The Dark Times - Dass Jennir and H2

"For over a thousand generations, the Jedi knights were the guardians of peace and justice in the old Republic... before the Dark Times...."

Straying from the path he has sturggled to hold true, Dass Jennir arrives on Telerath. Unbeknownst to Jennir, his destiny with the living force is about to be revealed and his burdened conscience wiped clean....

Dass Jennir is a favorite character of mine from the Star Wars Dark Horse Expanded Universe. If you haven't read the Dark Times comic series, and looking for a story true to Star Wars lore, very well written (Welles Hartley, Mick Harrison) and brilliantly illustrated (Douglas Wheatley) then I highly suggest purchasing these volumes at your local comic/bookstore.

I was already a fan with it's initial release, but as soon as I laid my eyes on the cover of Dark Times issue 13...

I was hooked! I knew it wouldn't be long till I was at my workbench tooling around with the idea of sculpting a workable Dass Jennir figure...capturing his appearance on the cover and throughout the rest of the series. The less trusty and even more annoying sidekick H2 brings humor to the story and had to be included as a set...

My apologies for taking so long to complete this piece...as with all my work, I never center my full attention on just one project, always a bit at a time, tabling and returning to the subject when the inspiration hits...I'm sure that if I only worked on Dass and H2 the project wouldn't have taken more than I'd say a couple weeks...maybe three. Whereas with all my other projects in the works, this sculpt took me over a year to complete LOL! No matter - I enjoyed it! Can't rush a good thing right?

Now to the pictures - many more found on my Flickr page so be sure to check it out :)

Jennir comes with two additional head sculpts - the primary being the hooded "stranger", and the secondary being the "Bearded" and "Jedi Warrior" head sculpts. The "Jedi Warrior" head sculpt was a last minute addition - decided to include the sculpt after reading the last issue of the Blue Harvest storyline (issue 17). Even though the figure does not reflect the exact costume he wore in the issue, the head sculpt is a nice compliment to the set - besides...who said I was done with Dass - I see two more versions of this guy being created in the near future!

Always need to throw in the trusty "Scale Shot" with a dime in the image showing scale. This is a 1:18th scale figure - fully articulated with all the basic movements, however some are a bit limited than others. Lets face it, I'm working with a "stone-like" epoxy, not as durable as plastic...but can be posed in many postions like other factory made figures...mostly when his cowl is removed.

Here are some shots with Jennir's Bearded head sculpt - a seperate cowl piece was sculpted and fit to give the appearance that hood was lowered around the shoulders. The hat has a clear band that goes around the neck under this seperate piece which hides it. Then the head is attached and he's off to the cantina LOL!

Here's Jennir with the cowl removed completely - the cowl is a seperate sculpted piece made from the FIXIT epoxy. This material is incredible to work with - no limitations to what you can do with it. Props to Aves!

H2 was fun to create! The droid was once an R2-D2 figure, with heavy modifications to the sides, head, legs (removed) and undercarriage. The wings are made from styrene and epoxy with a small plastic tube threaded through the main body to either side. The head and wings have a full range of rotation. The clear stand was once that from a microman figure - works perfectly with H2. I'm working on a way to mount him on a clear ball joint so it can have the appearance to be bobbing and dipping back an forth in the air.

As you can see - the blaster is removable. No need to attach a saber hilt since Dass was keeping his Jedi ways "in the closet" so to speak. Anyway - we all know by now that is was H2holding his lightsaber.

You may notice the "Hooded Stranger" head sculpt is sporting a flattop LOL !- this is so that the hat can fit better - also within the top of this head is a magnet, which combined with the embedded magnet inside the hat, allows the two pieces to "snap" into place securely.

Although difficult to see, H2's main lense is actually real layered glass, cut down, beveled and glued inside a small plastic tube within the droid's head piece, then sculpted around to give the look of the main lense. Looking directly into the piece you can see layers which give the appearance of a true camera eye!

A faint shot of illustrated Cato Neimoidia in the background. I do want to build an accessory to go with this figure set - I'm currently tooling with the idea of making the boat which he arrived in on Telerath!!! Not kidding! I'm even including an articulated "Fish" taxi driver!!!

Finally Jennir finds himself and his destiny once more - although not costume accurate (for now) , it's more than enough to have the head sculpt showing the reborn Jennir, leaving us wondering the Jedi's fate in the final pages of issue 17. We shouldn't worry, the force is with him...

I hope you enjoyed the images - next to my Darth Krayt, this is one of my favorite pieces. Happy to have Dass blessing my display shelf and hope that Hasbro may look just a bit deeper into the EU and select this guy as a future action figure.

Visit my Flickr photostream for many more images of Dass and H2, as well as my Facebook page, sith_fire30 creations. We are now over 200 fans and counting! Thanks to all of you! If you haven't become a fan, please take a moment and click the like button when visiting.:)

Again, your comments and praise/critiques are so valued in my creative process - Thanks for all your continued interest in my work - coming soon we continue our journey through The Dark Times with the Space Pirate Lumbra and possibly a close to completed Dark Times K'Kruhk as well. I also have a Vong Warrior chomping at the bit to get completed!

Oh and by the way...been watching Clone Wars lately? You should...below is a very early work in progress shot of Savage Opress.

sith_fire30