Guys and Gals -

From now on, I'll be doing almost all of my posting here. The tone of some of the Noobs on RS has gotten embarassingly bad, and I've decided to leave it behind.

I'm only posting this b/c I want folks here to know the reason I'm no longer commenting there or posting my work there.

I'll still, of course, post comments and occassional work here to share with what seems like the last best haven for polite, informed, and interesting conversation and comments about SW customs.

That is all.

Where to begin?!

1. I really like the changes to Trisek. I thought he was good before, but toning him down and giving him the cloak make him a little more menacing. I'm also not sure I commented on this before, but nice work on the changes to his skin tone. No chance he'll be confused with his POTJ cousin.

2. Marliss is a great little concept figure. Any chance we can get a recipe on her? Also, is that hair or a hood? It looks great either way, but with the goggles it almost looks like a hood of some kind. She has that thug look with the color scheme, pouches and straps that you seem to be so good at creating consistently. I might steal this idea for the K.O.E. series as I have an odd idea for a little faction of my own, and someone like Marliss would fit right in

3. Alpha is sweet, CHEWIE. I'm not really familiar with his story, though. Should he have a scop/ant on his helmet? The weathering also looks very stock/Hasbro (that's probably because it is?) Nothing wrong with the off-the-shelf weathering, I just happen to know you're weathering tends to look better.

4. Freelo rocks - not just your figures of him, but the character you've created for him. I do agree with you that the arms looks a *tad* long, but I don't know that I'd resort to hacking him up to fix that. If he's going to appear in R.E. this way you can make some alterations to your photo angles to account for the arms.

5. Commander Skywalker is a great addition to your military Jedi ranks, and I cannot wait to see how he cameos in R.E. I'm not a huge fan of the Evo head, but given that he'll probably be hacking up seppies whenever he has the armor on, it's probably appropriate. Good job with the right hand, although it makes me think you could have left armor off the right arm altogether... that may have looked really odd, though. Hmmm...

6. Your Tredwell Medical Droid scares the hell out of me. I don't know why, but I find it scary as all get out. Nice work!

7. Quite possibly the coolest rendering of Shaak Ti ever... all those guys pointing to the chicks in Clone armor should look to Ti to see how it's done. I also like that you didn't feel like you needed to alter the armor for the benefit of the female Jedi. If they wanted to wear armor, I'm pretty sure they would have just picked up what the Clones were wearing and wouldn't have invested too much in custom fitting things. I cannot say enough about how impressed I am with this particular custom. I hope ST makes it into R.E., too, as I'd love to see her in ground combat before it's all over.

8. Judiss is one I'm just flat jealous over. I took one of my extra Ponda heads and tried to sculpt the "fang" details into the butt cheeks on his face. It didnt' work. I think your repaint is far more effective! (My Ponda head ended up a bare Aqualish skull, which is kinda cool in its own way... look for it to show up in K.O.E. as a prop before too long )

9. The Labor Droid is an interesting concept. Does it ride on the treads most of the time and only launch off its base when absolutely necessary? If there was a way, it'd be neat to see pinchers on the ends of the arms to make him more of an FX-7-ish droid without the launching ability. Dedicate him to his base and make him a field surgeon. He looks like he could take (and has taken) a blaster bolt or two without much of a problem.

I hope you feel better, man. I didn't comment elsewhere as I have opted to hit all your new additions here. Forgive the lack of comments on RS.

As always, very nice work.

Yeah, this is all in fun. And "softie" is entirely benign no matter how you cut it. The comment about lacking backbone... well, *maybe* that could be construed as offensive, but in context, I'm really talking about the characteristics that are being projected onto Deak.

Let's not get too touchy about this. It's all in good fun. If there is ever an ambiguity as to what I may or may not mean by a comment, please assume the nicer interpretation. It's not in me to use message boards to hurt others.

To the extent you may have been offended, findswoman, please accept my apology.

Ryan -

I'm still not sure this guy is a peasant. He has the right look for one, but I'm leaning on taking him in another direction... I'm just not sure what that is right now.

I think that once I get his head re-painted I'll have a better idea of what I'm really trying to do with him. If he turns out really friendly looking, well, he may just be an ordinary Joe caught up in the War somehow. If he comes out mean, well, I have about a dozen ideas for him...

I'm hoping for mean

As for the shoes, I may well sand them down to remove some of the armor detail. That or I'll make the shoes stolen... I'd be willing the bet there are lots of Clone shoes to be had if your planet has seen any significant Clone Wars action.

Here are a couple of figs I'm working on. Not sure if either will work for this month's challenge yet...

Cerean something or other... he looks like a peasant, but I'm thinking he could fill a lot of roles.



Recipe:
Dirk Pitt body.
Hood from Dirk's sidekick.
ROTS Ki head, shaved and shorn.
ROTS Ki hands (still need to figure out a better attachment system... may just have to glue them up)
Clone trooper feet (the feet that come with Dirk *suck*; these won't be white in the end)

Random tough/thug



Recipe:
Stukka pilot body.
Joe VvV swamp rat dude's head.
Random Joe helmet.
Naboo blaster.

Both of these guys will get *extensive* paint work. I was just happy with how these were lookin', and was hoping for an outside opinion.

Speaking of which, if you haven't seen Chapter 1 of K.O.E., check out the photo novels section.

Thanks for the comments, CHEWIE.

Yes, this is in the latter half of the War. The Phase II armor on Koe's unit sorta forced my hand there. Still, I think I adapted well. I like the idea of a Jedi pressed into service... the unfortunate hero, I guess. Never wanted to go to war, but still duty-bound and honorable in meeting his obligations.

I also liked the idea of the Jedi - especially the more bookish Jedi - knowing perhaps more than they should about the Clones. Where that takes me, I'm not sure, but I do have an idea or ten.

As for the lighting, this chapter suffers from being set in a dark meditation chamber. Then the Jango shot is in a dark alley. Felucia isn't too dark (although that planet is). The Kamino shot is well-lit to match the background. The droids are marching - if you look at the setting, in shadows, perhaps near a tree line, so again, dark. Koe's unit is fighting under cloudy skies on a desolate planet...more dark. I didn't really consider how dark this thing ended up overall, but it sure as heck did.

The size, like I mentioned, might be adjusted up for the next chapter.

Thanks again for the suggestions and comments. I really appreciate it.

Now see...I kinda like the legs drawn together like that. It makes me think he's poised for something... I don't know. It adds (in my mind) to the overall distinctive look of the figure.

A matter of taste, I guess.