The Senator and the General: TCW Anakin and Padme [IMG heavy]

In honour of May the Fourth, aka Star Wars Day, I wanted to post one of my long-time Clone Wars WIPs that I've finally 'completed'.

I say that loosely as 1/6 projects are rarely ever truly complete, lol, but I had to give myself a deadline/goal or I'd never have finished at the rate I was going. This is a bit of a thrown-together post as, even though the figures themselves were ready in time, I've been both extremely busy and also very unwell the last couple of weeks and have had neither the energy nor the opportunity for elaborate photoshoots.  

So here she is, Senator Amidala in her 'Adventure' outfit as featured in the early seasons of the The Clone Wars animated series, paired of course with General Skywalker:

















References:

scene from 'Destroy Malevolence' [TCW season 1]:







my 3.75" figures, which I wanted to recreate in 1/6th form:






List of parts:

- PeakToys headsculpt, repainted w/ Vallejo acrylics and watercolour pencils
- tbleague s25b body
- Mohair/Tibetan lamb's wool custom wig, w/wire and faux leather 'beads'/hair clips
- TCW 'Adventure' outfit [bodysuit and vest] - mix of fabric and fabric paint
- Handmade belt/holster, also painted
- Sideshow Ilum Padme Amidala blaster
- Sideshow Aayla Secura boots, repainted
- Hasbro/Disney 'Forces of Destiny' Padme Amidala gauntlets, repainted


While this is not my first Padme figure -- I previously made a different Clone Wars Padme for my 'doll line' using a Kimi Toys sculpt [see here] and I have several others still in-progress -- it is my first attempt at full Padme face repaint. I still have a long way to go, but I did my best to make it look a bit more Padme-ish while also simultaneously trying to make it resemble the animated version of her as well.  

I've been dying to do this outfit for ages as it's one of my faves of her 'battle' looks, and I'm glad I finally managed to finish it. There are many aspects I struggled with throughout and may try to improve at some point in the future -- the hair in particular took me FOREVER and is still not exactly how I wanted it. I went through at least five different versions of 'beads' -- and spent many long hours making various versions from scratch -- but nothing worked. So finally I just went with thin faux leather strips and wire. Not ideal, but everything else was way too heavy and bulky. Also, the vest is supposed to be open at the front, but no matter what I did it did not sit right, so I had to sew it closed for now. Some wire inside to shape it would probably help, but at this point I have not had the energy to sort all that out, so I'm content to leave it as it is for the time being. : )

I hope you will forgive my requisite romantic poses... in this case they are straight out of the scene I was trying to recreate.


 

"Oh, the things you do to get me alone..."



Thanks to everyone here for all the help and advice over the last few months, and May the Fourth Be With You!


ETA: by the time I managed to post this, it was already past midnight over here, but lol oh well I tried

They took a long time to load, but when they did they were worth it. Very nicely done and date-appropriate. The Fourth is still going strong here... for a few more hours.

Aw, thanks, GF

And sorry about the images taking a while to load, guess I should have put something in the title about that. ...

The vest turned out great. I think you’re being perhaps your own worst critic (we all do it). I didn’t notice that the belt and holster were handmade until you pointed it out. If you’re unhappy with how the vest sits, have you given consideration to looking for a loose Jyn vest? Might be the appropriate size, and you can always dye it to the color you want. I think what you did works good, though.

Great looking figures!

Thanks, guys!

Re: the vest -- that's a good suggestion, Stryker. I did originally consider kitbashing the vest from an existing one, and for a time was looking at using anything from a Jyn vest to a Hoth Leia vest (since that is what the design for this one was based on). I even attempted to modify a Forces of Destiny Leia doll vest, but ironically at that point I was still using a much larger jointed body with very little give and it wouldn't fit over the shoulders. By the time I switched to the smaller tbleague body, most of the current outfit was either well on its way or done, so I just attempted to make it work.  

You're right that I'm probably being too harsh on myself.... but a) I'm a perfectionist, and b) I was just trying to convey how much I agonized over every tiny detail on this one. In all fairness, when I started this project in the fall of last year, well before I joined this forum, I had originally just intended to make a Padme 'doll', so was not concerned with hyperrealism. Add to that the fact that animated clothing often defies gravity and does physically impossible things, lol, and translating it into something 'realistic' was always going to be a bit tricky.  If anything it's been a very good learning experience for me, especially in coming to appreciate how difficult it is to work with certain materials in this scale. And likewise, how hard it can be to adequately capture it all and do justice to it via photography.  But all in all, I know that this is the best I could do given my current skill level, budget, time, energy, and access to materials, etc., so for that reason alone I'm happy with it.

Great Figures and Poses and a nice Film Tip ! Thanks for showing

Thanks so much, Eph! And you're welcome, I absolutely love that animated series, along with the lil feature film that acted as the show's pilot episode.

She jumped to him... or is he using " The force " ?

Eph wrote:She jumped to him... or is he using  " The force " ?

Both! She jumps and he helps her across with a bit of a 'Force-lift'.

In another thread, GF mentioned that he hadn't realized that the PeakToys headsculpt in the above pics had been repainted. So I thought I'd include some 'before' and 'after' pics, since I had forgotten to do so in the original post.

(Apologies that these are not very high-res, I don't always have good lighting and have only a camera phone at my disposal.)

Before, with factory paint (and hair):





As you can see, the original is not too bad (though imo the pink lipstick is VILE, lol). But it did not look like Padme to me, so I decided to repaint it, in addition to changing the hair.


After:








All in all, I made the skintone warmer, added blushing, eye detail, changed the lip-colour, changed the shape of the eyebrows, and added a second mole/beauty mark. I also painted her hairline so it was not so stark. The mohair ended up covering much of it, but some painted bits still show in certain parts underneath.

The closer-up pics reveal a bit more imperfections , but hopefully also illustrate the difference between the original and repainted headsculpt. : )

I think you did a fantastic job on the changes. Looks great.

Stryker2011 wrote:I think you did a fantastic job on the changes. Looks great.

Thank you!

Oh yes, the changes do appear to be a big improvement.

Ah, thanks, GF! It was not easy to do at such a small scale, and I was really nervous about it, so I’m glad it turned out alright. : )

Love it!  Where did you get the perfect fitting outfit for Padme?   Sorry, kinda got distracted when the servers went down Also, the paint job is superb, just perfect!

Peaches wrote:Love it!  Where did you get the perfect fitting outfit for Padme?   Sorry, kinda got distracted when the servers went down  Also, the paint job is superb, just perfect!

Aw, no worries! And thank you! : ) The outfit is a custom creation.... I did at first attempt to kitbash the entire thing from existing doll and/or 1/6 clothing, but eventually caved. Things got a bit crazy as I changed my mind about what body I was going to use halfway through the project and had to re-tailor it several times to fit the s25b. Ultimately, I ended up sewing her into it  — sorry, Anakin.

As for the accessories, the boots and arm guards are from Sideshow/Hasbro figures, and the belt/holster is something I cobbled together myself, cause I can never justify paying 25 GBP for the ones on ebay...I simply can't bring myself to do it, lol.

I'm honoured you like the face repaint.... that was definitely the most nerve-wracking part, but I'm relieved it seems to have turned out recognizably! :')

How did I miss that!!! Awesome work on these two, they are top notch and perfectly accurate! Love the posing as well!

Thanks for sharing!

blackpool wrote:How did I miss that!!! Awesome work on these two, they are top notch and perfectly accurate! Love the posing as well!

Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for the kind words, blackpool! I'm always a bit nervous to share things that are so close to my heart, so it means a lot.

So, in the last week or two since posting this, I have checked and almost all vendors who had this sculpt available are suddenly nearly sold out! Even though I can't really afford it right now, I had to immediately go purchase a couple more just in case they were totally gone before I even got a chance to pick more up.  O.o

I have so many Padme figures planned, and now I'm worried I won't even get a chance to make them. Sincerely hoping some official headsculpts and/or knock-offs become available soon, cause this is nuts.

I would think it’s only a matter of time before Hot Toys puts out an official Padme; I’m guessing the Geonosis outfit — as it seems the most popular with the guys. But, it obviously won’t be cheap.

Stryker2011 wrote:I would think it’s only a matter of time before Hot Toys puts out an official Padme; I’m guessing the Geonosis outfit — as it seems the most popular with the guys. But, it obviously won’t be cheap.

Aw, yeah, that's the one I'm expecting, 'boring' as it may be, lol. But I'll happily take it over no official Padme at all. I just hope the version is the one with the cape/cloak rather than just the torn-off shirt one. ;p

And yes, of course, I'm likewise expecting it to be ridiculously pricey. And also to have sculpted hair. ;/ I'm hoping at least that someone will eventually make some knock-offs of whatever hypothetical official headsculpt ends up being released.... at least those would be more affordable for customization purposes.

Fantastic work !
Loving the rehair results !

Allotropos wrote:Fantastic work !
Loving the rehair results !

Thank you so much for the kind words!

And I love your signature image, btw!

I was just browsing through some old photos and came across this one which I thought might be of interest to you.
It is Anakins Tatooine costume from AOTC, and the speeder bike he uses too.

I took this a couple of years ago now at the Star Wars Identities Exhibition at the O2.

Its not TCW, but I thought it might be useful anyway.



Paul