Most of the stuff out on display in my bookshelf wouldn't even be "Good finds"

But, I did find a few things a month or two ago that I'd long misplaced- a Weequay Skiff Guard, Tie Fighter Pilot, Tusken Raider, Stormtrooper, and Garindan, all POTF2 green cards, all unopened on bent/warped cards. All are now opened and in use, with the cards stashed away.

Yeah, I know, it's totally awesome, huh?

Hey, POTJ Chewie and 500th Vader aren't so bad. POTJ Chewie makes a great statue if nothing else, the sculpting is excellent, and 500th Vader is an awesome Vader if you handle him the right way (there's an easy method for getting the helmet to stay on and stay removeable, not to mention that you could just glue it on if you don't want it removeable; and his hand can too hold the lightsaber, it's just flimsy; he does better with a bigger-handled one like ROTS Vader's saber, though).

Luke... they really should've updated that body. It was great back then... in 1999... but he really needs wrist cuts these days at least. Cantina Han, argh, couldn't they have given him some new arms at least? Or a new chest.

Slash Attack Anakin and Kickin Obi Wan are two of the biggest pieces of trash in the line. Ugly and poorly functional as a toy, that makes a terrible action figure right there.

As I said... it should either look good, or play good (and my idea of good means being able to do a lot of things with it/ at least function for it's basic purpose), if not both. If it can't do either, what's the point? "Slashing Attack!" Or to gaze at Lando's chest of steel. You know you want it. Or Monkey Face Leia.... which you can melt and still looks just as good, and will probably hold the weapons just as good

Incidentally, if you hate 500th Vader, I challenge you to try making Monkey-Face Leia hold her weapons and see if you really think she's any better... she can hardly keep her skirt and cape on and stand up at the same time.

This figure skims my garbage list because his sculpting (read: headsculpt and cape) was decent... but he's just so horribly assembled that he warrants hatred:


Problems:
Those arms are stuck like that. That cape DOES NOT stay on. There is nothing to keep it on but gravity and that means he has to be at just the right angle. His stance is awful, he can barely stand up. I have him leaning in my display.The action feature is murder- you squeeze his legs together and he swings his lightsaber like he's had about 50 cans of Jolt Cola in the last hour- it's hilarious just to even do it. And it's quite easy for him to throw his lightsaber doing this, too.

I pronounce him Count "SuperSlap" Dookie.

On the plus side, the head would make for good customs, and the Sideous hologram is nice- nicer than the minifig we're getting these days in fact.

Actually, that's quite helpful- no need to worry about any "hijacking," I'm in need of some pointers and examples are great ^.^ The one on the right is the Apple Barrel, right? Judging from the chip...

Where could I find some of these other brands? All I found at Wal Mart were Apple Barrel and FolkArt I think. I could check at Hobby Lobby and possibly some other stores when shopping out of town, though...

They're on clearance, but I think our Wal Mart still has some Testors acrylic, so I might try that out when I have a dollar to spare. Junk items first, of course.

All right, these are my first custom Star Wars figures, and my first custom figures whatsoever that aren't in 1:6 scale (and in those cases, 97% of what I did was just gathering seperate outfit items and assembling them). Additionally, I've used some pretty old stuff here, and other than Han these customs look like they came from 2000, not 2006. So, bear with me here...

Also, I'm sorry for taking so long to get these done. Just today I managed to get another scanner we had hooked up, and it scans these to at least a seeable condition. Still, the picture quality is pretty bad, but at least it's something, right?

Custom #1: Luke Skywalker in traditional Jedi garb

Head: POTF2 Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise (note the collar)
Body: Episode 1 Obi Wan Kenobi (Jedi Duel)
Lightsaber: POTF2 Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (spare from Escape the Death Star game)

I made this back in December, and I have to say I'm not really all that wild about it >.> Actually, my first thought after seeing some Star Wars custom figures was that I wanted to make one of these ^^ But the painting didn't go that great and I think I'm going to try to strip it and redo it someday. As it stands, Luke is painted with Apple Barrel acrylics- the cheap stuff- and sealed with cheap Wal Mart acrylic sealer. I think I put too much sealer because Luke got this kind of sticky, glossy coat (despite it being flat sealer)- most of the really noticeable stuff I was able to get off, but as you'll notice he still looks kind of "shiny" and his "skirt" piece seems to attract tiny dirt and stuff over time. The lightsaber sealed great though, and isn't too sticky and hasn't worn.

I'm not sure when this Luke would really chronologically fit in- I planned it before I'd read any EU books and made it not too long after reading Heir to the Empire for the first time. I decided to paint the little "buckles" on the boots silver to add something different (and I was kind of thinking of Anakin's glove), and the color scheme I made up partially for easyness (wasn't brave enough to repaint his whole outfit). For some reason I had the hardest time getting the head to pop in, taking about an hour and a half to do it- I don't think I was doing it right. Later customs have gone much more smoothly though.

Custom #2: Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise (bet you've never seen one of these!)

Head: POTF2 Commtech Han Solo (Cantina)
Body, Helmet, Gun: Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise

Once I got experimenting with making my other Han Solo, I found myself with some leftover Cantina Han parts, and I had a stormtrooper disguise waiting to be filled from my Luke custom. So, rather quickly, I whipped this guy up. Later, I went back and added some paint details when I repainted my other stormtroopers.

The body is terribly lame of course, but I like this custom better than the pictures I've seen of the official POTF2 Hantrooper; he had this weird pose with his arms, and the Cantina Han makes a better young Harrison Ford likeness. The collar is a small rubber band which I painted black. The blaster, along with several of my other POTF2 E-11s, has some silver paint (Apple Barrel of course) added in areas I think might maybe be accurate from a search for pictures of the prop.

Finally, I decided for some reason to try to paint his head some- I don't much care for the tannish brown Cantina Han was painted with, and he lookd kind of cartoony. I think I used Burnt Umber, and I wiped it off with a napkin immediately after application- this worked great on the hair after doing it a few times. The trouble was, it made the eyebrows look horrible, so I attempted to repaint them with a needle. The results aren't very good and probably need reworked eventually, especially if they chip/rub off sometime.

Custom #3: Paint Enhanced POTF2 Stormtroopers


I think I just won "Boring Custom of 2006." All I did here was use some black paint- testors on the torso and Apple Barrel on the legs, "neck," and helmet- to add some details and make these guys look more accurate. I think I'll do this to my future POTF2 stormtroopers, but perhaps I'll try popping the limbs first, and using enamel and dullcote.

Sadly, I was unable to magically remove the mega-buffness.

Custom #4: Han Solo (New Republic)

Head, torso, arms: TSC Han Solo (Carbonite)
Legs, pelvis, vest, blaster: POTF2 Commtech Han Solo (Cantina)

Yeah! A custom that's kinda cool in some way! Basically, I torso cracked Cantina Han- cracking quite a bit actually >.< - and after a bit of effort managed to remove the lower half from the upper half (mostly by destroying the upper half). Carbonite Han is made entirely of the soft plastic that used to be reserved to limbs/heads/accessories, so his torso actually pops off pretty easily via boil and pop.

I toyed with the idea of trying to cut and swap the posts for the torsos, since they didn't match, but in a moment of boldness I instead decided to try rewarming the Carbonite Han torso and then just pushed the post in and to my surprise, it worked and retains the articulation after cooling- though I suspect it warped the inside of the torso to do it. Nevertheless, it worked, so I'm happy about it

I decided to paint Han's pants black with yellow bloodstripes, to match the way the Heir to the Empire comic books (haven't read them, but I've searched around and found pictures) portrayed him. I think a number of other comic books like this combination, and I thought, why not. Painting was problematic though; I tried to use Testors enamel, and then seal it with dullcote, but it took way too many coats to dry I think, and even then it wouldn't dry around the joints. As it turns out I think I was supposed to prime the figure beforehand, but alas. So I spent about an hour stripping off all the paint and redid it with apple barrel acrylics which I carefully sealed, masking off the top half since it didn't need any. It might get changed later on, but it works for now- although there's a sport on the back of one leg where it's already chipped off slightly.

The blaster is simply painted with apple barrel acrylics, wiped away while wet, and that process repeated a few times. It makes the gun look kind of worn and retains some of it's metallic look, and it hasn't chipped off yet even in the holster or Han's hand. And the great thing is that this blaster fits near-perfectly in his hand.

I took a few more pictures of Han but figured not everyone would care to see them, and I didn't think I should clutter my post too much, so here they are:

Side-by-side comparison with VTSC Han Solo
Han and MFC Chewie
Han and Chewie again
Also of note is that I customized Chewie's bowcaster a bit- I stole it from buff short POTF2 first Chewie, repainted it with the wipe-away method to add some silver/black/bronze weathering, and added a strap. The strap is actually a green rubber band with some crude black weathering added, attached by jumprings. It doesn't always hang quite right, but with some care it looks okay, and it works for actually hanging the bowcaster over his back.

Any comments/tips/suggestions are appreciated. I know these customs aren't much, but I hope to do some cooler stuff in the future. You can expect some more POTF2 parts to show up in them though, considering I just bought a lot of mostly POTF2 fodder (although I'm pretty happy with the lot, especially for the price I paid)...

NOTE: If some of the pictures aren't showing up, right click on them and click "Show Image"- maybe I have too many of them or something?

Well, yes, many problems plague the line continuously.... and there are some things that just make you scratch your head along the development process because they make no sense whatsoever.

Personally, my theory in what to post in this thread has been figures that I could laugh at, because they just looked and/or performed so horribly. I mean, Deluxe Screaming Anakin with Giant Robes, Harness, and broken arms?! Crippled by an action feature to ice the cake. I really had a ball the first time I saw it because it's just so awful that it's hilarious to even look at.

So anything that might fall into that kind of horribleness is worth posting here in my opinion After all, while everybody loves articulation and mostly hates action features, a Star Wars figure has some value if it at least makes a nice-looking statue. But if it looks horrible, or it's action feature is so bad that it cripples the figure in a completely noticeable way, that figure is true crap in my opinion.

Okay, I have a box of old POTF2 cards, mostly missing bubbles and with some wear and tear and such, that I've been keeping. Now I have a bunch of TSC and a few ROTS cards, and I haven't gotten rid of the bubbles from those either.

I am totally a loose collctor, and currently own nothing that's still carded/boxed. But the cards are kind of nice in a sense; on the other hand, I'm not sure if I really want to display a bunch of torn, opened cards, especially POTF2s. And I don't really have a place.

So, is there some way I could store these more easily/take up less space with them? As it is they overrun parts of my room and tend to be in fairly unsafe places. IF htere was som special method to packing a bunch tightly in a box, or something better, I'd love to hear any suggestions. Heck, if you know some kind of easy display method I might consider that too.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Err, you might want to enter urls in the future by typing them like so:

{url=http://www.rebelscum.com/POTF2cgvader.asp}Link Name Typed Here{/url}
Just replace the {}s with []s

Here's this one fixed though:

POTF2 Complete Galaxy Vader

That figure's pretty interesting; it takes the buff POTF2 sculpt, admittedly one of the more passable characters for being buff considering the tall muscle dude that played Vader in the suit most of the time, and sort of 500th Vader-izes it with a removeable helmet, hinged knee joints for sitting, and hands posed for sitting. The hands make him kinda not multi-purpose, but he does have a certain charm I suppose.

A couple of Vaders I've seen and really want to get someday, are Death Star Clash Vader and Commtech Vader. Both represent ANH Vader rather nicely, with the tunic over the armor- personally I wish they'd kept it that way in ESB and ROTJ, it's kinda cool- and some pretty decent stances. Commtech Vader is only really good for standing and talking and interrogating and such, but that's most of what Vader did in ANH; and Death Star Clash Vader is perfect for the lightsaber battle with Obi Wan.

Commtech Darth Vader
Death Star Clash Darth Vader (Originally released as Masters of the Dark Side Vader)

They should make an X-Wing with seperate sets of stickers you could attach to personalize it... but they're not going to.

For those confused about what Luke X-Wing is what, I'm familiar with 4 1/2 varieties:

Vintage Luke X-Wing - basic, but out of scale, not bad and it should fit every pilot Luke I know of okay (including Buff Pilot Luke)

POTF2 Original X-Wing (reprint of the vintage with new paint and stickers)

POTF2 Electronic FX X-Wing (lots of lights, sounds- effects and dialogue- and a built-in but decently sculpted Luke head and shoulders)

Saga Dagobah X-Wing (accurate in scale, very black-looking thrusters, some features and a working cockpit with a little hatch behind the seat, came with a filthy sludge-covered green R2D2 and some gear that was recently reprinted with TSC Hoth R2D2)

OTC X-Wing - sadly a reprint of the original POTF2, even though the OTC had an improved Falcon...
 
If they were to make a new Luke X-Wing at this point I'd guess it'd be the Dagobah X-Wing or a retooled version of this Red Leader X-Wing that was made. And if it's a "Classic Dagobah Vehicle" it's nearly a sure bet to be a straight reprint of the Saga one, maybe with new stuff thrown in (new R2 and/or Pilot Luke)