2012 CLONE WAR CLONE CORRECTIONS or why is Hasbro not trying to meet consumer expectations?

Recently in Star Wars collecting circles there has been a real uproar over Hasbro's recent decision to  minimize the amount of articulation in the Clone Wars figure line.  The Clone Wars figures were Hasbro's most popular selling Star Wars line and by removing working joints at the wrists, knees, and ankles, Hasbro has taken the action out of the figure.  Hasbro made a blanket statement that expressed that children aren't concerned with articulation in their action figures, but from the perspective of this child consumer, kids are very interested in having maximum articulation in their action figures.  Especially now that I can only buy one figure with my weekly allowance after Hasbro inflated the price while at the same time massively reducing the quality of their action figures. Thankfully our fodder bin had two very articulated older versions of both Rex and Wolffe that Dad used to super articulate the 2012 Clone Wars versions of these fan favorites.  We saw some really stellar versions of these characters given the same treatment by other customizers that were a lot more impressive, but Dad just went for the quick fix on these two so he could work on some more pressing projects that he was enjoying more.

 CAPTAIN REX and COMMANDER WOLFFE

created by Darth Daddy

Dad grabbed the bucket and paladin from the 2012 Clone Wars Season 4 Captain Rex action figure.  He then opened the hole on the bottom of the bucket with a dremel so it could snap onto the neck post of a spare Rex we had from the Clone Wars episode "The Deserter" when Rex was wounded and housed in the home of Cut Lawquane until he recovered.  

The figure now has knee, ankle, and ball jointed wrists!

Dad left the blast mark on the chest.

The figure we used even had a head  for when Rex took off his bucket.  

There's nothing better than a quick fix. 

For this figure Dad boiled and popped the legs off the two Wolffe figures we had and cut off the hands off of the new 2012 Wolffe.  Dad then drilled two small holes in the end of the wrists of the figure. Then Dad popped the ball hinge wrists off the older Wolffe and inserted the pegs into the newly drilled holes.

 Dad modified the pegs of the old Wolffe figure at the hip's hinge to make them small enough to snap into the hip of the new 2012 Clone Wars Wolffe and then used a black wash to weather the legs to match the rest of the figure.

SKILL LEVEL: INTERMEDIATE

Rex and Wolffe were featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.

Please Hasbro correct your oversight in next year's line of action figures. 

The Enloe Trials – New Previews

Slowly but surely, production continues for the next installment in The Enloe Trials photonovel series.

If you haven’t read the prologue to the series yet, head on over to the forums at Yakface.com and get caught up in this new series of adventures that takes place during the early days of the Rebellion!

After that, take a peek at a couple full shot previews to the next chapter!

X WING ALLIANCE: CHAPTER 21 - "PAYBACK"

It needs no further introduction, click here and prepare to be amazed!

Incom's Customs: Sculpting Dreadlocks Tutorial

Nicola Acris Custom Figure Contest

Imperial Shipyards has just announced their latest Custom Contest! They have partnered up with Clone Crazy of Hide in Plain Sight fame to bring you the Who is Nicola Acris Custom Figure Contest. You will have from now until June 1st to create your definitive version of this character for possible implementation into the next installment of Clone Crazy's great Photo-Novel. Click on through to see the full contest details, read the description of Nicola Acris, and see what fabulous prizes await the winners! This is gonna be another fun one.

Yakfinities # 44

The latest Yakfinities Customizing Challenge continues with a theme that they haven’t tackled before and since it's start there has been some very interesting concepts shown off in the forums.

With the lull in new product these days, there’s never been a better time to roll up your sleeves and add some new figures to your collection in a different way – by creating your own figures! So check out some really cool customs or submit your own after the jump!

Other Noteworthy Tutorials

Sith_fire30 Mold Making Tutorials

EWOK HANG GLIDER MOBILE

Dad attached my Ewok hang glider toys to my ceiling on a mobile that he constructed from two clear replacement rods made for household blinds that he purchased at Home Depot.  He used a screw to fasten the rods together at their centers, drilled the ends of the rods, and fastened fishing line through the freshly drilled holes from which he suspended the toys.  To finish the project Dad just attached it to the ceiling with an eye hook.

And yes the toys are easily removable because Dad attached them with a sliding knot!

 EWOK MOBILE

created by Darth Daddy

Click on the images to zoom.

It looks much cooler in motion than it does in a picture where it appears stationary.

CAFN Episode 27 - Lucasclones Interview

Episode 27 - Lucasclones Interview Teaser

Lucasclones, Luke Sprywalker and Tamer gave us a great little teaser for the Lucasclones interview on Custom Action Figure News this week where our own Darth Daddy assisted Tamer in interviewing Lucasclones about starting Custom Action Figure News, his own custom action figures, his Youtube videos, selling art on ebay, and the start of his new blog.

Episode 27 - Lucasclones Interview

Lucasclones is a customizer of mostly custom Star Wars clone and Mandalorian action figures. He particularly favors ARC troopers and has been alongside fellow customizer Wraithnine creating some Republic commando squads. He is very proud of his Clone Wars style Delta and Omega squad from the Republic Commando novels. His work can be found on Imperial Shipyards Custom Figure Forums and on Flickr, as well as featured in his videos from Youtube. He also customizes G.I.Joe figures and posts them on his Flickr photostream and on a G.I.Joe fan website called Joedios. Host of the podcast Custom Action Figure News with Imperial Shipyards administrator Tamer, Lucasclones sheds the light on the hobby we all love.  His show is a must listen!

 

Lucasclones

For the link to Lucasclones on Imperial Shipyards go to :

 http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?topic=3618.0 

For the link to Lucasclones on Flickr go to :

http://www.flickr.com/photos/lucasclones/ 

For the link to Lucasclones on Youtube go to :

http://www.youtube.com/user/cha1man2?feature

Go here to listen to the Custom Action Figure News podcast: 

 http://www.imperialshipyards.net/podcasts/index.html

or 

http://customactionfigurenews.posterous.com/

If there is anything you would like him to feature on a future podcast be sure to let him know at:

chad.cafnpodcast@yahoo.com

"Numa" Star Wars Action Figure

May the 4th be with you all on this fantastic Star Wars day.

Why fantastic?

Well, because Dad just finished a project that he has been wanting to complete for a very long time. Dad finally finished his Numa action figure.

She's sculpted entirely by hand.  The arms are modified ones from a Ben Quadrinaros action figure and the hands are from the ROTS Aayla Secura.  The feet are from a Vintage Phantom Menace Anakin Skywalker that Dad sculpted onto.  The head and torso were made with Apoxie Sculpt that was applied to the torso and head of a Hiccup How to Train Your Dragon action figure that Dad dremeled down to a skeleton.  Dad made Numa a cross between the Clone Wars depiction of Numa and the Sideshow version that came with Waxer and Boil. 

Dad worked on this figure while he interviewed customizer Lucasclones with Tamer on CAFN.

I've seen Numa on a lot of fan lists begging Hasbro to make her, but Habro's so-called Clone Wars "kid friendly" line has yet to create the cool children of Star Wars like Numa and Jaybo Hood.  I guess they'll just be sidelined like Kitster and Wald.

"NUMA"
created by Darth Daddy

SKILL LEVEL: ADVANCED

Numa as she is depicted on the Clone Wars television series.

 Dad's Numa was featured on the front page of Yakface.com in their Customizer Mega Spotlight.

Dad's Numa was featured on the front page of Imperial Shipyards.