Yaggleberry's Customs

[Yaggleberry Finn]

I've spent enough time customizing (and hope to continue) that I am going to open a new thread to keep track of what I've done.

I've already posted some stuff in another thread, but I'll break those back out once I've finalized their special powers and maybe done some more work on some of their individual factions. I'm going to start off with a double post, so I can keep this first one open for updating as I go.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Today I want to begin introducing an entirely new faction: Rogue Squadron! I've always had a fascination with Star Wars pilot action figures and have customized several of my own 3 3/4" pieces in the past. After getting a few new pilot figures for Christmas, I was inspired to make one into an Attacktix figure. From there it took on a life of its own and I now have eleven different unique Rogues. Some are better and fancier than others, but I enjoyed making them all.

The figure that was my inspiration is the best of the bunch, and I'm saving her for last. To start things off, we'll take the Darklighters:



Biggs is the most boring of the bunch, getting only the slightest modification: his 12/26 (46%) x2 Attackback now affects Rogues, not Rebels.

Gavin had a much longer and more distinguished career than his older cousin Biggs. In fact, he eventually became the leader of Rogue Squadron. Many of the figures in this group carried such prominent roles, but they can't all be Leaders or Captains. Gavin and Biggs are the only two Captains in the eleven figure group.

Gavin is a fairly simple custom, he has force push Obi-Wan's head with the sides of his beard shaved off. His helmet can be removed, but it looks so much like Obi-Wan that I like him better wearing it. (Right now it wobbles quite a bit, I will probably glue it in place later on.)

Gavin weighs in at 20 points with a small bullet and medium base. His special power is a new one: Deploy -> Put a Rogue into play from your backups and immediately make a free move and attack with it. A sweet special to be sure! His 8/26 ratio (31%) seemed right to me for a 20 pointer.

starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Gavin_Darklighter

More to come!

[Yaggleberry Finn]

The next two figures to join Rogue Squadron are more of the prominent, powerful types. I read many (but not all) of Michael Stackpole's X-Wing series, which introduced both Corran Horn and Tycho Celchu. Horn later became a very powerful Jedi, and I hope to eventually create a striker version of him for the team. Each character also faced off against Imperial leader Ysanne Isard, whom I would also like to customize - although women are certainly more scarce than men in Attacktix!



Corran Horn weighs in as a 30 point Leader on a medium base. He is equipped with a large missile launcher and brings a second new special: Jedi Mind Trick -> Make a free move and attack with the attacking figure. This is a very powerful special, but Horn is a powerful Jedi! His ratio is a whopping 16/26 (62%).

He is customized out of Biggs Darklighter's body and the Punisher's head. The 3 3/4" figure I got for Christmas has Horn wearing an orange jumpsuit, but most pics of him prior to the new figure had him wearing green instead. I'll probably repaint him in green but I wanted to go ahead and post him now anyway.

Tycho Celchu would eventually lead Rogue Squadron for almost a decade, so he too will wear the class of Leader. For 30 points he sits on a medium base and carries a large missile launcher. Since Celchu originally trained as a TIE pilot and was suspected as a spy after being capture for a time by Isard, I decided to give him the special power of Infiltrate at 12/26 (46%).

As you can probably tell, he is customized from a Rebel Pilot's body with Han Solo's head and blaster. The blonde paint just doesn't do much to wipe away the Han look, so I may go looking for a different head for Tycho.

For more info on these characters:
starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Corran_Horn
starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Tycho_Celchu

[attacktixman]

Really like how you are going with these, inspiring work! For Corran, may be give him brown paint for his hair. I really actually think Tycho looks fine as a blonde and doesn't "scream" Han too much at all, at least in the photo.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

After featuring some top dogs in Rogue Squadron, today's duo is going to take it down a notch. While it's true that Derek "Hobbie" Klivian had a brief stint leading Rogue Squadron late in his career, he's best known (by us Star Wars geeks anyway, nobody else has ever heard of him) for his brief appearance in The Empire Strikes Back. He expresses his doubt to Princess Leia in the line, "Two fighters against a Star Destroyer?" and then is on the receiving end of Luke's distress call, "Hobbie! I've been hit!" Anyone mentioned by name has to be a part of my new Rogue Squadron!

Our other new character is also mentioned by name, and also in the Battle of Hoth. After Luke commands the Rogues to use their harpoons and tow cables to go after the Imperial AT-ATs, Wedge's rear gunner scored a direct hit and was rewarded with a mention of his name, "Good shot, Janson!" Yes, it's none other than Wes Janson. And to this day, I quote that line often. (Unfortunately, it was only as I was making this post that I discovered I misspelled his name on the label. Oops.)



These two customs played out a bit differently than my others, as they don't have heads from previous Attacktix figures. Instead, they're from a very old line of toys from my childhood called M.A.S.K. ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M.A.S.K. ) Hobbie's head is fairly small and is normally hidden inside his helmet.

Hobbie and Janson are both 20 point Specialists on medium bases wielding small missile launchers. Hobbie's special is Evade (protecting all Rogues) at 10/26 (38%) and Janson gets Rally at 8/26 (31%).

[brendonginn]

I saw these while my Dad was looking. I really like them. We played attacktix last night.

[greyelephant]

Those look great! I remember M.A.S.K from when I was a kid. Been a long time since I've thought of that.


I haven't done any customizing in a long time. I've got several ideas, but never felt the urge to bring them to life.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Today I've got two Rogues who need no introduction - they're the top two dogs on the block - Wedge Antilles and Luke Skywalker. When I was a kid, we'd role play Star Wars and the first character taken was always Han Solo. Who was taken second? Wedge, of course! For some reason, Luke was never highly sought out. But not to worry, he won't be penalized in his Rogue Squadron representation.



Without saying a word, it's easy to see Wedge gets lots of love here. One of the fun things about customizing is having some dual-wielding figures out there, and Wedge will be the one Rogue that gets to do so. He's 30 points on a medium base and keeps his 8 speed - the one thing that already made him cool in Attacktix. His special fits him well, I think - Rescue (if you have another Rogue in play) at 16/26 - 62%. Seeing as how he's the only known pilot to survive both Death Star attacks, he should be sticking around for a while!

Luke gets a large missile and a large base. If the white robed farmboy Luke is hard to take out, then the Empire Strikes Back version should be better! (And just wait until I churn out a black suit Luke...)

** Hahaha, I just realized that the sheet I had in front of me didn't have the number of whites for each figure - so I was accidentally putting their speed instead! That's why those previous figures were so low!! DOH!

Ok, back to Luke, a beast to be sure: 30 points, large base, 10 speed, Warrior, with an 18/26 Recover (Rogue Squadron). Yes boys and girls, Luke is ready to smoke any Imperials that get in his way!

As far as the customizing goes, Wedge is himself from before with arms from Biggs so he can dual wield. Luke is Biggs with a head from a 3 3/4" X-Wing pilot Luke. I think he looks a tad bit silly but my wife thinks he looks cool.

I will now go back and fix the ratios for the previously listed figures.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

While human characters are the most common element of the Star Wars universe, it's the aliens that make it cool. Today I've got two homemade Rogues that help diversify the team.



As I searched through the Star Wars wiki, it was apparent that at least two different Rodians had been a part of Rogue Squadron, one male and one female. Both were eliminated very quickly in their service and neither had names I particularly liked. Therefore I found a random name generator and ended up with a new character: Thuku.

So far none of the Rogues have been 10 pointers, and you need at least one of those to fill out your squad in certain situations. So here is Thuku, a 10 point Trooper on a small base and a small missile launcher. His special is Charge (for up to two of your Rogues) at 6/26 (24%).

Trandoshans have typically only been bad guys in the Star Wars universe, but who's to say at least one didn't see the light and join the Rebellion? Durssk (also a randomly generated name) is one such fellow. Coming in at 30 points on a medium base with a large missile launcher and the only fitting designation for a Trandoshan - Warrior. Even though he's joined the good guys, he still has a mean streak which is evidenced by his special power: Vengeance (attacking figure) at 10/26 (38%).

The customization is pretty obvious here - x-wing pilots with the arms and heads from Greedo and Bossk. Tomorrow I'll post my last new Rogue and the one that inspired this entire set.

[Yaggleberry Finn]

Finally, here is the last Rogue Squadron figure to come off the assembly line. The only girl in the set, she is the one that inspired this project in the first place. For Christmas I got a Star Wars figures two-pack of Ibtisam and Nrin Vakil. Vakil is a Quarren, which I could eventually customize but not easily. Ibtisam is a Mon Calamari, which is what our good buddy Admiral Ackbar is. That makes for some very convenient customizing!



As I did a little reading about Ibtisam, it turns out that she doesn't last very long in battle. That led me to make her another 10 point Trooper on a small base with a small missile launcher. Her special is the generic faction Attackback but at a slightly raised ratio of 6/26 (23%). In the image I included the 3 3/4" version for comparison.

That concludes the Rogue Squadron (so far) but next up is a new Mega that is designed specifically for use with this team of figures.

[attacktixman]

Great Job! One or two more females would be interesting...

Can't wait to see the Mega!!

I wish we could nominate your whole faction for the Customs project... just the two figs with M.A.S.K heads would be a challenge for easy duplication...perhaps Blackheart's noggin for Hobbie and ? for Jansen's (a little hot glue or epoxy added for the spiked 'do). Luke might have to go helmetless...although some dremel work would get a helmet on him.

Still planning a striker? Brendonginn and I were perusing the SW aisle and noticed there are two pilots with lightsabers

[Yaggleberry Finn]

By two pilots, do you mean Luke and Corran? Those are the only two that I know of so far. Thanks for the pic of the femle Rebel pilot action figures you PM'd me, I was not aware of all of those.

I've got a few more customs to post, although I might slow down soon due to the end of Christmas break.

As promised, here is the "Mega" that relates to Rogue Squadron. I put that in quotes because it doesn't do much except sit around, begging to be defended. What was the most important target in Rogue history? If you answered, the "small thermal exhaust port right below the main port," give yourself a cookie!



This is the Spider-Man building mega with some slight updating. Obviously Spidey was removed and I used a Dremel to grind down the markings on the building. It was then painted gray and I did my best attempt at adding some battle damage from previous attack attempts. You know, the kind that don't go in but just impact on the surface =)

(Until getting the photo close-up, I didn't realize one of the targets had a little bit of blue left. I'm fixing that but won't be posting an updated picture.)

The idea here is to play out a scenario-type matchup between the Rogue Squadron and various Imperial representatives. The Imp possibilities would be limited to Stormtroopers, TIE Pilots, Imp Officers, Heavy Stormtroopers, Death Star Gunners, Tarkin and Vader. (Am I forgetting anyone?)

The scenario would play out with different objectives for each team: the Rogues need to knock out the exhaust port in order to win while the Empire has to defend it. For the Empire to win, there are two possibilities I have in mind: either a) defeat all Rogues or b) defeat Luke Skywalker. Another side option for this game is that only Luke can deliver the killing blow to the mega (meaning anyone could take out the first of its two targets).

Thoughts?

[Yaggleberry Finn]

It's time to change directions for the next custom out of the gates. This is a figure I saw at WalMart that caused me to do a double take. Regardless of the story line (Star Wars Infinities) being a "What If" scenario, Hasbro decided to turn this guy into an action figure. And Imperial enthusiasts like sfx5000 and Radar probably aren't going to be too happy about it!

In this particular alternate Star Wars reality, Leia is present when Luke and Vader fight before the Emperor. Instead of delivering the killing blow to Luke, Vader falls to his knees and begs for forgiveness! An explosion then rocks the Death Star and Luke and Leia drag Vader off the space station. When he's next seen, Vader has returned to the light side of the force and is now clad in all white.





I have no idea what special power to give him, but he was just begging to be repainted!

[sfx5000]

I like your idea for the exhaust port mega. If anyone has some old battle case/display cases around they can be stacked to create a trench and the guns that came with them make for good Death Star defenses.

[attacktixman]

Jan 2, 2010 16:13:09 GMT -5 Yaggleberry Finn said:

By two pilots, do you mean Luke and Corran? Those are the only two that I know of so far...

Yep, Luke & Corran. Sounds like you'll be doing one Rebel Pilot as a striker as well as Luke black suit as a striker. Oh yeah!

I like your Vader better than Hasbro's!