2012 in retrospect

Hi everyone, I hope you all had a great holiday season and a fresh start to the new year!

Since 2013 is only a couple of days old, let me take you back to 2012, which turned out to be quite Star Wars heavy!

First up is this female AT-AT Driver, which I made for Imperial Shipyards.net moderator Tamer. Tamer is nuts about everything that has AT-ATs and Hoth involved. He also has a soft spot for the customizing community and doesn't hold back making the world realize there is such a community! I am sure you know or have heard of the Custom Action Figure News podcasts, which he and fellow customizer LucasClones host on a regular basis.

CAFN puts customizers in the spotlight, by having an hour long (or longer!) interview with  a particular customizer. I had the honour to be their guest back in late 2011 and after the interview Tamer convinced me to make him something nice. Well, something nice turned out into the AT-AT gal mentioned above:

Next is a second version of Jedi Master Ven Zallow, seen in one of the awesome mini movies promoting the Star Wars: The Old Republic game.

This was a commissioned figure for a fellow who took a liking to my first Ven Zallow. The hair is a bit different from the first one and the client request a lighter shade of green for the armour.

After Ven Zallow, I apparently got stuck in a period of projects that just wouldn't see completion. And of course I kept starting new ones in the process... :) But later on in 2012 I managed to quickly start and finish customs for one of my favourite customizing community collaborations: the Secret Santa custom exchanges! I first participated in such an event at Yakface.com years ago and have also been part of it at Imperial Shipyards.net for the past two years. I don't know what it is, maybe the pressure of time, maybe the holiday spirit, but I always manage to whip up something new in an enthusiastic manner.

The first one is a female Endor Rebel Scout, made for UK customizer Wookieballs, the one who made that awesome carded vintage Boba Fett I showed you in the last update:

The other custom gift was for USA based customizer DanoftheDead. I made him this skilled Mon Calamari Rebel field medic, using parts of a Mon Calamari warrior figure and most of the body of the GI Joe ROC Heavy Duty figure. I designed the intergalactic "first aid" symbol on the fly, trying to stay away from the "Earthy" red cross:

As you can probably tell, I paid much attention to the details on these figures. From the custom made straps for the female scout to the wet looking lips and nostrils of the Mon Cal. That's just how I am, nuts about details!

Speaking of nuts, I picked up a trait from a professional customizer called Jimster and decided to use his method of packing customs:

In the spirit of Christmas I picked up a set of Ikea gift boxes, shaped like a Christmas tree, which were a perfect fit for custom action figures!

The last set of customs actually makes the circle complete. As I have mentioned above, I think Tamer and LucasClones do a wonderful job of promoting our fine hobby. I decided to immortalize them by making custom figures of both of them as veteran Imperial officers. I have to give a special shout out to fellow Imperial Shipyards.net member DocOutlands for providing me with some head casts of the hard-to-find-for-a-fair-price GI Joe Chuckles figure, which apparently resembles Tamer in a way. Instead of going for the obvious Imperial green uniforms I added a touch of Incom (or Mr. Black as I'm known now), by making a two-tone coloured uniform for each. I was very happy the gifts arrived safe and sound early this year and of course that both gents really liked them!

And last, but cetainly not least: a completed non-SW custom. This is actually my very first Transformers custom and I have to say I probably bit of more than I could've chewed. Just repainting Transformer figures is quite a task by itself, but doing a full reshell of one is even more daunting. But I am quite pleased with it, as is my brother, for whom I made this one. My brother is a big Transformers fan and also happens to drive a very cool black Mini Cooper, complete with racing no. 53 on the doors, white racing stripes on the hood and chequered mirrors and roof. I took a RTS Bumblebee figure, sanded it down to a bare skeleton and attached a 1/32 Mini Cooper model kit to it. Unfortunately Coop, as Bumblebee was duly renamed, doesn't transform anymore, technically making him an "action master". But like I said, overall I am pleased with my first steps in Transformers customizing and it made me want to do that more often!