Gubernator's Various Photos, Kitbashes, and Customs (new update 12 September 2024)

12. Tony's Angels

Yelena needed some friends, so she ended up with a bunch... The missions of Tony's Angels are covert, so we cannot reveal the details, but suffice it to say there is a lot of hunting and running around, followed by unwinding at the pub.

GubernatorFan wrote:Yelena needed some friends, so she ended up with a bunch...

And then the friends (The White Widows?) ended up taking all the guys.
(Aren't those marines from Starship Troopers?)

Nice combination of foreground props and background images to create a seamless sense of setting, particularly in the pub pictures.

Visisonor wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote:Yelena needed some friends, so she ended up with a bunch...

And then the friends (The White Widows?) ended up taking all the guys.
(Aren't those marines from Starship Troopers?)

Yes, I guess that is how it worked out. Although I only had in mind to show her suffering from an incipient hangover. These are not specifically from Starship Troopers (nor specifically intended to be), but, yes, they are wearing Starship Troopers gear. Good eye! Don't worry, we'll find her a dude (probably not a Starship Trooper, though).

davidd wrote:Nice combination of foreground props and background images to create a seamless sense of setting, particularly in the pub pictures.

Thank you very much, Dave, I'm glad you liked them. I've had these lying around for a while, never finding the time for a proper photoshoot, so I did a little impromptu one before packing them up. It's not perfect (not that I am likely to attempt a real full bar diorama like some our members, most notably and prolifically Dal), but I thought it worked ok for what it is. I love the cozy look of those pubs and thought they'd make a nice backdrop to some close-up photos. I realize I left the light a little too bright for the setting, but wanted the figures to be clearly visible.

Really nice shots, Ian! I really like that dog! It looks like the mission was successful especially as they seem to having a great time unwinding. Really nice natural positioning in the pub scenes, they really look to be having fun!

Charlie's Ian's Angels

Tha Yelena head is still one of the greatest around. I like the scenes with the troopers and the interactions

I like the pictures in front of the winter forest and the pub scenes.

BAMComix wrote:Really nice shots, Ian! I really like that dog! It looks like the mission was successful especially as they seem to having a great time unwinding. Really nice natural positioning in the pub scenes, they really look to be having fun!

Thank you very much. Coming from the master of pub scenes, this is high praise indeed. I think they were happy to unwind. The dog (which has theoretically light-up eyes) is from that Superboy set (from Titans) by some company.

Valiarde wrote:Charlie's Ian's Angels

Tha Yelena head is still one of the greatest around. I like the scenes with the troopers and the interactions

I like the pictures in front of the winter forest and the pub scenes.

Well, given Tony Stark's association with Black Widow, I called them Tony's Angels, but I guess he and I can share...
I still love the Yelena sculpt, and I think it is better than these older ones, which are, moreover, larger (or rather larger looking, since they use an ampler hairstyle made of "real" hair), so I'm not sure they compare very well. I'm glad you enjoyed the photos (I wish I did better with the winter scenes, but that would have taken more preparation than time and energy allowed).

Haha! That last shot of Yelena!  

Great shots all around. Love your three white angels. And Lara fits in nicely, too! 
My favourite shot is that first snowy forest group shot. Just fantastic! 

And that smily chatty dude is great for these kinds of social gathering shoots! Great energy.

Diana wrote:Haha! That last shot of Yelena!  

Great shots all around. Love your three white angels. And Lara fits in nicely, too! 
My favourite shot is that first snowy forest group shot. Just fantastic! 

And that smily chatty dude is great for these kinds of social gathering shoots! Great energy.

Thank you very much, Diana, I'm glad you liked them and they entertained.
I guess Lara needed to loosen up, but she was just not prepared for the impact of the alcohol. Apparently, neither was Yelena. Or maybe Visisonor is right, and she was upset her colleagues made off with the guys?
Smily chatty dude is Seann William Scott, Steve Stifler (the "Stifmeister") from the American Pie movies, and also from Dude, Where is my car? (so "dude" is very accurate).

That last Whiskey pic looks really great. That bar backdrop is very effective.

Btw, Leftover Starship Troopers Armor was used in an episode of Firefly and in a Power Rangers series too.

Ovy wrote:That last Whiskey pic looks really great. That bar backdrop is very effective.

Btw, Leftover Starship Troopers Armor was used in an episode of Firefly and in a Power Rangers series too.

Thanks for visiting, Ovy, you've missed a lot (I'm told you've been busy). But glad you liked them. And thanks for the trivia -- never noticed them in Firefly (but now I'd look) and I wouldn't know about Power Rangers.

Really liking those bar shots, specially the last.

That’s excellent. Love all the shots. The bar scene is cool. For a second I thought you made it over to Dal’s place.

Theboo-bomb wrote:Really liking those bar shots, specially the last.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked them. Yes, the last one is not particularly exciting or complex, but came out nice. Actually, I started the bar shoots with it in real life, but it made sense to place last in the sequence.

Stryker2012 wrote:That’s excellent. Love all the shots. The bar scene is cool. For a second I thought you made it over to Dal’s place.

Thank you very much, Mark, I'm glad you liked them. If only! Although I do have a pool table somewhere (and I used to have a self-made beach tiki bar (or whatever it is called -- it perished during the great migration), my bar facilities are much more limited (and largely digital). Besides, the party's always going on at the Ammo Arms! Here it was winding down.

GubernatorFan wrote: ... and I used to have a self-made beach tiki bar (or whatever it is called -- it perished during the great migration...

I, too, had a Great Migration and had to forfeit a lot of things. That was eight years ago now, and I still haven't managed to fully re-organize! I would love to see you reconstruct your beach bar.

davidd wrote:

GubernatorFan wrote: ... and I used to have a self-made beach tiki bar (or whatever it is called -- it perished during the great migration...

I, too, had a Great Migration and had to forfeit a lot of things. That was eight years ago now, and I still haven't managed to fully re-organize!  I would love to see you reconstruct your beach bar.

Yeah, it is a pain letting go of "nonessential" things during a move. I gave up my dinosaurs and my real mini brick wall, too. Also gave some figures I was upgrading to friends, although those are not really a loss. As for the bar, technically it got damaged (I literally sat on it while packing) and I got irritated enough to just toss it rarther than keep it for repairs -- there were just so many other things to do and worry about. I don't know if I will get around to reconstructing the beach bar, but in principle, I'd like to. I don't think you've seen this thread, but you can see it in some of the photos HERE. Hope you like it (and the other goofery).

13. Fruit of the Strawberry Tree

A minor installment this time. (Perhaps the others are still hung over from last time.)
They were literally getting to the point of being too ripe to keep, so I wanted to snap a photo or two. Which is exactly what I did. And accidentally discovered an ancient Shinto rite, it seems...

Very cute. The berries seem to work great with her outfit.

That's some huge berries.
No wonder she looks surprised

Stryker2012 wrote:Very cute. The berries seem to work great with her outfit.

Thank you, I'm glad you liked her (I think you have the same geisha outfit, no?). Yeah, the berries just begged to be used with her and the red-painted woodwork.

Visisonor wrote:That's some huge berries.
No wonder she looks surprised

They are indeed. That's why I picked them up: I've always noticed them and loved their waxy appearance, but I had never seen them quite so big. Tried to keep them alive like flowers in water, but they were too ripe and fell off their stems. Then they got increasingly softer, and I knew I had to throw them out before they make a mess. So, I figured, why not take a pic, and since I was taking one, why not surprise her with them...

Nice set up and pics, Ian!

I'm glad randam inspired more random pic threads on this board, as I like looking at cool scenes from collections.

Without reading the text I wouldn't have identified that she is holding real berries. Looks  bit like velvet.

Nice figure and head

BAMComix wrote:Nice set up and pics, Ian!

Thank you very much, glad you liked them.

Valiarde wrote:I'm glad randam inspired more random pic threads on this board, as I like looking at cool scenes from collections.

Without reading the text I wouldn't have identified that she is holding real berries. Looks  bit like velvet.

Nice figure and head

Yeah, he was the trend-setter. Sometimes it makes more sense to keep things together in one place than start a whole separate thread, unless that one would contain a substantial amount of its own stuff.

Oh yes, totally real. The waxen/velvet look is why I picked them up in the first place. I wish I had figured out a way to preserve them.

And glad you liked her. It's the Super Duck Geisha set (SET052), on an S27B body.

Hah! How very inspired!

I really like the shade of red and the slightly tarnished brass hardware of the screen backdrop. Is that a piece you constructed?

The texture of the plank floor looks fantastic as well. Please oh please don't say that it's printed scrapbooking paper. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by my own inability to tell the difference between a 2D print and a 3D construct... which I suppose speaks well to the level of action figure photography on this forum.

Diana wrote:Hah! How very inspired!

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.

davidd wrote:I really like the shade of red and the slightly tarnished brass hardware of the screen backdrop. Is that a piece you constructed?

The texture of the plank floor looks fantastic as well. Please oh please don't say that it's printed scrapbooking paper. I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by my own inability to tell the difference between a 2D print and a 3D construct... which I suppose speaks well to the level of action figure photography on this forum.

Thank you, Dave, I'm glad you liked it. For once (seems like in a long time) this is not screen projected or printed stuff. Indeed, it is a piece I constructed (wood, glue, tracing paper, glass, magnets, and acrylics), for something else that I will showcase soon, hopefully. I did want the wood texture (grain?) to show through and glad it did. The red is a mix of Amaranth Red and Dark Vermillion by Vallejo -- I was going for that special Japanese red color. The brass hardware is actually painted glass and magnets (which were simply the right size for what I needed), and it is attached in a way that makes it removable without damage to itself or the painted wood surface.

Perfect figure and posing in the last chinese scene. Were the photos taken in artificial light? In my opinion, photos taken in daylight are the most effective. Unfortunately, we don't have much daylight or sunlight in winter.

ElBundy wrote:Perfect figure and posing in the last chinese scene. Were the photos taken in artificial light? In my opinion, photos taken in daylight are the most effective. Unfortunately, we don't have much daylight or sunlight in winter.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. Technically Japanese scene, but close enough. Yes, unfortunately for this I did use artificial light. She is not very steady on her feet (even barefoot) and I don't want her taking a plunge and damaging or losing those hairpins, so I am using the stable flat surface of the desk and some sturdy surfaces I can pile on it. But I agree, in principle sunlight is always better.

Ian wrote:
Yeah, he was the trend-setter. Sometimes it makes more sense to keep things together in one place than start a whole separate thread, unless that one would contain a substantial amount of its own stuff.

Oh yes, totally real. The waxen/velvet look is why I picked them up in the first place. I wish I had figured out a way to preserve them.

And glad you liked her. It's the Super Duck Geisha set (SET052), on an S27B body.

Thanks for telling the SET. And all this on a petite body.