CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #12: JUSTIN COOK aka CHEWIE

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT #12: JUSTIN COOK aka YAK_CHEWIE

Can't tell you how happy we are to present you with another edition of our Customizer Spotlight. Justin Cook, who is also known in the Yakface Forums as Yak_Chewie is by far one of the most talented and creative customizers out there. Anyone looking for inspiration for a custom action figure or an action figure recipe needs to look no further, Yak_Chewie has more recipes than a cookbook. His great body of work has already landed him a spot on our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page and if you watch the video we posted of his customs you'll immediately see that his body of work is something special.

Yak_Chewie is an administrator over at Yakface Forums and he oversees the custom creations part of the forum. He is also the creator of "The Enloe Chronicles" which is probably known to be one of the most famous Star Wars photonovels there is.

We recently mentioned on our blog that we participated this year in Yakface's Secret Santa and showed you the Zombie Jedi gift that we sent out to Mungo Baobab. Well, I can't express how happy we were when we received our yellow plastic bubble mailer and saw the name J. Cook in the upper left hand corner of the package. We were even more excited when we could feel not one but two action figures inside the package. Below is a quick video showing the joy a great customizing activity can bring when you participate in one of the community projects you can find located at a customizing forum.

SECRET SANTA GIFT ARRIVES

Yak_Chewie sent us these two incredibly awesome action figures for Christmas:

JEDI MASTER







We love the color scheme that was used on the sleeves and robes. It really brought out the potential for customizing the Starkiller action figure.








SKIFF GUARD

If you watch the video for Yak_Chewie in our "Customs I Wish I Owned" page, this figure you will find. Yes... I realize I just talked like Yoda.

These are links to see more of Yak_Chewie's work:

Yakface Forums

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=80&start=1455

(great place to find action figure recipes)

The Custom Alliance

http://www.thecustomalliance.com/cook/default.asp

The Photonovel Alliance (The Enloe Chronicles)

http://www.thephotonovelalliance.com/pn ... icles.html

(for a good read...)

Customs I Wish I Owned

http://customsforthekid.blogspot.com/p/star-wars-customs-i-wish-i-owned.html




MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!!


Click the link below to see other "Secret Santa" figures posted on the Yakface Forums this year:

http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1101&start=345

Dad's "Vanessa" Still Shots

Dad's Custom Action Figures Get the Homepage Treatment on Yakface & Imperial Shipyards

Dad's Ithorian Smuggler showcased on Yakface

Vanessa's Video posted on Imperial Shipyards

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