Uncovering Bantha5 Custom Clone Commanders from 2006

The other day I was cleaning out my old room that I had since I was a kid which eventually became a storage room years ago.  The room was packed with random family items and tons and tons of action figures, some of which haven’t been seen in over a decade!  

Upon packing my old collection into their appropriate boxes, I uncovered something truly special, custom Clone Commander pieces I ordered from Bantha5 customs in 2006.

What you’re looking at is a custom cast head sculpt of Commander Neyo, which can be fitted to a regular clone trooper body, as well as the shoulder guard and backpack for Commander Cody.  Next to it was the card Ryan (Bantha5) mailed with every order.  What a fantastic head sculpt, you can see it here compared to the Commander Neyo from 2008 Anniversary Collection, 2013 Black Series and Bantha5's version: 

Compare them to Commander Neyo himself and I think Bantha5's comes out on top:

The package I ordered also came with a Commander Cody helmet which for some reason I can’t seem to find (I will post it if i'm lucky to find it hidden in my room). 

Take a look at Bantha5’s website.  Here you can discover his amazing talents of customizing and sculpting some awesome star wars figures, most notably his work in the vintage collection.  His journey began with a passion to create the figures that were missing in his collection or never released. I think he did a great job of staying true to the vintage era of design and sculpting, his work looks as if Kenner produced it. 

I tried contacting Ryan but with no luck! I’m not sure if his email works or not, but if you’re reading this, please reach out to me, I’d love to interview you for the fans to see! 

To me personally, Bantha5 customs brings back memories of the original Star Wars customizers that I saw from years back.  When Ep. 3 came out, there was a huge Clone Trooper craze, and Bantha5 truly brought the Clone Commanders to life.  

I would guess that copies of these head sculpts are fairly rare today, so if you have one, make sure you hang on to it.  Til next time.