Thank you, guys! Here is the rest of it.
Chapter II: The Words ...and bunch of photos also
Composition: TVC Zorii Bliss torso, pelvis & thighs, TBS Ahsoka Tano arms, shins & feet, resin head, hands, armor plates & lightsabers, some epoxy clay sculpts, leather skirt, wired cloak, magnets.
Process: I began this figure last May and was working on her concurrently with Beskar Mando and Bo-Katan. Where those two figures were completed in quick succession, this one stalled a few times for various reasons. Here is a breakdown of how she came to be.
Body & ArticulationI decided early on to go with the combination of VC Zorii body and TBS Ahsoka limbs. The VC Zorii body had a soft collar that I cut off as well as fabric ripples and piping, holster straps, and an under bust detail that needed to be sanded down. The TBS Ahsoka arms and shins also had details that were sanded down to achieve the correct look and accommodate armor pieces. I shortened the limbs slightly by removing some material from the bottoms of the TBS figure’s forearms and Zorii’s thighs, dremeling further into them, and filling the deeper sockets with a small bit of clay. Although further adjustments were made over time, mainly to thin the limbs to achieve a slimmer look, the base combination remained the same. As you do, I also sanded the joint rotors to prevent paint rub. Many small sandpaper sheets lost their lives to make this action figure possible.
For some reason, preserving the TBS figure’s forearm rotors during heat and pop separation was a nightmare for this custom. I know at least two exploded on me during removal, and it’s possible that I sacrificed a third TBS Ahsoka to acquire a single pair of undamaged forearms for the custom.
When I began this custom, I did not have a printer (yes, that’s how long ago this was). My first attempt at articulating hands for this figure began with fashioning a ball wrist from an ABS rotor & peg that I slipped over a metal pin in the center of a VC Doctor Aphra hand (Hasbro+ style). The second attempt saw Zorii’s soft PVC hands dremeled out and slipped over a protruding wrist ball (cf, HiyaToys style hands). Ultimately, I was not satisfied with either and ended up taking a different route through printing. These early attempts at small articulated hands gave way to the pegged swap-outs that have since become the norm and were first seen on the Bo-Katan I made last year.
It was imperative to me that the custom be able to move like Ahsoka. Her wide, crouched stances while deflecting blaster bolts and dueling necessitated ball hips and rocker ankles. Unfortunately, there were zero Hasbro female figures with rocker ankles when I began working on the custom (now there is... one (?), The Armorer, with one more, Ahsoka herself, on the way). To accomplish the rocker here, I went once again with JoyToy joints. They are huge, and required quite a bit of material be removed before they fit the aesthetic or figure’s sockets properly, but they did their job well once installed.
Armor & AccessoriesOnce the body was assembled, I began sculpting the armor plates in epoxy clay. Removing the Zorii collar piece revealed a large rectangular cavity to hold the collar insert, so I sculpted a thin layer over the shoulders and upper bust terminating in the shape of the design on her top. The figure sat unfinished for so long that I eventually had replaced most epoxy clay with resin printed pieces; the only sculpted areas that remain on the completed figure are that shoulder & upper bust layer and her belt & faulds.
For her skirts and armor plate straps (wrists, shins, knees), I used some pieces of ultra thin .4mm leather which I attached with some dabs of Krazy Glue. I affixed the hip plates to the body with leather strips and superglue also, making sure to leave a small area between body and plate free of glue so that the plates could move upward while the figure was crouched. In hindsight, thin leather strips could have worked well for the faulds and would have been simpler, too. Her cloak was made using a stretchy, thin fabric of mostly modal with a wire running the edges and hood. It did not dye evenly as I intended it to, but the look grew on me.
I printed her two pairs of lightsaber hilts: one pair to attach to the hip plates, and another to hold the blades. The first pair I modified with a cavity on each side to hold the tiny neodymium magnets that would snap to those installed inside her hip plates. I sanded the tips of the lightsaber blades into points for accuracy. After a fellow customizer printed Hot Toys style swinging blades in 3.75” scale to great effect, I decided to make a third pair of swinging sabers for Ahsoka. After four prints using three different resins and three different dye combinations, I finally arrived at a color that matched the blue Hasbro blades that I had placed in the second pair of lightsaber hilts.
"You have made time an ally of the Rebellion!"The first delay was caused by a printed head that I bought being incorrectly sized. Progress halted once more when I realized that I wasn’t satisfied with that design even when a replacement arrived in the size requested. Developing a new head that I could adjust and print myself to nail down sizing and fit delayed the custom further. I then lost the desire to work on the figure for a while after attempts to order a cardback for her broke down due to the seller’s communication failure. Then work with another project cast any significant progress on her aside once again. I thought Hasbro’s announcement of an official figure might be the nail in the coffin for this figure, but thanks to some wonderful encouragement, I developed a fifth or sixth wind. Every setback I have experienced with this custom has led us to this moment, and honestly, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Progress Image Gallery1.0 & Familiar Faces
Hands & Feet
Evolution
2.0
Fabrics
Final Fit Test
Pre Paint
Body Painting
Magnets ("How do they work?")
Lightsabers HT
Clear Coat
Puzzle pieces, organized
Is this 6 inch?! 
Group photo
*Rotta the Huttlet went missing sometime between me taking these out for the photo and photo time.
I have no idea where he is...
