A while back I was toying with ideas for creating a new customised action figure when I stumbled across the beautifully rendered 2015 Star Wars motion comic, Smuggler’s Run – A Han Solo and Chewbacca Adventure. This introduced me to an Imperial Security Bureau Officer, Commander Alecia Beck.
I had not long completed an enjoyable reading of Michael Stackpole’s wonderful X-Wing: Rogue Squadron which featured Director of Imperial Intelligence, Ysanne Isard.
Both Beck and Isard were highly capable and intimidating Imperial Officers, I was intrigued by their adventures.
In terms of figures, Ysanne Isard was already realised in her 3 ¾ inch form, however Alecia Beck had not. I was also taken with Beck’s Moff Trachta style cybernetic eye, which I thought would make an interesting look for a figure.
Rooting around my figures and parts fodder, I sourced a grey uniformed, female Imperial Officer figure, complete except for missing head. This posed no issue as I had a fair number of painted/unpainted spare heads. For this figure, I identified an unpainted cast head which looked the character.
My first job was to create a score in the figures face, to resemble Beck’s scar across her eye. I then used my trusty pin vice drill to work through the heads right eye, and out towards the back of the head. I had based this idea on the design of a 1990’s Jawa figure, which with clear yellow coloured plastic, had a window on the figures head feeding light to the eyes. I had measured a clear acrylic rods which was cut to size and fed through the back of the head to the eye socket.
When the rod was secured in place, I painted the eye with some transparent clear acrylic paint. Then, using some two part modelling epoxy, I worked around the eye to resemble the structure of Beck’s cybernetic eye. When the epoxy had cured, I then painted the head with some acrylic paints and sealing with a matt varnish. Developing the eye was the most involved stage of this custom, and when the eye and head painting was complete, the figure was quickly finished.
As Commander Beck was adorned with a cape, I sourced a 1990’s spare General Lando cape amongst my fodder. When placed on Beck’s neck, the cape was too long, so this was gently trimmed until it not only fit, but helped stable the standing figure. Lastly, on popped the head and we have a customised Commander Alecia Beck complete with cybernetic, energy saving, glowing eye.
And here we have the completed custom action figure, Imperial Security Bureau Office, Commander Alecia Beck.