The first group is Pepe as Han Solo, Fozzie Bear as Chewbacca, Piggy as Princess Leia, and Bunsen as C-3PO.   There are some controversial choices in there to be sure—I mean, everyone would use Piggy to make Leia to avoid any karate and/or pork choppage.  They’d probably use Fozzie for Chewie, unless they went with Rowlf or went BIG and used Sweetums.  But Pepe?  Bunsen?  Bunsen as C-3PO was my pick, even though many people have said Scooter would be more fitting.  I think Bunsen’s speech, mannerisms, and pose of that particular action figure (Tuxedo Bunsen) fit Threepio better.  Add to that Han Solo calling Threepio “the professor,” and you’ve got a gold-plated Bunsen.  My initial choice for Han Solo was Rowlf, and I’m still attached to the drawing I made of Rowlf as Han…but in many ways, Pepe fits the bill better than Rowlfie does, and I like the difference in size between the Prawn and the Pig.  The sculpting was relatively simple stuff—I cut off Pepe and Bunsen’s jackets, ripped out Fozzie’s tie, and Piggy’s skirt.  Dremmeled down some details like Bunsen’s pants.  Then sculpted on new details using Sculpey.  I had to make a new hand for Pepe, since that figure was missing one;  and decided to keep Fozzie’s ears, even though Chewie doesn’t have any.  Well, not like that.  I chose Hoth Leia, because that’s my favorite Leia of all time, and except for putting Chewie’s bandolier on the wrong shoulder, I like how they turned out.

Next group is Luke, R2-D2, and Yoda. Now, my e-mail addresses and most of my monikers on most dumb websites is “jedikermit,” so of course I’m going to make the Frog Luke Skywalker. He’s pretty much a simple resculpt and repaint of Koozebane Kermit, and I got to repaint his eyes too, since he was one of the screwy ones looking heavenward. Artoo presented all sorts of problems—at first I was hoping to find a Hasbro R2-D2 that was big enough to be in scale, and then a friend suggested I build an Artoo big enough for Rizzo to fit in. Well, smartass, have YOU ever built an R2-D2 from scratch? Okay, maybe some of you have. But making him big enough for Rizzo to fit in and small enough to still look Artooey was a bit of a challenge. I ended up making the droid out of the bottom of a hairspray bottle, Sculpey, and some balsa. Hopefully that’s the last time I’ll get to do that. I wanted Robin to be Yoda for a long time—and waiting for his action figure to come out was one of the many delays in making these figures. Another of my friend’s suggestions was to have the ears look as fake as possible, with a little headband on top, so you know it’s just Robin PLAYING Yoda, and not some sort of plastic-surgified freak.

Lando Calrissian, Boba Fett, and Han in Carbonite…Animal as Boba Fett was one of the first sketches I did when I was drawing these, and I loved that sketch, and I like how he turned out.  I had some problems with him, like creating a helmet from scratch, the intricacies of his armor, how to preserve the “Animal” of him…but I like the final result.  One forgiving thing about the Star Wars universe is the paint jobs…characters like Boba are all banged up, so if he’s messy…well, he’s messy.  Lando was Clifford from day one, although I think I was consider Rowlf for a while after I “recast” Han Solo.  Clifford’s almost just a repaint—I cut away the jacket and tie, painted his pants and shoes black, and sculped a new collar for him.  Add a cape (not quite sewn yet—don’t notice that part) and he’s done.  I tried resculpting his hair three times, as if it were pulled back in a ponytail, but it just didn’t look right.  So he keeps the dreds.  Han in Carbonite is just Pepe in Plaster of Paris. Cute .

Last, and least—Vader and the Chicken Troopers.  I made a Dirth Nader once before…this is a simplified version of that one, which is better in some respects, and worse in others.  The Chicken Troopers were difficult, have always been difficult, and will always be difficult.  I don’t really like how they turned out, but if they want to avoid a future with barbecue sauce, they’ll keep their beaks shut about it.  At one point I envisioned armies of Chicken Troopers;  now I’m content with the two.  Little turkeys.  Or chickens.  Whatever.

So that’s it.  My Empire Strikes Back customs.  I hope you like ‘em.  I do, for the most part.  This won’t be the end of my Star Wars customs either—if you know anything about me at all, you know I don’t know where to draw the line.  There are at least eight more in varying stages of completion from other Star Wars movies…you’ll just have to wait and see who’s coming in from that galaxy far away.  In the meantime, go watch a movie.

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