DARTH DADDY interviewed by STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS COMMUNITY UK

Who are you? Please tell us a little about yourself... 

My name Brian Fulton, but many fans in the Star Wars community know me as Darth Daddy, the Star Wars custom action figure artist. I’m most popularly known for being the co-founder of the Star Wars: Customs for the Kid blog that I have been doing with my son for the last 7 years where I am the resident artist/ photographer, administrator, and social media manager. I am also the author of the Darth Daddy's Customizing Corner column at The Star Wars Underworld. I am known throughout the Star Wars custom action figure community for being an ambassador for the artform. My action figure artist directory for commission work is considered to be a priceless asset among both collectors and enthusiasts alike. My artwork was featured at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim 2015 in the Action Figure Customizing Panel’s "Customizer Showcase". My custom action figure art appears regularly on the front pages of numerous Star Wars fan sites. I have made multiple guest appearances on several Star Wars podcasts including: The Star Wars Underworld, RebelForce Radio, The Wolfpack Podcast, Toy Run: The Star Wars Action Figure Cast, Voice of the Republic, SWAG77, The Expanded Fandomverse, and Custom Action Figure News. My latest endeavor is a podcast that I do with Peak-OB1 Custom Creations called "Customizing The Clone Wars" where we pay tribute to the television series with custom action figure art. We go episode by episode showcasing custom action figures from the hit TV series while at the same time providing our audience with tips and techniques on how to make your own versions of The Clone Wars custom action figures we feature. 

1. How did you find your way into "The Clone Wars Community UK"? 

I found The Clone Wars Community UK page when I was doing one of many searches for Clone Wars pages that I do on Facebook to let fans of the show and action figure line know about the "Customizing The Clone Wars" videocast that I do every week. The Clone Wars Community UK was one of the few groups that had an active community still showing their love for the show.

2. What are your hobbies and interests other than Star Wars? 

It used to be collecting music and film. I have an enormous collection, but with everything going digital and available for streaming, I slowed down my collecting. Also making Star Wars custom action figures with my son Elias takes up a good portion of my time because it is such a lengthy process. Usually when I’m not working, I am either making more custom action figure art or promoting the work of one of my fellow artists.

3. You know we all love The Clone Wars, but what, in your opinion makes it the show we all know and love? 

For me I think it was getting to have a weekly Star Wars experience. Having Star Wars on a weekly basis for me created a set time where my son and I could bond over something that we both enjoyed and I think that is an experience that many families shared. It appealed to fans of the OT and PT as well as an entire new generation of fans that became The Clone Wars generation that my son was a part of. George Lucas put a lot of love into the show and invested a lot of his own money to make the show as special as it was. The character arcs that developed over many seasons made the show such an immersive experience. The characters were all so complex and so well fleshed out. The lush sets and abundance of background characters certainly didn’t hurt either. Having it on Netflix for the last several years helped us reminisce, and reconnect with the episodes we loved over and over again and helped bring in new fans, who maybe missed the series when it originally aired. The Clone Wars made episodes for people of all ages, and that was probably its biggest selling point for me. 

4. If you woke up one morning and by some voodoo magic, you awoke in The Clone Wars galaxy... which character would you be and why? 

This was a hard question to answer because I can’t say I can relate to any character in particular. 

5. Do you collect any Clone Wars toys or memorabilia? if so, what is your favourite piece in your collection? 

I have the entire Clone Wars 3.75” line here at home. My favorite part of the collection would be the Clone Wars customs that we have. We easily have over one hundred. Because no figures were made after Season 3 of the series, it is nice to have the characters from the later seasons that no one else has sitting on my shelf next to our Hasbro releases.

5. Many collectors have a "Grail" item... something they want above all else, but may prove difficult to obtain... do you have one? 

Because I have a complete collection, it would probably be something that was never produced. I’d love to get a Twilight vehicle/playset one day. It was a shame that a toy of that ship was never produced. It would have to seat at least four, have the medical bay, and a good sized cargo area in the back.

6. Your application for finance to the banking clan has been approved... what vehicle or ship do you buy? 

Probably Sugi’s SS-54 “The Halo”. I always like the look of the ship. Wouldn’t it have been cool if we got an action figure of Sugi with her assault ship?

7. Hasbro made an excess of 70+ figures for The Clone Wars, but there are so many characters that never got the figure they deserved... which character should have had their own figure? 

I have always longed to have an action figure of Huyang. It would be awesome to see him on my shelf one day.

8. Which two characters in the show would you have like to seen go toe to toe on screen? 

A Mother Talzin – Count Dooku fight would have been cool to see due to the history between them. Not sure if we would have had an official winner, but it would have been cool to see.

9. Finally, what is your favourite episode and why?

I have a real affection for “Bound For Rescue” from Season 5, I’m a big fan of Hondo Ohnaka and Ahsoka. The circus scene was so much fun. I wish I had action figures of the younglings in their Jedi and circus outfits. I’d love to make the whole circus in action figure form complete with a Fambaa one day. I really want one of those pirate tanks too.

THE CLONE WARS COMMUNITY UK

on FACEBOOK

DARTH DADDY'S CUSTOMIZING CORNER: FOCUS ON SOME FANGIRLS

This time around, I thought it would be cool to feature some custom art from some female Star Wars artists for a change. Contrary to the stereotype, Star Wars customizing is not just practiced by nerdy, awkward men working diligently in their man caves.  There is also a thriving contingent of female fans hard at work producing some extremely noteworthy additions to the customizing community as well. While their creations may contain the standard 3.75" or 6" action figure creation, some of their work stretches outside the usual parameters we are all used to seeing in my column.

For a few years now, I have been featuring the work of these artists on my blog on our "Customs for the Fangirls" page, but I thought it was about time I opened up their work to a much larger audience by displaying a sample of some of the art I feature there.  These are just a few of the artists whose work  can be found there.

First up is Jedi Ash Designs run by Ashley M. Kalfas from Colorado Springs, Colorado.  She makes some really unique Star Wars poseable dolls inspired by the Monster High line that are just extraordinary.  Her work is so eye catching I strongly considered running over to her Etsy store to pick up one of her figures to add to our home collection.

Her work can also be found at these links:

JEDI ASH DESIGNS ETSY STORE

JEDI ASH DESIGNS FACEBOOK PAGE

JEDI ASH DESIGNS WEBPAGE

The next artist on display I discovered on Instagram.  I saw a one-of-a-kind handmade "Youngling Ahsoka Tano" doll that was made by missupsetter that I wish was available for purchase.  I would have bought it on the spot.  She details the build process she went through and documents the countless hours she invested into creating this beautiful piece.  This is something I wish we could see mass produced one day.  

missupsetter on Instagram

Our last artist is well known in the Star Wars super fan community. For the longest time now, we thought that we were only one of two individuals who owned a Sabine Tie Fighter from the Star Wars Rebels television series. That is until we saw the newly painted Tie Fighter created by The Dorky Diva, Savanna Kiefer who created her stellar creation as a gift. 

www.thedorkydiva.com

We're always on the hunt for more female customizers so if you have some work that you'd like to share feel free to send it my way.  My email can be located in the sidebar of the blog.  

If you want to see more Fangirl related customs, click the link below:

CUSTOMS FOR THE FANGIRLS

UPCOMING CUSTOMIZING CONTEST @ IMPERIAL SHIPYARDS

It has been awhile since Imperial Shipyards has had a custom contest and they are asking for your help to decide the theme of their next customizing challenge. Click to post your idea for what you think the theme should be. Look for the vote to start sometime around noon on Sunday!

CLONE WARS "SENATOR RIYO CHUCHI" by Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

This is my first 100% sculpted action figure. I have been working on her for almost a year now, so it feels really good to have her finally completed. When I first started, being only 13 years old, I was really concerned that I might not be able to pull off this custom of Riyo Chuchi. Even with six years experience with making my own figures, it still felt like a daunting task. Rather than being paralyzed with fear, I just dove right in and my persistence really paid off. Perseverance went a long way when putting this figure together.

It took a few different action figures and a lot of sculpting to put this figure together. The base of the figure was a Star Trek "Uhura action" figure that was severely modified.  I used Aves Fixit to sculpt and then sanded the torso to get it where I needed.  I borrowed the lower legs from a Clone Wars Aayla Secura that I sculpted onto with ProCreate, and the arms were originally from a Clone Wars MicroSeries "Snow Bunny" Padme Amidala which were also modified with the same sculpting material. The head, believe it or not, was from a modified Ahsoka Tano action figure that was sanded very heavily to remove her montrals, and then, had Chuchi's hair sculpted with Aves Fixit to replace what we removed.  

My Dad helped me fabricate the headdress from scratch. We sculpted it with ProCreate to keep the accessory durable. I was worried about using ProCreate because of the quick dry time with me being relatively new to sculpting. We made the headdress removable by placing saran wrap over the head before sculpting the piece onto the head. The crystal jewels on the back of the crown were glued to sewing thread before being sculpted into the accessory to maintain both strength and accuracy. My favorite part about the headdress is that it's removable.

At first, I was very intimidated by the pattern on her dress, due to its intricacies. My dad suggested that in order to make the painting process simpler, I could map out my pattern using dots.  I placed the dots on the dress, then used a fine detail paintbrush to connect these dots and added the three circles. The Porcelain Rose paint was too bright, so to darken the pattern, I used a wash of the color I used on the rest of her dress.  To get the right color on the lips, I painted them white then applied a darker blue wash to make them pop.

Now that she is done, I couldn't be happier. I feel like now that I completed my first 100% sculpted piece, I completed a rite of passage in the customizing community. It is a figure I couldn't have made when I first started out as a customizer 6 years ago.  It took many years of building up my skill set to get me where I needed to be to pull this off.  Now she is my favorite custom!

I hope when people think that they could never make their own Star Wars custom action figure, that they look to me for inspiration, because if I can pull off a figure that looks this good at 13 years old, they can at least give customizing a try.

Riyo Chuchi was a female Pantoran politician from the moon of Pantora which orbited the planet, Orto Plutonia. Chuchi served as a senator and represented her people in the Galactic Senate of the Republic during the Clone Wars.

"SENATOR RIYO CHUCHI"

created by Elias

"Work In Progress"
Pictures

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED