THE CFTK BREAKDOWN

"Customs for the Kid" would like to thank all our visitors. Dad and I get so much enjoyment when we see that our blog's audience continues to grow every month and that we see this audience grow from all parts of the globe. We hope that we can continue to keep the great audience we have been so fortunate to have so far and that we can continue to share our blog with you all for a long time to come.

"Customs for the Kid" has been read in more than 120 countries throughout the world. CFTK really enjoys our visits from: Tunisia, Czechia, Jordan, Ethiopia, Costa Rica, Egypt, China, South Africa, Austria, United Kingdom, Slovakia, Qatar, Luxembourg, Russia, Pakistan, Guatemala, Bulgaria, India, Israel, Portugal, Netherlands, Isle of Man, Canada, Belgium, South Korea, Kuwait, Brazil, Finland, Latvia, Mexico, Ukraine, Italy, Colombia, Malaysia, Zimbabwe, New Zealand, Germany, Indonesia, Honduras, Czech Republic, France, Taiwan, Gabon, Serbia, Nigeria, Venezuela, Australia, Chile, Denmark, Spain, Thailand, Croatia, Mozambique, Japan, Hungary, Peru, Guam, Iran, Philippines, Norway, Ecuador, Saudi Arabia, Macau, Brunei, Romania, Lebanon, Iceland, Argentina, Poland, Puerto Rico, Macedonia, Pakistan, Georgia, Belize, Ireland, Algeria, Moldova, Bosnia, Herzegovina, Panama, Syria, Malta, Uruguay, Lithuania, United Arab Emirates, Bolivia, Greece, Jamaica, Turkey, Belarus, Cuba, Sweden, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Switzerland, Dominican Republic, Slovenia, Afghanistan, Cameroon, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Guernsey, Bangladesh, El Salvador, Myanmar [Burma], Vietnam, Aruba, Nepal, Kyrgyzstan, Singapore, Iraq, Sri Lanka, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad, Tobago, Azerbaijan, Côte d’Ivoire, Montenegro, Nicaragua, Armenia, Morocco, French Polynesia, Cape Verde, Cyprus and here in the United States. We apologize if we left anyone out. If you'd like, you can let us now you were here by leaving a message in our comment section.

GOOD KHARMA PAYS OFF

"BONES"
created by Darth Daddy

A custom action figure created by Darth Daddy for customizer Lucasclones.

"OPRESS UNLEASHED!"

On Free Comic Day we hit a bunch of comic book stores before we headed over to the DK Star Wars Attack of the Authors East Coast Tour located at the Tribeca Barnes & Noble Bookstore in Manhattan. At every comic book store we visited, every store was out of the Clone Wars comic, "Savage Unleashed!" After the event at Barnes & Noble, and hitting a few more places, we came to the realization that we weren't going to be able to get a copy that day. Dad called a few more comic book shops that were on our way back home and it was the same story everywhere. SOLD OUT!!

While on our train ride home, Dad and Lucasclones, the host of the podcast Custom Action Figure News, were talking on Facebook through Dad's phone and Chad (Lucasclones) said he was able to obtain two copies of the comic and offered to give us one of his copies. Dad offered to make Chad a custom action figure for his generosity and a figure was born. Lucasclones is well known for his clone trooper custom action figures and Dad figured he'd attempt to earn some customizing street cred by creating his first ever clone action figure for a clone master.

Dad looked at what action figures he had laying over in our customizing box and found the only clone that we had...a Clone Wars "Oddball" action figure. For three days, Dad worked and toiled. The action figure was pretty much a repaint, but with a small Apoxie Sculpt modification on the helmet control pad. I may never forgive Dad for giving away this figure, because I truly fell in love with it. If you ask me I think Dad did too.

The moral of this story is, "Good kharma pays off." Hope you enjoy the figure, Chad.

Letter from Lucasclones that he sent with the comic.

Republic Commandos drawn by Lucasclones.
(click the image twice to see it at an optimal size)

BACKSTORY

"Bones the Resurrected, Bones the Immortal" or just "Bones" for short, was known throughout the Republic to be the best pilot in the entire Republic fleet. He was able to fly circles around the Separatist armies. Even Anakin Skywalker often wondered if his skills were as good as the infamous clone pilot Bones. The peculiar thing was that it was said that his skills were derived from supernatural forces. Interestingly enough, the most well known story about Bones was not about his piloting skills, but rather pertained to his supposed resurrection from the dead. Hours after Bones had been pronounced dead by the medical staff, it was said that he suddenly sprang back to life with a scream that could be heard throughout the entire medical station. Tales had circulated from that day forward of how Bones had risen from the dead. When he was found, floating in space all the bones in his body had been broken and his body was heavily scarred from burns he received when his fighter was destroyed in battle. If you ask any clone troopers about Bones, they may admit in confidence that he creeped them out a bit and they may even add that Bones often smelled of rotting flesh. Others joke he has the personality of a tombstone and he's nothing but a haunted corpse that didn't cheat death at all. Regardless of what he is, he sure can fly. No matter what the odds, no matter how close to death he may appear to be, Bones lives on to hear the chants of his brothers, "Bones the Resurrected, Bones the Immortal!"

"BONES THE RESURRECTED, BONES THE IMMORTAL"

Watch in 720HD

Bones is only the second action figure created by Dad to have left our home.

BONES featured on the Front Page of Imperial Shipyards

ECHO BASE FORUMS: STAR WARS CUSTOMIZING CONTEST

Hey everybody!!

Mike Martinez a.k.a. Mercury Art Studios is throwing down a challenge to all customizers & artists around the web! The topic is STAR WARS, the greatest saga of all time! The theme of this contest is simple: customize something Star Wars! It can be a character from The Clone Wars series, the Prequel Trilogy, the Classic Trilogy, the Expanded Universe, and even original fan-fic characters! You can use anything for this contest, Dunnies, Mezits, Mighty Muggs, G.I. Joes, Marvel Universe, Marvel Legends, a Coca Cola bottle, a deodorant stick, a cardboard box, an X-Box, a rock...the possibilities are endless!

CONTEST RULES & DETAILS

Mike Martinez a.k.a Mercury Art Studios is the judge and he will be judging based on the following criteria:

* Originality
* Paint Applications
* Sculpting (if any)
* Combination of parts, parts used, and materials
* Artistic Expression

Five (5) winners will be selected for this contest


RULES

* Customized projects must be for this contest alone!

* Previous customs used for other contests or posted on other sites will not be allowed. If you want to show off a previous custom please do so in Echo Base Forums customizing threads. If you submit an old entry, your item will not be judged and you will be disqualified.

* No picture stealing, this means browsing around for somebody else’s work, snaggin’ a couple pics and posting them to hustle!

* Winners outside of the United States must pay S&H cost for items won! (unless stated otherwise)

* Customs bought from other customizers are not allowed to be entered as your own.

* Customs have to be Star Wars based!

* Original fan-fic creations must be submitted with a small background story!

* All customs must be submitted by July 31, 2011 @ 11:59 pm EST.


Maximum submissions allowed: Three (3)


Have fun!


Feel free to contact michaelm@echobaseforums.com with any additional questions you may have.


Prizes will be announced at Echo Base News & Custom Action Figure News on June 30, 2011. Trust me, they will be worth it!!

Contest Launch Date: May 29, 2011
End Date: July 31, 2011

We are announcing this contest 2 weeks in advance so you can have an early start & extra time to work on your project(s) the goal to this contest is to have fun & help spread the word about this wonderful hobby & art-form.


"Thanks so much everybody and I am looking forward to your customs."
-Mike Martinez

Mercury Art Studios.

JEDI MINSTREL ADDED TO "CUSTOMS I WISH I OWNED"

Jedi Minstrel has been customizing for 3 years. After coming across some websites that feature custom action figures, he has had the bug and just can't stop. His latest project includes creating customs for all the major characters from the Republic Commando novel series by Karen Traviss.

Jedi Minstrel




You can see these, as well as other customs, at imperialshipyards.net. If you are interested in a commission piece, please send a personal message through imperialshipyards.net.

Dad's "JEDI MINSTREL" Video Featured on the Front Page of IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS

TRANDOSHAN JEDI

With the close of Clone Wars Season 3, "Wookiee Hunt" had me wanting to make a Trandoshan custom action figure. I dug around in the fodder box we have at home and I came up with all the parts that I would need to make a cool Trandoshan Jedi. I assembled all the pieces I had and finished the build, but I had a problem. All the pieces of the Trandoshan were in different shades of green and my custom action figure didn't exactly match. I called in a little support from Dad and he gave my Trandoshan one cool paint job that pulled it all together. Working as a team has really paid off lately.

TRANDOSHAN JEDI

Our "TRANDOSHAN JEDI" featured on the Front Page of Imperial Shipyards.

I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with Kualan from the UK, or his Star Wars web-comic Tales from the Clone Wars, but his work is one incredible piece of graphic fiction. Kualan recently paid me the honor of including my custom Trandoshan Jedi as a character in his latest installment and I couldn't be more excited. The web comic features some really cool fan fiction characters as well as established characters to create one cool narrative with plenty of action to keep you on the edge of your seats. The graphic art is just amazing and I'd love to know how he does it. Check it out, I'm sure you'll be hooked too!

Joe Crowley, Kualan, lives in the UK, where he studies Creative Writing. He has been a fan of Star Wars since he was just a kid watching his father's old VHS tapes of the original trilogy, and spent most of his childhood running around the school playground pretending to be Luke Skywalker or Han Solo. In 2010 he decided he wanted to make his own tribute to the Star Wars universe and set out to make a web-comic after being partly inspired by the likes of hangarbay94's X-Wing Alliance series and several other action figure customizing photo-novels.

Excerpt's from his latest installment:

"The Clone Wars have ravaged the galaxy, and show no signs of halting any time soon. As the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order fight tirelessly against the droid hordes of the Separatists, entire star systems are torn asunder; leaving in their destructive wake ample opportunities for the lesser factions to pillage and plunder what they can.

Whether it be the Hutts and their criminal empires flourishing in a wartime black market, the Mandalorians reviving their crusades against the Jedi from era long past, or even the enigmatic Nightsisters of Dathomir emerging from the shadows to seize power, everyone in the galaxy has a stake in the conflict; and everyone has a side whose victory they would benefit from the most.

These are the Tales of the Clone Wars; from the heroic Anakin Skywalker, to the merciless General Grievous, and to those who you've never heard of before, follow the exploits of the war's heroes and villains in their constant battle for galactic supremacy."

To read "Tales from the Clone Wars" click the link below:

www.talesfromtheclonewars.com