically. drod26 got started customizing in 2011 when he joined YakFaceForums and his inspiration to customize came from seeing all the great work there and the welcoming members like Chewie.. If you like his work drop him a line. Want to know what his recipes are? Just ask, he will gladly share them with you.  Unfortunately, he doesn't do commissions at this time.

drod26 was the first subscriber to our blog and it's really cool that we now have the honor to share his work with all of you.  Dad and drod26 started making customs around the same time and were fellow padawan learners over at Yakface.com.  Dad is really blown away by the paint work of drod26, especialy on the horns of his Iktochi custom.  Dad hopes one day he can paint as well as drod26.  This video is a must see! 

drod26

Your can see more of his work at:

 http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=6031

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #3: SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700

Kevin, or SWK KUSTOMS / kr2700, created two very cool figures in my collection. A Jedi version of me that he sent as a gift for showcasing his work and a Vergere action figure that we bought on Ebay when we first started collecting custom Star Wars action figures. SWK Kustoms started making custom Star Wars figures in 2007. He said his wife Lynn bought him a Han Solo figure as a birthday gift. “You should always get at least one toy on your birthday,” she said.

His own collection started shortly after. He thought about making a battle mock up of 100-200 Jedi and Sith, a scene that he imagined would be in the Clone Wars! The prequels went down a different path however…

Soon he had around 50 custom Jedi & 50 Sith (Jedi spray painted black). A few months later he began to get bored with just doing simple figures, so he started to experiment. He went through a phase where he made a lot of alien Jedi . He also did more interesting Sith Lords. Lynn then suggested that people might be interested in his figures, so he put some on eBay and his new hobby started to generate some interest!

Now four years later & around 300 customs under his belt, SWK Kustoms specializes in fully articulated figures! SWK Kustoms creates fully articulated and detailed Custom 4” figures. Star Wars, Star Trek, DC, Marvel or anything you can think of. With SWK you can also become your favorite character as well: Jedi, Sith, Storm trooper, Mandalorian and much more. Figures can be purchased upon request. Price is based on how hard the piece is to make, usually between $50-150. All figures come with specialized weapons or gear & name plate stands.

Add an SWK action figure to your collection today!

VERGERE
created by SWK Kustoms

kr2700 designed and executed this wonderfully sculpted action figure from the Star Wars Expanded Universe. With a customized head, soft good skirt, and a borrowed body from Hasbro's Wioslea action figure, his Vergere action figure is top notch.

kr2700 has made a Vergere action figure 8 times already. Email him at kr2700@yahoo.com and see if you can talk him into making one for you.

With a long history like Vergere's, this is an action figure that is capable of providing hours of play time in your Star Wars universe.

Vergere (pronounced /vɚ'ʒɪɹ/) was a Fosh Jedi Knight in the waning years of the Galactic Republic. Almost immediately after she hatched, Vergere was taken under the wing of Jedi Master Thracia Cho Leem, who later instructed her in the ways of the Jedi. In 33 BBY, Vergere was part of a Jedi task force sent to Asmeru by Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum to capture the leaders of the Nebula Front.

According to an account given by Lumiya to Jacen Solo in 40 ABY, Vergere was a rogue student, secretly studying sources outside of approved Jedi doctrine. Lumiya claimed that Vergere's studies of other rogue Jedi, including Count Dooku, had led her to Darth Sidious, and at some point between 32 BBY and 29 BBY, Vergere became a student of the Sith Lord. According to Lumiya, Vergere subsequently attempted to kill Sidious when she discovered the extent of his megalomania, but her murder attempt failed, forcing her to flee from his assassins, accepting a mission from the Jedi Council to Zonama Sekot, where she was captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and disappeared in 30 BBY, finding the Yuuzhan Vong on Zonama Sekot and secretly living with them for half a century.

During the time of the Yuuzhan Vong invasion, Vergere reappeared and tortured Jacen Solo, wanting to turn him into a future Sith apprentice. She was hunted by the New Republic and hid herself, helping Warmaster Tsavong Lah and other Yuuzhan Vong as well as Solo.

At the climactic Battle of Ebaq 9, she sacrificed herself, killing many Yuuzhan Vong and saving Solo. By 40 ABY, the Sith revealed that Vergere had also, secretly, been one of them. Eventually, Vergere's training helped turn Jacen into Darth Caedus, the Dark Lord of the Sith.

It is possible that her difficulty to be easily categorized as a Jedi or Dark Jedi inspired the retcon that re-classified Vergere as a Sith. As Vergere's final words affirmed that she saw herself as a Jedi, it is possible she saw no difficulty in holding allegiance to both the Jedi and Sith orders simultaneously, that she believed herself to be redeemed by her actions prior to her death, or that she entirely rejected the moral restrictions of both the Jedi and the Sith, a potential view similar to that of Kreia in the distant past. It should also be noted that Vergere appeared as a Force ghost to Jacen Solo shortly after her death, an ability usually manifested by (redeemed) Jedi.

(Taken from Wookiepedia at: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Vergere)

Jedi Elias Fulton
created by SWK Kustoms

Visit him on facebook: www.facebook.com/swkustoms

Email him at: SWK1138@yahoo.com for a quote.

Check out his "profile page" on ebay at:
http://myworld.ebay.com/kr2700?ssPageName=ADME:X:CEM:US:1181

Darth Daddy Page Added to the Blog

Just added a page for Dad to the blog. Check the sidebar or just click the link below to see the interview I did with him or to see a video of his action figures.

Darth Daddy

See the Darth Daddy page here:
http://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/p/darth-daddy.html

Darth Daddy's "Vanessa" Action Figure - VIDEO POST

Usually posts for Dad's action figures are composed of a few pictures and a short write up about the figure being posted. This time we wanted to try a little something different. This action figure that Dad named "Vanessa" was created to resemble his cousin and started off as only a SNEAK PEAK posted earlier this week. We hope this follow up video illustrates how much the figure was worth the wait.

This video that we created highlights this new action figure from her "SNEAK PEAK" picture, through her early stages of production just before her torso reduction modification, all the way to ending photos showing her current look upon her completion. If you look at her waist you can see where the transition takes place from WIP to completion.

She was made from a dremeled Stass Allie head, the upper torso of Leia in Boush Disguise, the legs of a Clone Wars Aura Sing, and the arms of an unknown Jedi. The hair was made from a modified Pirates of the Caribbean Davey Jones hand.

DARTH DADDY's VANESSA


Please enjoy the music.

VON REINHARDT CUSTOMS ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

VON REINHARDT CUSTOMS

Von Reinhardt aka Darth Von Frost is a 41 year old customizer from Canada and has been a Star Wars fan since he can remember. He owned a ton of original toys back in the early 1990's but had to sell off that collection. In 2010 he was bit by the Star Wars bug after seeing a few of the new and amazingly detailed action figures and started to collect once again. But now he will only buy figures that he really wants or toys he could use as custom fodder.
He does not collect vehicles or ships because he feels they are expensive and take up way too much space.

After seeing some amazing customs from JACKOFTRADZE and buying an abundance of customs from him, he, like us, thought he'd try to create some of his own.

He then started his own blog, I {HEART} STAR WARS this month to showcase some of his own customs and also show some of the new figures that are coming out. He has been making his own customs since SEPT 2010. ...so he says he is still honing his painting skills.

VON REINHARDT CUSTOMS

You can see other custom action figures made by Von Reinhardt over at Imperial Shipyards at this link:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=5044.0

or at his blog:

http://bountyhunterreinhard.wordpress.com/


If you have a Star Wars blog, get in touch with him so you could trade links at his email address:

johnvon@hotmail.com