Custom Pop Rae Sloane

The Galactic Empire is dead.  It was not the sanctimonious rebellion and subsequent New Republic that brought the empire down.  It was a long buried contingency plan by the man who spawned the regime in the first place that would undermine its continued existence.    

The Galactic Empire had to die for something new to rise from its ashes.  As part of Emperor Palpatine's posthumous "screw you" to the regime he created, the contingency took the form of a purge of the weakest links that corrupted the galactic chain.  In its place, a new vision--the First Order.  The First Order is more than an imperial remnant.  Populated by only the best and the brightest, the First Order operates at the edge of known space and waits for a time when the galaxy once more stands on the brink of chaos as it had under the Old Republic.

The architect of this powerful regime is Rae Sloane, the last Grand Admiral,

For my project, I chose to create Grand Admiral Sloane.  Based on the cannon description, Sloane is in her early 50s, dark skinned, with long black hair that carries a streak of white in it.  She has been depicted as such in the WWII-style poster that comes as part of the novel, Star Wars, Aftermath: Empire's End.  

Dressed in the traditional white uniform of an Imperial Grand Admiral, Sloane presents a formidable presence.

To create Sloane, I used a duplicate Grand Admiral Thrawn figure and removed the head.  For the head, I used a Firefly Zoe Washburne figure.  I painted Thrawn's blue hands black t give the appearance of gloves.   

It should be noted that the Firefly series of Pop figures does not come with a spring neck like the Star Wars figures.  To affix the head, I had to widen the neck hole at the base of her head to stick the head in the neck of Thrawn.  Some white paint was used to add the white streak.

In the display, I placed Sloane in front of the novel detailing her rise to power and a small model of her flagship, the Super Star Destroyer Eclipse.  If you read the novel, you will know why she is positioned so close to General Hux.

Coming Soon: A New Custom Star Wars Figure

After reading Aftermath: Empire's End I came up with a great idea to create a new custom figure.  The novel is the last in a trilogy covering the fall of the Galactic Empire and the rise of the First Order.  All the action centers around the last Grand Admiral--Rae Sloane.  Sloane is a kick-ass woman who endures an ordeal by fire to emerge as the undisputed leader of the Imperial Fleet.  With no one to stand in her way, she can now re-make the Empire to fit her vision.  

Switching Gears: Star Wars

Yes, I know--I usually dedicate my posts to creating custom Star Trek Minifigures.  To be honest, I have made all the characters I could think of and have drawn a blank for inspiration of late.  I have moved away from the trek nation for now.  Instead, I have been busying myself with other concerns, but recently returned to the workshop with an idea.  As a Christmas present, my husband procured for me several of the Star Wars books created for the "new cannon" and a bobble head figure of my favorite character--Grand Moff Tarkin.

On my own, I procured a few of the other figures and use them as bookends.  While watching Return of the Jedi, I was inspired to make the fastidious, toadying technocrat Moff Tian Jerjerrod--referred to only as "commander" in the film.  Unlike Tarkin, Jerjerrod was a newly minted sector Governor tasked with creating a second ultimate weapon that would spell certain doom for the Rebel Alliance.  Of coarse, we know it was the Galactic Empire that would go on to face its doom.  The new cannon makes it clear that the Galactic Empire would cease to exist one year and one month after the Battle of Endor.  The surviving members of the Imperial Fleet would rally around the last Grand Admiral (Rae Sloane) and jump into the Unknown Regions to form the First Order.  There is reference to a few small remnants but that seems to be lip service to the fans who loved the idea of characters like Thrawn and Daala...and the like.    

Moff Jerjerrod represents the Empire at its end.  Devoid of brilliant figures like Tarkin and left with the sycophants possessing a sense of invincibility.  
     

To make this figure, I took the Pop Vynil head of General Hux and placed it on the body of Grand Moff Tarkin.

I used flat Grey paint to make the uniform and the cap to appear more screen accurate.

I painted over the Grand Moff rank insignia and used a cardboard representation of a simple Imperial rank plague for screen accuracy.  It should be noted that due to a costuming mistake, all the Imperials wore the same rank insignia--three red squares over three blue squares.  Since Jerjerrod was a Moff, his rank insignia would be five blue squares over three red squares and two gold squares.

I repainted the book to shine and also painted the hands to look like the black gloves Jerjerrod wore.  I thought of adding a small firing control button, since the last time Jerjerrod is mentioned in the novelization of Return of the Jedi he was the only one left in the command center and was about to push the button. I might add this later.

At present, I don't have any plans for other custom star wars figures but I might come up with some ideas in future.  

"I tell you, this station will be operational as planned"