Search found 56 matches for scifi

NSFW (?) Although there is nothing really graphic here, the story deals with adult situations and may or may not be appropriate for all viewers or settings. And it is certainly very much tongue-in-cheek. Although already censored, one more informative image has been hidden as a Spoiler; click if you wish to view it.

For the next installment of Star Wars silliness, check out the Happy Endings story.

Continued research into the far reaches of space has turned up never before seen footage of Leia's adventures on Endor. It is currently unclear whether this footage is a deleted scene, a fan film, a parody, or something else. But it certainly provides additional insight into the Star Wars universe...

Extra photos in Post 16 and Post 28.















Quasi-explicit censored IMAGE hidden as Spoiler

Click if you wish to view IMAGE:

Although I was not planning on it, I got a few of the Endor Leia parts (and that made me get a couple of the Deluxe Luke parts too) and couldn't resist doing something with them. I also wanted to continue exploring the basic possibilities with the graphics software, although they would be quite remedial for some of our more tech-savy graphic artists.

What do you think?

Extra photos in Post 16.

For the next installment of Star Wars silliness, check out the Happy Endings story.

#starwars #endor #leia #luke #scout #parody #humor #fiction #scifi #hottoys #sideshow #tbleague #phicen

Besides the work on an experimental seamless Maul (version 2.0 is just about complete), I decided that the old rogue needed a ride. Seen briefly in The Phantom Menace, the speeder was apparently called the "Bloodfin" -- though I imagine that was invented, like so much else in Star Wars, after the fact. Even if I finally found the stunning Hot Toys version (from the deluxe set) parted out by itself, it was not money I could justify to myself spending on something like this. So I took a look at the Hasbro ride from the 12-inch figure line, produced in 1999, and decided that it was good enough to try to customize. These figures and accessories haven't held up well compared to more modern lines, and are both readily available and relatively cheap, while still being quite useful for the kitbasher. The size and proportions of this vehicle seemed about right, so I got one and the project began.

Keeping in mind that the real thing never existed as a physical object (the actor was filmed riding a blue-wrapped object later replaced with the machine digitally), I based my custom on the film and the Hot Toys version. The main thing was a repaint -- getting the colors to be darker and a little closer together, sprucing up the silverish metal parts with chrome, adding a wash and some chrome highlights for some of the internal chips and wires, adding a makeshift texture to the appropriate areas (seat, backrest, etc). The brush strokes and the uneven effects are partly unavoidable but in this instance largely intended to help create a worn, used look. I did not attempt to duplicate the very cool but actually unrealistic scratching on the Hot Toys version -- though I had a plan to do some scratches that fell through (who would have thought the acrylics would have been too tough this one time, failing to reveal the chrome layer I had painstakingly applied underneath them!). I had to use some hot-water/cold-water retraining for the controls, and tried to fill in the deep screw holes on the right side of the speeder with Kneadatite (which was tricky, as it tended to either bubble up above or sink below the surface level). The project suffered a setback when I tried to seal the painted vehicle with Dullcote, which caused some of the long-dry acrylic to bleed and transfer. While I managed to fix the more obvious problems, I have a feeling it doesn't look as well as it did before this.
So here it is...











Hope you liked it.

#starwars #darthmaul #bloodfin #speeder #machine #vehicle #accessory #scifi #fantasy

It should come as no surprise considering what many of us already did with the Disney Store version, but Hot Toys' new Krennic set is a very good place to start to recreate Colonel Yularen, an officer of the Imperial Security Bureau, from A New Hope. Or, for that matter any other Security Bureau officer (there were a total of at least three seen on screen -- Yularen with and without a black officer cap, a younger slim officer that appears twice by the elevators -- the second time alongside Yularen, and a younger rotund officer roaming the halls). It is a relatively simple kitbash.


















Tunic, pants, boots from Hot Toys Krennic.

Belt from Hot Toys Krennic but modified and reversed for accuracy.

Officer badge modified (and mounted with magnets) from older Hasbro or Sideshow or Hot Toys set (I forget).

Officer cap from Sideshow Commander Praji.

Body and hands from World Box AT025.

Head from Damtoys Dam 78031 Sr-71 ”Black Bird” Flight Test Engineer (Donald Sutherland from Space Cowboys). The head is, of course, a remote likeness to Yularen, simply being the most similar head sculpt I know to be available; since I might want to use it for Donal Sutherland elsewhere, I have not attempted to modify it further.

What do you think?

#custom #kitbash #starwars #anewhope #anh #yularen #empire #scifi #fiction #film #male

For additional images, see Post 9 below.



Introduction

After a long wait, Hot Toys has released its sixth-scale rendition of Director Orson Krennic from Rogue One. I still have a soft spot for this film, which felt more like Star Wars than any other since Return of the Jedi, although I have gradually come to realize how many plot holes, inconsistencies, and improbabilities it contains. Krennic, played by Ben Mendelsohn, served as a relatively interesting and relatively well-developed disposable antagonist, and I'm happy to see that he has made it among that select list of characters from the film that has received the Hot Toys treatment (apart from Chirrut Imwe and the three versions of Jyn Erso, he is the only one with an actual face, all the others being masked and a robot). As far as I know, this is the first higher-end sixth-scale rendition of Krennic, the closest thing to it being the Disney version which I reviewed HERE. Although it would be an unfair comparison, in every respect except price, unsurprisingly the Hot Toys product is superior.



Packaging - 3 / 4 stars

All Star Wars sixth-scale collectibles from Hot Toys come in identical packaging, which has its advantages, but also means that there is even less cause for excitement than usual. Perhaps it is unfair to expect more, and I personally don't put a lot of store on this. The packaging is perfectly collector-friendly and safe, and accomplishes its purpose beautifully. Krennic comes in a standard shoe-box type container with a removable lid, a printed color "title card," and a transparent plastic trey with its plastic lid holding the figure and its accessories; a small transparent plastic trey and lid combo holds the rain poncho, and is taped on the underside of the main trey. Like other Rogue One sets by Hot Toys, the box lid features a "cigar band" affixed near its bottom, with the character's name and stylized depictions.



Sculpting - 4 / 4 stars

I don't know whether they quite nailed Ben Mendelsohn's features perfectly -- from certain angles the likeness is striking, from others less so. However, they did achieve a lifelike and realistic portrait, complete with countless wrinkles and hair strands. And that is just the head. The sculpting on the other molded pieces (rank badge, code cylinders, belt buckle, gun, ammo clips) seems to be flawless and sharp. The cap is molded plastic in fine and fitting detail, giving it the appearance of real cloth. Hot Toys resolved the usual dilemma of making such removable headgear look realistic and properly sized by giving Krennic a magnetic removable hairpiece that could be swapped with the magnetic removable cap. The cap looks flawless when in place, and the hairpiece is quite undetectable. The stature of the body, 11.75 in (about 30 cm) is approximately correct to Ben Mendelsohn's height of 5'11". This is worth noting, because in the film Krennic appeared shorter than Tarkin, but the action figures are about the same height. We should not forget that Peter Cushing's Tarkin was digitally recreated for Rogue One, and Hot Toys' Tarkin is actually scaled correctly to Cushing's height of 6'.



Paint - 3.5 / 4 stars

Hot Toys is known for both the excellence of its sculpting and the almost equal excellence of its paint application. It is done extremely well, with various dull and glossy surfaces as appropriate. However, it is not quite perfect. I noticed a little bit of inaccuracy here and there on the blaster pistol, and the overall treatment of the face is perhaps a little less nuanced than what we saw in the promotional materials (which is not necessarily surprising). When dealing with light-colored hair, Hot Toys has a tendency to use a metallic paint or finish, and this is what it did here. It looks good and allows us to appreciate the incredible detail of the finely molded strands, but it does not necessarily convey the salt-and-pepper hair of Ben Mendelsohn in the film with complete realism. That said, I'm not sure anyone could have done a better job of it with molded, painted hair. The entire color palette appears to be slightly warmer than what we see on screen.



Articulation - 3 / 4 stars

I am tired of writing that the Hot Toys body has the usual excellent articulation, but the clothing gets in the way. Unfortunately, this is true here, as so many other times in the past (Bespin Leia was mercifully spared this issue, but that seems to be an exception these days). The problem appears to be Hot Toys' insistence on using padded undergarments; these are intended to fill out the clothes better than the plastic body itself, but the difference in appearance is minuscule, while the degree to which articulation is made more difficult or outright restricted is consistently annoying. In the case of the Krennic figure, this is especially true for the shoulders and to a degree for the hips and abs -- although with some effort you can make Krennic sit down passably. The wrists work well, the knees and ankles very well, and the tall boots do not impede the ankle articulation. This helps the figure balance well in various poses, and you can even achieve some mid-stride poses at times. I understand why they went with a head sculpted with an integral molded neck (with all sorts of creases on it), but the resulting head articulation is very limited in terms of tilting.



Accessories - 3 / 4 stars

Krennic comes with a blaster pistol that fits on the holster suspended from the belt, three ammo clips that fit into special openings on the belt, two code cylinders to fit in the slots on both sides of the chest on the tunic (or together in the one slot on the right side of the poncho), a molded plastic hat that can be swapped for the hairpiece making up the top part of the hair, and several interchangeable hand sculpts, including a right fist, a left pistol grip hand (which works ok, but not great), and five more hands that are difficult to describe, but I try anyway: a right closed hand, a right almost closed grasping hand, a left open grasping hand, a left more closed thumbs up hand, and a left more open thumbs up hand. Each of these was presumably useful for some scene, but as I was looking at Krennic's scenes I found that many of the hands that would be necessary to replicate them were not provided with this set. Add to the partial repetitiveness and idiosyncrasy of the hand sculpts the absence of any real pairs (i.e., there's only one fist, there's only one gun grip, there are no relaxed hands, etc), and this makes for an odd and limiting choice of hand sculpts. In terms of spare parts, there are two extra wrist pegs and an extra belt button. There is a now fairly standard stand with a neat extra piece to fit under and around the detachable name plate that makes it look like the end piece of futuristic ramp. However, the top of the base, instead of the usual Death Star floor texture (or the like), has a printed image of Krennic's head (alongside a Death Trooper's) glued on. The image is slick enough and colorful enough, and there is a faint textured inscription of the character's name ("Orson Krennic") in the fictional Star Wars alphabet on top of it (it is not apparent in my photo). But unlike so many previous stands, you are not given the option of using a standard floor-textured surface instead. And that is disappointing. The limitations of the base and of the hand sculpts and the fact that virtually every "accessory" is actually part of the character's outfit detract from this category, especially at this price point.



Outfit - 3.5 / 4 stars

Krennic's outfit ought to be considered one of the best things in this set, yet here too there are some flaws. The basic outfit is the cream (not white) officer's tunic paired with black pants and black leather-like jackboots, as well as a black leather-like belt with a silver buckle and button. Over this, Krennic wears his cape in a matching color, held fast with magnets at the shoulders. Everything is beautifully tailored and looks and works great; the cape has some wires along the bottom edge that allow for some posing, if not much. But if you look closely, you would see that the cape's collar rides too high -- perhaps it is too wide, or perhaps the cape's magnets do not hold it far enough down -- in stills from the film the cape's collar does not reach as high as the tunic's collar, leaving its top edge exposed; with the figure it is the opposite. Moreover, when Krennic bends his arms at the elbows, the sleeves ride short at the cuff. Neither of these flaws is particularly horrid, but they are notable. Then there is (almost) a whole alternative outfit, and this is what gives this category a higher score. You can remove the cape (and the rank badge which plugs into the tunic) and swap them for the rain poncho, once again in matching colors, and pair that with the molded plastic officer's cap (replacing the hairpiece). The light material used for the rain poncho seems like a good idea, except that it really does not drape well enough, and there are no weights or wires to help it. Moreover, unlike the rank badge on the tunic, the rank badge on the rain poncho is not designed to be removed; but it should have been, as in different scenes in the film Krennic wears different rank badges with the poncho -- the one-row all-red rank badge at the beginning, and (presumably after promotion) the two-row red over blue rank badge (here used for the tunic) at the middle. I suppose one could make modifications, but this appears to be a detail Hot Toys overlooked. Speaking of rank badges, the film continues the tradition of inconsistency and confusion that has plagued the Star Wars saga since just after A New Hope (apparently). The six red squares in a single row badge gives Krennic a rank equivalent to general (like Tagge in the Death Star conference room in A New Hope), while the six red squares over six blue squares badge gives him a rank equivalent to fleet admiral (like the unfortunate Ozzel in The Empire Strikes Back) -- although the number of code cylinders might make a difference. Of course, the confusion of Gareth Edwards' team is not Hot Toys' fault, but once again, both badges should have been removable/swappable. As noted above, everything in the set seems to have a slightly warmer palette than what is seen onscreen in the film. This is a good thing where the outfit is concerned, as the creamy tunic allows one to kitbash imperial security bureau officers (like Yularen from the Death Star conference room in A New Hope) far more effectively than if the tunic was in a lighter, colder white. Note that the great cap will be problematic for kitbashing, because it is inside is adapted for use with a magnet and would require substantial modification before you could place it believably on another head.







Fun Factor - 4 / 4 stars

Whatever the limitations of the set, there is no denying that Hot Toys has delivered a recognizable Krennic who can be paired with all but one of the more frequent characters he interacted with in the film (the notable omission is Galen Erso). We have a Vader from Rogue One (not to mention two from A New Hope), a Tarkin (from A New Hope), three Jyn Ersos, as well as Death Troopers, Shore Troopers, and Stormtroopers (all from Rogue One). Even without the natural kitbashing potential for imperial security bureau personnel, this gives Hot Toys' Krennic a great potential for posing and/or interaction with other figures and in a variety of real or digital environments. I had fun attempting to recreate various frames from the film, or to pair Krennic with others -- so much so that I took more photos than I'm including in this already more than usually illustrated review. So, yes, this set is fun, and I'm glad I went for it. For additional images, see Post 9 below.





Value - 2 / 4 stars

Retailing at about $235+ (USD), this is not a low-cost product, and being mid-range (and increasingly low-range) for Hot Toys these days is not particularly comforting, given their notorious inflation of prices. On the other hand, even if it lacks some of the "fancy" electronics or more elaborate bases and backdrops found in some of Hot Toys' deluxe sets, it does come with enough extra clothing and accessories to allow for a whole second look. So this category gets a middling rating.





Things to watch out for

Really nothing much -- except perhaps to watch that you don't lose those smaller pieces, like the code cylinders and ammo clips. The figure is reasonably sturdy and capable of balancing on its legs, in part due to the good ankle articulation. The hands are easier to swap than usual (softer plastic?), which is a great thing, although Hot Toys included a spare pair of wrist pegs just in case.  







Overall - 3.25 / 4 stars

This rating may not convey my pretty thorough enjoyment of the set, but it does reflect the several limitations and imperfections, compounded with Hot Toys' increasingly hefty prices. Judging by the fact that most of my usual go-to sellers have already sold out this brand new set, it must be popular enough (and perhaps produced in small enough quantities). There is plenty you can do with it or with its parts, which is not always the case.







Where to buy

Among my usual go-to stores, Alter Ego Comics, Big Bad Toy Store, and Timewalker Toys have sold out of this set, so you can try your luck on our online retailers list (HERE) or on eBay.







I hope this has been useful. What do you think?

One more for the road...



For additional images, see Post 9 below.

#starwars #hottoys #rogueone #director #krennic #scifi #film #male #fiction #review

Note: More on reconstituted and modified Vader figures in THIS thread.
Update: More photos in Post 16 and Post 23 below.

Since I know some of you are picking up the second release of the HT ESB Vader (which may or may not be changed in some detail or other from the first release), I thought I'd share some information on some easy and recent mods.

I have not been willing to take a plunge and pay for a full Hot Toys Vader set after getting my Sideshow "second" Vader quite a few years ago. But I have bought many loose parts and reconstituted largely HT-based ANH/RO and ESB Vaders. With their tendency to lose balance and fall flat on their faces, damaging the tiny tusks (and some of the latter becoming irretrievably lost), I ended up with more than one head, and so have felt even more comfortable to make modifications to these expensive pieces.

Something I did to both the ANH/RO and ESB heads is line the inside of the lenses with bare metal foil, so that you can catch a little glimmer of red in the "eyes" (HT made them translucent, but it doesn't really show on the figure). The other thing I did is to alter the position of the helmet over the masked head -- the very first ANH release and at least the first ESB release have it wrong. In both instances, it sat too high, and in the second (ESB) instance, it was also meeting the face at a wrong angle (essentially, it was sitting too low and too far back to be screen accurate). Just remember that if you try to emulate this, proceed carefully and at your own risk!

Anyway, without further ado:

1a-c. The Hot Toys ESB Vader head has a good sculpt, but especially when looked at from the front can look off and outright disturbing. The problem is that the helmet proper sits too far back and too far up, meeting the "face" at the wrong angle and exposing the "eyebrows" over the lenses far too much. The front rim of the helmet should hang lower and farther forward over the "nose."



2a-c. The helmet proper is designed to be removable, as it snaps onto the top portion of the mask assembly.



3a-c. The top part of the mask assembly is glued only at its front, and with a little bit of pressure can be made to snap off. After this you can basically snap it in and out of place as you see fit.



4a-c. The front part of the mask, fitting over the face, is also a separate piece, which is glued to the bottom only at the lower edge. With some gentle pressure you can carefully make it snap off without breaking it (I didn't know this the first time I was modifying this head a couple of years ago and went another way, but this is a much better approach).



5a-c. The partial head sculpt is also removable, although that is not something you have to do to modify the lenses. I only show this here for completeness.



6a-c. Getting back to the facial part of the mask. The lenses are delightfully translucent, but you can only appreciate that if you handle the piece separately and look through them at a light source -- here I used a flash light to illustrate (6a). Then I cut a small rectangular piece of Bare-Metal chrome foil, enough to cover the inside of the lenses (6b). You apply the adhesive side to the inside of the lenses, then rub over it with a q-tip. This ensures perfect adhesion and removes any tiny folds or creases. With the foil lining the inside of the lenses, you can see a glimmer of red looking at them from the outside, provided they are hit by sufficient light (6c).



7a-d. Compare the before and after look, without (7a-b) and with (7c-d) the helmet. Note that without direct light on the lenses, they would look just black.



8a-d. I've been saving empty Oscillococcinum containers from whenever I've been sick, intending to use them for 1:6 kitbashing. While I imagined them serving as termuses or other types of vessels, the caps prove a good fit into the pre-existing hole at the very top of the head (8a). I lined the exposed part of the head around the cap with some plastic from a ziplock bag (8b). I began to construct a makeshift structure out of Kneadatite (the blue and yellow green stuff) by winding "snakes" round the cap and atop the plastic cover (8c). The plastic cover is so that the "structure" would not stick to the head itself and would remain removable. All told, I needed the "structure" to lift the helmet up at the back while keeping low in the front, and to push it towards the front. I also provided a makeshift protrusion to fit into the hole of the helmet (8d). Yes, I know what it looks like, and if you comment on that, it would be bad karma (so don't).



9a-c. With the structure still soft and malleable, I experimented with the helmeted look, adding material until satisfied with the way it sat. Then I let it cure. Here is the before (9a and 9c) and after (9b and 9d) comparison. Perhaps the difference looks cosmetic to most, but here's a Vader look I can appreciate without misgivings.



10a-b. Checking out the overall effect of the modified head on the body.



11a-c. Note that you can still see the "eyebrows," but only (and correctly) when lit from a lower angle (11c).



12a-b. Comparison of the before and after versions with a screenshot from The Empire Strikes Back. I think the helmet works much more accurately; I was not able to reproduce the lighting precisely -- otherwise you would be able to see the "eyebrows" (as above).



13. Just a comparison of my ANH/RO and ESB/ROTJ modified Vaders.



14. Another of the same.



15. Another of the same with a reconstituted HT ROTJ Luke.



Even if these modifications weren't particularly difficult, one should probably not have to go through so much trouble to improve sets as expensive as this. But the good news is that one can improve the slight imperfections.

I hope this has been useful. What do you think?

Note: More on reconstituted and modified Vader figures in THIS thread.
Update: More photos in Post 16 and Post 23 below.

#starwars #hottoys #darthvader #custom #mod #kitbash #scifi #male

In the highly acclaimed Star Wars live-action series, The Mandalorian, Moff Gideon was in search of the young alien founding, under the protection of the Mandalorian, and dispatched Scout Troopers to acquire the asset. These specialized troopers are adept for a range of missions, including reconnaissance and infiltration. In the climax of the first season, fans witnessed memorable scenes featuring the Scout Troopers’ interaction with the Child and thrilling Speeder Bike action!

Today, Hot Toys is elated to expands its Star Wars collection and officially introduce the stunning 1/6th scale Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike collectible set based on The Mandalorian!

The highly-accurate collectible figure is skillfully crafted based on the appearance of the Imperial Scout Trooper in The Mandalorian. Featuring greatly detailed helmet and armor with astonishing weathering effects, fabric body suit, a blaster rifle, and a desert-themed figure stand!

The 1/6th scale Speeder Bike is created with precision and meticulous craftsmanship. The sleek design of the speeder and its mechanical details throughout the body are beautifully recreated! Measuring at approximately 52.5cm in length, it features realistic weathering effects, articulated grip, foot pedals, steering vane, engine flaps and cannon, and a desert-themed figure stand.

Moreover, this collectible set will specially include a 1/6th scale figure of the widely popular little alien the Child with newly sculpted expression and a shoulder bag for the Speeder Bike pilot to carry any special asset!

This 1/6th scale Scout Trooper and Speeder Bike collectible set will provide a large variety of amazing display options for all Star Wars fans!
SPECIFICATIONS
PRODUCT CODETMS017
PRODUCT NAMESCOUT TROOPER AND SPEEDER BIKE
HEIGHTAPPROXIMATELY 30.5 CM TALL
POINTS OF ARTICULATIONS30
SPECIAL FEATURESNEWLY DEVELOPED1/6TH SCALE THE CHILD COLLECTIBLE, SHOULDER CANVAS BAG
ARTISTSHEAD SCULPTED BY REFER TO DETAIL
HEAD PAINTED BY REFER TO DETAIL
HEAD ART DIRECTED BY REFER TO DETAIL

The 1/6th scale Scout Trooper Collectible Figure specially features:

- Authentic and detailed likeness of Scout Trooper in the live action-series The Mandalorian
- Newly developed helmet and finely crafted body armor with specially applied distress effects
- Approximately 30.5 cm tall
- Newly developed body with over 30 points of articulations
- Seven (7) pieces of interchangeable gloved hands including:
- One (1) pair of fists
- One (1) pair of relaxed hands
- One (1) pair of grip holding hands
- One (1) right hand for holding pistol

Costume:
- One (1) newly crafted Scout Trooper armor with weathering effects
- One (1) black colored and multi textured fabric under-suit
- One (1) creamy white colored utility belt with pouches
- One (1) pair of creamy white colored boots with pistol holster and weathering effects

Weapon:
- One (1) pistol

Accessory:
- Wasteland themed figure stand with Star Wars logo and character nameplate

Artists:
- Figure Painted by Lok Ho
- Figure Art Directed by JC. Hong

The 1/6th scale Speeder Bike Collectible Vehicle specially features:
- Authentic and detailed Speeder Bike in the live action-series The Mandalorian
- Highly-accurate paint application on the mechanical design with specially applied weathering effects
- Approximately 52.5cm L x 11cm W x 17cm H
- Articulated grip, foot pedals, steering vanes, engine flaps, and cannon

Accessory:
- Specially designed wasteland themed diorama dynamic figure stand

Special Accessories for Collectible Set Edition*:
- One (1) newly developed1/6th scale the Child collectible (Approximately 6cm tall)
- One (1) shoulder canvas bag
- Each piece of head sculpt is specially hand-painted

Artists:
- Head Sculpted by Ji Ho Lee
- Head Painted by JC. Hong
- Head Art Directed by JC. Hong

Release date: Approximately Q2 – Q3, 2021

**Prototype shown, final product may be slightly different
**Product details are subject to change without further notice

& TM Lucasfilm Ltd.
2020 Hot Toys Limited. All Rights Reserved.


























#newproduct #HotToys #TheMandalorian #ScoutTrooper #SpeederBike #TheChildexclusive #male #StarWars #accessories #SciFi #Disney+

For Part II (NSFW?), see Post 12 below.
For Part III, see Post 35 below.

The experimentation continues...

For the custom figure itself, see here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t2773-star-wars-darth-maul-custom-updated-with-part-iii-photo-heavy

For the painting part, see here, post 205:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t260p164-painting-seamless-bodies-updated-april-2020#36579

Part I: Encounters in the Desert I

In recent news from Hollywood, a small set of previously unknown Star Wars scenes and corresponding portions of scripts have been leaked. The first of these appears to take place on an unidentified desert planet where Obi-Wan Kenobi has retired for a life of peaceful contemplation, until his serenity was rudely interrupted by the appearance of Darth Maul...















For Part II (NSFW?), see Post 12 below -- actually a "prequel" to this scene .
For Part III, see Post 35 below.

#starwars #darthmaul #obiwankenobi #benkenobi #satire #humor #scifi #hottoys #tbleague #phicen #seamless #custom #m30

Updated with Part II: Kitbash Potential in Post 17 below.

For my previous Star Wars sixth-scale review, see HERE.



Introduction
Hot Toys is apparently determined to milk its Star Wars license for all it's got, reprising different (often slightly different) versions of the same characters over an over, and bringing us renditions of their on-screen appearance from various insignificant or indeed deleted scenes (case in point, sandstorm Luke). This is not quite the same thing with their Bespin Leia, but this is the third (fourth if you count what I consider the non-canonical Sequel Trilogy) iteration of her character produced by Hot Toys (and there is another on its way) while many others still await their first rendition, and it depicts a relatively unimportant, if distinctive appearance of the character in The Empire Strikes Back. I've always had a thing for this look, and I have to confess I was seduced by the serene beauty of the product in the promotional images; so I bought it after having decided that I would not... And it turned out to be more or less as I expected, given previous experience: not bad at all, but not overwhelmingly great either.



Packaging - 3/4 stars
I don't expect to be wowed by the packaging, so this is not terribly important to me, as long as it is practical and safe. And this is, conforming to the traditional boxing standard of (post Rogue One) Star Wars sixth-scale action figures by Hot Toys. We get a rectangular box in two shades of black with a fine photo of the product, and a cigar band with the character's name and "inset" photo running along the bottom of the lid. Inside is a nice (but in my opinion unnecessary) title card with a color image of the product, and below it a clear plastic trey with its clear plastic lid, within which the figure and its "accessories" are cradled safely. Beneath that, there is a cardboard card with the backdrop piece attached through a couple of clear plastic tabs. Everything is collector-friendly and safe. I would have preferred foam, but that would have been a departure from precedent (they did provide foam for their Deluxe Indiana Jones figure, and possibly others I don't know or forget).



Sculpting - 4/4 stars
As usual, Hot Toys does top of the line work, and even their failures are usually more successful than the alternatives. Leia's face is sculpted with great attention to fine details (look at the hair strands and braids), and there are no technical imperfections; the seam line of the mold is perhaps just a little too apparent, while technically handled correctly. The figure stands about 10.5 inches (26.7 cm) tall, which is just a little too tall for a sixth-scale version of actress Carrie Fisher.



Paint - 4/4 stars
Hot Toys' paint application tends to be fairly flawless, and this set is no exception even if, apart from the head, there is little room for complexity. The eyes are clear and glossy, the lips appropriately so, the skin has subtle variation making it appear realistic, the shoes are given an appropriate slightly metallic color, in short everything appears to be good. I don't know whether it is lighting or professional photography (or editing), but I get the feeling that the promotional images were just a bit more attractive than the product we get; then again, I like it better in hand than in my own photos.



Articulation - 4/4 stars
It used to be that Hot Toys bodies were held up as an example of near perfect action figure articulation. Yet, it seems like in recent years every time we have reviewed a Hot Toys set, we have been writing something along the lines of "the underlying body has all the articulation that you might want, but the outfit restricts it significantly in several places." For once this is not the case, and Leia can pose with virtually unhindered freedom ... in an outfit in which we see her do remarkably little onscreen. She can (be posed to) walk, sit, cross her legs, do splits!, and raise her hands up in the air like she don't care. The joints are just the right combination of tight and loose to allow all this and to make it possible to stand the figure in most of these poses. This is excellent; and this is how it should be every time for this price and from this company.



Accessories - 2/4 stars
As so often in recent reviews, this is where Hot Toys products often come up short. There is nothing here I would really call an accessory proper. Admittedly, we do not see Leia in this apparel handling, wielding, using anything at all, so Hot Toys has a perfect excuse to not provide any accessories. For this price, however (more on that later), they ought to. Leia comes with two sets of interchangeable hands (these are spare parts, not accessories), a pair of extra wrist pegs (likewise), an action figure base/stand, and a backdrop display. They certainly could have given us a gun for the grip hand (Kenner and Hasbro did), or a glass or anything film-related. The action figure stand and base are standard Death Star (?) floor type that we have seen with so many other figures; there is a printed card with what is apparently Cloud City flooring on it that you can put on top of the base, securing it in place by inserting the stand part. The backdrop is by far the most impressive and specific "accessory." It is a rectangular plastic-covered styrofoam piece with an indented section at the bottom that is lined with magnets that allow it to attach to the back of the base (and I do like this solution). The surface that remains showing is molded to look like a textured Art-Deco wall panel from Cloud City. Even if I don't care for the look (though it is screen accurate), this is a great idea. But like other such backdrops, it is far too narrow to be useful. I know the idea is that it covers only as much ground as the base, and then you can put your fancy Hot Toys figures together side by side, etc., but the effect is underwhelming. For what it is worth, they could have fitted a wider backdrop without changing the dimensions of the set's box. I almost forgot... there is also the now usual but unnecessary (at least with this set) instruction leaflet (not shown).



Outfit - 3/4 stars
The outfit/appearance recreated in this set is probably the one I liked best, although I do not consider it as iconic as the white-dress-and-hair-buns of A New Hope. It is a strange combination of complex and simple, and was apparently inspired by a variety of traditional Indian dress, with a long-sleeved tunic worn over pants and with an open sleeveless cloak with a quilted yoke at its top. (For once the Hot Toys pants are not too tight and allow for the excellent articulation mentioned above.) I said I like it, though to be honest I do not actually find it very exciting... maybe it was Leia's hair I actually liked? Anyway, Hot Toys did a very good job recreating the outfit, but not a perfect one. The quilted yoke has more pronounced bends here than onscreen, and it should have been worn more open at the neck (the promotional images for the set have it right, but because it is sewn onto the tunic, you cannot correct this by just futzing with it). Looking at set photos from the film, it looks as if the tunic for the action figure was made just a little short -- or it may have something to do with the disparity between Carrie Fisher's height and body type and the sixth-scale version. The bottom of the cloak has a thin metal wire running though it, helping to keep the pleats in place (not very successfully if you look higher up, but then again they were not supposed to be actual pleats). Theoretically, you could adjust this for posing, but without a wire running down the side edges, it is not very easy to make effective use of it (to be honest I didn't really try, as I didn't want to compromise the pleating further). While the wire is generally a good idea, it does get in the way of the cloak draping naturally (of course the cloth might not drape very well in this scale anyway). The intricate embroidery design on the cloak appears to be accurately reproduced but ironed-on (no, I did not really expect them to embroider it). It does appear more vivid and starkly apparent and contrasting with the background of the garment than it does in the film, which does reduce the realism a bit.



Fun Factor - 2/4
I'm divided on this one; this is not a particularly fun Leia in the film, and the absence of other specifically Empire Strikes Back iterations of the characters from the Hot Toys line (Vader, Luke, and Boba Fett don't really count in relation to this set) doesn't help; neither does the absence of any real, if imaginative accessories. That said, with a bit of patience (will they give us a better, Empire Han down the line?) and/or creativity you could get this Leia figure its playmates, create come scenes (the excellent articulation helps), and even manage some kitbashing (more on that in a follow up). Ultimately, you know what comes with this set and can make a reasonably accurate guess as to its appeal and possibilities.



Value - 1/4 stars
Retailing at about $204 (USD), this is noticeably less expensive than many other Hot Toys sets these days. Apparently Hot Toys has taken note of the limitations of the set and priced it accordingly -- within the framework of the prices it has worked so hard to inflate over the last several years. But is the price really justifiable? Hard to tell. But there are reasons to think it might have been lower: yet another rendition of a character already produced, and a less iconic or relevant one; a probable partial recycling of a head sculpt; a recycling and more limited choice of hand sculpts; the complete absence of any real accessory; the recycling of the action figure base and stand (with just a printed card offered as a more specific option); the absence of natural relevant counterparts in the line of figures limiting the fun factor... and so on. Yes, there is the elaborately decorated outfit -- but the pattern is printed and ironed on, and the wire is ultimately a questionable choice; yes, there is the nice backdrop -- but it is narrow, limited, and styrofoam (which is actually impressive, in a way). Although the set is perfectly good for what it is, it could have been so much better -- or it could have featured another, unproduced, perhaps more exciting iteration or character.



Things to watch out for
Nothing I can think of beyond the usual basic precautions (is this because they simply didn't include enough to be careful about?).



Overall - 2.8/4 stars
Like I suggested before, I knew what I was getting, so this was not really disappointing to me. There is a lot here was done right, in fact better than usual, and there were also some things that could have been done better. It is a nicely done set, but certainly not a perfect or very exciting one. I suppose its appeal would depend on a collector's interest in completeness, the character, the actress, or the specific look and setting. But I also imagine that, faced with Hot Toys pricing in general, the casual collector would reserve his or her money for things that they really want or need, and this is one of the more marginal and more limited options out there, so it might suffer by comparison with others.



Where to buy?
(some of these might still be on Preorder)

Alter Ego Comics for $204
Big Bad Toy Store for $205
Cotswold Collectibles for $200
Timewalker Toys for $204



I hope this has been useful. As always, what do you think?

#starwars #empirestrikesback #esb #bespin #leia #cloudcity #hottoys #productreview #female #scifi #fantasy

Since there seems to be some appreciation for re-runs (and I also don't seem to be able to find a posting of this particular set on this site)...

Ever wonder what really happened to Han and Leia? Did the facile movie explanation give you enough information? No? Well, lucky for you I have happened upon some secret Jedi scrolls that fill out the true story... either that or I have had a bad dream shaped by Robot Chicken and Catastrophe.

Here it is anyway... in 17 photos.



































Hope you found it fun. For more "reveals" on Han Solo, check out this one:
Moving on Solo

#humor #parody #satire #starwars #hansolo #han #leia #scifi #fiction

Spoilers for Solo 2. Not really. It can't be any sillier than this, can it? Or...













Hope this was lame enough to be fitting and fun. What do you think?

For more Star Wars stories, check out these two:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1852-star-wars-a-negative-body-image-story

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t1862-star-wars-a-lone-scoundrel-story

#starwars #parody #satire #hansolo #solo #qira #darthmaul #spoilers #fiction #scifi

With the recent release of the Return of the Jedi (ROTJ) stormtroopers by Hot Toys (HT), it became apparent that the new product required additional sculpting and molding, partly intended to reflect the subtle changes in appearance between films and partly to improve any imperfections with earlier (especially A New Hope (ANH) ) versions of their stormtrooper. All this lends itself to comparison and, having promised that in my review of the HT ROTJ Stormtrooper, here it is.

At this point, HT has released three different versions of the basic imperial stormtroopers, not counting the slightly different Spacetrooper, Sandtrooper, etc. The three versions, in order of production, are those from ANH, Rogue One (RO), and ROTJ. Why a character type from the same franchise featured in films set in the same fictional era should exist in so many versions should be a mystery, but it is not: the appearance of the basic stormtroopers was altered between films. Some of this had to do with improving the actors' experience and was not intended to alter the overall look, some of it was intended to cause minor "improvements" to the appearance. A dubious rationale from the point of view of continuity, for sure, but it was done, and it gave HT the opportunity (or excuse) to produce several versions.

In the comparison photos below, the stormtroopers are arranged according to the chronology of the Star Wars fictional universe: RO - ANH - ROTJ. I realize that RO is not technically part of the Original Trilogy, but since it is set mere days (or minutes?) before ANH, and since it is intended to portray the same character type from the same era, I am including it here.

First, a side-by-side comparison of the all-important stormtrooper helmets made for each film:



Then, a side-by-side comparison of HT's stormtrooper figures; front view:



HT's first basic stormtrooper depicted the character type's appearance from ANH. It was a sharply executed, beautifully sculpted and painted figure, and an improvement on any that existed among higher-end sixth-scale models. The one serious departure from a correct reproduction of the appearance of the stormtrooper was HT perpetuating a mistake already present in the earlier Marmit and Sideshow versions. This was making the space along the nasal ridge larger between the toothed "frown" and the "mouth" than between the "mouth" and the lower edge of the integral "goggles." It should have been the reverse. Perhaps in part due to this error, the helmet also became too "snouty," extending too far down and forward. The result was a striking and attractive sculpt, but ultimately an inaccurate one. I should point out that the stormtrooper helmet is nearly impossible to get right due to its complexity, its variety (there were two slightly different types, "hero" and "stunt," from the start), and due to the fact that the original molds were based on a hand-sculpted and unintentionally asymmetrical sculpt. That smaller-scale toys and collectibles should "correct" this to a streamlined, symmetrical version (which might even be logically better grounded) is probably unavoidable. Even so, the basic error in proportions should have been spotted and avoided.

Side-by-side comparison of HT's stormtrooper figures; side view:



For Empire Strikes Back (ESB) and ROTJ, the stormtrooper helmets, though still based on molds from the original film, were altered by Lucasfilm (Mk II). The most obvious difference was the repainting of the "frown" from gray to black, and a less extensive black paint application on the sculpted "mouth" area. Because of the way the molds were produced, the helmets also assumed a slightly thinner, taller, aspect. Note that although the Mk 2 helmets were produced for ESB, they were barely used in it (most scenes were already shot, using slightly altered ANH helmets), and were mostly used in ROTJ. HT's recently produced ROTJ Stormtrooper feature a new helmet sculpt that reflected the changes in appearance fairly well, and undid the earlier mistake in the ratio above and below the "frown" along the nasal ridge -- now the length above is longer than the length below. In fact, they seem to have over-corrected, making the difference a little too large, and still ending up with a slightly too "snouty," if generally more accurate, helmet.

Decades after the Original Trilogy had been filmed and released, the stormtrooper helmet was altered once again for RO. In this instance, it was streamlined by computer design, although some of the original asymmetry was allegedly preserved. The RO helmets naturally attempted to recreate something closer to the ANH look (e.g., the gray toothed "frown"), but the slightly larger and uniformly bubble lenses did alter the appearance a little bit. HT's RO figure appears to have captured the on-screen appearance perfectly in the helmet, with a correct ratio along the nasal ridge above and below the "frown."

Side-by-side comparison of HT's stormtrooper figures; rear view:



In terms of the rest of the stormtrooper armor, changes undertaken during the filming of the Original Trilogy were largely minute and mostly undetectable, being mostly related to the way the armor was designed to fit onto the underlying body suit. The most visible external changes included adding a narrow trim along the edges of the torso armor elements -- chest and upper-back plates, abdomen and lowe-back plates, cod and butt plates -- and also inverting the small rectangular button plate in the middle of the abdomen. Both of these changes are featured correctly in the HT ROTJ Stormtrooper figures.

The RO armor design made larger departures. Generally speaking, the edges of the armor pieces receded to allow for better articulation, and also the lengths of the body armor pieces changed, presumably for the same reasons. The chest and upper-back plates became narrower but longer. All this is most easily spotted when looking at the troopers from behind. In the same area, the upper-back plate now features a long groove running along the upper edge of the integral "backpack" area, and a little circular hole just above it on the right. The cod piece, belt, and thermal detonator all received minor redesign. The small rectangular button plate in the middle of the abdomen returned to its ANH look, except that the one "stray" button was now made rectangular; also, all the buttons became recessed. All this is correctly reproduced in the HT RO Stormtrooper figure.

Finally, there is the question of holsters. In ANH Stormtroopers were usually portrayed with them (on their left hip), in ESB with them (on their right hip) and ROTJ sometimes with (on their right hip, Death Star scenes) and sometimes without (Endor scenes). Except for that last variation, HT's ANH and ROTJ Stormtroopers are correctly equipped, with the holsters on the correct sides, respectively. HT's RO Stormtrooper comes without a holster, which is also correct. Although this is not illustrated here, HT's ANH Stormtroopers came with two weapons each (or three, if you got the two-pack), but the ROTJ and RO Stormtroopers came with only one, the E-11 standard blaster rifle.

Overall, I would say HT was most successful in recreating the RO stormtrooper appearance; if you get that belt unstuck from the abdomen plate, it would also be the best-articulated of the three stormtrooper figures. The ANH and ROTJ figures are also very well designed and executed, but somewhat undermined by the errors in helmet design (especially ANH, less so ROTJ).

You can find detailed reviews on the HT stormtroopers below:
ANH Stormtrooper (HERE, by Michael Crawford)
RO Stormtrooper (HERE)
ROTJ Stormtrooper (HERE)

I hope this has been useful. What do you think?

#starwars #hottoys #imperial #stormtrooper #galactic #empire #review #comparison #fiction #scifi

Update: For the addendum on the Deluxe version, please see Post 21 below.



Introduction
The boys are back in town, and by "the boys" I mean the Imperial Stormtroopers from the Original Trilogy (or, as I like to think of them, "real Stormtroopers"). More specifically, the Imperial Stormtroopers as seen in Return of the Jedi. Excluding the "Sandtroopers" and "Space Troopers" (which are very similar and, especially in the second instance, differ mainly in sporting extra gear), the dubiously canonical "Shock Troopers" and "Shadow Troopers" (AKA "Blackhole Stormtroopers"), and the strange chrome and porcelain versions (what a waste!), Hot Toys has now produced three different versions of the basic, classic look of the Star Wars Original Trilogy-era Stormtroopers: those from Rogue One, those from A New Hope, and now those from Return of the Jedi, reviewed here. Hot Toys is releasing these in two versions, standard and deluxe. This review covers the standard version (MMS 514). I have a deluxe version on order and will post an addendum (Part II -- see Post 21 below) to cover the extra features after it arrives. While I will be making occasional reference to Hot Toys' other classic Stormtroopers (from Rogue One and A New Hope), I will reserve a detailed comparison for its own separate thread, coming shortly.



Packaging: 3.5/4 stars
The Hot Toys Return of the Jedi Stormtrooper comes in the long familiar two-shades-of-black shoebox container with removable lid, featuring a fine image of the collectible on its top cover, credits and warning on the back/bottom, and decorated by a cigar band running along near the bottom edge of the lid. This cigar band seems to be more elaborate than ever, featuring color photography of a couple of cut out images of the Stormtrooper figure (one of them is out of view in the photo below) and of the Death Star II docking bay where numerous real and painted-in Stormtroopers had assembled to greet the arriving emperor. It is nicely done and more elaborate than before, although the basic concept is familiar and unexciting. Below the lid lies one of the now standard color cards with an image of the product among others, photoshopped to look like they are firing volleys of blaster bolts at the enemy. As I have written before, the card is a nice, though perfectly unnecessary item. Below that lies a mercifully single black plastic trey with its transparent plastic lid, in which you can find the figure and all of its accessories. Everything is safe and collector-friendly.



Sculpting: 3/4 stars
We are treated to the usual excellence of Hot Toys sculpting, and they certainly have accumulated a great deal of expertise sculpting Stormtrooper armor over the years. While there is not human face or other biological features to get right and realistic here, there is plenty of detail on the armor and weaponry that needs to be right. As far as I can tell, Hot Toys succeeded in this, and spotted the differences specific to Return of the Jedi armor, like the trim (or lip) on the edges of the torso armor (the chest and upper back plates, the abdomen and lower back plates, the crotch and buttocks plates); the sculpt of the armor is also a little softer than before. These were changes introduced in the Mk II Stormtrooper sets designed but barely used for Empire Strikes Back and produced in large quantities for Return of the Jedi. Another obvious difference is the configuration of buttons on the central panel of the abdominal armor, which is rotated 180 degrees from its original look in A New Hope. The figure stands about 11.75 inches (29.8 cm) and looks to be just a little shorter than the one from Rogue One. Except perhaps for the height, so far, so good.



The problem is that, like George Lucas himself, Hot Toys couldn't leave well enough alone. I refer to what they did with the helmet, which has been historically the most difficult part of the Stormtrooper's appearance to replicate correctly or convincingly. Like Marmit and Sideshow before it, Hot Toys got the proportions on their first Stormtrooper helmet (from A New Hope) wrong: the helmet protruded a bit too far down in the front (so to speak, it was too "snouty"), and the distance along the "nose" ridge between the lower edge of the sunken goggles and the upper edge of the toothed "frown" was smaller than the distance between the lower edge of the "frown" and the upper edge of the sunken "mouth" (it should have been the reverse). This error (which still allowed for an attractive, if inaccurate helmet sculpt) was then carried over to the Space Troopers, Shock Troopers, Shadow Troopers (Blackhole Stormtroopers), and the various other derivative products. Then Hot Toys fixed the problem, getting the Sandtrooper about right in 2015 (though unfortunately replicating an exceptional costume oversight with the twisted up brow), and getting the Rogue One Stromtrooper right in 2017: the distance between the sunken goggles and the "frown" was now correctly a little longer than the distance between the "frown" and the "mouth." But today, another two years later, we are treated to another Stormtrooper with a problematic helmet. This time Hot Toys has over-corrected their initial mistake (though they had already fixed it since then!) by making the distance between the sunken goggles and the "frown" just a little too long and the distance between the "frown" and the "mouth" a little too short, resulting once again a helmet that is not quite right in its facial proportions and is a bit too "snouty." It is not horrid looking, but you cannot unsee it once you have spotted it (it is more pronounced from some angles than others), and it is quite disappointing, especially as the hurdle seemed to have been surmounted. There are other, less obvious issues with all of these helmets, which are symmetrical, whereas the originals (apparently even the streamlined Rogue One originals) are famously asymmetrical; the molding process for Return of the Jedi produced a narrower and taller-looking helmet, something of which is in fact conveyed in the Hot Toys product. So we are left with a nice but ultimately inaccurate recreation of the characters' appearance in the film; at this price point we might expect better.



Paint: 4/4 stars
The paint scheme of the set is fairly simple. Stormtroopers have glossy white, black, and grey armor, with a couple of blue buttons among the black ones on the abdomen armor. The paint correctly reflects differences between the characters' appearance in Return of the Jedi (and to some extent Empire Strikes Back) and in A New Hope; for example, the toothed "frown" is now painted black as opposed to grey. The paint application is very precise, and some light weathering has been applied. It is most obvious on the boots and the belt, with some finer or subtler touches on the rest of the armor, all the way to the helmet. The Stormtrooper's blaster rifle is given a very good amount of weathering, perhaps more so than usual with Hot Toys. The helmet is fitted with screen-accurate translucent green bubble lenses, and you can catch a glint of green more readily in this product than the previous iteration (see also the photo under "Value' below).



Articulation: 3/4 stars
While the underlying body surely allows for virtually unlimited articulation, unrestricted poseability is hampered by a combination of factors. First, Hot Toys continues to supply its products with padding undergarments even where that is unnecessary, as here. Second, although the body armor ought to be virtually identical in shape and size to what was used for A New Hope (both on screen and in the action figures), it is often impeded from a fuller range of poseability when bending at the knees and hips, as different armor pieces run into each other. It would be exceedingly difficult or impossible to get this Stormtrooper figure to sit properly or take a knee; its A New Hope and certainly (with some minor modification) Rogue One predecessors were a bit more poseable, if memory serves me well. This is another disappointment, and I wonder whether the problem might have been mitigated or avoided if only the figure were designed a little taller (with longer limbs, especially legs); it is just a little on the short side anyway. Removing the padding helps, both by freeing up the joints and by maing the overlying pieces of armor more movable. Additionally, perhaps one could transfer the armor onto a taller body or at least remove the unnecessary padding. While I realize that Stormtrooper armor was pretty limiting even in 1:1 scale, a less restricted articulation (without necessitating any modifications) would have been welcome.



Accessories: 3/4 stars
This is difficult category for evaluation, as the set technically contains everything you see a Stormtrooper wielding in Return of the Jedi (in other words, a blaster rifle), yet it contains so very little. The accessories (really everything that does not come already attached on the body) include: the nicely weathered E-11 blaster rifle, the thermal detonator that attached to the back of the belt, several spare or alternate parts (a couple of spare wrist pegs, a total of seven hands: pair of relaxed hands, pair of fist hands, pair of gun-grip hands, and a single left outstretched fingers hand), a little instruction booklet (telling you how to put the gun into its holster and how to attach the thermal detonator to the belt) mercifully unencumbered by messy tape, and an action figure stand with grey Death Star floor surface and the label "Sith Trooper" on the little sign. Yes, "Sith Trooper." Not that I really care about it, but Quality Control seems to be slipping. I'd be curious to know if anyone else encounters the same oversight. That's it for the standard version, whereas the deluxe version comes with a cool light-up function background (more on that in the forthcoming update).



Outfit: 3.5/4 stars
Another difficult category to evaluate, as the set features little visible outfit besides the armor already covered above. Underneath the armor, the body is clothed in a stretchy black bodysuit with a back zipper; nothing fancy, but perfectly usable and articulation-friendly; the same cannot be said for the partial padding (like the padded shorts). The covering for the neck (which includes a ribbed collar) seems sloppier than before, although admittedly you are not very likely to see that part of the figure exposed, unless perhaps you took off the helmet to replace it with a head of your choice. Of course, Hot Toys does not really take customizing and kitbashing into account, and there are multiple warnings that the armor and outfit are not designed to be removable, and might be damaged if you do it. That is not entirely true, but proceed at your own risk. The belt and its holster come attached (the belt can be undone with velcro on the back) and the holster can close, even when the weapon is inside it, with a magnetic strap.



Fun Factor: 3.5/4 stars
Alone or in groups, combined with others from their own line or earlier releases, classic Stormtroopers lend themselves to any Original Trilogy Star Wars environment (in the case of these, especially Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi) and so much beyond. While they could be better articulated (some of which can be fixed) and proportioned, they are still very good figures and offer plenty of possibilities. Of course, ideally, you would need a bunch, and there the price point becomes a serious issue.





Value: 3/4 stars (standard); 2/4 stars (deluxe)
The standard version retails for about $190 (USD), the deluxe version for about $243 (USD), not including shipping. Even the lower price is an issue for an army builder character, an issue compounded by the fact that there are aspects to this nice set that ought to have been better (proportions, articulation). That said, I have to admit that at $190 the regular version costs about the same as the Rogue One version from a couple of years ago, and palpably less than a number of other trooper figures we have seen since; while it is not a low price for an army builder, that is something to be appreciated. I cannot quite fathom how what seems like a fairly simple light up display option (3 AAA batteries not included) for the deluxe version would merit a cost difference of $53, and that is all the more disappointing as these background panels are all but useless on their own; you would need two, three, or four next to each other to set up a nice backdrop to one or two figures.



Things to watch out for
Not much. As always, be gentle with the relatively delicate wrist pegs, and ideally warm up the hands before swapping (that is why I own a hair dryer). The thermal detonator is of the type that can slip off and fall with annoying ease while handling, and since it is not big, it might be easy to misplace. I would keep an eye on the magnetic closure for the holster, just in case some magnet becomes unglued. Be careful with the foldable stock on the blaster rifle -- this is a delicate articulated part. The figure stands and balances pretty well, but take the appropriate precautions against it tumbling down.



Overall: 3.3/4 stars
The Hot Toys Return of the Jedi Stormtrooper is a very nice set that could easily have been perfect, with but a little more attention to proportion (helmet, height) and articulation (less padding); then the only negative would have been the price, and even that was relatively decent, considering what it might have been. In other respects, like the painting and weathering, as well as most of the sculpting, the set is remarkably well done. If you love Stormtroopers and are looking to build up your ranks, the new product is a good addition to the bunch.



Where to buy
As always, you can check out various offerings on eBay, or visit the online stores below, among others, but they seem to be selling out fast:

Alter Ego comics for $243 (deluxe)

Big Bad Toy Store for $190 (standard) or $243 (deluxe)

Cotswold Collectibles for $243 (deluxe)

Timewalker Toys all sold out



Hope this has been useful. As always, what do you think?

Update: For the addendum on the Deluxe version, please see Post 21 below.

#hottoys #returnofthejedi #rotj #starwars #stormtrooper #male #scifi #military

Like so many of us, I wasn't completely satisfied with Hot Toys' Aquaman head sculpt in terms of both likeness and molded hair sculpt (which is very nice in and of itself, but hair this long should not be sculpted for various reasons). So I decided to modify it with a re-hairing and partial repaint. Here is a little summary of the progression of the project.

Although Hot Toys made the questionable decision to go with sculpted hair, it tried to improve its appearance by installing it in layers, which helps customization by easing removal and allowing for a more or less complete fully-realized head beneath. I began by carefully tugging on the soft plastic hair of the original head sculpt (1). In this instance it is composed of four different pieces glued to the head proper and to each other. Luckily, they weren't glued very strongly, and with just a little bit of persistence and repetition, I was able to begin pulling off the largest, enveloping exterior hair piece (2).



This left the pieces hanging over the sides and back of the neck (3a-3b). They were removed the same way.



Removing the pieces hanging over the side (4) and the back leave us with a bald head (except for a bit of the hairline over the forehead, which I decided to keep) which features some useful goorves carved into it (5a-5b). The reason these are useful is that without them you would end up with an even fuller, puffier hair after you glue it onto the head, and they help diminish this problem a little bit.



Next I used three different colors of hair to glue onto the bald head in tiers -- starting with a line just above the neckline running around the back of the head and moving upwards. When this step was completed, the look was a dramatic mess (6). After the glue had cured, I weeded off loose strands and rinsed the hair to make it fall a little more naturally, and painted some highlights and color variations (to match the hair) onto the molded beard, mustache, and forelock, as well as over those parts of the hair where the glue was visible; I also tried to lighten some of the painted stubble on the head (where the mustache and beard part going upwards along the jawline) to increase the likeness to Jason Momoa (7).



Finally, I cut down the hair to the correct length (with locks reaching as far down as about the armpit) and treated it with a mixture of water and shampoo+conditioner that I did not rinse off, to give it a more natural fit (8a-8b). And with that my modifications are complete.



Here are three views of the resulting appearance.



And here are some more close-up ones.



Here is a comparison between the HT set (Aquaman from Justice League) and the same with the modified head. I should point out that I was modifying the head on principle, not specifically for this figure set or look. I am also aware that the screen look has much more emphatically bleached locks towards the lower reaches of the hair, but I wanted a slightly more organic and subdued look.



I think it turned out ok, and I hope you liked it or found it interesting. What do you think?

#jasonmomoa #hottoys #aquaman #custom #kitbash #mod #hair #head #headsculpt #superhero #scifi #fiction #film #movie #actor #male

Part II: The search for Superhero Fireman Chad continues...
For Part I, see post 1 above.

Same disclaimers apply as for Part I.

More leaked documents from IAFOOSHA shed additional light on the continued investigation, which was apparently going nowhere fast...



Appendix A: covers of additionally identified volumes (outside the firefighter-related genre)







Appendix B: front and back covers of volumes collected and filed by agent Goodenough









I hope you have enjoyed this new installment of (hopefully) humorous inanity, created in response to some of the comments above.

#humor #parody #satire #romantic #erotic #fiction #fireman #firefighter #modern #male #ancient #rome #medieval #middleages #starwars #scifi #superhero

It has been a week of unforeseen silliness that is hopefully at least mildly amusing to more than just two or three of us. Someone else's posting inspired one photo story (New Superhero Revealed?), and someone else's tutorial question another (Star Wars A Negative Body Image Story). And now my Patrol Trooper product review (HERE) has resulted in the impromptu photo story that follows...



















Hope you liked it.

#starwars #hansolo #patroltrooper #humor #humour #parody #comedy #scifi #fiction

Introduction

There was precious little I liked about the Star Wars stand-alone film Solo, but despite the inherent silliness and redundancy, there was just something that made me love the look of the new Patrol Trooper (I cannot say the same about the Biker-Scouts-on-steroids or the "Mimban Stormtroopers," both of which I found completely redundant, although the so-called "Mud Troopers" appear to be a good enough try at generic imperial infantry -- think "AT-ST drivers" -- in combat gear). The Patrol Trooper's design is at once new and familiar; in fact it is as if a stormtrooper, scout trooper, and shore trooper came together in some unholy and magical union and produced the patrol trooper. Although I had some concerns about the size of the helmet in the promotional images, I eventually bit the bullet and preordered it. It is not a decision I regret.



Packaging: 4/4 stars

There is nothing really new or exciting about Hot Toys' traditional Star War packaging, apart from the colorful cigar box band attached to the bottom of the container, which showcases the product and its name in the same way we have seen with figures from Rogue One. When you open the lid, you find the now traditional card bearing a nice image of the action figure in action -- a nice but completely unnecessary luxury that is probably somehow intended to help justify the price. The box mercifully contains only a single plastic trey (with its cover) -- something that I have to point out as a blessing, having recently re-boxed my Hot Toys classic Superman (that thing had a positively heinous number of often unnecessary treys and covers). Of course that also means that the number of items and accessories is fairly limited. Everything is safe and collector-friendly.



Sculpting: 4/4 stars

I suppose not having a human likeness to get right helps, but the excellence of the sculpt seems impeccable. The detail is sharp and precise, both on larger and simpler surfaces, and in places that are densely crammed with it (like the recessed panel on the back of the armor). The same carries over to the weapons and hands. I no longer think the helmet is too oversized, although it does have the tendency to appear so in photographs (it looks fine in hand). The Patrol Trooper stands about 30 cm (12 inches) tall.



Paint: 4/4 stars

The basic paint job is simply black and white, with very little exception or nuance (like the green button on the chest armor and a few grey areas on the helmet and thermal detonator). However, Hot Toys gave the figure ample weathering (although this does not extend to the weapons). This is very well done (although I admit I prefer my troopers clean), pretty well balanced in terms of both intensity and distribution all over the figure's white armored elements. It is most pronounced on the boots, the helmet, and the inside parts of the gloved hands. The helmet's lenses are translucent green, even more noticeably so than usually. The white armor elements and the lens on the pistol are appropriately glossier than the rest of the surfaces.



Articulation: 3/4 stars

The underlying Hot Toys action figure body presumably has all the articulation you could possibly desire, and it appears that at least some of the joints are now lightly ratcheted (the elbows), presumably so as to hold poses better. The armor and outfit partly restrict this articulation, and some of this might have been possible to address. For example, if Hot Toys had not put the same movement-inhibiting heavy padded garment under the visible layers as it usually does these days, it might have given the hips much better and almost unrestricted articulation. As it is, sliding the utility belt upwards does help, but only to a point. There is a partial problem with the wrists -- here the rubbery armored sleeves press down gently on the hands and make them pop off a little too easily. The worst impact is on the waist, where there is virtually no possibility for lateral or crunch movement. Other than that, the figure's articulation is surprisingly good and it can stand well on its own thanks to the two-part design of the boots and the resulting good ankle articulation.



(Want to know the story behind this photo? Check out the photo story HERE.)

Accessories: 3/4 stars

The accessories that come with the Patrol Trooper are very limited, although admittedly not unreasonably so. We get an action figure stand and some spare parts, as well as an instruction leaflet, which is not likely to tell you anything you could not figure out on your own. The figure comes wearing relaxed hands, which can be exchanged with the included pair of fist hands, pair of grip hands, and single left hand with outstretched "halt!" fingers (I wonder why we couldn't we get its right counterpart); this makes a total of seven hands. Then there are the two real accessories: the pistol and baton ("nightstick"). Neither of them features any articulation, but they are well sculpted and painted (in the gun's case, the lens is glossy; the baton has several silverish metallic elements); but there isn't much in the way of weathering on either weapon. The pistol looks like a slightly revised version of the Scout Trooper pistol from The Return of the Jedi. Now while this limited selection is appropriate for what we see on the screen, it is just not something to be really excited about. Perhaps a standard imperial blaster rifle would have been a nice thing to include; I am not naive enough to argue that they should have added his ride, which would probably have doubled or tripled the price. So I am possibly a little hard on this category, which might deserve another half star.



Light Feature: n/a

While there is no light feature included, light helps accentuate the green-tinted lenses of the Patrol Trooper's helmet. In some light you can actually tell they are green rather than black, and since there is no actual face under the helmet, in some poses the light would shine through, revealing both the color and transparency of the lenses. While this is not realistic in itself, it is very cool. Here is an exaggerated demonstration of this color and transparency.



Outfit: 3/4 stars

The sculpted armor has been commented upon in the sculpting and paint categories above. The rest of the outfit is made of soft(er) goods. This is slightly more complex than usual with such figures and consists of the following: real fabric straps seemingly holding together parts of the chest plate; black trousers with a white stripe on the outer side; armored sleeves (i.e., sleeves with attached armor plates); and leather-like top; all of this is worn atop an underlying padded suit. This last part was Hot Toy's effort to make sure the outer, visible clothing fills out, but as usual causes annoying partial restrictions in the articulation. The leather-like top looks great with its realistic, pitted texture. The armored sleeves are made of a ribbed rubbery material that in principle looks great, but folds in somewhat unsightly ways when you bend the arms at the elbows; more importantly, some have expressed concern that this part of the outfit would develop cracks after repeated bending and drying out. I am not too concerned, but it is possible, and I would have preferred the use of some ribbed fabric anyway.



Fun Factor: 4/4 stars

Despite his very limited screen time, the Patrol Trooper is a cool-looking character that lends himself to inclusion into a variety of custom Star Wars scenes and situations. With his good articulation, he should be a fun addition to any scene or collection. And I write this without any intention of combining him with any other Solo characters (even if I intend to pick up a "Mud Trooper").



Value: 3/4 stars

I am divided on this category. I pre-ordered this product for $210 (USD), but the common retail price now seems to be $220, and that does not include shipping. I thought the lower pre-order price comparatively decent, in line with other army-builder non-protagonists already produced by Hot Toys in the Star Wars franchise -- where $205-210 seems to be Hot Toy's rather twisted idea of a bargain. Seeing the new retail price makes me think twice about that conclusion (which was only relative anyway) and perhaps this category ought to lose another half star. But the figure itself is a great, if limited product, and the price is far lower than some of the egregious prices Hot Toys is asking for other, especially protagonist figures.



Things to watch out for

Not much. As mentioned, the hands tend to pop off a little too easily, so you might want to keep an eye on them in case something disappears. The baton slides into its holder with some difficulty, and I recommend trying to slide it in from the underside (contrary to instructions). The holder itself can come off the belt, but you can easily re-attach it.



Overall: 3.5/4 stars

I didn't know quite what to expect of this figure and wasn't sure how much I would like it, given how little I liked the film it was in and how much I resent the constant infusion of newer and ever sillier trooper types (at the expense of the established ones we know and love) even in what is supposed to be basically contemporary to the Original Trilogy. But I do like it: both as a design and as an action figure, with which I have very few gripes. The one real disappointment is the price, but that has to be what one expects of this company and license these days. Everything else about this product is passable at worst and great at best. Since these are troopers and they should come in plural (or at least dual) numbers, I was tempted to get one more, but given the (new and higher) price and the fact that we only see one on screen, I have for once managed to restrain myself.



Where to Buy

Apart from eBay, I can suggest these:

Big Bad Toy Store for $220
Cotswold Collectibles for $220
Timewalker Toys for $220



Shooting the photos for this review resulted in an impromptu photo story (the third this week!), which you can check out HERE.

Hope this was useful. What do you think?

#starwars #solo #hottoys #patroltrooper #galacticempire #imperial #military #fiction #scifi #male

Hi all,

Here is another review of a Hasbro Black Series 6" figure.  I have to say that currently I find these smaller figures much more exciting than 1/6 stuff.  I know this is primarily a 1/6 forum but I am more likely to be contributing in this section in future I guess.  My love for 1/6 has just gone i'm afraid mostly killed by the excessive prices which are now asked in the UK for mainly franchised figures, but also the military stuff too really.

Anyway I digress and on to the review.

This time it is General Grievous.  I will admit to having a bit of a soft spot for the character.  Its not the best character ever devised, but hey this is Star Wars and I kind of like the look of this one.

This is the first in the 'Deluxe' range of Black Series figures, and as such is numbered D1 on the packaging.  Apart from the D numbering the package is standard Black Series stuff, so I won't spend more time there.





This is a tall figure measuring approximately 18cm (7") tall at full height.



It comes with  nice lined cloth cape which seems to drape well enough, and has 4 pockets on the inside for the included light sabre hilts.  There are four different light sabres which are all different in design and have the standard Black series removable blades 2 each of blue and green.  There is also a droid blaster which is a nice touch.



This is an impressive figure in person.  Its tall, with those great looking claw like feet, and has arms which can be split providing either four or two arms to suit how you want to pose the figure.  Arms are nicely done and do actually clip into one another to form the two arm mode so they do really look like single arms in this mode.  The Shoulders have a great range of movement, but due to the design the elbows are a little limited and there is no wrist movement at all.  This could have been improved but then the figure would probably be likely to cost over £30 rather than the very reasonable £25-£27 it costs here in the UK.  Its important to remember too that these are toys, and not necessarily high end posable collectables, and therefore need some strength and durability to the joints.  In any case it is still relatively easy to obtain those classic looking 4 arm Grievous poses with the limited mobility.  
Each of the hands has 2 fingers and a thumb enabling each hand to hold an item, however when joined together the hands are too big to hold the included blaster.
The rest of the articulation is very good, with good movement all round and the ability to add some subtle character to a pose by cocking the head slightly etc...  I would say that the articulation is good overall given the nature of the character.













The figure is fairly easy to pose and can achieve all those classic Grievous looks.  It balances well in most poses, and the feet whilst having multiple small points of contact are actually able to provide a very stable base in most poses.





The look of the figure is great, with very nicely detailed sculpting and for the most part great paint.  There are some of those slightly over the top silver patches, but for the most part the weathering on this figure is great.  Very subtle and not over done.  The eyes are very well done indeed on this one, looking very reminiscent of what we see on screen.
This side of a figure is more important for me these days, as I am much more a collector now than a modeller or tinkerer.  I have been there and done that in the past but it is much less a part of the pleasure I get from figures today.  My figures for the most part don't get altered and so how they look out of the box is important to me, and this one in my opinion delivers.

I love the look of this figure and can whole heartedly recommend it if it takes your fancy.

Here he is in place on the shelf.



Paul

#starwars #hasbro #blackseries #generalgrievous #6inch #productreview #scifi

Sideshow has produced a full pack of Empire Strikes Back bounty hunters, including Dengar. These are all generally excellent figures, but in Dengar's case they overlooked one fairly signature detail when it came to his long blaster rifle. In the film (though not in some of the released pre-production photos), Dengar sported a modified MG 42 with the bipod and buttstock removed. Sideshow's weapon is beautifully sculpted and painted (even if a bit too evenly for my taste), and has the bipod removed; but the buttstock is still there. While I would agree that the weapon looks silly without the buttstock, we are supposed to strive for movie accuracy, are we not?

So instead of modifying the Sideshow piece, I purchased an inexpensive 1/6 MG 42 kit on eBay, put it together without the bipod and buttstock, and finally got around to painting/weathering it. I wanted to give it a used, worn appearance, and to reduce the plastic-looking effect of, well, black plastic. I think it turned out reasonably well, even if the less accurate Sideshow weapon has finer detail.







What do you think?

#starwars #empirestrikesback #esb #dengar #bountyhunter #weapon #mg42 #machinegun #scifi #custom #repaint

Update and Sideshow comparison in Post 8

I'm sure I've seen others do the same, but I finally got around to trying out the old Kenner sixth-scale uniforms on better heads and bodies as a simple custom/kitbash rebel trooper on Hoth. You can see the result in the four photos that follow.



While the original Kenner figure proportions were a bit off (shorter limbs, larger heads), the outfits are often salvageable for customs or kitbashes. This is largely the case here. The final look is a bit on the puffy side, but the wider/thicker appearance of the sleeves, pants, and vest actually appears appropriate as protection from the cold Hoth (or Norway) environment. Likewise with the slightly oversized helmet. The boots are a bit on the simple side, but some weathering might help. The only part that really bothers me are the bottoms of the sleeves -- they should have been longer and a little less narrow (that last part might be fixable with some effort). Note: After taking the photos below, I realized I had put on the pants the wrong way (the quilted part should be on the front, as in the photo above) -- I mean, who puts the "zipper" part in the back? .







I had long wanted to make some of these guys (at least as playmates for my snowtroopers), but wasn't willing to invest the money in the higher-end parted-out pieces from Sideshow. I think these turned out pretty decent for my relatively limited interest and purposes.

What do you think?

#starwars #esb #empirestrikesback #hoth #rebel #trooper #male #scifi

Note: For the ready-made fully-articulated new Hasbro Rogue One figure, see HERE.

Stormtroopers were among the original set of Star Wars action figures, but have encountered a long string of imperfections in any common collectible scale. Of those based on the films set in the time of the Original Trilogy, the Rogue One 1/6-scale version by Hot Toys probably came closest to capturing the precise appearance of what we saw onscreen, but that version of the imperial stormtroopers was itself slightly modified from the basic original design (you can check out my detailed review HERE). I am not talking about these here and today.

I am talking about the "classic" or "vintage" scale of figures (generally about 3.75 inches tall) established by Kenner and continued by Hasbro. First, a brief journey through a few of the more important stages of Stormtrooper action figure evolution at that scale. Kenner's original Stormtrooper (1978) was nicely sculpted for its time, but unfortunately under-articulated even then: the usual five-point articulation (swivel shoulders and hips and head) was brought down to four points, because the helmet was sculpted as part of the torso. A sparse and often sloppy paint application made the figure's appearance even more unfortunate.


(More photos and brief review HERE.)

Kenner's figures became more and more sophisticated in sculpting and paint, but the Stormtrooper was not revisited and continued to be produced on the basis of the same molds. Until, that is, the Power of the Force collection included with a hideous, misshapen, and standing-challenged figure (1995). The less said about this, the better. The one improvement was that the head could now swivel around on top of the neck, and the waist could swivel around its axis.


(More photos and brief review HERE.)

After that travesty, things looked up when Hasbro acquired the license. In 1999 it produced its first Stormtrooper (with battle damage), complete with a gun rack and 10 points of articulation (admittedly, of the rather basic, swivel kind, except for the ball-jointed neck and shoulders).


(More photos and brief review HERE.)

Hasbro's improved model took off, and was reiterated and occasionally slightly modified over the following years. By 2011 (Vintage Collection # 41), the little Stormtrooper featured not only a removable helmet and an underlying battle-scarred human face, but also 14 points of articulation and ball-jointed neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. I had started collecting action figures again.


(More photos and brief review HERE.)

What more could you ask of a 3.75 inch action figure? These figures were not perfect, but for the most part the issues were the preciseness (or lack thereof) of paint application and the often soft or distorted sculpt of the helmets (and not just those that were designed to be removable and made of softer plastic). Then Hasbro went backwards instead of forwards, abandoned the excellent articulation it had achieved, and reverted to... five points of articulation (except for the 6-inch Black Series Collection). And that was enough to get me stop collecting Star Wars action figures in the Classic scale.

But while the articulation went back to Neolithic, Hasbro's sculpting improved dramatically and so did the resolution of its paint application (I say resolution, because it is not always applied with absolute precision or correctness). The sad under-articulated Stormtroopers produced for Rogue One appeared perfect until you tried to pose them. This made me think: is it possible to combine the excellent head (i.e., helmet) sculpt of these new figures with the nicely articulated Stormtrooper bodies of Hasbro's more felicitous products? In almost all cases, that proved impossible -- not without serious alterations (whittling off parts of the neck pegs) and compromises (like having exceedingly wobbly heads or sacrificing neck articulation completely). But there was one combination that worked perfectly, and that is the point I have been getting at.

You would need a Hasbro Rogue One 3.75-inch Stormtrooper (either the ones carded by themselves HERE or, better yet, the ones in the two-pack with Baze Malbus HERE -- these have a better/more complete paint application) and a Hasbro 3.75-inch Spacetrooper (Legacy Collection # 32, HERE and HERE).



The Spacetrooper is nothing more than a Zero-Gravity-kitted-out Stormtrooper, let loose on the surface of your friendly neighborhood space station. He has been given a removable rebreather tank system with a hose and an additional blaster rifle.



The face, which has been described in somewhat unflattering terms, is actually a decent attempt (given the scale and the time when it was made) at capturing set photos of none other than the versatile Star Wars designer and occasional extra Joe Johnston preparing to be filmed as a Spacetrooper.





At any rate, the crisply sculpted and (usually) precisely painted new Stormtrooper helmets fit perfectly on the "Spacetrooper" neck peg, making for the simplest custom of all time (I am sure it's a draw, but it is one of them). Now you can get a good looking (as in screen-accurate) and well-articulated Stormtrooper all rolled into one.



Can it get any better? Yes. If you used the helmet from the single-packed Rogue One Stormtrooper, you'd probably want to paint in the two trapezoidal areas on the back of the helmet (if you used the helmet from the two-pack, they are already -- and correctly -- painted). More importantly, while the "Spacetrooper" has 14 points of articulation, unfortunately the hips are swivel rather than ball-jointed. My attempts to swap out the legs with those from even better-articulated versions failed, although they should have worked in theory.



I helped myself to a bunch of both figures some years ago and did some army building. The under-articulated bodies would act as holders for the unused heads and helmets and could always be used for background characters in formation (which would be more authentic than painting them in as they did for the emperor's arrival scene in Return of the Jedi).



Now here's the possible rub: these figures are getting rarer to find, but are still available and often inexpensive (even the 2-pack). But Hasbro has re-launched its Vintage Collection and started putting out some excellent and (even more encouraging) excellently-articulated 3.75-inch figures. Not yet available at the time of writing but advertised to appear this year is the Vintage Collection Rogue One Stormtrooper. If it is like the others in the series, and if its sculpting is on a par with the earlier under-articulated versions, it would obviate the "need" to kitbash the perfect Stormtrooper. Of course, you might prefer a real Original Trilogy figure (I think we all would), but the differences -- especially in this scale -- are largely too minute to notice (unlike with the sixth-scale figures). And you can never have too many Stormtroopers. So if you happen to have a bunch of these already in your collection, you could still apply this easy kitbash to make them more compatible with the new ones you might be interested to get. That, at least, is how I see it.



As always, let me know what you think.

Note: For the ready-made fully-articulated new Hasbro Rogue One figure, see HERE.

#starwars #hasbro #stormtrooper #stormtroopers #spacetrooper #film #fiction #scifi #rogueone

NOTE: A few extra goofing around photos added to posts 11 and 15 below.

Introduction

Following upon its recent releases of Luke Skywalker and the Imperial Royal Guard (see HERE) from Return of the Jedi, Hot Toys has now provided Emperor Palpatine to go with them. The galactic emperor comes in two versions, regular (MMS467) and deluxe (MMS468); it is the latter version that I am reviewing here. The difference consists of the larger box and two accessories: the emperor's throne and Luke's un-ignited lightsaber, which come exclusively with the deluxe version.

If you are a hardcore Star Wars fan, it is likely enough that the supreme antagonist of the Original Trilogy would be on your shopping list. Sideshow produced what was a very respectable version at the time, but improved standards and the superior detail and quality of Hot Toys made me break my usual rule of not upgrading and go for this; besides, I did not have Sideshow's throne, which had become rare and expensive, as well as cumbersome and brittle (polystone). So I gave my Sideshow emperor to a friend and lightened my wallet.

I am divided on the character, although he was played masterfully by Ian McDiarmid (all the more so in the otherwise fairly abysmal Prequel Trilogy, which I cannot bring myself to consider canonical). The emperor's character, importance, and even name changed over time as drafts of what became Star Wars progressed. At one time he was the puppet of corrupt politicians instead of a force user; early versions of his name included "Ford Xerxes XII" (1973), "Alexander Xerxes XII, Emperor of Decarte," "Cos Das-hit (sic!), Lord of Alderaan, Consul to the Supreme Tribunal, ruler of the Galactic Empire" (Rough Draft, May 1974), "Son Hhat, a Hhut (Hutt!), Lord of Granicus, Consul to the Supreme Tribunal, ruler of the Galactic Kingdom" (First Draft, July 1974), and was given the name Palpatine, sounding palpably Palatine or palatial or portentiously pulsating only in the first novelization of Star Wars from 1976. You can find more on his evolution into the emperor we know from the Original Trilogy (and beyond -- I will not address the Sidious or, worse, Sheev silliness) HERE.

Lucas did plenty right (at first), dropping overly obvious parallels to ancient or modern leaders, making him a mysterious mastermind, keeping the emperor out of the original film, confining him to a short conversation via hologram in the second installment (until he revisited this and pointlessly extended said conversation later), and presenting him as a relatively diminutive and understated ascetic old man in the third. But then he was also portrayed as a cartoonishly simplistic villain who demanded needless sacrifices for an artsy and ultimately unsuccessful strategy, cackled fiendishly, and thought it a good idea to win their hearts and minds by pitting father and son against each other and demanding that they fight to the death (not to mention that arguably these were, at least in a sense, his own son and grandson). How do you reconcile that with the apparent ability to take over the known universe and bring peace and prosperity with the minor exception of a determined small band of hypocritical and dogmatic terrorists? Perhaps one needs to make recourse to senility... One of the tragedies of the Star Wars saga is that its sophisticated visual appearance does not match its childish simplicity and that if fans grow up and choose to analyze it at any depth, they find it wanting; if they don't, perhaps the stylized and misleading dichotomy of the Star Wars universe has sunk in too deep. But we love it anyway and at any rate let's not diverge too far; let's focus on the product at hand.



Packaging: 4/4 stars

The emperor arrives in a large box measuring approximately 8 by 14 by 16 inches. There is a slip on cover with a frontal image of the enthroned emperor, the Star Wars logo, and the product name and number on the front, and credits on the back. Within lies the box proper, with a large see-through cover on the front and the emperor risen from his throne and about to unleash his force lighting, seemingly in the process of saying "So be it, Jedi..." on the back. Inside the box there are two plastic treys, each with its own see-through plastic lid. The top one holds the action figure, the extra hands, and the hand-held accessories, while the bottom one contains the two-part throne, action figure stand, and a couple more accessories. Nothing terribly exciting in the design and decoration of the box, but it is done perfectly well, and everything within it is perfectly safe and perfectly collector-friendly.



Sculpting: 3.5/4 stars

I think Hot Toys did an excellent job reproducing one of the facial expressions of the emperor from the film. When I saw the toothy grin on the prototype advertised what seems like many years ago, I was dubious; but the product looks great. The look they chose is one of a sinister grin, looking amused, yet creepy and threatening at the same time. Do keep in mind that it is difficult to capture the quality of the sculpt with justice in photographs, and even more difficult to recreate the exact look from the screen, which has benefited from professional lighting and manipulation in post-production (most infamously the "emperor's slug(s)," though I just spotted a rectangular band of light on the face, produced either by an actual spot light or mirror or in editing); even with two poseable spot lights I was often unable to replicate the right shadows.

If there is any decline in quality from the prototype used for the promotional images, I do not know whether it is owing to a slightly softer sculpt or to a lighter wash used in the paint (I am going to assume the former, but could be wrong -- I am taking off the relevant half point here). The sculpt of the hairs on the head (which we do not see in the film) is perhaps just a little softer than it could have been, given Hot Toys' achievements in that respect. At any rate, the detail is there, and while it is difficult to give it justice in the photos (and angle and lighting play a role), this is certainly the best sixth-scale iteration of the emperor so far. If it leaves anything to be desired, that goes beyond the scope of any figure sporting a single head sculpt: the emperor made a great many different facial expressions in the film, and we get only one: the toothy grin. It would have been nice to see at least a dissatisfied expres​sion(if not a furious one) and a sarcastic mock-commiseration expression. If anything, a neutral head would have been advisable. Generally, that might be too much to ask for, but this is a deluxe product after all. Despite being a short guy who spent a lot of his time seated, the emperor did manage to look down on people (especially Luke) in a number of scenes; looking down in particular is rather difficult to convey with the present head sculpt, no matter how good it looks otherwise.

The tiny details are carried over to the hand sculpts, and the elaborate clasp on the front of the emperor's cloak, while the non-organic pieces (the lightsaber and throne) look machine-like and ever-so-slightly used. The emperor stands almost 11 inches (28 cm) tall.



Paint: 4/4 stars

Hot Toys is known for its excellent quality paint application, and the present figure is no exception. There are no oversight problems here. It is possible that the promotional prototype had a more delicate wash that intensified the numerous wrinkles on the skin (but I have assumed it is a question of the sculpt above); this seems more subtle and less effective here, although the detail is still minute and impressive. I also wonder if perhaps the color chosen for the eyes is not a tad dark (but I realize it would have been very difficult to reproduce the almost glowing eyes we see in the film). As in the film, one of the eyes appears to be ever so slightly "lazy." The area around the eyes is painted a little darker, which works great for some scenes; in others, they appear to have been artificially lightened in the film's post production, and you cannot replicate that with the figure, except perhaps by editing the photos. The paint application is consistent with whatever is appropriate: glossy eyes and clasp, slightly less glossy teeth, matte metal for the throne, dull pale skin, etc. The crooked wooden cane is perhaps too shiny, although I do not know it for a fact that this is wrong.



Articulation: 3.5/4 stars

Generally speaking, the articulation of the figure is excellent. It is possible that the typical Hot Toys undersuit (padding) gets a little bit in the way, but not much. The one really disappointing thing about the articulation is the one-piece neck and head. I understand why they went this way (and there seems to be a pattern in this to their recent figures, including Luke), especially given the emperor's wrinkled neck, but it keeps the figure from replicating the character's head gestures to a more significant degree than I expected. I believe a less restrictive design might have allowed even a one-piece neck and head to work better. Apart from this the figure can perform the other movements of the character from the film.



Accessories: 3/4 stars

By far and away the most impressive accessory is the throne exclusive to the deluxe version of the figure. The throne is constructed of two pieces, the base and the seat proper. The latter fits onto the former, and can rotate around its axis. For its light feature, see below. The overall look and size of the throne appears great, but unless I am missing something, either the throne is not exactly right in terms of size or proportion (is the seat too high and the ceiling too low?) or the figure is just a little too tall or inflexible to comfortably fit on it with sufficient overhead room to match the appearance in the film. If you try to have the emperor sit up to lecture Luke, he will have to either hit or clear the throne's ceiling; also, if you have him lean back into the seat (as he does in the film), it is pretty difficult to have his feet reach the floor. Nevertheless, I should stress that if there is anything off here, it is very minor; additional futzing and patience may yield even better results.

Apart from the throne, the accessories include additional hand sculpts (for a total of six), the twisted cane, Luke's un-ignited lightsaber, and two sculpted bolts of force lighting. There are also a couple of spare wrist pegs (not shown) and an instruction leaflet (likewise). Finally, there is an action figure stand with interchangeable Death Star flooring: the sculpted top of the stand and a removable sand-paper-like sheet with imprinted floor pattern at an angle; the figure stands quite well without the stand. The selection of accessories is comprehensive for the character. If there is any room for improvement, it would have been to add an extra hand sculpt or two. The ones we get on the figure in the box are the semi-relaxed/semi-closed hands that the character has while seated on the throne or walking around the throne room; the right one is also recommended to be used with the cane, but does not work very well for that purpose. There are left and right hands with fairly outstretched fingers to attach the sculpted force lighting, and there are two variably semi-closed right hands with partly extended index finger. It would have been nice to get a left pointing hand (the emperor uses that at least twice on screen) and a proper right hand to hold the cane (though one of the extended index-finger hands works better for that than the hand recommended in the instructions). The sculpted force lighting looks and works remarkably well. It attaches better to the left hand than the right, but if the light hits it (and especially in front of a darker background) it captures it and looks just right, shining and translucent at once.



Light Feature: 4/4 stars

The actual light feature that comes with this product is confined to the emperor's throne. It is simple but relatively user-friendly and perfectly effective. The underside of the seat features a compartment for the insertion of two AAA batteries (not included), and a tiny switch to turn the electrical feature on and off. For once this is very easily accessible. When it is switched on, the throne's control buttons on both sides of both arm rests become illuminated in the appropriate colors. The buttons are made of colored translucent plastic and look that way even when the light is not turned on. There is also a rectangular white light on the underside of the throne's ceiling. All lights are controlled simultaneously by the single switch on the bottom.



Outfit: 4/4 stars

The emperor's outfit from the film, however basic, is reproduced in exact and loving detail. It is, on the outside, simple enough: a flowing waffle cotton hooded robe with long draping sleeves. The texture is designed to replicate the look from the film, although I suspect it does not drape quite as readily in this scale. The bottom edge of the robe, the bottom edges of the sleeves, and the edges of the hood have thin wires allowing you to position them for a desired look. The inside of the hood is sown up in such a way that the head would not go too far in (with my figure, I actually wish they had left a little more room inside the hood so I can cast deeper shadows over the face). The shiny molded clasp has been discussed above and can be opened. Looking at the official Star Wars costume book (B. Alinger, Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy, San Francisco 2014: 162) I thought the clasp had been placed wrongly (rotated by 180 degrees), but a look at on-set photos revealed that Hot Toys did it right.



Below the black waffle cotton cloak is a suede robe tied at the waist with a sash from the same material. Some of this was visible on screen in the film. Under that there are black pants and soft dull reddish-brown boots. Insofar as this can be verified, everything appears to be correct or appropriate.



Fun Factor: 4/4 stars

With so many sixth-scale (or similar) action figures from (or applicable to) Return of the Jedi already out there from Hot Toys and other brands, one should have no problems having fun reenacting the film or creating new scenes and situations with the present product, all the more so because of the throne and other appropriate accessories. Here is a little reenactment sequence from the film...











Value: 3/4 stars

Between them, Hot Toys and Lucasfilm are among the main culprits for the skyrocketing costs of sixth-scale action figures and accessories, and others have been quick to follow their lead. That said, this extensive and deluxe set is not horribly overpriced, especially by the standards they have already set. The regular version (without throne or Luke's lightsaber) retails at around $220, which is around and near the low end of other protagonist figures from this and other franchises produced by Hot Toys today. This means that if you buy the deluxe version at $315, you pay an extra $95 for the extra accessories, most notably the fully-functional light-up throne. This is certainly not exactly a bargain, but also not as horrendously expensive as it might have been, or as it might become soon enough on the secondary market. For a deluxe set by Hot Toys and licensed by Lucasfilm, the price appears fairly decent, and seemingly more so than many other recent offerings. Still, it hurts...











Things to watch out for

Darth Vader falling on his face during photography and breaking off one of the tusks on his helmet; failing to find said tusk; detaching a tusk from another ruined helmet and losing that one; having to cannibalize a third... but wait, none of that has anything to do with the product reviewed here. There really isn't much to worry about, and there aren't many small, dangerous, or easily misplaceable parts, so basic precautions should be enough. While the throne is not as brittle and delicate as polystone, I would not drop it. The hands were a bit difficult to swap, but a hair dryer should have helped and despite some impatient pulling, I still did not manage to break the wrist pegs (just in case, they included a couple of spares).









Overall: 3.67/4 stars

I am very pleased with this figure, and believe it is a better representation of the character than any that has been available in the past -- certainly in this scale. Admittedly, we are stuck with one expression for a very expressive character, but that is the worst that can be said about it. The appearance and articulation are excellent and the choice of accessories extensive and appropriate. We could have used an extra hand sculpt, and a slightly more comfortable fit on the throne, but all in all these are fairly minor disadvantages. But you can draw your own conclusions from the photos and details above (and below). What do you think?



Where to Buy:

Big Bad Toy Store $315
Or $220 (regular version)

Cotswold Collectibles $314

Timewalker Toys $220 (regular version)



#starwars #returnofthejedi #rotj #hottoys #emperor #palpatine #review #productreview #scifi #male

I finally got around to doing the underwater scenes. The first four images below are brand new, the rest are an updated presentation of the background and vignette that first introduced the character on the old site.





























Hope you enjoyed it.

#starwars #kitbash #custom #humor #male #scifi #underwater #beach #military

From the depths of space fantasy and science fiction silliness, here comes a chapter in the saga of...
SPACE PRINCESS... (names changed -- slightly -- to protect the not so innocent)

For Episode 2, see post 17 below.

EPISODE 1























Bonus points (in 1/6 heaven) if you can identify what items arrived today to result in the spontaneous kitbash that became this photo story.

#starwars #princessbride #fantasy #scifi #humor #kitbash #custom

Introduction

Over the last several months, Hot Toys has released several new Original Trilogy figures, including Luke Skywalker from Return of the Jedi, Darth Vader from Empire Strikes Back, and now the emperor's Royal Guard from Return of the Jedi. I have my issues with what I consider the last fully canonical Star Wars film (particularly the cartoonish villains and the idiotically easy and speedy resolution, but I will save my bile for the review of the emperor figure), but it was difficult to resist another high-end sixth-scale rendition of iconic characters from the film/trilogy. The emperor's Royal Guards were not particularly fun or exciting, but they were as cool as bad guys could possibly be, and that just standing there; I suppose since they were dismissed ahead of the decisive action, they alone of the bad guys have not been shown defeated by the protagonists.

This is the second iteration of the iconic characters in high-end sixth-scale; the first was part of Medicom's Real Action Heroes series (unless we also count the much less sophisticated Kenner or Hasbro 12" figures -- which can still easily make do in a pinch).



Standing about 11.75 inches (about 29.8 cm), the Medicom Royal Guards were a decent addition in scenes with Hot Toys and Sideshow figures (which is unusual, as Medicom's figures tended to be relatively underscaled compared to other sixth scale figures). However, the new Hot Toys Royal Guards tower over the others, with a height of about 12.25 inches (about 31.1 cm). Moreover, they appear to capture the appearance (and proportions) of the film characters even more convincingly.



Packaging - 4/4 stars

I should start out by saying there is absolutely nothing wrong with the packaging. It is just what we are so very used to, without any particular complexity or originality. I do realize they are constrained by both tradition and the Star Wars license where the outside design is concerned.

It is a traditional shoebox-type container, with the usual stylish Star Wars two shades of black design, including an image of the figure, the Star Wars logo and product label on the front, and more information and warnings on the bottom. A color card showing two Royal Guards brandishing their weapons is inserted atop the box's contents under the box lid. The figure and its accessories is held in single transparent plastic trey with its own transparent plastic lid. Everything is safe and collector-friendly.



Sculpting - 4/4 stars

The sculpting is up to its usual level of Hot Toys excellence. The sculpted parts of the product are actually relatively few, including the signature helmet, the hand sculpts, and the force pike weapon. Everything is done cleanly and precisely, which is of course critical when it comes to weapons technology and the sleek, clean, shiny helmet. The helmet is the most striking piece, and it looks just as it should, with the right proportions, just barely plausible (which is how it was designed by Lucasfilm's costume department). The hand sculpts are supposed to convey tight leather gloves, and they appear pretty successful in that.



Paint - 3.5/4 stars

The paint work is not particularly complex (the most complicated parts are the dark visor on the helmet and the black parts of the otherwise silverish force pike weapon), but it is clean and consistent as we have come to expect from Hot Toys. Then there is the question of accuracy. I compared the product in hand with what we see in the films and with the relevant entry in the Star Wars Costumes: The Original Trilogy book by B. Alinger (San Francisco, 2014). The color of the helmet appears to be spot on, a perfect or virtually perfect match for the "candy apple red" used in Return of the Jedi. The color of the outer cloak is a close but not perfect match. Some of this may well be due to the difference in materials, but the film cloak matched with the helmet. Even allowing for differences in screen color settings and in the color fidelity of printed photographs, this is a clear and unfortunate inconsistency. The garments underneath the outer cloak are in a darker, maroon color. This is film-accurate, at least in principle, as the published photographs seem to show a slightly lighter and warmer shade of color, a little less different from the cloak than the one we get with this product; but again, I cannot be sure of the color fidelity of the publication. Generally, the paint work on the sculpted elements is perfect or near perfect, while the coloring on the garments is a little off in terms of accuracy. There is no weathering on the painted or dyed materials, but this makes sense given the elite and dress uniform character of the Royal Guards.



Articulation - 4/4 stars

This actually came as something of a surprise to me. Hot Toys' figures have appeared to prioritize appearance over range of articulation lately, with restrictive padding under clothing, restrictive footwear, and tight pants. Considering that the emperor's Royal Guards just stand there, or glide to or from a position, if there were ever an action figure that arguably (arguably!) didn't need much articulation, it would be this one. And yet, here Hot Toys has reminded us of how they came to be considered the best (super-realistic head sculpts aside). Despite padding and some layers of clothing, the Royal Guard can achieve pretty much all the articulation you might possibly want: the cloth boots do not impede the ankles (if anything, they could have been a tad stiffer), the pants allow the legs to bend to assume a natural sitting position, the arms can flex at the biceps naturally, there is a moderate ab crunch, and with some effort, the arm can go up above the body fairly successfully. The hands swap easily enough, and Hot Toys provided a couple of extra wrist pegs. The one area where the articulation is super-limited is the neck. You can adjust it up and down and sideways only slightly; any more than that and the helmet pops off. This should not be held against the product, however, as it matches the restrictions of the actual costume in the film.



Accessories - 3/4 stars

I am divided on this category. Technically speaking, given what we see in Return of the Jedi, the accessories we get with this product are perfectly adequate. On the other hand, given the price of the figure, they are quite underwhelming. What we get are four extra hands (weapon-grip right and left, thumb-out weapon-grip right, spread-finger left, besides the ball-grip right and relaxed left that come on the figure in the box), the action figure stand (featuring a Death Star-like ground surface), and the force pike weapon (which is arguably the only true accessory). The weapon is realistically scaled and screen-accurate. (I am not counting the instruction sheet as an accessory; the force pike weapon was omitted in this particular photo, but you see plenty of it elsewhere.)

So, if this is all we see with the Royal Guards in the film, why do I not give this category a full four stars? Because it falls short of what Hot Toys has been providing with recent releases (compare the bases on the Luke and Vader figures), and we still pay a high price for the product (even if not as high as for the others). The least they could have done is provide some sort of appropriate printed background (for example, of the throne room window or elevator). Or they could have done what they did with their excellent Snowtroopers (see my review HERE), and incorporate some external material. With the Snowtroopers they added items and equipment from Star Wars Battlefront video game. With the Royal Guards they could have what Hasbro did with their 3.75" royal guard figure (Vintage Collection #105, 2012) and add the extra elements associated with them in the Crimson Empire comic book series (see HERE for that figure). Admittedly, the comic book series probably had much less impact than the video game and may have been relegated to "legends" status, but it certainly would have made a cool figure far more exciting.



Outfit - 4/4 stars

The outfit seems done very well, although only the outer cloak is easy to check against the film. The cloak drapes and hangs naturally enough, much more so than on the Medicom version, which had a bothersome wire along the side and bottom edges. I should note that this appears to be the only sixth-scale version of the character in which the cloak reproduces the characteristic concave-shaped folds below the bottom edge of the helmet. The cloak does come a bit wrinkled out of the box, but even without any special treatment it looks pretty good. Below the cloak is a suede long-sleeved tunic, belted with a broad belt made of the same material. The tunic has long slits on the sides, which allow for the legs to assume broad stances. Unlike the Medicom version, the tunic does not include a bothersome wire and hangs naturally. Below the tunic there are pants made of the same suede material, and you can feel a padded top. There is a pair of pointy tall boots on the feet, which do not restrict the ankle articulation, as their upper portion is made of a type of fabric. I can only verify the sleeves as accurate from the film and costume book. As mentioned above, I have my suspicion that the color on the cloth goods is a little bit off, but I have already taken this into account in the Paint category.



Fun Factor - 3.5/4 stars

That's always difficult to judge, because it is so subjective. In this instance, there is also a divide between an excellent figure and a very static film character. Admittedly, we get a hint of action in a deleted scene from Return of the Jedi, in which Vader force chokes the Death Star commander who refuses to admit him into the throne room, and two Royal Guards threaten Vader with their weapons (HERE, starting at 7:05). As much as I would have loved to see more of the imperials on the screen, the scene is quite silly and I am glad it was deleted (like the Snowtroopers and Wampa deleted scene from Empire Strikes Back). I have reproduced it in a couple of the photos (the last two in this review), which look just as silly as the deleted scene.

Had they gone creative and given this product the Snowtrooper treatment by imitating Hasbro's 2012 Royal Guard (for example), I would have easily given this a full four stars. Although the Royal Guard(s) will just stand there, it helps that we have the matching Luke figure, and the Emperor (with or without the throne) and Vader are supposed to follow soon. This is not something you should give to a child, but I feel a child is likely to have more fun with it. That said, with the excellent articulation, you can get pretty creative.



Value - 2/4 stars

This is another difficult score to determine. The product is excellent in quality and appearance, apart from my concern about possible minor color mismatching compared to the film version. But there is very little in the way of accessories included in the box, and while the look demanded a precise and clean work, it did not involve the complexities of an actor-accurate head sculpt. The figure retails for about $205 (USD) or more (not counting shipping). This is not as high as some other recent Hot Toy releases (Luke was $240 or more), but it is not exactly a low price either, especially as many diehard collectors might want to pick up two Royal Guards (I doubt many would be ambitious enough to get a full set of six). While it is relatively low for Hot Toys, the price affects this score negatively.



Things to watch out for

Nothing really. This is not a child's toy, but any reasonable handling should not cause any problems. Although the hands swap easily enough, you can never go wrong heating them up a bit to soften the plastic before doing so. Make sure you have posed the figure securely, as the ankles can sometimes move too easily.



Overall - 3.5 stars

Despite my misgivings over the price (especially considering the limited accessories), I consider this an excellent product. It should be a welcome addition to the collection of anyone who appreciates the Star Wars Original Trilogy as a whole, or more particularly its military, and the Galactic Empire. I am surprised that Sideshow did not beat Hot Toys in producing this figure (or the Imperial Gunner, for that matter), which they might have done quite well and at a somewhat lower price. All the same, Hot Toys did a beautiful job and I very much doubt I will ever feel the need to buy another sixth-scale Royal Guard from Return of the Jedi.

I hope this review has been helpful. What do you think?



Where to Buy

Big Bad Toy Store - $205

Cotswold Collectibles - $205

Timewalker Toys - $205 (wait list)



#hottoys #starwars #returnofthejedi #royalguard #male #scifi

A custom space pirate I did a few years back.


His name is Wurka Tsunjo
- Earth Born
- Prefers to be called an 'independent businessman and galactic adventurer' more than being referred to as a Mercenary
- A fan of Antique Earth weapons and ultra classic western films from Earth






Turnaround view :


Base :
Wanted to build a base on an angled slant instead of a flat base (something different at least) which allows for more dynamic poses !

The main base :


Support structure underneath the main base :
Nothing complicated - pieces of wood, used sprues some plastic tubes and anything else I can think of to add a bit of 'busy' below the main base.






et voilà !




Mechanical hand :
Simple build with wires, plastic tube and beads


That's all folks and thanks for dropping by !


#custom #kitbash #male #scifi