CLONE WARS "R5-P8" created by Darth Daddy

Because I invested so much time and money into building Elias' Hondo Ohnaka gang, I decided to take my old Vintage style R5-P8 and give him a Clone Wars astromech body to fit the pirate collection better.

I used the 2010 Clone Wars R4-P17 action figure as the base.  I just cracked the R4-P17's head off with a screwdriver.  I then cut off the inner workings of one of my blue B.A.D. astromechs that we had several of and glued it to the base of the Clone Wars astromech body.  This made the head interchangeable between the Vintage body that I already had, as well as for my new incarnation of R5-P8, who is definitely one of my favorite droids of all-time.   I only used a black wash and some cinnamon to weather him up. 

CLONE WARS "R5-P8"

created by Darth Daddy

R5-P8 was an R5-series astromech droid produced by Industrial Automaton. It served as an assassin droid of Hondo Ohnaka's pirate gang during the Clone Wars. It had a blaster pistol fixed on its head, so it could serve both repairs and security purposes.

This droid appeared in Season 1 of the Clone Wars, "The Gungan General" episode.  I created him by repainting the Vintage R5-D4 action figure. As soon as the figure came out, I knew I wanted to try and make this droid even though there were rumors circulating that he may find his way to a proper release by Hasbro down the road. We now know my time was not wasted because Hasbro discontinued the Clone Wars line.  I used the gun from the Toys R' Us Nikto Guard and modified it by cutting pieces off some guns in our fodder bin. Nothing too crazy was done to make this one. What you see is what you get.

CLONE WARS "R5-P8"

created by Darth Daddy

R5-P8 was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.

VINTAGE "R5-P8"

created by Darth Daddy

Before and after.

R5-P8 was featured in Yakface's Mega Spotlight.

R5-P8 was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.

I can't wait to take another group shot with my Clone Wars version of R5-P8 along with a few more pirates and a spaceship we haven't revealed yet.

DarthSinister added to "Customs I Wish I Owned"

Charlie White aka DarthSinister got his start customizing MEGO superheroes at a young age in the 1970’s and eventually moved on to Star Wars and Micronauts. After putting down customizing for decades he began to feel the artistic flicker resurge after becoming inspired by the artists around the web. His first step back into the hobby began on the RebelScum web site when he launched his digital customs or “PoorMan’s Customs” thread in 2009 using only images from the internet and a photoshop program. He heavily promoted the old MARVEL comics Star Wars series, giving them a much needed facelift in an attempt to bring modern relevance back to the beloved characters. He now resides mainly on the Imperial Shipyards, and while still doing digital imagery, he has begun a shift to actual hard customs since 2013.

DarthSinister's work is really nice on the eyes so be sure to take it all in. We never were exposed to the Marvel Star Wars comics here at home, but upon seeing the figures DarthSinister has created inspired by these comics, we'd sure like to see this part of the Star Wars universe more in depth.

DarthSinister

DarthSinister on Imperial Shipyards:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=7182.0

DarthSinister: A Different Point of View:

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=6503.0

DarthSinister on eBay:

http://www.ebay.com/usr/whitestoysds 

Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer DarthSinister in the latest Customizing Corner over at The Star Wars Underworld.

CLICK HERE TO READ

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT UPDATE: PEAKOB1 - RUMI PARAMITA (THE CLONE WARS - SEASON 2: EPISODE 17 "BOUNTY HUNTERS")

Here at home, one of our favorite episodes of The Clone Wars  is "Bounty Hunters"  from Season 2.  The episode is based on Akira Kurosawa's classic film "Seven Samurai" and it did a wonderful job paying tribute to one of the masters.  I'm a huge cinefile, and I collect movies the way Elias collects Star Wars toys so the "Bounty Hunters"  episode will always have a special place in my heart.  This episode was really exciting for me as a Kurosawa fan.  I've acquired almost all of his films over the last decade and a half while working to complete my library of Criterion Collection releases.  To have an episode of The Clone Wars  that not only featured Hondo Ohnaka, my favorite Clone Wars  character, but also paid tribute to one of my favorite directors of all-time was a real treat.  

As I watched the episode for the first time, I secretly hoped that Hasbro would one day release a Battle Pack of the infamous "Seven Samurai" crew from The Clone Wars.  As I saw plans for Embo and Seripas to be released, I started to get really excited that Sugi and Rumi Paramita may not be far behind.  Unfortunately, they never were produced.  While Hasbro did end up producing 5 of the 7, Sugi and Rumi never made it to store pegs.  Rumi Paramita's fate probably had a lot to do with Hasbro's decision on whether or not to produce the toy, but we always felt that Hasbro made a huge mistake not making Sugi, since she had such an enormous fan following.  Their absence left us feeling like we had an enormous hole in our collection that we desperately wanted to fill.

Peakob1 was so successful creating a version of Sugi for himself, that a few months ago I commissioned him to make Elias one too.  The results were beautiful.  Peakob1 is definitely one of the most skilled customizers out there today.  Once Sugi was in hand and posed on Elias' Clone Wars shelf, I decided to get the materials to make Rumi too.  Peakob1 and I spend a lot of time on the phone talking Star Wars together, and when I mentioned that I was planning to make a Rumi, he volunteered to take on the project.  Since he did such a wonderful job on Sugi, and I am already swamped with all the projects I already have started, I felt like it was a great idea.  Was it ever!  

With Hondo's Pirate Gang already created, I can now say that we finally have a completed set of action figures from The Clone Wars "Bounty Hunters" episode, and I can't tell you what a great feeling that is.  Thank you, Peakob1 for helping to make our dream a reality!

"RUMI PARAMITA"

created by Peakob1

QUICK HEAD SWAPS

 These are just two head swaps that you may want to try yourselves at home.

 Head: Star Wars 2012 Clone Wars Action Figure CW No. 12 Obi-Wan Kenobi

Body: Star Wars 2009 Clone Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi (with Freeco Speeder)

 

 Body: Ahsoka Tano (with Rotta The Hutt), Star Wars The Clone Wars Collection, 2008

Head: Ahsoka Tano (Cad Bane's Escape), Star Wars The Clone Wars Collection, 2011

 

Peakob1's "Rumi Paramita" was featured in Yakface.com's "Customizer Mega Spotlight".

Peakob1 on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Peakob1

Peakob1 on Yakface.com:
http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=5631

Peakob1 on Droids & Ewoks:
http://droidsandewoks.forumotion.com/customs-and-art-f13/

Peakob1 on Jedi Defender:
http://www.jedidefender.com/yabbse/index.php?topic=20796.0

To go to the ebay page of Peakob1 click below:
http://myworld.ebay.com/peakob1/?_trksid=p4340.l2559

Custom Action Figure News Episode 69 - CAFN goes to Video Podcasting

It has been a long time coming, but Lucasclones and Tamer had a very enjoyable first run as they made the jump from audio to video podcasting. A few of the items they talked about were: customizing highlights around the web (of course!), new announcements regarding Star Wars Collectibles, the latest Episode 7 rumors including that great new Battlefront Trailer, etc. Now I can't promise a totally glitch free podcast as this is their first time out in this format, but they wanted to work out all the kinks before they get back to their live interviews with the best customizers across the world wide web. And don't worry, for those that like the plain audio format, they will be converting all of these videos to mp3's! And don't forget to subscribe to our YouTube Channel as CAFN begins this new series.

Its time to get your Expanded Universe on for ISY's next Custom Challenge!

The voting has ended and its time to announce the next custom action figure challenge at ISY! Its time to get your Expanded Universe on! Imperial Shipyards wanted to do something to honor all of the wonderful folks out there who have added so much to the Star Wars Universe during the dark years when we had no toys, no movies, not much of anything as a matter of fact. And while it may be termed "legendary" it is definitely near and dear to many of us at ISY.  Click here to read the full contest details.  You have from now until July 12th to create your custom!