Toy OTD: Gentle Giant Star Wars Mini-Busts: Dengar, Princess Leia (2007, 2008)

Since I was part of the first wave of kids blown away by Star Wars, it's tough not to buy every last bit of cool swag that comes my way - and there's more than ever these days! I had finally gotten to the point where I swore off from buying the smaller action figures, and tried to focus exclusively on the Sideshow quarter-scale statues. Well, it didn't quite turn out that way...

Gentle Giant started producing an amazing line of Star Wars mini-busts that deliver a lot of nerd love for a fairly low price... and just like that, I was hooked all over again! I've bought quite a few, but so far I've only photographed Princess Leia and the bounty hunter Dengar. I'll focus on them for now.

GG's products are generally of a high quality, and these mini-busts are no exception. Both of these sculpts have strong likenesses, and the poses feel like they're straight from the films. The costume/prop details feel similarly well-researched. The various depicted materials are given the appropriate textural treatments - as they should, cloth, leather, metal, wood, etc. all clearly differentiate from one another.

I'm also very impressed that the bases of the mini-busts are very minimal - almost no detail or texture, and painted an unassuming black. Even though it feels true to the films' overall look, they recede nicely into the background, allowing the featured character to dominate the viewer's attention. The lack of branding or labeling on them is another big plus - GG gets it!

Since all the busts have bases, balance issues are non-existent - if you live in earthquake country, you can use museum putty to anchor them down, but otherwise they're good to go.

The paint is very effective here, strongly boosting the effects of the sculpt. Check out the subtle detail on Leia's face, the antiquing of the weapons, or the wear on Dengar's armor. The color palettes feel very true to their film counterparts as well. It's really great work that does more than fulfill the promise of these pieces!

I like the line's packaging, even though it's not all that elaborate. Most (if not all) of the pieces are packed in glossy dark grey boxes with the Star Wars logo and character name on the front. There's a simple black shape to frame the text, and a small window to allow shoppers to check out the facial paint (of course, it's helpful for identifying the figure inside, too). The design evokes the feel of the movies in a strong way without adding a lot to the price point (though even fancy boxes usually don't cost a great deal).

Unless the character you're choosing is oversized, most of these busts cost $50 when they first drop. Once a popular figure sells out, they go up in price on the secondary market, but if the character isn't really in demand, they may actually go down in price (especially if they're still in stock a year or more after release).

Surprisingly, you can get Princess Leia for $24.99 + shipping right now at Amazon.com. Dengar also sells for $25 + shipping at the Toys 'R' Us website, which is even less than the $30 I paid for it at an Entertainment Earth sale. Great deals - grab 'em while you can!

‘77 Trailer

This looks like it has a lot of promise! Ironically, it feels a little like an American Graffiti for the late '70s. Keep your fingers crossed!

‘77 Movie Trailer | /Film

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Toy OTD: Medicom Star Wars Kubrick Figures: Max Rebo

In general, I much prefer Kubricks to the many other mini-figures that are now flooding the market. They were one of the first out of the gate, they're well designed and constructed - and you don't have to buy expensive construction sets to get them (like Lego mini-figs).

This is a nice example of what makes Kubrick figures so neat - it's just a great distillation of the character (though some are even more boiled down to their essence)! I really like breaking a design down to the fewest elements and seeing how far you can go and still get the jist of it across. Plus... well, they're just cute!

Max here was part of a larger Star Wars set that included few of the other band members. Unfortunately, it's been out for a while, so it'll cost you $275 big ones to get it from eBay complete and mint in the box (MIB)! Other sites go as high as $300 (before they sold out), so this set will take some serious cash or patience. Happy hunting!

Oakland Fails AT-AT Paternity Test

"One of the greatest Bay Area moviemaking urban legends involves the Port of Oakland container cranes and the AT-AT snow walkers that invaded the ice planet Hoth in George Lucas' 'The Empire Strikes Back.'

As a 'Star Wars' geek and Oakland resident, I've been plagued by the legend as well. So last year, during an interview for a profile that ran in The Chronicle, I asked Lucas about the similarities - making sure it was my last question, in case it got me kicked out of Skywalker Ranch.

'That's a myth,' Lucas said, politely but firmly. 'That is definitely a myth.'"

To read more of Peter Hartlaub's SFGate article, click here.

Photo by Tristan.

Thanks to io9.com for the link!

The End Is Near...

... because I got a bargain at a toy show. Seriously. This never happens.

Here's how things usually go:

A) I buy something at a premium (before it hits stores) because I'm so excited that it's been released. Later on, I find it remaindered for half as much because it turns out that I was the only one who wanted it.

B) I buy a lot of movie merchandise at a premium because I'm so excited that its film is finally coming out. It premieres six weeks later, and I don't like it at all. The toys immediately becomes a monument to my impatient stupidity, and I give them all to Goodwill because none of my collector friends want them either.

C) I buy a vintage toy at a decent price, but wind up buying it again when I find one in better condition - I rationalize it by promising myself that I'll sell the other one. Of course, the object of a once-hotly-contested auction now sits on eBay like it's infected with the plague.

D) I see something that vaguely interests me, but don't buy it. Six months later, I change my mind completely, and wind up paying ten times retail for it.

But not this time. This time I waited, and it paid off.

I'd always liked the Kotobukiya Star Wars vinyl kits - the sculpts and paint jobs are really nice, and - compared to the quarter-scale Sideshow figures - more affordable and easier to display. But I picked the Sideshow line to pursue, so I decided not to go down two expensive paths at once.

Until I found out that Kotobukiya was going to produce a kit of Ralph McQuarrie's concept painting of Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker dueling with lightsabers. It's one of my favorite concept paintings, so I was kind of screwed. It was going to cost two hundred dollars, but I had to have it!

It came out last summer for Comic-Con, but I'd bought a lot of other stuff already, and it was big and expensive to ship, so I held off. I kept checking on it, but it was always the same. Two hundred dollars. Two hundred dollars. Two hundred dollars. Plus shipping. So I kept waiting, firmly believing that I was setting myself up for another category D.

Like many times when great things happen, I wasn't even thinking about it any more. I missed WonderCon, so I was really ready for a toy show, and The San Jose show was right there to fill the bill. I got there as close to the opening of the show as I could, paid my early bird admission price, and started to wander. And there it was, at a booth.

For one hundred and twenty dollars.

I couldn't believe it. I walked on, past the staggering bargain, hanging on to my rule of "make one complete sweep before you buy". I'm not sure, but I do think I finished going over all the the tables before I went back.

The cheapskate Vermonter is chanting too good to be true, too good to be true, too good... in an attempt to be practical, I asked the dealer, "Is it in good shape?"

"It's unopened," he said.

"But that's... a really good price." I said, probing for a loophole. What the hell is the catch here? Will I be drafted into the Army if I buy it?

"I know," he said.

"Okay," I said, no resistance left. "I'll take it."

I lugged it about for a while, which did start some conversations (It's a big box). I bought a McFarlane Yogi Bear figure for ten bucks, a couple of Justice League Unlimited figures for another tenner, and four Dudley Spare toys from Cars that amounted to another sixteen dollars. Neat stuff, but most of it was utterly eclipsed by The Bargain.

I know eventually I'll open and display the Star Wars kit (otherwise, what's the point?), but for the first time, I'm wondering if it can really make any happier anyway. What if it's broken, or warped from sitting in the sun or something? Maybe it's better to leave The Bargain as just that.

Naaah.

*************************************************************************************

PS - I almost bought a category B, but it's for sale online - you can pre-order it for a couple of bucks less than it cost at the show, or wait even longer and get one at Toys 'R' Us for a few bucks less than that.

Star Wars, Via Saul Bass

Star Wars fan films never seem to run out of variations. Here's the opening titles as if Saul Bass had designed them. I'm surprised that this wasn't cut to John Williams music, but the jazz definitely gives it that Man With A Golden Arm vibe. Enjoy!

PS - Naturally, there's a variation on the variation - a modified title sequence for the Special Edition. Very funny!

A Catalogue Of Things I Was Determined Not To Do At My Wedding

Still, I love the Super Mario cakes! Enjoy.

Thanks to uberreview.com, and geekologie.com.

I Mean, They're Not Real Spaceships

How much of this launch is due to an X-Wing's intrinsic design, and how much to poor construction? You be the jury!

Picture OTD

Nerd OTD

Taken at this year's Star Wars Celebration (not by me). If you really need to know more about this, go here. But overall, I think this speaks for itself.

Robot Chicken Star Wars Special

Looks pretty funny! I've never watched a full episode, but the clips that I've seen on YouTube are great. Check out some trailers and TV spots here - I think the George Lucas one and the full trailer are the best. I wonder if that's Lucas' real voice?

New Clone Wars Spot

This two-minute spot premiered at last weekend's Star Wars Celebration convention. This shot looks just like an old Ralph McQuarrie painting, and there's a neat bit with Mace Windu leaping from one sky bike to another - but the rest of it leaves me cold.

The 2-D Clone Wars looked great, but it for me was primarily a string of action sequences. I don't think CG really adds anything to the concept - in this case, I think it dilutes the graphic style and the animation performances. In terms of content, there's not much here that I haven't seen endlessly repeated in the three prequels.

Brain Fart: The Chick Star Wars

I've been thinking about this for way too long, so I thought I'd put this up for discussion.

If you ask just about any nerdy guy - especially one in his late thities/early forties - chances are really good that he's a big Star Wars fan. He knows a lot of the dialogue, and peppers it into his converstations.

(Aside: I know there's an ongoing Star Wars vs. Star Trek debate that will never end, so I'm disregarding it for that very reason. I also know that there's a lot of female Star Wars fans too - Princess Leia? Hello? - but I think most people would agree that there's significantly more male fans.)

Anyway, you get the idea. He's loaded with trivia on the film, and if he works in the industry in any way, there's a good chance that Star Wars is the reason he steered in that direction in the first place. I'm one of these guys.

So my question is: what is the chick equivalent? What childhood/adolescent movie do women get all nerdy and obsessive about? Which film do most ladies endlessly quote, and resonates through their lives whether they really want it to or not?

I have some suggestions:

* Pretty In Pink - John Sanford says that in his dating days, he often ran into women who would talk a lot about this film. I can't say, as I don't think that's in my, uh, age range.

* Grease - Well, maybe not, but it was released at about the same time as Star Wars, and I wonder if that's what most of the young girls went to see.

* The Princess Bride - This one might be the main contender. It's a fairy-tale romance, but it's clever and quirky, so it could appeal to the misfit-chick-nerds, too (I had just seen Baron Munchausen, so it didn't work very well for me at the time, even though it has a better story).

* Sleepless in Seattle - It probably appeals to a slightly older crowd, but it rebooted the chick flick in a big way, so I figure it's probably a contender.

* When Harry Met Sally - Another chick-flick milestone with a pretty universal experience - risking a friendship for love.

* Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Okay, it's a television show, but I do know a fair number of women who get pretty nerdy about it. Buffy stands on Princess Leia's shoulders and kicks ass at the same time. It's clearly not just a show for most of its audience, so it makes sense to me to include it.

So there's some thoughts. What do you think? Let me know.

Merchandising History

VARIETY GALLERY: 'Star Wars' toys
Size matters not for vintage figures
By DAVID LEWIS
Posted: Fri., May 4, 2007, 5:33pm PT

Nearly as famous as the films themselves, vintage "Star Wars" figures have a following of their own, and helped revolutionize the action figure industry into the thriving business it is today.

Conventional wisdom of the mid-'70s saw movies (even those aimed at kids) as a merchandising gamble, and Fox and Lucasfilm had trouble finding a suitor when it came to toy manufacturers, but Kenner Products took a chance. When the film debuted in May 1977, it became an instant surprise hit. As "Star Wars" fever swept the world, fans clamored for any paraphernalia relating to the film. Except for some cheapie games and puzzles, Kenner was unable to deliver toys in time for Christmas that year.

Early bird

In the meantime, Kenner offered a strange alternative: It presold a set of four figures (Luke, Leia, Chewie and R2) in an empty box dubbed the "Early Bird Certificate Package." Kids and collectors could purchase the box, which they could later exchange for the four figures. The ploy worked, and Kenner sold out of its "Early Bird" run. Fan anticipation was further sated soon after, when the first 20 figures were released.

Size matters not

Eschewing the larger size of such successful figure lines as Hasbro's 12" G.I. Joe and Mego's various 8" figures, Kenner opted to sculpt the "Star Wars" figures at 3¾" tall. While the size didn't allow for great detail, it lowered the price of each toy, and quickly became the industry standard. Chief among the converted was Hasbro, whose hugely successful 1982 relaunch of G.I. Joe stood at 3¾".

Variations

In addition to a number of small production variations, the first wave of "Star Wars" figures contained a number of oddities. The initial pressings of Luke, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi came with what came to be known as "double-telescoping" lightsabers, which could be extended to nearly twice their original length. These figures are now extremely rare. Also, the Imperial officer figure originally known as the "Death Squad Commander" was later renamed the less sinister "Star Destroyer Commander."

Fett fete

The 21st figure of the initial line was the as-yet-unseen-on-film Boba Fett. Destined to become a fan favorite, Fett had been shown only in a brief animated clip on 1978's "Star Wars Holiday Special." The Fett figure was initially slated to include a "rocket-firing" feature, but Kenner scrapped the idea over safety concerns. While the rocket-firing Fett never made it to production, various prototypes made their way into the public, and they typically fetch a bounty numbering in the thousands on eBay.

'Power' is on

1980's "Empire Strikes Back" and 1983's "Return of the Jedi," each yielded new figure lines, yet after "Jedi" left theaters, excitement for the toys began to wane. Kenner introduced a new line, dubbed "The Power of the Force" which re-issued the old figures with new packaging. The POTF line also offered 15 new figures, mostly featuring briefly-seen background players like Amanaman, Barada and the elderly Anakin Skywalker, whose ghostly image appears in the last scene of "Jedi."

Tooning in

In 1983, Kenner produced two other "Star Wars"-related lines, based on the animated spinoffs "Droids" and "Ewoks." The "Droids" line provided for one of toy collecting's strangest occurrences. A second line of figures failed to make it past the prototype stage, but somehow a mold of the portly minor character Vlix made it to Brazil, where it was produced several years later. Now considered the Holy Grail of toy collecting, the little-known character commands obscene amounts of money on the secondary market.

Happy Birthday, Star Wars!

VARIETY: 'Star Wars' 30th anniversary
How Lucas, ILM redefined business-as-usual
By PAUL CULLUM
Posted: Fri., May 4, 2007, 5:45pm PT

In the official souvenir program for "Star Wars," George Lucas says of his most famous creation: "It's always been what you might call a good idea in search of a story." One that 30 years later, the industry seems to have taken to heart.

"George never set out to reform or change Hollywood," says Steve Sansweet, Lucasfilm's official "Star Wars" ambassador. "He has invested in what he thought was necessary to make the kind of movies that he wanted to make."

Lucas arguably created the concept of the summer blockbuster by targeting Memorial Day weekend as the optimum release window -- an honor Sansweet is loath to claim.

But Lucas was clearly the first to see the latent value in merchandising, a profit stream so obscure that Fox Studios, which legendarily released the film on just 32 screens, allowed him to take 40% of it in exchange for a reduced salary. Forbes Magazine estimates earnings for all "Star Wars"-related products at $20 billion. Sansweet will only confirm the figure of $12 billion in worldwide merchandise sales, which he calls "the big number," plus more than 100 million copies of various "Star Wars" videos sold, but he notes that merchandising went from a $5 billion annual business in 1976 to $60 billion within a decade, largely on the film's example.

Jeff Walker, a freelance marketing liaison between studios and fan conventions, credits Lucasfilm's Charles Lippincott with pioneering the marketing of genre pictures to their core audiences. "He's the guy who took 'Star Wars' out to the conventions," Walker says. "He did slideshows at 'Star Trek' and comicbook and science-fiction conventions the year before it came out, and really revolutionized this whole approach of going directly to the fans -- where essentially those three audiences converged."

Walker credits "Star Wars" with launching the '70s-'80s boom in science-fiction films, and credits the merchandising with tiding the fans over during the three years between each of the first three installments. But arguably, the whole notion of extended franchises, fanbase marketing and ancillary licensing -- the comicbooks, novelizations, et al that within the subculture are known as the "expanded universe" -- would not be possible without Lucas' unprecedented dedication to creating new technology.

One who knows that dedication firsthand is Richard Edlund, a key figure at the inception of Industrial Light & Magic, the Lucasfilm division created in 1975 to meet the series' special effects needs. Today a major visual effects supervisor himself, he hailed from a background in photography, robotics and motion control, and was recruited by effects team leader John Dykstra.

"John was a real evangelist," says Edlund, "and got the ear of ("Star Wars" producer) Gary Kurtz, who was really the unsung hero of ILM. Gary is a gearhead, and he understood that this lugubrious process we had to build was the only way to do it." He credits his team with perfecting motion-control repeatable robotic photography and the mastery of the bluescreen process, with its ability to composite multiple images, among other innovations.

"Basically, we would paint ourselves into a corner, and then we would have to invent ourselves out of it," he says. "Every day we were doing something that hadn't been done before."

"Star Wars" also initiated what later evolved into animatics -- creating crude, sometimes multiplane animations as placeholders and previsualizations of more complex effects shots still to be realized. It was the first film to screen in Dolby stereo (a special Dolby mix was created for participating theaters), which allowed the film to use sound for the first time as a spatial component, and for subfrequencies to augment traditional sound effects. Sound designer Ben Burtt also garnered a Special Achievement Oscar for his unique sound textures. This led directly to THX, Lucasfilm's own sound calibration division, as well as TAP, the Theater Alignment Program, whereby filmgoers could report technical inconsistencies back to the parent company -- in effect providing quality control for individual theaters.

The company's EditDroid digital editing technology was eventually sold to Avid as a basis of that company's system, and its SoundDroid innovation represents the first digital sound mixing capability. The team that eventually became Pixar was imported en masse from New York and kept on payroll as an open-ended experiment.

As Internet film maven Harry Knowles says of Lucas: "He was a one-man research-and-development arm for the technology of the film industry."

That's not to mention the renewed interest in Joseph Campbell or the revival in movie soundtrack sales or what we know today as "fan fiction." Nor does it include the "Star Wars" missile defense system, "the evil empire," "the Force," "the dark side" and all the other ready-made political tropes and working metaphors that have impacted the culture at large.

Perhaps Sid Ganis, who joined Lucasfilm in 1979 and is currently head of the Motion Picture Academy, offers the film's ultimate legacy. "I can tell you I have a 4-year-old grandson named Isaac who has not seen 'Star Wars' and does not know that I was a member of the team from 'Empire' on. But he knows the characters by name, he wears a Darth Vader cape, and he goes to the library and gets kids books about 'Star Wars.'

"So 'Star Wars' is in his life because it's in the culture. The merchandising exists, but it's not being pounded into the psyche of kids. It doesn't have to be. They know it."

A New Star Wars Book!

On the face of it, this would hardly seem to merit its own post, but this looks to be the best one since they made the book about the Lucasfilm Archives. The book focuses soley on the first movie, and it looks like they're lavishing it with a higher level of anal-retentive detail that ever! I leafed through a friend's copy, and I'm still seeing photos and stuff that I've never seen before. That archive must be pretty deep!

Anyway, you can buy it at Amazon for $44.99 + shipping. Nerds ahoy!

For You Combination Magritte & Star Wars Fans - Both Of You

I didn't do this. I got it from here.