95 Utapau Clones, huh?  Considering the figure has only been out for a month or so, I think we can safely call this hoarding.

I'm an army builder.  I understand the methodology and the motives.  You want to have a pretty good sized unit of Clones, Stormtroopers or Battle Droids to have in some kind of formation.  But 95 Utapau Clones?  That's more than I'll ever own.  I think I have 8 open right now, and it's almost overwhelming my small Utapau diorama.  I'll probably max out at 10 of these.

The point here is that you've got to be reasonable about this kind of collecting.  Exercise some good judgement.  Restraint is not a bad thing, either.

I am an Army Builder as well, don't know how the **** anyone managed to get 95 of the Utapau Clones already, but I agree that should take more than a couple weeks to build something up to that level.

I catch plenty of **** from people that get really pissed off at me for having so many of the same figure and there has been so much comparison of Army builders to scalpers that it is really starting to get out of hand.   I can understand the FU attitude some people have had towards others that are offended by their collecting habits.  I can also understand being the guy that hasn't found jack for weeks, then you go online and see some jag-bag gloating about how plentiful the figures have been in his area.  

I am not finding the Coruscant wave because of scalpers or Army builders.  I am not finding the figures becasue the stores are only getting in 1 case of 12 figures every week.  It's a damn distribution problem, plain and simple.   Trust me, if there were enough items being produced in the first place, we would be complaining about how jammed the pegs are and wondering how in the hell the stores are going to get rid of them all before the next wave starts shipping.

Collectors piss & moan when there are too many figures out there and cry foul in every direction when there is not enough.  The Army Builder thing is way overblown as well as the panic over scalpers.  Instead of bitching about it online and pointing the finger at each other as the reason why we can't find a Commander Cody or Clone Trooper, we need to spend as much time bitching to Hasbro and Retail outlets that are causing the mayhem in the first place...

Hey, the Jeff avatars are real nice, I am in full support of your nomination as President!

Although I do believe you would get more votes if you were also wearing a beanie, maybe one that is shaped like a large breast.  I think it would really motivate people to sign up knowing in some way the election is tied in with breasts.

I wasn't real big on the Mouse Droid, maybe if they had made it a remote control version that would have done it for me, so I settled for the regular version.  This is one damn fine statue.

I still think they should have made a lightup Interrogation Droid to go with this Vader and need to look into a display case myself.  I would like to get a glass case and etch a nice big Imperial Logo into the top of it.

Quote from: bjardkerr on February 16, 2006, 09:32 PM

I agree, those lines look great!  The blue looks good too.  Did you mix it yourself?

Actually, I just used Citadel's Ultramarine Blue.

The thing about getting the lines straight is using masking tape (I hear there is also  a masking fluid, but I have not tried it yet) and very thin paint to get a basic outline, and later on fill in the rest of the shapes.

The only tricky part was to  cut very thin, straight rectangles of tape to mask the center line of the torso and the space between the leg stripes, and then place the outer edge masks.

It still required a bit of cleaning and touch up's afterwards, but the nice thing about acryllics is that most of the  clean-up could  be done with just a toothpick.

Thank you all for your comments, and Gregorbian, I'm just awed at what you can do with a microman body. 

First, nice custom work, paint job looks great, I can't get enough of them Clone Customs. 

I picked up the Citadel Ultramarine Blue a couple weeks ago & it's a great match for the 501st customs.   I also picked up from Hobby Lobby in the model aisle the Ambroid EZ Mask, I tried it on a few customs this weekend and works like a champ.  You just brush it on, let it dry, and then cut out the area or shape to be painted with the X-Acto.

Man, those look fantastic!  I really like the Yoda flame base.  Your small detail painting is incredible (I like the white markings on the Cody-style visors).

That 501st Cody-esque Clone Commander looks great, does he have a name?

Thanks & no name on the 501st Commander. 

I use to give my customs Latin Names (not to be mistaken with Latino), like 2 of my Fan Fiction Sith creations Darth Loricatus and Darth Caedo, it made the name a little more interesting that way.  Loricatus is the Latin word for the wearing of heavy armor and Caedo means to Kill or Murder. 

I just finished watching a History Channel show on Fidel Castro and of course found a bit of Star Wars humor in some early pictures of Castro...anyway, at the very least I was able to amuze myself with this:


So, you tell me, which one is the Jedi Master?

Success!  You got them posted, very nice. 

Nothing wrong with being 14.  I had about as many figures as you when I was 14, only difference is mine were all Vintage figures at that time and the Internet was only used by the Government.