You Won't Believe These Star Wars Action Figure Upgrades
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A few months back, I was walking around DesignerCon and something impossible caught my eye. It was a Star Wars Black Series figure, but something was off. This looked different. It looked, dare I say, too good. The face looked so much better than usual. The outfit somehow more detailed and interesting. Then I stepped back and realized the entire booth was just that. Action figures that look standard from afar, but up close, are customized and upgraded to a level any fan or collector can appreciate.
The figures were the work of 23-year-old San Diego resident Elliot Garnett, who has made a habit of improving off-the-shelf figures since the age of seven. “I initially used Sharpies and whatever I could find around the house to modify my action figures, but over time I gained knowledge and experience,” Garnett told io9 via email. “Now it’s reached a point where I am thankfully able to do this as a full-time job while I work toward the goal of moving to LA to work in the film industry.”
Working under the name Centerpoint Studios (see his amazing Instagram and Linktree at those links), Garnett makes figures and dioramas Star Wars fans only dream of. So io9 asked him to share some images and thoughts on each. Check them out.
Anakin Skywalker
“Working on Anakin broke new ground in my studio,” Garnett said. “Instead of a scratch-made digital sculpt, the face and head of Anakin is actually a scanned and digitally shrunk Hot Toys Anakin Skywalker head, which was then given new sculpted hair, and subtle facial modifications by me.”
Young Ahsoka Tano
“Also breaking new ground was this Ahsoka sculpt,” Garnett said. “The head itself was designed by @mjb_customs on Instagram. To size it perfectly for the Hot Toys Ahsoka, I scanned the neck and torso of the figure, and used that as a barometer to get the perfect size. On top of that, I scratch-designed an internal articulation system so the head was able to port into the original socket on the Hot Toys neck.”
Grand Inquisitor
“While Hasbro did a great job replicating the Grand Inquisitor’s look in the Kenobi series, I needed a species-accurate version of the character for my collection. To accomplish this, I pulled references of the Pau’ans from Revenge of the Sith, and merged them with the Rebels look, bringing about the final product you see on the left.”
Baylan and Shin
“After climbing on board the Ahsoka hype train, Baylan and Shin were among the first projects I’d made for the series. The headsculpts and armor were also sculpted by @mjb_customs with sculpt modifications made by me before painting. The base for both Shin and Baylan were combinations of two figures. Baylan’s bases were Kylo Ren, with a Marvel Legends Wong skirt, and Shin used Bix from the Black Series Andor line, with Dark Rey arms.”
Cassian Andor
“After the Andor series premiered, I knew I had to work up a Cassian sculpt. My first choice was the bearded variant from the first three episodes of the series. The most difficult part of this project was surprisingly not the sculpt work. Instead, it was mixing a proper recipe for Diego Luna’s skin tone. Sometimes it’s pale, and other times it’s tan. It was an uphill battle but I’m happy with the final result.”
Dexter Jettser
“Dexter is one of the first fully resin-printed figures I worked on. The torso and legs were printed in two parts, then the arms and head were all printed separately and ported onto the body after the full paint job. The original files are from @landspeederluke on Patreon, with sculpt modifications done by me on the head sculpt to increase character likeness.”
Syril Karn
“One of my more recent projects, and one I’ve held off making for a while, is Syril Karn, also from the Andor series. Every piece of armor as well as the head and hat are all fully resin printed. I collaborated with a few other artists on this project while modifying certain parts and scratch-sculpting others. The base parts for Syril were the torso of Bodhi Rook and the legs were from Figrin D’an. And Syril being Syril, I couldn’t resist sculpting a bowl of cereal for him.”
Flo waitress droid
“This one is another fully resin-printed figure. I couldn’t have Dex without Flo. For her, I bought life-size files for the waitress droid from @droiddivision on Instagram. From there, I digitally assembled the many pieces and fortified the sculpt itself for printing at 1:12 scale. Otherwise, the thin parts would be too fragile. After that she was fully painted first in a chrome, followed by her signature maroon, then detailing.”
Bo-Katan and Mando
“Back during the build-up of hype for the latest Mandalorian season, I decided to upgrade the headsculpt for Bo and create one for the MAFEX Mandalorian, who previously only came with the helmet. Facial hair is one of the more difficult parts of a face to paint, so I was pleasantly surprised with how Din’s turned out. In order to lock down Pedro Pascal’s skin tone, it took no less than three layers of pastel work.”
Starkiller
“This piece was designed with the base body of the Indiana Jones Adventure Series Hypnotized Indiana torso, and Black Series Aldhani Andor legs. The head, every single armor piece, and even the hands are designed in Blender and resin printed, with the armor printed in a rubber like resin for flexibility. Then all pieces were hand painted.”
Quarren
“I’ve always loved the various aliens in Star Wars, so as soon as I saw the fishermen Quarren in the second Mandalorian season, I knew I had to make one. The head and hands were all scratch-sculpted digitally, and the hands were given pegs to fit right into the base figure’s arms with ease. The torso for the fisherman was taken from Figrin D’an (the same that donated its legs to Syril), its vest from a Rebel Feet trooper, and finally his legs from the Client. Then all parts were sanded to avoid paint rub, and given full repaints.”
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