Gallery: Custom Darth Vader Action Figure Leads Nazi Charge
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From basement workshop to eBay sensation, action-figure mashups from crafter-collector Jonathan Kuriscak start as standard Star Wars toys and come out as Nazi-garbed terrorists. Based in St. Paul, Minnesota, Kuriscak started his one-man operation [Pack Rat Studios](http://packratstudios.blogspot.com/) in 2009 after collecting figures for 16 years. "At my parents' house I have my old bedroom closet filled with figures I collected in my high-school days," Kuriscak told Wired.com in an e-mail. "I kind of went through a Darth Maul kick.... OK, maybe not a kick, maybe an obsession. I have four huge boxes of Darth Maul figures and paraphernalia ... sheesh ... I'm a dork, but I love it." For his World War II-era Darth Vader, pictured above, Kuriscak stuck with an all-black design, except for the helmet and red armband, while trying to convey the fact that the Sith Lord "is somewhat mechanical inside." "I made his helmet and mask metal-looking, to give it a more battle-worn look," he said. "This guy has seen stuff that may indeed render him partially mechanical, if you get my drift. Hoses and apparatuses add to the effect that he is not normal, and add a dark tone to the figure. I love the rapier instead of a lightsaber and the Luger to add to his Nazi-ness. I thought about putting Vader in a trench coat, but I had to put him back in his cape. It's not Vader without his cape." See more of Kuriscak's creations, and learn more about his methods, in this gallery.
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Boba Fett: The Rocket Man ------------------------- Kuriscak, who works as a bank-employed software trainer by day, described the creative process behind his World War II-meets-*Star Wars* series. "Based upon what action figure pieces and accessories I have in my possession, I draw the characters to get a picture in my head of what I am shooting for as the finished product," he said. Once Kuriscak has firmed up a design, the process moves to the fabrication stage, during which he assembles all the pieces needed for the figure he's developing. His secret weapon? "Fodder bins." "I have bins filled with bits and pieces, action figures, action-figure parts, accessories and model parts," he said. "I then move to piecing together the figures, sculpting and finally painting."
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Boba Fett With Jetpack ---------------------- "Boba Fett in WW2 would have been the Rocketeer, but more badass, more lone gun," Kuriscak said. "First off Boba Fett needed his jetpack. I wanted it to look like it was pieced together from various parts and mechanics. But, then I thought to myself, 'Boba *needs* wings on that jetpack. Let's make him like a jet, give him the wings and put some missiles on 'em.' Boba Fett had a missile on his jetpack, but for WW2 -- let's give him two!"
The Sample Return Capsule (SRC) for the Areal B-Heavy MRSR mission - pictured above - would reenter Earth's atmosphere directly with no stop in Earth orbit. Image: NASA.04dengar-composite-660
Dengar: The Android ------------------- "Dengar, in *Star Wars* mythos, was in fact an android (via Wookieepedia)," Kuriscak said. "An android is part machine, part man. I tried to make him as much machine and man as possible, a man's body with mechanical arms and his head encased in an airtight chamber. I loved the concept of having a floating head in a containment suit, so I thought, 'Why not a skull? It will be more creepy to have a floating skull with tubes coming out of it giving him his life support."
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Bossk: The Outer Space Man -------------------------- At first, Kuriscak thought *Star Wars* bounty hunter Bossk would be one of the weaker characters in his World War II collection. But then he went full sci-fi. "Since Bossk in the movie was so alien-looking -- like a lizard -- I decided alien is what I was shooting for," Kuriscak said. "I was looking for something that looked like an alien from the '40s and '50s and I found it in a vintage *Battlestar Galactica* figure. I just thought that the head on that figure worked perfectly with what I was trying to do."
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Imperial Fighter Pilot ---------------------- Kuriscak banged out his World War II line in one weekend while his wife was out of town. "It consisted of late nights, pot of coffee and some *Mystery Science Theater* playing in the background," he said. This TIE fighter pilot shows how he mixed sci-fi with history. "I wanted to keep the helmet from a WW2 fighter pilot and mix in the new by adding the breathing apparatus from the TIE pilot from *Star Wars*," Kuriscak said. "I love the base figure for this custom -- it's a *G.I. Joe* movie Destro figure. The pants billow before the knees and look exactly \[like\] what a German pilot would wear. The red scarf was added for some pizzazz, and I love the way it looks on him."
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IG-88: The German War Bot ------------------------- Even *Star Wars* robots like this assassin droid get the World War II treatment. "IG-88 in the movie was just a straight-up droid, so to bring him into the 1940s I bulked him up, I made him look clunky, but devious," said Kuriscak, who called the Nazi war bot his favorite recent creation. "I wanted his head to mimic the look of the original character, so I used a nose cone from some model kit as the head. In the movie, IG-88 held two blaster rifles, but I wanted this version to be more menacing with his large, clawlike hands, so I mounted his machine gun to his back."
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Zuckuss: The Interrogator ------------------------- "Those who know *Star Wars* mythology know that Zuckuss and 4-LOM are a pair -- the two go together," Kuriscak said. "That is why 4-LOM \[visible in next image\] is the henchman and Zuckuss \[above\] is the interrogator. Since Zuckuss in the movie has a breathing apparatus, his WW2 counterpart needed one too. I put him in a trench coat and gave him a fedora to kind of give him that gangster look."
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4-LOM: The Henchman ------------------- "4-LOM in the movies is a droid, and since this set already has a droid (IG-88), I had to make him more of an android," Kuriscak said. "He is more man, but still has a touch of machine. I love how his headgear/helmet looks somewhat like what 4-LOM in the movies looks like." Though Kuriscak relies on existing mythologies for inspiration, he said he's always stretching. "Most of my favorite things I work on are things that don't exist yet," he said, "meaning I make up characters in my mind. I like trying to be as original as possible."
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Imperial Stormtroopers ---------------------- Accessories for his modified action figures are drawn from a massive assortment of toys. "The size of the collection has fluctuated throughout the years, but as of right now I have probably a couple thousand action figures scattered throughout my life spaces," Kuriscak said. He created these World War II-style stormtroopers to compliment his Nazi Darth Vader. "I wanted them to look almost like the soldiers from the videogame *Killzone* with gas masks on," he said. "Once I got the figures complete, I debated back and forth: 'Do I paint them white? Or do I paint them black?' Since they are Nazis of the German empire, I decided to keep them black, and I think it works very well with the set."
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Imperial Snow Trooper --------------------- "My obsession with action figures started when I was young," Kuriscak said. "Me and my brothers were obsessed with GI Joe and He-Man growing up, and that kind of just stuck with me." Next up for the action-figure customizer, who sells his designs on eBay from his [Pack Rat Studios storefront](http://myworld.ebay.com/packratstudios): a 1:18th scale (3-3/4-inch) line of Batman figures and a movie concept Deadpool of his own design, along with "various clone troops and mechs that I come up with along the way."
