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

STAR WARS REBELS: "HERA SYNDULLA" created by Darth Daddy

Here at home we are still attached to articulation in our action figures.  We enjoy the sculpts for the Rebels figures that can be found hanging on store pegs now, so we have tried to create figures that would look like what Hasbro might have put out if they had the time to give some love to the Rebels line of action figures. Dad tried to do minimum paint application on this figure so it would fit in with the Hasbro figures on my collection shelves.  With the amount of work Hasbro has on their hands with the new Trilogy and spin off films on top of that, we don't expect to see well made figures like we used to get ever again.  Hasbro is always going to be under the gun with a new Star Wars release every year.  I'd imagine going forward, Hasbro is going to need to keep things as simple as possible to maintain future production schedules.  If you want some of your favorite characters with more than 5 points of articulation, you may have to make it yourself.

If you are curious about how to make an articulated Hera Syndulla, the recipe is easier than you think. The difficult part is the precise drilling.  You definitely need steady hands to make this figure.  To create Hera Dad only needed parts from two other action figures. He used the elbow joints of a Clone Wars Padme Amidala action figure to put elbow joints in the Hera figure.  We never realized that Padme's elbow had a pin on both sides of the joint before using them for this figure.  Elbows from the Clone Wars Cad Bane figure are similar.  

Dad articulated the wrists and knees with the forearm joint of a Black Series Snowtrooper Wedge Antilles. He used Wedge's elbow joints for Hera's knees, and the pins at the end of Wedge's forearm to attach Hera's gloves to her wrists so they could swivel.  Wedge's gloves weren't going to use those pins anymore anyway.  

Dad then bored out the existing arms and legs with assorted tiny drill bits so they would accept pinned joints and the sanded down stubbed forearm appendages. Once all the holes were cleaned out all Dad had to do was assemble her and attach her legs permanently with a little krazy glue.  After the build was done, he tried to match the existing paint as best he could.

I really like this new figure.  Hera is Dad's favorite character on Rebels.  As soon as we got a second Hera action figure I knew Dad was going to customize a version of Hera.  I'm happy to say that my Hera now has swivel wrists, ball jointed knees and elbows.  

The shoulder joints on the existing figure had a lot of flexibility and had a range of motion almost as good as a ball joint. The joint acted similar to a Clone Wars Genosian Warrior, although if you look at the shoulder peg it is very obvious it wasn't designed to do this at all, the plastic is not shaped to do so, the plastic is just soft enough to give a great deal.  

Dad also sanded down the front of Hera's neck to make her jaw more pronounced.  We didn't like the neck on the original figure.

STAR WARS REBELS:

"HERA SYNDULLA"

created by Darth Daddy

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Hera was featured on the front page of ImperialShipyards.net

Custom Action Figure News: Episode 79 - DIORAMA WORKSHOP @ CELEBRATION ANAHEIM

Custom Action Figure News: Episode 78 - SILLOF TALKS CELEBRATION ANAHEIM'S ACTION FIGURE CUSTOMIZING PANEL

Star Wars Rebels: "Zare Leonis" custom action figure created by Darth Daddy

This was a quick figure I made, by replacing the Ezra Bridger head from the 2 pack where Ezra was in disguise as Dev Morgan the Imperial cadet.  I just created an original headsculpt to make it into a Zare Leonis.  Here at home we felt that the Zare Leonis character deserved an action figure so we did what we had to do to make it so.  I used a combination of Green Stuff and Aves Fixit to do the sculpt.

STAR WARS REBELS: 

"ZARE LEONIS" 

created by Darth Daddy

The 2-pack we wish Hasbro made. No more Kanan repack figures please.



SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

Zare Leonis was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.