"RETURN OF THE JEDI" LOJE NELLA painted & flocked by "Customs for the Kid"

This was a fun project we did to fill out our Jabba's Palace display. Loje Nella was a shadowy Riorian female who was a member of the Hutt crime lord Jabba Desilijic Tiure's court. In 4 ABY, she was present in the throne room booths of Jabba's Palace on the planet Tatooine during a performance by the Max Rebo Band, which ended in the death of the enslaved dancer Oola.

Nella later took part in a trap laid for Princess Leia Organa, who freed Jabba's prisoner Han Solo from carbonite while she thought the Hutt was sleeping. Jabba, who had been warned of Organa's disguise as the bounty hunter Boushh, had hidden behind a curtain with Nella and other favored members of his court. Once Solo was free, the Hutt revealed himself and had Solo and Organa captured while the Riorian laughed alongside other court members.

This 3D print was designed by Sjefke. We loved that the design offered a swappable torso. One torso with arms and hands, and another with no appendages. In the film, only the head made it on camera, but concept arm showed the creature having arms in early drawings. 

We painted the resin model and then applied moss flocking to the head. It was the first time we ever used the technique. You'll typically need flocking material (like fine turf or sawdust), an adhesive (like PVA glue or Mod Podge), and a way to apply it to your desired surface. The process generally involves applying the adhesive, sprinkling the flocking, and then sealing it. You can also add color and texture variations for a more realistic look.

"RETURN OF THE JEDI"

LOJE NELLA

painted & flocked

by "Customs for the Kid"

"RETURN OF THE JEDI" WAM "BAM" LUFBA sculpt by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations

& painted by Darth Daddy of "Customs for the Kid".

"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" CELEBRATES 15 YEARS OF BLOGGING!

Fifteen years ago today, Dad and I started this blog, and "Customs for the Kid" was born. At the time, I was only 6 years old. Neither of us had any experience making our own action figures. We were just inspired by others in the Star Wars custom action figure artist community enough to want to become a part of it, and this blog has documented our journey. If you look at our earliest posts, we weren't very good at making action figures, but if you work at something every week for 15 years, you do improve.

At the blog's start, we showcased our custom action figures as we made them while providing the parts and techniques used for each project. Dad also used our platform to feature other Star Wars custom action figure artists as well as the custom action figures that he had purchased for me along the way in countless "Customizer Spotlight" posts (They can be counted, they are actually numbered). A space where readers could obtain links to the social media accounts of these talented artists to purchase their work, when available. Dad later expanded our artist showcases beyond just the custom action figures we had in our personal collection to features on artists whose work we would love to have in our collection in his "Customs I Wish I Owned" posts. It became a great way for members of the community to learn about one another and appreciate one another's art. Throughout all of our years, sharing other artists' offerings has always been one of our favorite ways to give back to the community, to those who taught us everything we needed to know to produce our own creations.

A big surprise for us was that less than a year into writing our blog, the Star Wars community started to take notice. By April of 2011, Dad and I were asked to participate in our first podcast interview, (numerous others followed), and a few times the same year, our work was featured on one of our favorite YouTube shows. Kessel Run Review. Thanks to the global span of the internet, we were suddenly being read in over 120 countries throughout the world. What followed in the years after was a feature in the Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 - Action Figure Customizing Panel, me being awarded "2018 - Action Figure Customizer of the Year" by Toy News International at New York Toy Fair in 2019  (Sadly, I was too young to attend the event so I could accept the award in person...industry adults only), and as early as last year I had the honor of being featured at San Diego Comic Con 2024 in the "Evolution of Toy Collecting" panel, as well as participating as a Panelist at the first Halcy-Con a few months later. Big events aside, the support from the community over all of these years is what has warmed "Customs for the Kid" the most. We are beyond grateful to the Star Wars fan sites and podcasts for sharing our creations with their audience all this time!

To celebrate this anniversary, we felt an action figure of Dave Filoni's alter ego Trapper Wolf would be in order. Why do you ask? Well, when The Clone Wars was released in 2008, I was just 4 years old, and for the next several years, this period was the version of the galaxy far, far away I was most immersed in. I am not sure there would be a blog today if it were not for the Clone Wars TV series. We definitely never would have done our podcast "Customizing the Clone Wars" with our friend Peak-OB1 Custom Creations if the show did not exist. Every Saturday, Dad and I would begin our morning with a Clone Wars episode, and then we would spend the rest of our day making art for this blog. Dave Filoni was George Lucas' padawan when they created TCW. Dave is not shy about it. The history is well known. Since George Lucas retired, Dave started many shows of his own at Lucasfilm and was recently promoted to Executive Vice President/Chief Creative Officer. Like Dave, I too have stepped up and taken on more responsibility. I took the lead over the blog from Darth Daddy at our 10th anniversary and started my own business taking on commissions and sharing my craft with others. So, today is a thank you to Dave's creativity for making all of this possible. While Dave far surpassed anything that I have done, we both have gone through a period of growth and change in our creative careers, and I hope that we both can entertain the Star Wars community for years to come!

To make this action figure, we used a Jek Porkins action figure body in a huskier Rebel orange flight suit while keeping with tradition by utilizing a widely available resin head cast created by another member of the custom action figure community, executing a super simple head swap on the original figure. All it took was a "Customs for the Kid" paint application on the head cast of Dave Filoni's likeness purchased from Outer Rim Traders. The most difficult part of the project was repainting the Jek Porkins helmet to make it look like the one worn by Trapper Wolf in The Mandalorian. 

We thought about going crazy and making something 100% sculpted from the ground up like we do on occasion, but this is day is about celebrating the blog and not us.  And this blog is about promoting community. The proprietor at Outer Rim Traders was one of the first people in the customizing community to take us under his wing, so it is only fitting that we share something we picked up from him. What fun is showcasing a figure if you all can't recreate it at home?

"TRAPPER WOLF"

created by 

Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

CARSON TEVA

"THE CLONE WARS" WAG TOO designed and printed by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations and painted by "Customs for the Kid"

While I have been busy making non-Star Wars custom action figures for clients, Dad has been helping with making content for our blog by painting up some custom action figure prints that were sent to us by friends of ours in the custom action figure artist community. Chad Peak aka Peak-OB1 Custom Creations is one of our oldest and closest friends. You may recall our YouTube show with Peak-OB1 Custom Creations called "Customizing The Clone Wars" where we went episode by episode sharing with our audience how we went about making the unreleased characters from the show as action figures. 

This great design of Wag Too and a great companion piece to his Tee Watt Kaa action figure design and print. Being able to complete the father and son set was a real treat! 

We have a plenty more prints that Darth Daddy will be painting this year so don't be surprised if you see a few other designs from Chad on the blog in the future,

"THE CLONE WARS"

WAG TOO

designed and printed by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations

and painted by "Customs for the Kid"

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"SEATED JAWA" 3D resin print design by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations & painted by Darth Daddy of "Customs for the Kid"

A month ago our good friend Chad Peak aka Peak-OB1 Custom Creations sent us a box chock full of some of his latest 3D printed designs. 

As I painted up Fozec, Dad grabbed this Jawa from the box and painted him up. 

The Jawa action figure has swivel wrists and an articulated head. 

We absolutely loved this design and he is currently sitting on the steps of our Jabba's Throne Room.

"SEATED JAWA"

3D resin print designed by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations & painted by Darth Daddy of "Customs for the Kid"

TVC "RETURN OF THE JEDI" FOZEC created by "Customs for the Kid"

May the 4th Be With You! This will only be one of many reveals you are sure you to come across on this year's Star Wars Day!

Today we have a figure reveal for you all! Fozec is an action figure Dad has been wanting to add to my collection for many years now. Fozec received some serious screen time in the Jabba's Palace scenes from "Return of the Jedi". Fozec can be found behind Han and Leia after Han was freed from his Carbonite block and Fozec was also standing behind Jabba when Luke first arrived at Jabba's Palace and making his iconic fall into the Rancor pit. 

Thanks to some friends of ours we were able to bring Fozec to life. We had a friend overseas, John Evergrey who provided us with a headsculpt that they had made and another friend, Peak-OB1 Custom Creations provided us with Fozec's trident. From there we just needed to sculpt our own torso, some legs, and some arms. Dad and I took turns with all of the sculpting passes on this figure until all that we had left to do was add some paint to the completed sculpt. Dad and I took turns here with the paint too and what you see is the final result of all of our efforts.

Fozec was a spy for the Empire who kept tabs on Jabba's activities for the ISB. Obviously he was good at his job because Jabba trusted him to have his back when Jedi Luke Skywalker paid him a visit and he was right behing Han and Leia after Solo was freed from his carbonite prison makingbsure he had arms length control over the situation. Fozec secretly hoped to leave the Empire and pursue lucrative opportunities in the criminal underworld. He died on Jabba's Sail Barge at the hands of the aforementioned trio and a few of their friends. 

Strange that such an integral character to Jabba's court who had so much screentime  never made into figure form yet. Demand is growing though. @swtvc had their March Madness this year and he made it into the bracket to he voted on, so collectors do want him. We can't tell you how many custom versions of him we have gotten from the customizer community. 

We had to do so an exhaustive number of screen captures from the film to figure out what Fozec looked like from behind to determine what the leather strapping looked like along his back, then find good angles on the inside of his gauntlets so they were represented well. It took quite awhile before we figured out if he was wearing kneepads or just leather bindings. Figuring out if he had a gun and holster was a chore too. We think we delivered the best Fozec available and if he ever does get released, we hope our research saves people a few hours of pressing rewind and pause. Anyone who wants the screen captures for one of their own projects shoot us an email.

We hope we did him justice.

THE VINTAGE COLLECTION

"RETURN OF THE JEDI"

FOZEC

created by "Customs for the Kid"

Jimmy Mac and Jason Swank of Rebel Force Radio with Darth Daddy & Elias of "Customs for the Kid".

After we completed Fozec, photographed him and posted him here on the blog, we then traveled to meet up with friends of the blog Jimmy McInerney (Jimmy Mac) and Jason Swank of Rebel Force Radio and the band High Adventure at a fun May the 4th event. Many years ago we teamed up with Rebel Force Radio to promote the radio dramas of Kyle Newman that were performed at Star Wars Celebrations with Star Wars custom action figure contests hosted here on our blog. Dad even made Jimmy Mac a Ziro the Hutt action figure around that time. High Adventure performed at the event. It was cool to see the band and learn that all of them still had their action figures from the "High Five" album cover that Dad created for them. After the live RFR podcast, we watched "Empire Strikes Back" on the big screen to cap off the night. Definitely a May the 4th well spent!

Grammy and Tony award-winning composer Robert Lopez was a guest on the podcast.



High Adventure performing.

Celebrate Star Wars Day, May The 4th Be With You, at Downtown Live!

Star Wars Day is an informal commemorative day observed annually on May 4 to celebrate the Star Wars media franchise created by filmmaker George Lucas. Dress in your best Star Wars costumes and enjoy the day with fellow fans! The cost of admission includes all activities offered, no additional purchases necessary for the film (food and drink not included). Kids under 3 are free!

Beginning at 3PM, the art gallery below the theater will have art work, comic books and photo opportunities with your favorite Star Wars characters! Enjoy food and drinks from our vendors inside and outside. Bristol Public Library will be in attendance providing giveaways and paperback books of the Star Wars variety from 3-6PM.

4-6:00PM - Travel upstairs to the Rockwell Theater, where the renowned podcast, Rebel Force Radio will perform a live show!



Fast-paced, fun, and informative, Rebel Force Radio offers the best in STAR WARS news and commentary. The show is unmatched when it comes to interviews with the legends of Star Wars. RFR listeners have enjoyed our conversations with Star Wars creator George Lucas, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, Frank Oz, Billy Dee Williams, Jon Favreau, Seth Green, Anthony Daniels, and many more STAR WARS film and TV actors, authors, artists, and producers. For more about Rebel Force Radio, please visit www.rebelforceradio.com



Art Gallery: 6:00-7:00PM - Meet and greet with Rebel Force Radio co-hosts, Jason Swank and Jimmy Mac. We'll also have photo opportunities inside and outside of the theater (weather dependent).




Theater: 6:00-7:15PM - Join Kessel Temple for The Padawan Training Institute! Younglings (suggested ages 6-10) learn about the ways of the Force and how to wield a lightsaber from real Jedi Masters! At the conclusion of the program, younglings are given the rank of "Padawan"! Kessel Temple is the Connecticut chapter of Saber Guild, an international Star Wars lightsaber performance organization. There will be two classes, with availability for 18 younglings, signups will be first come, first served at the theater. Enjoy a live light saber performance on stage, great for the kids!



7:30-9:30PM - Get comfortable in Rockwell Theater and enjoy the 1980 film, Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (PG) - The Rebels scatter after the Empire attacks their base on the ice planet Hoth. Han Solo and Princess Leia are pursued by Imperials, while Luke trains with Jedi Master Yoda. But when Luke battles Darth Vader, he learns the shocking truth of his past.