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Is that Biggs, Wedge or somebody else, Ex?

It is someone else...not sure who though.

Biggs had a Stache...and It doesn't look like Wedge to me.

No, he's not even from the movies, he's a guy named "Corran Horn" from the Star Wars novels.

I picked him initially because of the obvious facial resemblance to most drawings of Cobie, but once I started reading his background, I was like... yeah, that can't be anyone else.

There's no way I'm ever going to read his whole wiki article (because it's about the length of a novel, itself) but some choice highlights include:

- He's Corellian (like Han Solo)
- He started out as an undercover Security Force agent (top of his class, natch)
- He hunted down bounty hunters and smugglers
- He custom-programmed his own R-2
- He then became an X-wing pilot in an elite fighter squad with Wedge
- He faked his own death for a time to go deep undercover
- He later discovers that he has Jedi lineage
- He builds his own lightsaber and studies under Luke Skywalker
- His personal tragedies include the fact that his father was murdered and his children went mad (and had to be encased in Carbonite)


It's like somebody said, "Let's take all the cool bits in Star Wars and mash them all into one character!"

Jeepers! He certainly sounds a lot like Cobie!

"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 3: When You Get to the Bottom, You Go Back to the Top...


Although I like always like posting my progress on projects (it keeps me motivated when I show people what I'm up to), I feel like this update might be a bit boring for folks, for two reasons -


1. As I continue making these figures, obviously I'll be going through a lot of the same steps over and over for each new figure and...

2. While, for the Lard Lad figure, I broke down each step thematically as I was trying each new skill for the first time, already I've discovered it's much more efficient to multi-task.


For instance, tonight I:

- Sanded down the torso:



...removing the epaulettes and the points of the vest.


- Primed the legs:



... as, apart from painting, they need no work


- And did a bit of sculpting on the head:



... just to get the feel of working with clay again, before I tackle the arms.


Interesting customization question:

How much clay does it take to turn the ear of a 3 1/2 inch action figure - the head of which is, itself, smaller than your own fingernail - into a slightly larger, slightly more pointy ear?



What?

No... I don't know the answer. I was hoping you could tell me.

I swear, to make those little Dev ears I was literally using transparent dots of clay that I had to apply with the tip of a needle.


But I think it was worth the time, because I really like how they came out:




Stop staring at me like that, little Dev head, it's disconcerting.

The metal rod in your skull is for your own safety.

Love the progress!
Nothing boring about your posts, at all!
They are just awesome.
Sometimes, I can't believe that you're a real person. You're so amazingly like a Brainy or a Mr. Fantastic.

(Sorry, I don't mean to fuss over you.)

If you can keep a secret...


<span class="spoiler_containter"><span class="spoiler_wording">Click Here For A Spoiler</span><span class="spoiler_text">I'm actually not.

"Exnihil" is nothing more than a state of the art AI Spam-bot. All of my posts are actually merely pre-programmed automated responses based upon a contextual analysis of the previous post. The timings run off of a complex algorithm using the sequence of prime numbers as their base. That's why sometimes days will pass without a post, and other days there will be a flurry of updates.

The actual human individual that some Legion Worlders have met who claimed he was me is just an actor hired by the Exnihil Corporation to maintain the front. His real name is Myron.

Please don't tell Nightcrawler. As much as a Spam-bot is capable of such things, I have achieved a degree of what you sentients might call "happiness" here on Legion World.

I want to live.</span></span>

My turn:
sigh

Your reply didn't serve to make me any less incredulous, you know.
More the opposite.

"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 4: Gosh! What a Build!


Not much of an update tonight (I've mostly been doing home improvement stuff, but decided to take a break tonight) but... a little bit closer.

Although the original arms on the Lobot figure had the right sort of "puffy" folds, and a nice line to start the shape of the cuffs:



...they, were, nevertheless a bit scrawny for Dev.

So, tonight, I began to make "a man out of mac" and get them in some sort of shape. I dremeled back the cuffs and, using clay, tapered the forearms down into them. Then I bulked up the upper arms, and strengthened the shoulders to be flush with the torso:



Hero of the Beach!


Then, just to get an idea of how I was progressing, I briefly reassembled the pieces and compared it to the target image:



A ways to go yet (the lower part of the tunic is next) but I think he's beginning to take shape.

Looking good so far.

I am so annoyed with myself right now that I can barely stand it but...


Since I've been documenting my progress into this project all along I figured I should be absolutely honest and to show both the good and the bad that comes with trying to create something, so welcome to:


"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 5: Dev-Em's Inferno


As I mentioned above, my next step was to fashion the lower portion of Dev's tunic.

It seemed fairly straight forward... I had to trim down the back and get rid of some of the pouches and things:




The dremeling and sanding worked fairly well to get the basic shape:



... then it was time to begin connecting the sides to the front with clay to give it a continuous shape all the way around.

I built up one side then went down to use the oven to cure it.


Now... you might recall that, while I was doing the Lard Lad figure, I said that I had been using an oven temp of 225-250. Well, when I got downstairs, I found that Mrs. Nihil had been baking something at 350 and the oven was still hot.

Oh, well... impatient Ex thought... it's not quite cool enough yet... but I'll just keep a closer eye on it.


Mistake.


Big mistake.


1 minute was all it took to take a few hours worth of cutting and sanding and turn it into a molten mess:





AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Ahem... apologies for that outburst.

Seriously, though, I wanted to put this up to show the hazards of impatience. I am super annoyed with myself, and will have to go back to the drawing board on that section. While I wait for the replacement piece to come, I'll probably do some painting... but I wanted to give Dev himself a heads up that it will probably be into March now before I get the whole thing wrapped up.

Ah, yes, impatience.
That's too bad, Ex.

I have to confess and apologize for laughing at your pictures, two of them, of the melted mess.
I feel so guilty but, well, those tiny blobs are pretty funny.


I'm sorry though that your time was wasted and Dev has to wait longer.
On the bright side, it wasn't the whole figure.
sigh

On the bright side, Ex, it looks like you can use 'em as fake doo-doo for pranks!

Whoa!

Lardy... you just totally gave me an idea!

If I were to just melt it a little bit more on the top, and paint it, I could totally make:

This Guy

Ha! It was meant to be.

:rolleyes:

Is that a little like making lemonade out of yellow snow?

No worries Ex. And I can't wait to see that other character brought to 'life.'

No rush Ex, just wondering if there had been any progress...or if the replacement had not come in yet.

Sorry for the delay, Dev.

I did get the replacement piece, but had to temporarily put this project on the back burner as my free weekend time has been mostly occupied with a construction project on the macro scale as opposed to the micro (I'm converting a spare bedroom into a "meditation room" for the hippy-dippy Mrs. Nihil. )

I am moving into the phase of that construction project that will have more downtime, though - staining wood and painting walls and such - so I should be able to do some more work on this in fairly short order.

Thanks for your patience.

No prob, just wondering is all. Take your time.

Oh... all right, Dev... you guilted me in to starting up again.

Just kidding, man... I was actually pretty worn out from home improvement stuff yesterday, so I figured it might be a bit relaxing to work on this today, instead.

So...


"Dev of Two Worlds"

Part 6: Back Where We Started, Here We Go Round Again...


So. as I mentioned above, I did get a replacement tunic after accidentally melting the last one. Looks exactly the same, of course:



I dremeled it down to size to match the length of the one in Dean's drawing:



...then shaped it a bit with the Xacto knife, the pick, and a light grain sandpaper, adding some folds and better defining the beltline where I had removed the original pouches:



I then busted out the clay to connect the front to the sides, and also added the belt loops (there are five altogether, I just used the spacing of those on my jeans as a pattern-guide for the back):




Once bitten, twice shy on using the oven for this piece (it's made out of a very rubbery type of plastic, so I didn't want to risk another mishap. Instead, I just used a hair-dryer:



...which gave me much more control over the heat direction and temperature. It worked like a charm... no melting this time.

Then I primed the piece, and reattached it to the legs to make sure that there was no warping. Yep looks good.

As it's black on black, it's very difficult to get a photo which shows the detail. I adjusted the one below, increasing the brightness and lowering the contrast, so you can kind of see what's going on:



...but trust me, it looks a lot better in person.


Thanks, Dev, for spurring me on to work on this today... I'm glad I got this particular bit of it done.

<3 the guilt trip and the picture of the hair dryer!

Hmmm...elections are coming up soon...

You've got a fine career as a lobbyist ahead you, Dev.

I know I've been a bum about this project, but it will get off the ground again soon, I promise.

Ex, everything looks great as always and it's fun seeing the progress. Don't feel too ashamed to take a breather now and then. Creatives need it and you've definitely put in time already.

I musta burned him out!