Topic: Commander Kurgan's Customs

[Tamer]

It looks good on our front page.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Thanks a lot for the honor of being frontpaged again.

[Starchaser]

The combination of Scout trooper and EVO trooper parts is great. I really like the way this custom fits together. Good eye, brilliant work.

[Commander_Kurgan]

ARC Alpha-42 "Striker"
Based on the Legacy Series ARC Trooper figure, this bad boy was given the kama of a blue Sharpshooter Trooper onto which I attached a dremelled down holster off a ROC Paris Pursuit Storm Shadow. The headsculpt is off a Saga Commander Cody (which I think is the nicest Clone headsculpt so far). The ARC Rifle has been shortened to carbine length. With an assortment of weapons, maybe a rapelling cable and a Captain Rex pauldron added, this could be made into an accessory-packed, fully playable figure in notime.

[Tamer]

I like the look of this new one too. Off to share.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Thanks for the honor of finding Striker frontpaged, Tamer!

[Commander_Kurgan]

As I've received a Commander Deviss and another ARC Trooper Commander, I wanted to present you with some easy parts swaps.
Enjoy!

[Tamer]

I saw these on FB today and liked them. You are certainly the parts master. I wish Hasbro would contact you for your recipes as your combinations are always stellar based on appearance and mobility; something that seems rarer and rarer in reference to Hasbro Products lately.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Oh, I suppose, my views on what an action figure should be today and how it has to be done would not be very popular with Hasbro.
However, we know that they are well able to market very cool figures, just think about the Old Republic Trooper and the ARC Trooper Commander.

I guess that I have been majorly influenced by the modern GI Joes with their superior articulation and tons of accessories. Of course, it is next to impossible to turn a swivel hipped Star Wars figure into a ball-hinged hipped figure, but at least it can be outfitted to have more play value and be like an action figure we would have loved to have when we were boys.
Yes, a well-stocked spare parts box seems necessary, but thanks to some casters and people selling second-hand figures on Ebay and Facebook, parts can bew acquired.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Munin Skirata

Most of you will know this character as the adoptive father of Kal Skirata from Karen Traviss’ Republic Commando novels.
He appears only in a flashback, but leaves the impression of a cool dude and tough customer, yet caring father.

I used parts from an Imperial Scanning Crew Technician and a Boba Fett plus parts from the parts bin for this no-paint kitbash. The basic grey on the Crewman and Boba are very similar, so they can be used without a problem.
Since I’m surrounded by great customers, I do not have to explain the boil’n pop method of splicing figure parts together.
You will notice that I have used the feet of the Crewman in order to make the legs look less Boba Fettish.

I think in this case the headsculpt really makes the figure. Many GI Joe collectors don’t like this particular headsculpt, but I love it and, as far as I am concerned, fits the character of Munin Skirata very well.

The result is another fully playable no-paint kitbash.
Knowing that quite a few of you have kids who love Star Wars, too, I think that no-paint kitbashes are a great way of gifting them with unique, yet relatively easy to make, figures which stand up to rough handling.
Real action figures in the sense of the word.

[Commander_Kurgan]

ARC Alpha-44 "Hunter"

Hunter is basically a TVC Clone Lieutenant which I upgraded with a pauldron and a kama to ARC Trooper. A rangefinder was added to the helmet and a working holster to the kama. Again, I shortened the ARC Rifle to carbine length and re-attached the sling. The head was donated by a comic pack Commander Faie.

[Tamer]

You have this down to a science. The thing that makes me wonder is you are doing this by piecing all the great pieces together and you would think that Hasbro would have one person or two whose job it was to do things like this for a living. I mean how many folks would buy that creation you just posted on. BTW, that looks great on our front page.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Thanks for the honor of being frontpaged again, Tamer.
I really wonder why Hasbro's design people can't give us figures which are, in fact, kitbashes, but don't look like kitbashes.  Well, maybe you've got to be a fan to do this?
All it takes is a well-stocked parts bin and a bit of Imagination.

[Tamer]

I couldn't agree more. They really need more folks like us, along with the designers and I think they could really get us what we want for a better prices. Lets face it, there is existing tooling already there to make most of the parts we need. They could kitbash a new line and most of us would rave about it.

[Commander_Kurgan]

Exactly.
Imagine they would release a Fan Favorite Wave in the Black Series, it would sell like hotcakes. I'm confident I could design them a full Wave of figures from existing parts which would fly off the pegs pretty much everywhere.