"CUSTOMS FOR THE KID" 2020 - YEAR IN REVIEW

Another year behind us, but not just any year...it was our blog's ten year anniversary in 2020 and we were sure to celebrate it with some of our friends. We kept busy as usual and we even announced some big changes like Darth Daddy reducing his role a bit going forward. 

Dad started the year off by breaking in our new 3-D printer utilizing some cool free droid files with characters from Solo: A Star Wars Story that we found on the Rebelscum forums. Dad even painted up some cool 3-D prints from Star Wars Rebels like Morai, HURID-327 from Force Awakens, and CB-23 from Resistance. Based on the results so far, the 3-D printing trend will continue to play a big role here on the blog for years to come.

While Darth Daddy was tackling droids Elias made a bunch of Clone Wars custom action figures for the "Kessel Run Transmissions" videocast who also had Customs for the Kid participate in some of their roundtables for the last season of The Clone Wars and the second season of The Mandalorian. 

Customs for the Kid also did our part to promote the "Back TVC" movement this year and continues to offer our support to expand and grow the 3.75" line. 

The purpose of this petition is to provide Hasbro with actionable market data to justify the investment in more new 3.75" Star Wars Vintage Collection figures every year. 

By signing this petition, I affirm the following:

1. Collecting Hasbro's 3.75" Star Wars Vintage Collection is / will be a hobby of mine.

2. In order to retain / attract me as a customer, Hasbro must produce more newly tooled figures each year than is currently being produced, and those figures need to be in close alignment with the desires of the collector community.

3. I am more likely to visit retail locations that properly stock and manage Hasbro's 3.75" Star Wars Vintage Collection, and will also do so more frequently.

As Star Wars action figure customizers these action figures are necessary to continue our art form. If you could please sign to support the blog, it would be greatly appreciated!

#BackTVC #FightForTVC #Save375

SIGN THE PETITION HERE

One of the most exciting endeavors we got to be a part of was the big return of Wookielover1138's "Kessel Run Review" show after her long 7-year hiatus. She was a big part of this blog when we started and we loved seeing her return. We've always been huge fans of the way she promotes the Star Wars custom action figure community and we will be sure to post more of her videos as they get released.

Venturing into new territory, Elias made his first stop motion film, thanks to a school assignment he had late in the year. He incorporated some of our old Rogue One customs, an old Rebels diorama, his Hasbro toys and a green screen to bring the 15-second video to life.

 

Elias also did his first action figure tutorial for our YouTube channel showing our audience how he brought a Star Wars Rebels Gregor to life. The tutorial video covers materials needed, safety tips, Dremel use, sculpting techniques, articulating 5poa figures, molding and casting, as well as paint application. We plan on doing a lot more of these in 2021.

 

Parent Supervision Required!

We did a lot of fun, new 100% sculpted figures in 2020 like Azmorigan, Lux Bonteri, and a Lothwolf. We even revisited some old ones like Elias' second set of Jedi Younglings from The Clone Wars that were done on commission. Updated some older figures like Pre Vizsla and Bo Katan courtesy of a new head and some accessories from audes_workshop. Elias had the pleasure of painting up the cast of a friend's Ziro the Hutt, and we added a Star Wars Rebels Hondo Ohnaka to the collection along with a better headcast for Governor Pryce thanks to Watto's Scrapyard. We even committed some blasphemy by leaving the traditional scale we work in by showcasing a 6" Ahsoka Tano that Elias made for a commission. My favorite part of this year though was adding an animated 3.75" Clone Wars "Siege of Mandalore" Ahsoka Tano of my own to my collection!

All the Star Wars custom action figures we made in 2020 can be seen in the video at the very beginning of the post or just click on any of the various hyperlinks for more information on what is listed here.

"THE CLONE WARS - SIEGE OF MANDALORE" AHSOKA TANO created by Elias

So this is the final custom of the year. It is also the second time this year I made an animated Ahsoka Tano from the Siege of Mandalore arc in the 3.75" scale. The first time was a dry run that we had made for Corey Van Dyke of Kessel Run Transmissions before the episodes even aired on Disney+.  On this figure, I had the episodes to refer to, and much more time to study the details of the design, which lent to a more screen accurate representation of the character.

Knowing that Ahsoka was different than I had anticipated when referring to only a trailer, I realized I had to change my recipe, and her face sculpt.  The head is a Scuba Ahsoka which I lengthened in the Montrals and Lekku.  I also re-sculpted her jaw to make her appear more mature than she did in the Season 4 version.  Her torso is from the Star Wars Rebels Ahsoka Tano action figure, which I modified heavily with a Dremel and some serious sculpting.  The thighs and feet are from the early 2008 Clone Wars Ahsoka Tano action figure. The shoulder joints are from a Clone Wars Adventure Padmé Amidala action figure. The elbows and the lower legs are from a 3.75" Black Series Ahsoka Tano.

"THE CLONE WARS - SIEGE OF MANDALORE" 

AHSOKA TANO 

created by Elias

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

CUSTOMIZER SPOTLIGHT "UPDATE": THE CLONE WARS "Peppi Bow, Rafa & Trace Martez" custom action figures created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations

For my birthday this year, Dad added a few more Clone Wars custom action figures made by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations to my collection. The first action figure is of a character fans were introduced to as early in the show as Season 1 while the other two custom action figures were of characters featured in the final season of the show.

The first action figure, a custom Peppi Bow, features brilliant paintwork and a stunning sculpt, including a removable hat! The figure is so heavily modified, I can't even identify the parts used to construct the figure. Nevertheless, the craftsmanship is absolutely fantastic, and I am honored to say that she now graces my Clone Wars shelf with her presence.

The other action figures are a set, the Martez sisters! Rafa Martez features her signature fur coat, and an especially beautiful paint job on her head, which appears to be a modified Clone Wars Shaak Ti head.  Her necklace is a loose accessory, which is quite a feat, given the small size of the piece. Trace Martez comes with a pair of removable pilot goggles, and a wonderful sculpt. The hair, jacket, pants, and boots are all beautifully hand sculpted and painted to bring this work of art to life. The Martez sisters will make a fine addition to my collection!

Every time I add a new Peak-OB1 Custom Creations figure to my collection, it's always such a thrill.  His talents as an artist are always apparent in his work, and I find myself wanting to learn how to apply variations to his paint technique in my own work whenever I can. To see more of his work, watch our show, Customizing the Clone Wars, where we do in an depth analysis of each Clone Wars episode, as well as provide tutorials for making the custom figures that we produced of characters from each episode.

THE CLONE WARS 

"Peppi Bow" custom action figure 

created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations 

THE CLONE WARS 

"Rafa & Trace Martez" custom action figures

created by Peak-OB1 Custom Creations

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"Rogue One" Green Screen Stop Motion by Elias of "Customs for the Kid"

 

I had a school assignment to do last night for my film class where I had to tell a story with a 15-second "green screen" stop-motion film. Of course I saw it as an opportunity to bring our customs to life in a whole new way. Filming 15 seconds of footage took way longer than I had imagined, but I was definitely happy with my first experiment using our creations in a whole new way. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of our stop-motion adventure.

Jyn Erso

Super-Articulated "Chirrut Îmwe"

3.75" Scale "K-2SO with Improved Articulation"

 

"IMPERIAL PROPAGANDA-REBEL GRAFFITI" DIORAMA

STAR WARS REBELS "GREGOR" created by Elias

Thought we would do something a little different than usual this time around. Not in figure selection, custom animated Star Wars characters are frequently displayed here, but rather, this time we decided to provide a video tutorial of the customizing process from start to finish. A "how-it-was-done" video guide that will show you not only how to make your own Gregor, but also give you techniques that could be applied to plenty of other custom action figure projects in your future.

Hasbro's Star Wars Rebels Captain Rex was the perfect base figure for our Gregor and I used Dad's trick from his Rebels Rex figure where he used a Yarna d'al' Gargan to articulate Gregor's elbows. Unlike Dad who used the shoulder joints for elbow joints, I used her actual elbow joints from Jabba's denizen. On the right arm, a small nub was left on the elbow joint that we inserted into a cast of the right forearm of a Clone Wars Boss action figure we made a mold of specifically for this project. I used Yarna's entire forearm on Gregor's left arm where I only had to thicken the arm at the wrist with some ProCreate so it would blend nicely into the hand of the Hasbro Rex figure. 

I then subtracted the beard of the original figure with the black brush of my Dremel to get a nice close shave and after removed the armor from the Rex figure with the same Dremel attachment. After the holsters were removed with an X-acto blade, the upper body was sculpted into shape with some more ProCreate before adding a detailed paintjob to complete the project.

STAR WARS REBELS 
"GREGOR" 
created by Elias

"Commander Wolffe" created by Paul Martine

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

"STAR WARS REBELS" GREGOR CUSTOM ACTION FIGURE TUTORIAL

 

This tutorial video covers materials needed, safety tips, Dremel use, sculpting techniques, articulating 5poa figures, molding and casting, as well as paint application. Parent Supervision Required!

PURCHASE HEAD HERE

Captain Rex