Saturday, August 24, 2024

Commander Yak Face

I went to Ross the other day, and I actually found a thing or two. That was a little surprising. I got to Ross about the same as I used to...a little less, but nearly the same...and I almost never find anything. I often wonder why I keep going back. I'm not saving money at all when I drive all over town and waste a bunch of gas on Ross runs.

This time, I found a Star Wars Vintage Collection figure sitting on the ground. It was face down, and all I could see was the back of the card looking back up at me, so I had no idea which character it was. I was hoping it would be Wooof, the guy who was known as Klaatu when I was a kid. Now they say there's an alien race is called Klatooinians. Strangely, according to the internet, that is the race of the dog-faced guys that the figure Barada belonged to.

Wooof, is apparently part of a species called Kadas'sa'Nikto, or Green Nikto. I had no idea. So, he's supposed to be the same...or at least a similar...species to the other Niktos that I got a while back, only they're brown and he's green.

Anyway, I saw a video the other day where the guy who mentioned that 3D-printing website on the YouTube video I watched and talked about on Wednesday was showing off his latest Star Wars acquisitions, and one of them was a Wooof he got from Ross. I've never seen Wooof at Ross, though I've seen every other character in that wave several times. It gave me hope that I might actually find that guy, so I approached Ross with new fervor.

For nothing, of course. This wasn't Wooof. It was Yak Face again...or Saelt-Marae or whatever his name is now that George Lucas's minions have made up back stories for all of the background aliens in the movies.

After seeing that website for 3D-printing, I figured I should get him no matter what.  I already have Saelt-Marae, and I'm not a big fan of his character (he looks like a Jim Henson character from Labyrinth or The Dark Crystal to me. Not very Star Wars), so I don't want a ton of them wandering Ankletown Station.  His body is pretty normal, and if I can order a cheap 3D-printed head to throw on it instead of the Yak Face one, then I need to buy it. Pretty much any Vintage Collection figure I can get from Ross I should buy.

I brought Saelt-Marae home, and checked to see how easy his head would come off. Maybe I could switch it out. the head came of well...and so did that huge neck he has. Without the head and neck, his body looks like it could be anybody's. I put one of the Kithaba heads I had onto the body to try it out.

It looks pretty solid if you ask me. Might need some kind of repainting to make it look different enough that it doesn't immediately jump out at you as a custom...oh, and it needs the hands to be switched. Can't have those clawlike things on this guy. They go with the Saelt-Marae.

Then, I took one of the Halo figures I got the other day, and switched its head out for the Saelt-Marae. behold, it's Commander Yak Face!

I think that looks great. I never suspected that I'd like a Yak Face. The head is so stupidly big. However, you put it onto a Halo figure, which is already extra large in the 1/18 scale, and it doesn't look so bad. This guy will go well with the other custom I made of Ponda Baba as a Halo guy. I'll get my alien army built before too long, I think.

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