Mara Jade custom?

[Mitsukara]

Well, watching yet another, loose at that, Mara Jade auction inexplicably rise to $17 I find myself revisiting the idea of giving up on buying one and trying to make my own instead. The sculpting looks pretty good, but on the other hand she's still a POTF2 figure with the "basic" articulation that entails.

So, the question is what to make her from? Eventually I'd planned to make a "Jedi" gear Mara as well, but I really want one with a Thrawn-trilogy type outfit (or, if that fails, perhaps a "Mysteries of the Sith" outfit or something- just something that would make sense for a smuggling outfit and if it matched with an existing official design that'd be cooler, really) as well. I don't have any good parts to use to this effect, so I'm trying to figure out what I would buy (and if it would ultimately beat the $17-$25 "real deal").

Anyway, I'm kind of wondeirng if anyone had some suggestions in this area. The legs and torso from a Saga "Droid Factory Chase" Padme might be good? As for a head, I really don't know what would work best. POTF2/SOTE Boussh Disguise Leia looks nothing like Carrie Fisher and has the right expression (and might look good with standing next to a figure with a Dark Jedi Luke head) but I'm not sure about those giant lips she seems to have. A Saga "Arena Escape" Padme head might work; although I don't really know if I like the way the head seems to 'lean', the features are about right and she's got an angry look appropriate to Mara during the Thrawn Trilogy.

Maybe some weird figures I haven't thought of/don't know much about would work? Or maybe there's a good head from a non-Star Wars line figure I could use?

Also, if anyone has some experience making a Mara Jade custom themselves, I'd love to hear some details on it!

Sorry for the vague and wishy-washy post by the way Any help/suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated, though.

"Plug For WTB List in Offhand Remark Disguise": I am still interested, BTW, in buying a Mara Jade loose or a Mara Jade head even, if anyone has one...

[CHEWIE]

It might be expensive to come up with the parts if you don't already have them handy, but for reference here is my latest Alyssa Enloe custom, some of these parts might match well for a Mara Jade custom.



head - GI JOE Bombstrike
arms - POTF2 Princess Leia Collection
gloves - Annika figure
body - SAGA Factory Padme

 

[Darth_Ennis]

As far as females go, the bodies that I use are usually Aayla secura, and Luminara from the ROTS line. I picked up a bunch of them before they all disappeared from around here. I use Luminara a lot as you can see from my customs thread. She is a great basic body with nice articulation.

[findswoman]

Hi Mitsukara -- If you're planning to make Mara in the black smugglers' outfit, I think the Droid Factory Chase Padmé body sounds like a great bet, as both you and Chewie mention.  Arms can be taken from almost any female figure with bare arms, which includes most of the Princess Leia colletion; the wristband of the gloves can then simply be sculpted on with Sculpey or Fimo, and that & the hands painted to look like gloves.

As far as heads go, here's the head I think is one of the best bets for Mara, from the 2004 edition of Scarlett from G. I. Joe:
http://www.yojoe.com/action/04/scarlett4.shtml

This head has not only the right hair in the right style, but also a facial expression that I think is quite apt for Mara.  These can be found on eBay, of course, but also from trading, I'm sure!  Only one thing: the neck post is a good bit thicker than the hole in the Droid Factory Padmé torso, but once the hole is widened with an X-Acto or some such, it should be a fine fit. 

Hope this has helped -- happy customizing to you! 

... the Findswoman

[Mitsukara]

Wow! That head does look quite good for Mara- the expression is great, the facial structure is pretty good (not unlike the person who's closest to being the "official" portrayal of Mara- the one who posed for the trading cards), and the eyes are green! The hair would work good as-is too, but if I ever get good at sculpting and painting I might get adventurous in that department. If I do indeed make a custom Mara, I should definately find one of those!

A question though- I've never owned any of the smaller GI Joes. Do they use POTF2-like neckposts, with the small post and the disc at the bottom, or something different?

I was thinking the same thing about the gloves/arms- I need to find one that has a good grip for holding a lightsaber or blaster, though. Fortunately there's plenty of photo archives to help me find something that will work.

I want to make sure I don't go over $17 though, considering that at that point I could've bought a Hasbro Mara Jade for the same. One of these Scarlett figures can be found as low as $5.75 on eBay, so that's not too bad of a start; droid factory Padme seems to be kind of randomly priced on eBay so I'm not sure what I'd wind up paying- there are two auctions starting at $2, a british one that equates to about $10, $30 buy-it-nows... and I think I could get a Leia Collection figure for about $3 if I'm lucky. that makes $8.75 plus an unknown total for the Padme figure, although I would be getting a bunch of leftover fodder out of the deal, I suppose, as well. Perhaps this would be good stuff to add to my Wants list...

At the moment I'm watching a Mara Jade auction ending tonight at a thus-far good price. I'm fully anticipating a $10 price raise by the end, but on the off-chance I get lucky, I might be able to buy it and then I can move on to making a Jedi outfit Mara.

On a totally different tangent, while it'd be quite a ways off (I should read the books first to see if I even want to make one), it strikes me that the Padme Arena Escape head might make an excellent Admiral Daala, if it didn't look too weird that she constantly had her head leaning a bit...

Also, while I hadn't looked into Luminara before, Aayla Secura does look good for some generic purposes if you're skilled with molding and painting. I'll keep both of these figures in mind in future customizing.

Anyway, thank you very much! I don't know a lot about some lines such as GI Joe, so this kind of suggestion helps quite a bit!

EDIT: Another day, another loose Mara going for $15.08 + $2.80 S&H. I shall indeed pursue this custom...