Krall – A Saber for a Sith

Hello Everybody and welcome to another new saber showcase. Not only do I have a new saber to show you all today but I can hint at some awesome news I have gotten this week…the sound of tiny feet may soon be echoing around For Tyeth Towers (aka my cave!). However it’s not quite what you might expect but more on that in possibly a week or two’s time when things are finalized. Back to today and I have a saber for a new character that has appeared in Marvel Comics by the name of Darth Krall. I haven’t been able to find much information about this guy except that he was one of the famous “Lost Twenty”, a group of fallen Jedi that turned to the Dark Side and are immortalised in statue form in the great Jedi Library on Coruscant. You might have seen their bronze bust sculptures in the background during Attack of the Clones when Obi-Wan visited the library looking for information about Kamino. Here is a picture from the comic book cover of Darth Krall…

As I mention I couldn’t find much info about this person and I don’t have the comic but I do know his former name when he was a Force Sensitive affiliated to the Jedi was Radaki. He believed that Jedi should be allowed to retain their wealth and family relationships upon passing their trials – but this was against the beliefs of the Jedi Order and code of having no attachments. He fell out of the Order and became a Sith follower. And as you can see from the picture he was intimidating and had a very ornate golden coloured lightsaber. It was this saber I tried to recreate so here is my design…. Krall….

I think this saber would class as being ostentatiously ornate – very much unlike the humble designs usually adopted by the Jedi. The hilt is probably made of Electrum, the same material that Master Mace Windu adorned his hilt with (which upset a lot of the sitting Jedi members at the time). This saber has a slanted and windowed emitter seated on a slender silver thin neck choke point section (which helps gripping the hilt). The handgrip features fluted ribs with ornate scrollwork etching at either end and followed by a slightly wider silver power pack section with a decorated pommel end cap. Time for a few close up detail pictures, onto Gallery Two!….

I again made use of the Blender3D function that allows me to replicate embossed/etched textures and applied a complex Celtic style border around the hilt grip and switch section which has an illuminated switch with a delicate bezel ring with a claw setting to hold the jewel button (I have been watching a lot of jewellery auction shows on television recently and am picking up design ideas from these jewellers). The emitter is circled by a ring of tiny but elegant windows that allow just enough of the red blade to shine through. Now finally I will showcase the pommel and it’s decoration….Gallery Three!….

The pommel cap is adorned with a centrally positioned Sith Order emblem and I placed further copies around the edges which formed a sort of web look. I made the metal of the cap appear darker as if it were some medallion that had been set into the pommel. The final image shows the Sith Order logo representing a “Black Sun”. Oh yes, and there is a D-Ring belt loop to hang the saber from Krall’s utility belt.

And once more that just about wraps this design up. It was fun trying to build a saber based off just that one single image I showed above, all I could see was an emitter and part of the pommel! I think I did ok.

I am now getting really excited about the new addition to the For Tyeth Family…hopefully I can let you all in on the joyous event in the very near future…but in the meantime I should have some more designs from The Mandalorian and I will be working on a new set of hilts from the newly released series of Star Wars cartoon/anime shows known as “Visions” which have been produced by several large Manga/Anime studios and give the Star Wars universe a whole new artistically gorgeous look. I hope you will return to check all this out in future posts. But as always thanks so much for visiting today it is much appreciated (and to the viewer from Hungary thank you for boosting my views on the 17th – you viewed over 100 items just by yourself!). Whether you are a regular viewer or a newcomer to FTSabersite….MTFBWY and Till next time….

“Droid memory go blank……Blank! Blank!”………Shhh! Not yet…..secret!

“Krall – A Saber for a Sith” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the character Darth Krall who appears in Marvel’s Star Wars comics. The 3D design, model and renders were created in Blender 3D by For Tyeth and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. “Star Wars” and all other names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/©Copyright of Disney/Lucasfilm ltd.

Qui-Gon Jinn Hasbro 50th Lucasfilm Black Series Figure – FT’s Review

Hello Everybody, today I have a slightly shorter post than normal and it is one that I have been meaning to post for about a month but I had quite a few sabers already scheduled before I could publish this one. And today we enter the world of Collectible Action Figurines and in this case the Hasbro Star Wars Black Series. Now in a recent batch of new characters there was one that stood out and caught my attention…and I kinda wanted one. The figure was of course the new 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm release of Qui-Gon Jinn because I am a big QGJ fan (if you hadn’t guessed!). The figure seemed to me to be expensive because I don’t earn a lot designing sabers but I finally convinced myself I had to get one. The reason being that the figure was SO accurate and looked just like Liam/Qui. Here are a couple of product shots…

The detail on this figure is amazing – beyond amazing. So much so that my camera phone couldn’t handle the awesomeness and glitched hence the reason I am using Hasbro’s pictures. However believe me that my figure I received is just as impressive and exactly as in the promos. It is fully articulated at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, it has double folding knee joints as well as hip and foot/ankle rotation. You can position him in any pose – including the famous kneeling meditation position from the Duel Of Fates scene. The figure comes with a lightsaber with a detachable blade so you can clip the hilt to Qui-Gon’s belt (via a small peg on the hilt which presses into a socket on the belt). Unfortunately this figure doesn’t have a robe but I am going to get a third party one off ETSY I think. But I really can’t fault this figure and it came within a week of ordering it!

So as you can see my camera phone glitched and went haywire, blurring the pictures I had taken 😞. But from these two pics you can see how well it was packaged and how nice the blister pack and card look. It has the “vintage” The Phantom Menace branding with Darth Maul’s image in the corner and a “Lucasfilm 50th Anniversary” insert. Now I just had ONE big problem…I sooo wanted to be able to open the figure and really get a good look at him so, yep you guessed it I went and purchased a second which for me is a huge investment for a “toy”. Anyhoo I ordered a second and it too was perfectly delivered and equally awesome. And this time whilst opening the figure’s packaging I decided to try and get a picture of the new head sculpt which everyone was raving about how good it looked….and something weird happened. Take a look at these next two pictures and you’ll see…

This is how accurate the figure’s head and face is…but did you see the anomaly? Just check the first image again and tell me who that is! The Force is strong with this one!

So to sum up this shortened post I would definitely say these figures were worth the price. I am so happy to have my fave Jedi in my collection (actually I do have two 3.75in Qui-Gon figures but they aren’t quite up to comparison to the Black Series 6in versions). However those 3.75 Qui-Gons were a birthday present Mrs Tyeth got me a few years ago so I cherish all of them.

And look at these figures, Darth Maul vs For Ty – er, Qui-Gon Jinn!

That wraps up this post and I hope you enjoyed what I was able to show you all. Again this figure is superb and has got me thinking about adding a few more Black Series to my collection when I can afford it. Thanks for checking this out and please call back for future posts where I will have more new saber designs including a hilt for the first ever recognised Sith Lords and I’m working on a few Mandalorian designs oh and more LEGO models. I appreciate all your support whether you’re a newcomer or a regular visitor….Till Next Time…..

This was a For Tyeth review of Hasbro’s 50th Anniversary of Lucasfilm Black Series Qui-Gon Jinn 6inch figurine. All official images belong to and are ©Copyright of Hasbro Toys/Disney and Lucasfilm.

“The Darksider” for Darksiderconfessions aka The Silver Fern saber

Hello everybody and Julie G! Today I take a wander down under to the land of Middle Earth….wait! Yes the country of New Zealand did act as the backdrop for the Tolkien Lord of the Rings saga movies but more importantly, it is also the home of Darksiderconfessions….Julie G. Julie has become a good friend of mine and supporter of this site, and is a graphic design artist specialising in “Motion Art” images (animated GIF pictures). You can check her artwork out and Julie’s articles on all things Star Wars related here: https://darksiderconfessions.blog/

Julie has commented on many of my designs and provided me with great feedback and advice. One day Julie was a little under the weather and I thought I should design a saber for her to cheer her up. One problem, I didn’t know exactly what to make but when I learned Julie lived in New Zealand I thought about doing a NZ inspired hilt. But nothing I started building really clicked as special by which time Julie was already feeling a bit better. So I put the idea on the back burner until I created the Quartermaster. That hilt gave me an idea…I stripped all the decorations off to leave the basic handle and I added a new colour scheme to it. Then a few bits of bling and finally I added an iconic logo of her home country. This is what I finally came up with “The Darksider” – aka The Silver Fern saber ….

OK….can anyone see the special “Icon”? Yes, I incorporated the famous fern leaf into the handgrip as an inlaid panel. And as you move around the saber the light reflects off the etching and gives the leaf a silvery outline. It took me ages to carve that logo into the grip 😉 Actually I didn’t really carve the leaf out, I used a bit of a trick in Blender that does the same job! However I had to find the right shaped image to use to create the etch pattern then size and position it to fit. I think it worked ok. Here is a close up of the handgrip.

The saber also sports an “All Black” paint job with a few red and silver accents which together also mimicked Julie’s website…until she decided to revamp the theme and went more towards monochrome. There is another little detail that links this design to Darksiderconfessions.com’s branding….see if you can spot it in Gallery Two….

Did you spot the Darksiderconfessions logo? Congrats if you said the electron cloud/Atom insignia. I 3D modelled an electron cloud to use as a pommel decoration/speaker vent and it fitted nicely into the endcap of the hilt….but it is also hidden elsewhere! Look closely at the activation switch and you will see another of these electron cloud logos circling the button to form a bezel setting – with the button in the centre it looks like the nucleus! It kinda looks familiar….

Again you can find Darksiderconfessions here: https://darksiderconfessions.blog/ Please check it out and help support Julie and the site.

So that just about wraps this design up and it is ready for Julie to take into battle should any Hobbits or…..<sorry I did it again…I mean in case any Stormtroopers or Sith Lords attack her…though with the name Darksider I am slightly worried Julie might come after me! (Well I am a Jedi 😁).

Anyway I hope you like the design Julie, and sorry it took me a while till the saber “spoke to me”. And I hope everyone else enjoyed this design too as I really had fun when it began to take shape. Thanks to everyone for checking this design out and please be sure to return to FTSabersite for future posts as I am always drawing up new creations. I also have an action figure to reveal and another ornate saber for the first ever recognised Sith Lord! So thanks to you all and to Julie – you’re very much appreciated…..Till next time….

“The Darksider Saber -for Darksiderconfessions” is a For Tyeth Editions design and is ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. It was designed, modelled and rendered in Blender 3D.

To Freddie….on your birthday….

Hello everybody…I have been a little busy recently and very nearly forgot that today, the 5th of September, is Freddie Mercury’s birthday. If Freddie was still here with us he would have been…75 years old. So I wanted to post this short post to show I hadn’t forgotten Fred and I made him a replica of his iconic microphone which you can see in this image….

Some of my long time viewers may also recall way back in 2016 I made a lightsaber sceptre which I named “Mercurial” to mark his birthday back then…

These small tributes still don’t add up to the massive debt I owe to Freddie for all the great music and inspiration he gave me as an aspiring keyboard player back in my younger days. And no…..I still haven’t perfected my rendition of Bohemian Rhapsody yet….but maybe one day I will. And if it wasn’t for that song I wouldn’t have had the chance to perform at a venue Freddie and Queen played during their 1974 tour and stand on the same stage as Freddie had. That was a magical night for sure.

So to Freddie, thanks again for everything and happy 75th…..I’m off to put my copy of “Live at Wembley” on repeat for the rest of the day so…..till next time…..READY FREDDIE?

B’rel Nach – Bird Saber Inspired by the Klingon Bird of Prey

nuqneH! Hello Everybody….as you might have guessed from my little bit of Klingon we are headed back to Federation Space today for another Star Trek saber. To be specific we are headed to the planet Genesis where we find Captain Kirk attempting to recover the “body” of his friend Mr Spock in the hope of restoring the Vulcan to life. This is the plot of Star Trek III – The Search For Spock and as you can imagine things don’t go smoothly for our Fed heroes. The Federation are surveying the newly regenerated planet Genesis and a survey team beam down to the surface when they discover signs of life on their scanners. Whilst the scientists (including Kirk’s son David Marcus) investigate some unwelcome visitors stealthily arrive to try and obtain the Genesis data and equipment to use as a weapon -The Klingons led by Commander Kruge!

So Kirk, you are going to try time travelling? I did that once in the future..or was it the past?

This is Commander Kruge, a very harsh, imposing and not to mention ruthless Klingon (played by Doc Brown actor Christopher Lloyd!). Kruge killed his own crewman gunner when the gunner “misplaced” a disruptor beam and destroyed a ship….oh and Kruge killed his girlfriend too when she revealed she’d seen the Genesis data! Now Kruge and the Klingons arrived in their ship and as I mentioned attacked (and destroyed) a ship which was the USS Grissom the Fed science research vessel resulting in Kruge having to also beam to the planet surface to try and capture the “away team” of Lt Saavik and Dr Marcus. All this happens just as Kirk, McCoy, Sulu and Scotty arrive in a newly stolen Enterprise. But how did the Klingons arrive and remain undetected?

Well they were flying in a B’rel class starship more commonly known as a Bird of Prey! This ship had a very distinct appearance and a very special feature. So today I present my B’rel Nach or Bird Saber….

Yes, I have immortalised the Bird of Prey in lightsaber form and it is a sort of crossguard hilt. I tried to replicate the basic outline of a Bird of Prey by giving this saber a pair of “wings” either side of the emitter. In the tips of these wings are small lights which represent the BoP’s Disruptor cannons and look closely and you can see hull plating to replicate the “feathery” details the real ship has on it’s wings. The BoP is very special as some people don’t know it is actually a Romulan design! Back in the 60’s series of Star Trek one episode named “Balance of Terror” established that ships painted with bird designs were Romulan. One small line of dialogue in the movie though explains the Klingons stole this Bird of Prey! Back to the saber and the emitter represents the bridge module of the ship with windows to allow blade shine through, but look on top and you can see I modelled a basic “bridge cupola” and that has tiny windows circling it! The emitter mouth is the launch tube for the Photon Torpedoes which are replaced by the saber blade. Here is Gallery Two …

In these pics you can see the “Photon Torpedo Saber Blade” and the raised bridge cupola atop the emitter. You can also see that this saber has a lot of grime and streaks of rust on it’s surface. The tail or aft section features the leather handgrip from my “Quartermaster” hilt (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/07/24/the-quartermaster-saber-inspired-by-the-mandalorians-the-armourer/) and is adorned with a Klingon Kahless Empire logo. The last two pictures show the saber back on Kronos (the Klingon home planet) and at rest on it’s display stand – this time borrowed from my “Chang” saber. (https://ftsabersite.wordpress.com/2021/08/21/chang-saber-a-weapon-for-a-klingon-general/) However this time I modified the stand so I could place the hilt at an angle to show off it’s lines. You will also notice the wings have folded downward into their rest position.

Now I mentioned a special feature of this ship and it explains how this ship approached and destroyed the Grissom without being detected…the answer is the BoP has a “Cloaking Device” making it virtually invisible. The BoP has to deactivate this shield in order to fire it’s weapons and it was this small disadvantage that allowed Kirk and the Enterprise to survive an attack (at least for a little while). Kirk realising the situation sets a trap for the Klingons and he and the crew beam to Genesis…where Kirk comes face to face with Kruge, and a young Vulcan. I won’t spoil the final scenes of the film just in case some of you still haven’t seen the movie….so this would be a good place to bring this post to an end but as always my usual thanks and messages before I go where no-one has gone before….

Thanks so much for checking this design out, I hope you have been enjoying the change of pace with these Star Trek designs – they have been fun to build. And as always thanks for the continued support you show my site and I hope you will return for more new saber designs. I have Star Wars Sith sabers, a saber inspired by the silver fern and maybe a few modified Quartermaster hilts. Oh and I might even add a few Lego models too. There is still so much more to come in future posts. Till next time…..Qa’Pla!

“B’rel Nach” saber” is a For Tyeth Editions design inspired by the Klingon “Bird of Prey” ship from the film “Star Trek III – The Search for Spock” The design, model and renders where created by For Tyeth in Blender 3D and are ©Copyright of For Tyeth/FTSabersite 2016-2021. Star Trek and all names, images, logos and related material are Trademark/ ©Copyright of Paramount Pictures.