Astra's other figures in action

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Astra
Posts: 80
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:44 am

Astra's other figures in action

Post by Astra »

Aside from the "Stargate" figures, I also own figures of "Torchwood", "Doctor Who", "Arrow", "Sherlock" and "Star Trek". If there are some fans of those series in here and you would like to see some of my other adventures as well, let me know and I'll happily post some in here. I'll start with the "Hamlet", the one that was even displayed in the Shakespeare Magazine It is quite an honor and I think they did a beautiful layout (pages 18-21 on the link, and page 46 has a biography and picture of myself)

I just told some more details, about how it all happened in here: viewtopic.php?p=4224#p4224

I did actually take a figure of David Tennant as the Tenth Doctor and changed it into the Hamlet costume - the red t-shirt and also the black suit. I did this with the use of a bit Milliput and then repainting. The hardest part was to change his shoes into bare feet. I can show you more detailed pictures of that as well if you are interested.

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And here is the complete story - hope you like it!

Shakespeare himself gave the introduction.

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Hamlet in the far right corner watches the festivities with sadness.

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Let me introduce all the people. On the left side we do have the two ambassadors:

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In the middle Ophelia in the yellow dress, Hamlet's mother Gertrude in blue and his uncle Claudius at her side, behind him old Polonius and some servant girl in the background.

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And on the right side Ophelia's brother Laertes, the Cardinal (or Bishop?) in Red robe and some nameless servant.

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The next scene shows friend Horatio welcomed by Hamlet with a big hug:

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Horatio and a soldier are with Hamlet when late at night the ghost of his father appears to him and tells him that he was murdered:

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So, Hamlet swears to avenge his father, and cuts his own hand with the knife. Due to the actionfigure's limited range of mobility, we could not to the actual cut, this is as close as we got.

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Then Hamlet faints.

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Hamlet gets found by Horatio and the soldier who also witnessed the ghost. He lets them swear on the sword to help him avenge his father.

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Next scene: Hamlet reads a book, and Polonius gets the impression that he is crazy/nuts/one fry short of a happy meal/WACKO.

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Note that he wears a bandage around his hand now!

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Because his whole family thinks Hamlet is crazy, they invite his friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern to try and talk some sense in them. This is the scene of their first meeting:

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Hamlet is in love with Ophelia, the daughter of Polonius:

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He's also in a happy mood and dancing around:

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Actors were invited, to do a play about a similar murder:

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This scene of putting poison into the ear of a sleeping man is similar to what really happened to Hamlet's father:

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Hamlet films his uncle's reaction, to get evidence:

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Hamlet mocks around with the crown:

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Rosencrantz and Guildenstern tell him that his mother wants to see him before bed. He tells them that they are playing him like a recorder:

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Hamlet is angry at his mother for marrying so soon after his father’s death:

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Polonius was hiding behind the mirror and accidentally gets shot by Hamlet:

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Hamlet carries the dead Polonius away:

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At midnight he sees the ghost of his father again.

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Hamlet comes back from England. He takes a break at a cemetery but does not know that the grave is for Ophelia. He finds a skull: “Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio.”

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Laertes wants to revenge his sister’s death. Hamlet and Laertes start to fence:

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Hamlet is convinced of winning: „Another hit - what say you?“

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Laertes wounds Hamlet while he is turns his back:

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Hamlet realizes that the sword was poisoned.

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He hits Laertes with his own poisoned sword.

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Hamlet’s mother Gertrud drinks the poisoned drink:

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Then she falls down and dies.

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Hamlet forces Claudius to drink the poison as well:

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Gertrud, Claudius and Laertes are dead:

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Hamlet dies in the arms of Horatio. „The rest is silence.“

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The "Casting" process:

This guy auditioned unsuccessfully for the role of the ghost of the father:

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We even did some "Behind the scenes" pictures:

The director is directing the actors:

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To prove that you cannot believe one thing you see in a movie here is one shot of behind the scenes: The Horatio actor was too small and had to stand at a plate to be able to hug Hamlet. Well, it worked for Humphrey Bogart, so why not? *shrugs*

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After the play finished it was time for the set guy to clean the stage. By the way, how do you like my black shiny floor? We used a black bed sheet and a plastic foil over that.

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Then he found the skull and dreamt of playing Hamlet one day:

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And here you see the work of the "prop department":

The sword was made by Aker, I think it looks very good!

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She also made the recorders:

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And the swords:

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And please marvel a bit longer at this nice black leather book with golden title and pages that are full with text and can be turned, as this also was made by her!

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Last edited by Astra on Mon Feb 29, 2016 7:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
Caty
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by Caty »

WOW!
Astra, so much and so nice work!

Thats really great!
"No matter how hard the past,
you can always begin again.
"

(Buddha)
MysteryKnitter
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by MysteryKnitter »

Awesome work indeed.
Best: MK
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Astra
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Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:44 am

Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by Astra »

Thank you very much, glad you liked it! How about some Sherlock for a change?

I bought them nice furniture and they enjoy some leisure time:

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If anyone wants to get these figures, go to http://www.bigchiefstudios.co.uk/collectables/instock

They are just awesome.
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tvero80
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by tvero80 »

Great, Astra .You really are an artist.I love your figures.
I have a question for you (I hope you don't mind , I don't want to be too nosy) .
Do you have a special room where you can display all your figures ? They really deserve it.
V
Last edited by tvero80 on Tue Dec 16, 2014 9:44 pm, edited 1 time in total.
MysteryKnitter
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by MysteryKnitter »

I dare to say I agree with the previous writer.
Best: MK
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Astra
Posts: 80
Joined: Sat Mar 29, 2014 9:44 am

Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by Astra »

tvero80 wrote:Great, Astra .You really are an artist.I love your figures.
I have a question for you (I hope you don't mind , I don't want to be too nosy) .
Do you have a special room where you can display all your figures ? They really deserve it.
V
Thank you!
I don't mind at all, I love talking about my figures. In fact, I once was asked to write a blog about them. At first I did not really know how but then I decided to interview myself. I put some humor into it as well. Go here to this page to read it if you like!

http://projecttorchwood.blogspot.co.uk/ ... ction.html

But to answer your question. Since I have so many figures, I can't have them all on display. The small (5"-6") Stargate and Doctor Who figures (as well as Torchwood, Superman, Batman, Arrow, Mulder & Scully, Terminator, Shaun the sheep - you get the picture) are stored in tin boxes who used to held cookies originally. That way they don't take up much space, certainly less than if I left them in their original package.

I do have a vitrine for the customized figures though, in my corridor. Most of what you see here is related to John Barrowman and David Tennant. I took figures of Captain Jack and the Tenth Doctor and customized them into different characteres:

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And there is also the Jack O'Neill in his Air Force dress uniform I made:

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For the big (12", like Barbie) figures I bought an IKEA vitrine which is proudly displayed in the living room. Some of the figures you see here are collectors dolls, who sell for about 250 USD. The Stargate figures were not that well done and detailed though, they were much cheaper.

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Here is Daniel and Jack:

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A selfmade Jack Harkness (originally Max Steel), the Ninth Doctor, President Obama and Martha:

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Sherlock and John:

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And this is the Tenth and the Eleventh Doctor, also made by Big Chief who did the Sherlock figures:

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I do have some more toy Doctors in that size but they are in a box as well. On top of the figures, I also have lots (and I mean really lots, as you usually can see in my pictures) accessories for both the doll house size and now I am also buying some 1:6th scale stuff for the bigger figures. Just got a Barbie kitchen the other day. Send money! Just kidding LOL

Sorry for replying so late but I needed to wait till the weekend so I could take the pictures. If you have any more questions, I am happy to elaborate further, how I did this or that. Be warned though, once I start, I can't shut up, plus I have infected lots of friends with this bug already, Paja is only one of them :) Sometimes we meet and play together, can't wait to show you what my friends and me did the other weekend.
MysteryKnitter
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by MysteryKnitter »

Oh, but I like this! I just hope you don't show me too much the SG - figures. I may react in some..interesting...way, but that way doesn't belong here. *small grin*
Best: MK
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tvero80
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by tvero80 »

Astra,

At first I wondered why you wanted to tell the story of Hamlet (nothing to do with Stargate !) but after reading the Shakespeare Magazine I understood David Tennant inspired you :) since he played the part and you seem to be a fan of Dr Who ( I find him very inspiring too...).
I love the decor of Sherlock Holmes , it's very cosy , so British and so 'real'.The figures look 'at home' and comfortable there.Once again well done.

V
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Astra
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Re: Astra's other figures in action

Post by Astra »

tvero80 wrote:Astra,

At first I wondered why you wanted to tell the story of Hamlet (nothing to do with Stargate !) but after reading the Shakespeare Magazine I understood David Tennant inspired you :) since he played the part and you seem to be a fan of Dr Who ( I find him very inspiring too...).
I love the decor of Sherlock Holmes , it's very cosy , so British and so 'real'.The figures look 'at home' and comfortable there.Once again well done.

V
Hi! Oh boy, over a year later and I never replied? I'm so sorry!
Yes, I am among many others also a fan of David Tennant. The Hamlet pictures you see are all made exactly like the scenes from the DVD where he plays the role.

I was lucky to have seen him in theatre twice even in London. Not the Hamlet, I was not a fan at the time, but in "Much ado about nothing" and "Richard II". I also got a picture with him at the stage door. And just like I changed the Doctor Who figure into Hamlet, I also changed another one into the white uniform from "Much ado about nothing":

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I am not posting in here too often, as I don't want to spam the forum with all my other figures and fandoms of which there are plenty. If anyone likes, I happily can give you the links to my Livejournal or Facebook or Tumblr page. But today I want to show something I worked on for the whole weekend. It's for another competition with the title "Futuristic". It will be in May but I want to show them in here early! The Doctor meets a strange scientist in a futuristic lab.

And I would like to explain how you can have a futuristic scene with ordinary household things. Looking around and getting inspired of which things to use is my favorite part of creating these!


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The table is constructed out of many music cassette cases and the plate is a clear plastic lid of a former Ferrero chocolates box.

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What you see here on the table are the remnants of an alarm clock that had stopped working. I took it apart to see if I could use any pieces. The cogwheels were in white plastic so I painted them silver to make them look metallic:

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The "shelves" are for holding music cassettes. They are supposed to stand horizontally, not vertically. The tubes were filled with sprinkles for baking. The silver balls are still original, the red and green balls are from my childhood collection of marbles. The crystal balls on top are from the acrylic photoholders I once bought to make a "glass table".

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I filled the shelves with every metal thing I could find. I was surprised I had so many springs from old ballpoint pens. Some of the shiny silver things are also fridge magnets that look like kitchen tools, I just removed the handles:

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The blue thing in the corner is a cakepops holder. I had to file the holes a little bit so the colorful drinking straws would fit into it. I actually went to the DIY shop and bought a set of miniature files I had my eyes on for a while now:

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Now comes the best part, my favorite. I have some old technology on display in my futuristic setting. In a previous picture we already saw K-9 and a Cyberman head, and here we have a Russian Sputnik and an Astra satellite. The clear tables they stand on are two halves of a photo cube. The Cyberman head is on a glass candleholder.

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The silver plate at the wall is a plate from a cake box and the biggest wheel I once found in a glass of gherkins. For getting them out better I suppose. All the other wheels are things found in Kinder surprise eggs or other plastic leftovers. Told you I never throw anything away! Again I painted everything silver. Such great details!

I didn't want to glue it permanently to the plate so I used Blu Tack. In case you don't know, this is kneadable, sticky, reusable and removable without any remains. Best stuff I ever found. Also for keeping the screwdriver of the scientist here in the hand etc.

For keeping the plate at the wall (which is a wooden shelf) I used double sided tape which is actually for putting photos into a photoalbum. It came down a few times but overall it all held surprisingly well.

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"Hey, old buddy, what are you doing here?"

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