Custom Unproduced Droids Series 2 figures

I've owned these 4 figures since 2005 (8 years!!!) and brought them from another collector on ebay. Yes I know there custom made/bootleg/repro's but you've got to admit there pretty cool?!?!

But I know nothing about there history! does anyone know who made them? when? where?

Having done some resource on the internet, I've read about several custom figures makers like bantha5 and his are cast in plastic. There are other droids customs out there and they are quiet poorly made, I'm guessing copies of copies so the detail gets lost. I've also heard of sets of figures been sold at toy fairs in the UK back in the early 90's, but have on evidence to back this up.

These have been cast in a white resin and hand painted, the limbs and heads are articulated with wooden dowels. The feet have drilled peg holes. Only the Vlix figure has a copyright stamp making me think he was cast from a Brazilian glasslite figure, the others from first shots maybe?

Any help learning a little about these figures would be nice, thank you.


Group Shot


Admiral Screed




Gaff




Vlix




Kleb Zellock

Those are pretty cool, mate. Awesome score.

I think they are Ryan's ( Bantha5)
http://bantha5.wordpress.com/customs/droids-and-ewoks/
http://bantha5.wordpress.com/customs/vlix/

Hmm, Bathna5's figures are cast in plastic according to his descriptions, these are all in white resin, so maybe someone recast them from Bathns5's? Is this guy active on any of the forums?

Ryan is on Rebelscum but I dont know how active he is anymore. Last time I spoke to him he was trying to get a VW bug restored and he was backing off of star wars somewhat.

trappedtexan wrote:

he was trying to get a VW bug restored.

Star Wars and VW beetles, what a cool combo!

Great figs Stef, they are sweet customs, id love to get one of his Gargans, i wonder if he still makes them ?
The guy has a great talent.

Aussie Fortuna wrote:

Great figs Stef, they are sweet customs, id love to get one of his Gargans, i wonder if he still makes them ?
The guy has a great talent.

I've seen some of the Gargans on ebay, but I don't think there Bantha5's as the quality was pretty sh*te!

My first thought was that these must have been made by Nick mcCarthy, he did a wicked white witch custom and a lot of other great looking customs back in the day, before he had a fallout with the community.But a quick seach led me to glassman customs , he's selling brand new casts of these figures in white plastic or painted on demand.The site is dated 2012 so maybe you'll have to mail him to ask if he was producing these 4 years ago.

I used to own the Jessica Meade custom which looks like Glassman's, but my are resin not plastic and the colours are different. Maybe a change of processes over the years I don't know.

Quote :

Nick mcCarthy, he did a wicked white witch custom and a lot of other great looking customs back in the day

Oh man I've seen that and it is truly awesome!

walkie wrote:

Aussie Fortuna wrote:

Great figs Stef, they are sweet customs, id love to get one of his Gargans, i wonder if he still makes them ?
The guy has a great talent.

I've seen some of the Gargans on ebay, but I don't think there Bantha5's as the quality was pretty sh*te!

Thanks Stef, his Gargan is top notch, ive seen it a few times round the internet, id love to track one down, its very cool.

I didn't mean Bantha5's where rubbish, I meant the copies of his customs

Question to the MODS......Can I sell these on here?

They are great customs.

Is there a clear difference between these customs and the original prototypes? (pegholes maybe)

http://theswca.com/images-droid/ude/ude-chart.html

They have drilled circular pegholes, molded from White resin and hand painted. Oh and the limbs are fitted with wooden dowels.

Is that different enough? Comments please?

If I can't list them it's no problem, I think SWFUK is ok with them or I can use evilbay.

But I'd prefer they went to a good home.

Hey Stefan,

We discussed this. Though they look great, technically speaking these figures are reproductions of existing prototypes.

There is a risk - probably small, but still, that these type of reproductions are sold off as the real thing one day, to a buyer who of course didn't do his homework before.

TIG has a policy to keep the Classifieds free from reproductions, so free from weapons and figures which have a real counterpart.

I hope you understand and respect our decision.

That's fine I have no problem with the MODs decision on this.

I want to actually say thanks to Stefan for even asking. We appreciate that. There's no doubt you'd never sell them as anything but customs but our policy and mantra kind of doesn't have the wiggle room. I'm really happy to see you reply too.

You're a class act (on this only, otherwise you're a jerk )





oh crap, I hope you mailed my Dr. Who stamps before you saw that

Ohh.... sh*te I saw the jerk comment and had the carrier pigeon shot down before realising you were only joking.....

I doubt the Vlix is by Bhanta5. I had one of his many, many years back and it's not the same quality. http://bantha5.midishaw.com/customs/vlix/

There have been several custom UDE makers and it looks like atleast the Screed and Gaff came from the same one (seeing I have owned those made by the same maker, I recognize the flaws (Screed head and thick limbs of Gaff)). Looking at my Paypal records from back then he could be named Martin Lacy (starwarscollector back then on ebay). The Kleb is probably made by Nick Macarthy. I doubt any of them are acual casts.

The Gaff that Ryan Shaw made was better (slimmer limbs) and had a more Glossy cape.

The quality of the customs can't compare to the real thing, believe me. The real ones are regular toy quality. The newer Vlix's and Ryan's come very close though.

Do you know who you bought them from (perhaps check your paypal)?

You can contact Ryan (Bantha5) through the RS forum (though is not that active anymore). He used to work with Nick on things, so he might know more of Nicks work ( I believe they were working on Screeds body and head together if I'm not mistaken). I also know Nick also made a mess of other things later on. You probably can find somehting about that over at RS.

Thanks for dropping by and adding info, Alex!

Yes, thank you Alex (now I know your name!)

Glad to be of service!

I can say that having customs of all the UDE's, can't compare to owning a realy UDE (if only one). But prices are high, figures are few and the customs do have their appeal. Finding (good!) customs probably is harder today 'cause there are less guys creating them. I have never seen a good Mon Julpa or Chithur and the Ewoks were also terrible. Except for Vlix of course, you can get that one carded with one e-mail to Singapore.

-Alex

May I ask which one you own?

walkie wrote:

May I ask which one you own?

If you mean real UDE: one complete and parts:
- Bondo (complete handpainted firstshot (had 2)),
- unpainted Bondo head,
- unpainted Morag head (both firstshots).
I didn't like the amount of money in such a frail item so allthough I loved the Bondo I never realy enjoyed it. Always too scared to damage the paint, which is very frail when it's handpainted (which happened to the first one I bought in transit, though the seller had 2 so I got a new one and helped him sell the damaged one). Sold it all. Liked pre-production Ewoks more, less exspensive (sold them aswell quite recently).

If you mean customs:
Vlix (Bantha 5/Ryan Shaw)
Kleb Zellock (Nick)
Screed (starwarscollector)
Gaff (starwarscollector)
Gaff (Bantha5/Ryan Shaw)
Maybe one or two more, but it's so long ago that I can't remember.