1/6 Hot Toys - MMS 262 - Star Wars Episode IV - 1/6th scale Chewbacca Collectible Figure

[Rorywan]

Yeah I'm not really seeing much change to the structure of the face either (other than to the brow). It really just comes down to the lighter hair and the different direction some of that hair is combed in.

You can't *redirect* most of the hair on the HT head. And that PS job also made the eyes look further apart from each other, one of the major HT issues. There are structural differences between the HT head and the real Chewie. So not sure what the point of pasting one over the other is, especially when a lot of people starting getting excited for repaints. I have no issues with the photoshop image at all, he did a good job on it and I still think he wasn't being disingenuous just that his wording was inaccurate, and people ran with it as a digital repaint. Just that its' not what it proposed to be, a digital color regrade of the HT head.

You might as well take an actual movie still and say *this is what it would look like if you could make it look like that*.
You can't, lightening and painting some of the fur could certainly help the face of the figure, but nothing is going to make it into 75% photorealistic Chewie. And this is coming from someone who loves his Chewie.

 

[Pixelpiper]

Yeah I'm not really seeing much change to the structure of the face either (other than to the brow). It really just comes down to the lighter hair and the different direction some of that hair is combed in.

We can ignore the fur direction and see that the coloring makes a huge impact on its own. This has been the case from day one comparing even unaltered photos, looking only at poorly lit and poorly exposed samples compared to ones with more light and decent exposure.

If someone had the stones and intention to try repainting the fur before today, keep fast in your intentions, nothing today should change that.

 

[Rorywan]

....

 

[davejames]

Well whatever the case, I'm still really looking forward to getting this guy and seeing the different ways it might be futzed or improved.

 

[Wor-Gar]

I fear my Chewbacca will never look like that adjusted photo.

But at least he'll fit in with Benihana Kenobi now.

 

[Rorywan]

I fear my Chewbacca will never look like that adjusted photo.

I fear you are right.

Well whatever the case, I'm still really looking forward to getting this guy and seeing the different ways it might be futzed or improved.

Absolutely! It's a tremendous figure. Way better in hand then on screen.

 

[chewblacca]

If I see some great improvement through some easy futzing I may go back and get one.

 

[Sturtrup]

It is. Just overlaying parts of a movie still. Pretty simple to do if the angle is correct. Look at the corner of the lip on right of frame, it's movie Chewie's lip. The nose, eyes and mouth interior are HT as he stated. But the rest isn't recoloured HT, it's the real deal, movie Chewie.

And to anyone *ahem* who says it's futzing. It was done to someone else's picture, not in hand.
You can see the cut off line on the blue highlight on the forehead.

"I worry. I mean, little things bother me. I'm a worrier. I mean, little insignificant
details - I lose my appetite. I can't eat. My wife, she says to me, "you know, you can really be pain."

 

[TaliBane]

You can't *redirect* most of the hair on the HT head. And that PS job also made the eyes look further apart from each other, one of the major HT issues. There are structural differences between the HT head and the real Chewie. So not sure what the point of pasting one over the other is, especially when a lot of people starting getting excited for repaints. I have no issues with the photoshop image at all, he did a good job on it and I still think he wasn't being disingenuous just that his wording was inaccurate, and people ran with it as a digital repaint. Just that its' not what it proposed to be, a digital color regrade of the HT head.

You might as well take an actual movie still and say *this is what it would look like if you could make it look like that*.
You can't, lightening and painting some of the fur could certainly help the face of the figure, but nothing is going to make it into 75% photorealistic Chewie. And this is coming from someone who loves his Chewie.

Yeah, the fur can be adjusted, but the PS is in some areas a total change in the way the hair has been directionally rooted into the face versus the HT.

If you look at the way the fur goes below the eyes in the two different faces, you can't adjust the HT to match the PS paste of the real Chewy, same above the brows, and on the forehead nearest the brows. I don't have mine yet, but I assume those areas are solidly glued (i.e the face would be where the fur is anchored tightest.)

That being said, the changed fur color would be a massive improvement for the HT, and WOULD look along the lines of the PS screen Chewy when very well futzed, mostly because the variation in fur color is one of the single strongest aspects that "shapes" Chewy's face.

The huge duck snout can be hidden a bit, and with the chin futz and lightened fur, the HT Chewy would definitely come up to a 8 or 8.5 in terms of likeness, from the 7 it is out of box.

 

[davejames]

Well it still may be possible to lay some lighter hair over the existing hair, perhaps by gluing it down with something not too strong (like a light pass from a glue stick). And then you could have the hair going in whatever direction you wanted.

It would be delicate work, but I suspect the end results would still look a lot better than from painting (which I just really don't see working too well, or not looking like ugly painted hair in the end).

 

[TaliBane]

Well it still may be possible to lay some lighter hair over the existing hair, perhaps by gluing it down with something not too strong (like a light pass from a glue stick). And then you could have the hair going in whatever direction you wanted.

It would be delicate work, but I suspect the end results would still look a lot better than from painting (which I just really don't see working too well, or not looking like ugly painted hair in the end).

It's going to be some high stakes poker to try this all right. "Taking bets - place your Hot Toys Chewy on the table!"

If the fur was too light in general and you had to add darker parts I could see fabric paint or dye working, but this is the other way around. It's really more a bleaching or overlaying color of the existing fur. Which at that scale is really, really difficult, especially because it needs to have some mixing/blending of hair color to nail it.

 

[Mandible]

If anyone was being mislead it was by the text which was posted by Mandible stating plainly and clearly that he only worked on the color and did not in fact composite any photos.

You can imagine it any way you like, but the only thing you're doing is calling the guy a liar. What he posted is either true or it isn't. There's no middle road here and nothing to hide behind, he was quite clear and adamant about what was done to the photo.

I only followed up to point out that you were being disingenuous and were ignoring (as usual) the text that someone else had posted. This is your modus operandi, where you come up with some fantasy and accusations, completely ignoring even the text you quote in your own replies and then hide behind some off-topic diatribe and calling anything anyone else posts a "game," "silly" or both.

Guilty as charged - nothing was supposed to be ingenuous, just showing the potential of the lightning because someone said the "darkness" is killing the look.

So apologies to all, if this has been read that I went in, stand by strand, and re-colored every single strand of the existing HT sculpt - I obviously didn't, that would have taken a very, very, very long time to do.

What I did was grab a screenshot of Chewie off the film that best showed the color separation. I then cut it up in sections in photoshop to match the sections/angles of the HT sculpt. I then overlaid the pieces - blending and warping/distorting them, taking into account the underlying sculpt and trying to make it look like one piece rather than multiple pieces. I then pulled the opacity of the patched photos right down to about 30%, as to maintain as much of the underlying sculpt and hair "placement" as much as possible. From there, I flattened the image and did a color correction (of the whole image) to make it look more vibrant.

That's the point by point execution...

However, the point of the exercise was to show that the lightening of the face fur could "potentially" improve the figure IF someone had the skills/knowledge to do so.

I never would have believed this would have created such a s**t-storm or that I'd be held to trial, word-by-word... was just trying to illustrate what someone was questioning...

 

[TaliBane]

Guilty as charged - nothing was supposed to be ingenuous, just showing the potential of the lightning because someone said the "darkness" is killing the look.

So apologies to all, if this has been read that I went in, stand by strand, and re-colored every single strand of the existing HT sculpt - I obviously didn't, that would have taken a very, very, very long time to do.

What I did was grab a screenshot of Chewie off the film that best showed the color separation. I then cut it up in sections in photoshop to match the sections/angles of the HT sculpt. I then overlaid the pieces - blending and warping/distorting them, taking into account the underlying sculpt and trying to make it look like one piece rather than multiple pieces. I then pulled the opacity of the patched photos right down to about 30%, as to maintain as much of the underlying sculpt and hair "placement" as much as possible. From there, I flattened the image and did a color correction (of the whole image) to make it look more vibrant.

That's the point by point execution...

However, the point of the exercise was to show that the lightening of the face fur could "potentially" improve the figure IF someone had the skills/knowledge to do so.

I never would have believed this would have created such a s**t-storm or that I'd be held to trial, word-by-word... was just trying to illustrate what someone was questioning...

 

[Wor-Gar]

Thanks for clearing it up, Mandible. Much ado....

So if I send you my Chewbacca, can you fix its face for me?

 

[Mandible]

Thanks for clearing it up, Mandible. Much ado....

So if I send you my Chewbacca, can you fix its face for me?

I'm definitely going to be the guinea pig on this one

 

[Wor-Gar]

I wonder if you bleach the brow area if the "fur" will lighten to a tan color? If that worked, even if you went too light, you could then use dye to darken where you need to.

Of course, the "hair" is probably synthetic in which case bleach will have little effect... and may only undo the glue on the face. You could end up with Chewie's face decomposing!

 

[jedijim3002]

A bleach pen might work but yes could have horrifying effects.

 

[Creighton]

Well it still may be possible to lay some lighter hair over the existing hair, perhaps by gluing it down with something not too strong (like a light pass from a glue stick). And then you could have the hair going in whatever direction you wanted.

It would be delicate work, but I suspect the end results would still look a lot better than from painting (which I just really don't see working too well, or not looking like ugly painted hair in the end).

Reminds me of one of my more ambitious customs ...a real hair TMNT Splinter figure.
Anyway, I have firm belief that the different color threads of new lighter hair can be grafted in strand by strand like the Bosley hair clinic. (snip a few, add a few method)

Its just a " ________ " to do it.

 

[TaliBane]

Reminds me of one of my more ambitious customs ...a real hair TMNT Splinter figure.
Anyway, I have firm belief that the different color threads of new lighter hair can be grafted in strand by strand like the Bosley hair clinic. (snip a few, add a few method)

Its just a " ________ " to do it.

Did you use a real rat?

 

[Pixelpiper]

However, the point of the exercise was to show that the lightening of the face fur could "potentially" improve the figure IF someone had the skills/knowledge to do so.

I don't think the point nor effort were lost on most people, and while I can't speak for anyone else, I appreciate it - I think you can see from the early discussion that many other people also appreciated it and concur with you.