The Story of "Order66: Carbonite Operative" from Kris Dulfer (& Toy Review)

Which self-proud nerd knows not of the imagery of Han Solo frozen in Carbonite, from "The Empire Strikes Back"? (Right after Leia says to Han: "I love you", and Han replies "I know" ... no wonder girls love 'bad boys', innit? lol). And as well we've seen many a incarnation of said concept, specifically in toys, from production (LEGOs, action figurines), to art toy practitioners, like DMS of UK - who has gone the "art toy" route with Cuppa Teas, Dunnys and Dumnys, and perhaps even The Sucklord would probably have done a Carbonite-encasement figure before (although my toy-memory fails me now) ... Kris Dulfer from the US, who went with the "action figure"-route! This was what Kris had to say of it's inception:

"I have no Illusions that carbonite encased characters have been done, and lately seemingly done to death. In 2011 I tried to come up with a twist to the traditional bootleg … my idea was to create something that looked as is it "Belonged" to the StarWars Cannon, rather than be a generic Bootleg, hence the side story fabricated to give the figures validity and context. In that respect I felt I succeeded, defense of my work comes with the territory when playing with the Mashups, Kit-Bashes and Bootleging angle. I am a professional artist by trade so I got thick skin homie!"

Thanks to Kris, I am now hooked up with an Order 66 "CARBONITE OPERATIVE" - with a TIE-fighter pilot "encased" in carbonate instead! Coming sealed via a sticker over carton box, the resin figurine is a nice handful to be had, and seems there are other colorways too (and don't forget about THIS colorway collabo with RAMPAGE TOYS).

Love that the figure came along with a signed card from Kris. The details for my figure are pretty crisp too, especially for a figure of this size, IMHO. And one of my fav details, is the extra foot peeking at at the bottom LOL

But somehow the back of the figure seemed too … banal? With a huge plain surface, you could see the post-brushing/sanding marks - which do add to it's "hand-made"-charm, I do admit - but perhaps in future consider perhaps even a de-bossed mark? So when it is displayed standing upright, and even rotated on a spinning base, you'd be able to see a "surprise" as the back? But that's just me.

[Click HERE to view more images on my Facebook]


So what indeed be the status of this collectible? Something brand new? Or something from the not too distant past? How to get one for your own? Let's first read how it got to the here and now first, from Kris:

"Back in the summer while preparing for NYCC12, I was tutoring both Cash Cannon and Brendan McGuinness in the art of Resin Casting and asked them if they'd like to collab on a piece for the convention, to be released during. Long story short I conscripted them to cast 22 colorways each, to add to 22 that I cast, to create the total number of 66pieces. (keeping in theme with the Emperor's Directive set forth in the movies and expounded in my initial carded release)

The guys did their bit creating their colorways, I put the packaging and insert cards together and we blind boxed them up. We released them on Friday at NYCC12 and were well met; selling roughly 1/2 the inventory over the weekend, generating interest from lots of folks both industry side and consumer.

After NYCC as i positioned myself into the holiday season we had the unfortunate obstacle of Hurricane Sandy I had to close my studio and workshop for a little more than a month, which absolutely destroyed the momentum created at NYCC. As the Xmas season got underway I shifted my offering to more "gift friendly" themes like the Ponder Boxes and the Marely's Ghost Resins…"

So currently there are about 28 x Blind Box TiE Pilots available, each priced at US$40 (+US$5$ S/H Domestic USA / US$10 International). Any one interested can contact Kris directly via kidinkindustries@gmail.com - "I do accept Paypal, with payments being made to that address. Each blindbox comes complete with insert card, authenticity card & the casting artists signature." ~added Kris Dulfer. I highly recommend them. I have posted an image above of a second Operative that Kris hooked me up with (not blind-boxed) and I am so resisting the temptation to own the rest of the variations! LOL