Hey Mr. Spaceman: BoShek and Cantina Dude

Here are a couple of popular Mos Eisley Cantina "Spacemen" that I am surprised Hasbro has not already released (or re-released) in a super-articulated fashion: BoShek and "Cantina Dude" -- I prefer "Yellow Spacer."

First up is everyone's pork-chop-sideburn-wearing spaceman, BoShek! For this custom, I used the VTSC Bossk as the foundation and added the calves from an A-wing pilot. I boiled and popped all the parts and then dyed the yellow parts and A-wing legs black using synthetic dye.

***A word of caution using dyes, at least with red; when dying the parts for my Mosep Binneed and Tawss Khaa figures, the red dye got on my fingers, which then got on my razor knife. I then inadvertently transposed red dye to parts of a Kenner (ketchup & mustard) VC Boba Fett and BoShek's face.***

I cut off the neck and Dremelled a socket into a POTF BoShek head. As per my warning above, I had to paint the flesh areas of BoShek's head sculpt. For a neck post I used the neck from a female Imperial Officer in a red uniform (can't remember her name -- left over fodder). I also trimmed off the collar from the POTJ figure and sanded the collar down to fit the Bossk figure. I trimmed off the silver necklace thing and glued it to the chest piece. I also dyed some MTF gloves red. They came out more purple than red. So, I ended up painting them red with white stripes.

The helmet in the left picture is actually the helmet-head from my Yellow Spacer custom. It has a chopped up Bossk head glued inside. BoShek and the Yellow Spacer wear British Windak high-altitude pressure suits. These costumes first appeared in the 1964 film First Men on the Moon and also the 1966 episode of Dr. Who, "The Tenth Planet."

I tried painting the white lines on the shoulders, but couldn't make them straight enough for my satisfaction. So, I just painted over them. I'd rather not have the lines than to have crooked lines.

The Yellow Spacer custom is a VTSC Bossk body with Ten Numb legs and gloves from the Chicken Fried Cavalry Officer. I painted the gloves red to match character in the movie. The helmet is a resin cast of the POTJ BoShek helmet from Darth Sinister Creations. I spray painted the helmet white, painted in the details black, and then gave the white areas a wash in grey. The helmet is not 100% movie accurate, but it's close enough. In the movie, the tubes do not wrap around the front of the helmet. Instead, they attach to the actor's back.

The background for these pictures is a custom of the Streets of Mos Eisley playset with weathering, a new door, and added accessories. I'll make a future post displaying all the parts soon.

I am the Walrus: Mosep Binneed & Taws Khaa Customs

 As I patiently await any new information on the Haslab Cantina or re-releasing Cantina figures (the recent news of Bom Vimdin has me hopeful), I am steadily working on various action figure and diorama customs.

This post features the original Mos Eisley Cantina "Walrus," no not Ponda Baba aka "Walrus Man," but Mosep Binneed and Taws Khaa! In his original character sketches, John Mollo designated these two character's design as "Walrus."

With current eBay listings pricing out the Black Series Mosep Binneed at $70 to $100, I figured that my most affordable option would be just to customize my own figures.

For both figures, I purchased custom head sculpts from Darth Sinister Creations on eBay. For the bodies, I chose VC337 Grand Admiral Thrawn and the upper body of the ISB Officer from the Imperial Officer 4-pack. I have Mosep the Thrawn upper body with the shoulder accents to add a bit of variety to his costume.

I dyed the body parts used a red synthetic dye. The soft-plastic parts turned more of dark purple-red and the hard-plastic joints red. With both figures, I used B-wing pilot forearms and gloves. I dry-brushed the bodies with red paint and painted the belt buckle and rivet silver. For the head sculpts, I created a custom flesh tone using a mix of flesh tone and khaki paints. Once the head sculpts dried, I then gave them a wash of the same mix but with more khaki paint to darken the wash a bit.

All the articulations work just fine. With the softer plastic tunic-skirt, each figure can sit down. The head sculpts are just pressed down over the neck sculpts with the dumbbell neck joint removed.

I realized after taking these photos that Taws Khaa's whiskers are actually shorter than Mosep's. So, I will probably trim them down. I have also thought about adding the raised collars using G.I. Joe Duke fodder, but for now I am happy with these customs.

If Hasbro re-releases Mosep Binneed, I am sure that I will grab two of them (if possible), but from what I understand, the tunic-skirt on that figure is too stiff to allow the figure to sit. So, who knows? I guess I will cross that bridge if Hasbro ever re-releases that figure.