Sunday, September 7, 2014
Saturday, September 6, 2014
Thursday, September 4, 2014
DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: DarthStreams Customs
Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer DarthStreams Customs in his latest post over at The Star Wars Underworld.
CLICK HERE TO READ
As a child DarthStreams aka DS Customs was always a fan of the Star Wars movies. He had a lot of the Power of the Force 2 toys and micro machine sets. During adolescence, he lost interest in collecting figures, but he held onto his childhood toys.
DarthStreams was big into video games and after playing the two KOTOR installments, his interest in the Expanded Universe peaked. He started reading all the graphic novels he could get his hands on. He found the stories incredibly imaginative, enjoyed the variety of characters, and appreciated the artistry that accompanied the graphic novels.
He later bought Hasbro's Nihilus, Revan, and Malak but felt like he was missing someone...Darth Sion. DarthStreams wanted a Darth Sion pretty bad so he bought a custom version of him off eBay. When he got it, he thought that it was cool, but it was falling apart and he felt he could make it better, so he did. He also wanted a Lucien Draay from the KOTOR novels, so he made him too. That was the first custom he truly created, it was just a repaint of a 5 POA dc prototype.
Back in 2010, once he found out about the hobby he started following the Customs for the Kid and Jackoftradze blogs. Seeing all the other folks work and filling holes in his collection pretty much lead him into his customizing days, starting with KOTOR and then going into other Expanded Universe novels.
He started with head swaps, kitbashing, and basic repaints, then figured out how to make the cards w/detachable blisters. The process of making cards was a long trial and error process, but once he was happy with the process, he was able to design and make them fairly quickly. His card making tutorial is priceless for those of you interested in making your own card backs.
DarthStreams posted on Rebelscum.com for a few years and created his own blogspot, but never felt the sense of community, until he started posting at the Imperial Shipyards. By interacting with the community members of ISY, he was able to expand his skills in dry brushing, paint washes, molding/casting, and sculpting. The main reason DarthStreams loves the art of customizing is having a creative outlet, that progresses his artistic skills, while watching others progress in their skills with all the cool stuff they come up with!
I got to meet DarthStreams when he visited the Customs for the Kid table at Star Wars Spectacular in New Jersey. DarthStreams is a really creative customizer that has made some characters from the Expanded Universe that we will probably never see made now that Disney owns the franchise. Keep an eye on his posts if you have a character you've always loved but you've never seen made.
DarthStreams on Facebook:
DarthStreams on Imperial Shipyards:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=8375.0
DarthStreams Cardback Tutorial:
http://darthstreams.blogspot.com/2012/11/new-customs-and-tutorial-cardback-making.html
Tuesday, September 2, 2014
CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT UPDATE: LUCASCLONES
Like many collectors of The Clone Wars action figure line, we really wished Hasbro would have released Trandoshan hunting pods in their mini-rig line. A few years ago, Star Wars customizer Lucasclones made a custom version of the vehicle, and it's the only one I've ever seen made. If any start-up Star Wars 3-D printer artists want a cool vehicle to sell this would be one of them that I would like to see offered. If Hasbro had made this I would have bought several.
A few weeks ago, Lucasclones was advertising the two Trandoshan hunters pictured below for purchase on his Instagram account. Dad shot him a text message and asked him if he still had the Trandoshan hunting pod that he had made. We loved this custom 3 3/4" scale vehicle since the first time we saw it pictured in the Star Wars customizing forums on the web. Not only did Lucasclones still have the hunting pod in his possession he was willing to part with it. He even threw in the two advertised Trandoshan Hunters!
The roll bar broke in shipping, but Dad was able to repair everything with a little bit of krazy glue. I'm really happy the add this piece to my collection. Especially since it was one of Hasbro's biggest missed opportunities.
"TRANDOSHAN HUNTERS
with HUNTING POD"
created by Lucasclones
For the link to lucasclones on Imperial
Shipyards go to :
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0
For the link to lucasclones on Flickr go to :
For the link to lucasclones on Youtube go to :
Go here to listen to the Custom Action
Figure News podcast:
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/podcasts/index.html
http://www.imperialshipyards.net/podcasts/index.html
or
If there is anything you would like him to feature on a future podcast be sure to let him know at:
Tuesday, August 26, 2014
DARTH DADDY's CUSTOMIZING CORNER: Whiskeytango
Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner featured Star Wars customizer Whiskeytango in his latest post over at The Star Wars Underworld.
Whiskeytango started customizing in 2009 after finding the excellent work of some of the greats on thefwoosh.com. He toiled away on comic book figures, ignoring his true love, Star Wars, until his dream of 6" figures was realized with the release of the Black Series.
Now he spends his time working on custom versions of characters who get official releases announced right after he finishes, which doesn't make him angry at all. Not a bit. Not... not even a little bit.
I figured it was time we show off some of the talented artists working in the 6" scale since I haven't showcased the larger custom action figures that are being produced. Whiskeytango has been making some amazing figures in the new Star Wars action figure scale and after seeing what he's accomplished, I'm eager to see what he produces in the future. If you want to see more 6" customs from this artist, visit the latest "Customs I Wish I Owned" feature on the Customs for the Kid blog.
Figurerealm gallery:
Fwoosh gallery:
Whiskeytango on Facebook:
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