Happy Holiday Edition Action Figures

It's December 25th, so for me this day brings a lot of great memories of Star Wars toys I received in Christmases as a kid. If you're a kid or family member that's exchanging Star Wars gifts this holiday I hope you're able to create some memories as vivid as I was able to make as a youngling. If this holiday isn't for you, Merry Christmas all the same. No matter what your background, I hope everyone has a wonderful day and finds good fortune in 2011.

There have been quite a few Christmas-related Star Wars products over the years, everything from ornaments and snowglobes to action figures and greeting cards. The latter of these has spun off in the last decade into four releases from Hasbro that feature Lucasfilm Star Wars Christmas artwork.

In 2002, the tradition began as Wal-mart had an exclusive R2-D2 and C-3PO dressed as a reindeer and Santa, respectively. Included in the package was a reproduction of the 1980 Ralph McQuarrie Lucasfilm holiday card that inspired the design.

The next year the Star Wars Fan Club offered an exclusive Santa Yoda based on a McQuarrie painted design. It was packaged similarly and again included a copy of a Lucasfilm card, this one from 1981.

By 2004 the series was in full swing and a Christmas pair of Jawas was released exclusive to Entertainment Earth. Interestingly, the light ports common to Hasbro's Jawas at the time were colored red and green so each Jawa sported festive glowing eyes. The card that was included was originally sent out by Lucasfilm in 1994.

2005 saw the most recent 3.75" scale figures released as holiday editions. In June of that year a Vader and Luke came packed with a card in the "I Am Your Father's Day" Wal-mart set and fully red-clad Lord Vader repainted for the Holidays exclusive to StarWarsShop.com. While a card was included, it wasn't a McQuarrie reproduction. I was actually more amused by the interesting artwork on the card behind the figure. Using the Original Trilogy Collection design, the figure is posed on the deck of a Star Destroyer lit with candles and red lights. The figure was vac-metallized and suffered from chipping so it's better left in the package.     

The Holiday Editions have been dormant for a while, but they're great little collectibles and can still be had cheaply on the secondary market. If you don't have enough of the galaxy far, far away decking your halls, it's time to get out on the hunt.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas Star Wars fans! 

Solo and the Cookiee

Threadless is having a $9 sale through 11am tomorrow. They've got quite a few Star Wars designs including this one by San Diego illustrator Philip Tseng. It's a better take on this older design by Twallis.

Here's a very clever (jed)Eye Chart design by David Schwen that is both reminiscent of the Star Wars opening crawl and the first famous ten words from each picture:

This one's by Vincent Bocognani and recycles an old StarWars.com video:

There are quite a few more so check out the link and find your favorite.

Irvin Kershner: Requiescat In Pace

Irvin Kershner, director of The Empire Strike Back, has died, age 87. May the Force Be With Him.

Black Friday Deals

Acme Archives is having 25% off their entire stock with the code HOLIDAY25, through November 29th.

Samurai Origins

Another daily Star Wars shirt is up for sale. This time it's at TeeFury with art by AJ Paglia. It's available till midnight for $11 delivered.

This is a pass for me as I've seen the motif tackled in different ways that I prefer. You may remember an article just this fall with some very interesting takes on Star Wars characters as if from some Samurai scroll.

My personal favorite takes on this concept are by figure customizer Sillof:

Imperial Walkers have entered the base!

You may wonder why I tend to feature t-shirts on the blog. Beyond just liking clever t-shirts, I like the creative renegade nature of them. I like to wear them so that I can ride some of the spirit that the artist put into the design.

Today's shirt is the design of the day at RIPt Apparel and sells for $10.

I really like all the details and that it's all contained in a comically plausible shadow. The art is by UK illustrator Ian Summers.

Boba Fett and Darth Maul debut

Most Star Wars fans that know me know that I wouldn't miss the anniversary of The Star Wars Holiday Special. It's typically something I try to take in on this day and a couple of years ago I even had a party at my house for The 30th Anniversary of The Holiday Special.

And yes, I own a red Snuggie so I can be part of the Wookiee Life Day ceremony should I choose ("Red Dork standing by").

Most people familiar with the Special want to only recall the Nelvana animated feature that's part of the show and introduced the public to Boba Fett. I watch it remembering my six year-old self under a card table fort watching CBS and loving that I could see something Star Wars in my pre-VCR world.

However, this date not only marks that notorious moment in Original Trilogy history. Twenty years later the public got its first views of a brand new trilogy as the teaser trailer for Star Wars Episode I was released. On November 17th, 1998, select theaters were able to show copies of The Waterboy and Meet Joe Black with the new Star Wars preview attached.




At the theater in Oviedo, FL where I personally saw it (with The Waterboy), the trailer was shown again after the movie. The manager announced this after taking a poll before the movie, "How many of you are here just to see the Star Wars preview?" Every one of us in the theater raised our hands.
 

StarWarsShop $5 Specials

For the first time in a long time Star Wars Shop is featuring quite a few items at a real, significant discount. Each of the ones featured below is $5 and originally sold for $16.99 to $59.99. The greatest discount, over 90% off, is on the Randy Martinez-designed Kashyyyk Rage Basketball Jersey.

Another impressive deal brings down the price of the once over-priced exclusive Warren Fu Concept General Grievous.

    

From Celebration Japan, this set of BearBrick Ewoks originally was sold for $24.99.

They've also got a couple of their exclusive ACME Character Keys including Maris Brood and Short Round.

There are quite a few individual action figures, the Tales of the Clone Wars webcomic collection, and some 12" Indy figures. For your t-shirt needs they've got the exclusive shirt that helped reveal Ahsoka Tano to the world as well as a few of Indiana Jones shirts.

I wasn't willing to shell out original prices for these products, but at $5 a pop, they just got a whole lot more interesting. Thanks StarWarsShop for letting us help clean out your storeroom!

Knowing is half the battle.

Today's Stupid Hurts Us t-shirt is a mash-up by Brinkerhoff of Darth Vader and GI Joe's Cobra Commander. I never realized how close his helmet resembled the Dark Lord's.

The shirt's $13 and is available till 3am EST.

My joints are almost frozen.

A swimsuit by Australian designer Black Milk was recently featured on Gizmodo. The one-piece bathing suit is made from the image of R2-D2's barrel-shaped body. While I doubt I'll be spending the more than $80 this item retails for, I certainly would love to see my wife sporting this around the pool next Summer.

 

Dengar Goes Through The Change

One of my favorite features on JediDefender.com is their Collect All 92! series that compares original Kenner figures to the best action figure versions of the same character. This week's selection is Dengar, comparing the original Kenner figure to the "Vintage" one currently on shelves. I like Dengar. Maybe not as much as I was made out to during the CV ramp-up, but I like that his EU-back story connects him to Han Solo. I also like how his strange bandaged get-up includes cobbled together pieces of Stormtrooper and Snowtrooper armor. Despite buying a several Dengars since Hasbro got back into the figure game, this one's one that I really need to pick up. The face likeness is one of the most realistic sculpt and paints I've seen. More than any human face figure (rivaled only by Luke in the Resurgence of the Jedi Battle Pack) this looks like an actual human was shrunk to action figure size.

Check out this great comparison shot from Rebelscum showing all the versions of Dengar from 1980 to now. I always thought the middle sculpt (and in comic pack paint to the right) looked a lot like Cincinnati Reds legend Pete Rose.

And for Pete's sake:

Happy Birthday, Carrie Fisher!

Carrie Fisher, known far and wide as Princess Leia from the original trilogy, was born on this day in 1956.

My Imperial Adidas

Today's RiptApparel.com t-shirt design by Mezakoo:



Available today only at RIPt Apparel for $10 plus shipping.

Brinkerhoff goes where no one has gone before.

Today's TeeFury offering is by artist Brinkerhoff (not to be confused with Star Wars artist Spencer Brinkerhoff) and features an interesting mash-up of Star Franchises. I have to wonder, does it fire proton torpedoes or photon torpedoes?

The Millennium Enterprise is available today only at Teefury. $11 delivered in the U.S.   Cheap!

Entertainment Earth Buy 1, Get 1 50% off Statue Sale

Entertainment Earth's running a buy 1, get half off of a 2nd statue sale right now through the first of November that applies to in stock or pre-orderable statues, including mini-busts and bookends. Since there are quite a few Gentle Giant offerings in the pipeline, if this is your sort of thing, it's worth checking out.

Some of the available pre-orders include the following mini-busts for $59.99:
Slave Leia
The Force Unleashed Darth Vader
Darth Revan
Lando Calrissian
Figran D'an

Cell Block 1138

There are a lot of threads on the SWGFA Message Boards; some strange, some sublime. One of the longer running ones celebrates the fact that many of us happen to notice when a clock reads 11:38. If that's not you, then you may not know the significance of 1138 to the world of Lucasfilm. If you are one of the many people caught by the 11:38 bug, and you're online at the magic time, consider saying 'hi' in the "It's 11:38!" thread.

Happy Birthday Mark Hamill!

Mark Hamill, known far and wide as Luke Skywalker from the original Star Wars movies, was born this date in 1951.

Actress Orli Shoshan confirmed for SWGFA's October Event!

We've just confirmed that Attack of the Clones / Revenge of the Sith actress (and model and fashion designer!) Orli Shoshan will be attending our October Event.  Ms. Shoshan played Jedi Master Shaak Ti whose character recently played a significant role in The Force Unleashed video game.

Details are being worked out, but attendees will have an opportunity to purchase an autograph from Orli, who will be staying for the entire gathering. Add this to a chance to meet Star Wars artist Robert Hendrickson and you've got two more reasons to come out and party with us at Emerald City Comics!

New in bookstores this week is The Sounds of Star Wars by J.W. Rinzler. With a forward by Ben Burtt and including interviews with Matt Wood and Dave Acord, the book features a small device that plays about 250 different sounds.

I attended a preview of the book at Celebration V and was able to discuss the project with Wood and Acord at MegaCon. While I strongly would prefer the sounds be in .mp3 format or on a CD, this still is going to be a valuable resource for those of us that are interested in the making of the movies. Many of the stories behind the creation of the sounds are included, as are some clips in-context, so you'll be reminded of how they sounded in the films. For me, in addition to hearing the stories behind the sounds, I'm just as excited to hear clean versions of most of the sounds so I can hear them clearly.

Also previewed at Celebration V is a book that documents the events in the world surrounding the Star Wars property from the very beginning to today. Star Wars Year by Year: A Visual Chronicle by Dan Wallace, Pablo Hidalgo, Gus Lopez, and Ryder Wyndham does just what it indicates exploring the development and impact of Star Wars as well as its merchandising in the context of real world events.

the SWGFA's October Event is coming soon!

We've been hinting about it for weeks, and now it can be told:


The Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance October Event

Location, Date & Time:
The SWGFA will be meeting at the Emerald City Comics, Games & Toys *Seminole location on Saturday, October 2nd from 5:00pm to 11:00pm. The physical address for the shop is 9249 Seminole Blvd., Seminole, FL 33772. If you have questions about directions, please call the store at 727-398-BOOK (2665).

Special Guest:
We are working on a very special Star Wars guest to come sign autographs, take photos and hang out with fans. More on this soon!

Star Wars Artist Robert Hendrickson:
Official Star Wars artist Robert Hendrickson, fresh from his appearance at Celebration V, will also be joining us to show off his latest work and talk with fans and collectors.

Door Prizes:
Want to win some cool prizes? Just show up and get your ticket when you sign in at the registration booth! We'll be posting winning ticket numbers throughout the evening.

501st Legion & Rebel Legion:
We are happy to announce that members from the 501st Legion Florida Garrison and the Rebel Legion Ra Kura Base will be in attendance! Be sure to bring your camera!

Food & Drinks:
Make sure you bring your appetite! We will have pizza, soft drinks and water available for purchase during the event. Two pieces of pizza and a drink for just $5.00!

Costume Contest:
Everyone is encouraged to come in costume! Those who do show up in costume will receive a special coupon to use in the store! We will be holding a costume contest with the winners announced at 8:00pm. If you have something you've been working on and you need help, bring it. You never know who might be around that could give you some pointers or even assist you with the construction of your costume.

Store Discount:
All SWGFA, Rebelscum.com, TheForce.net, 501st Legion, Rebel Legion & R2 Builders Club members will receive a special coupon good for all in store purchases.

What To Bring:
• Bring yourself, bring the family, bring a friend!
• A costume to enter the costume contest!

If you have any other questions ask them here or feel free to email us at swgfa77@gmail.com. We look forward to seeing you on Saturday, October 2nd at 5:00pm in Seminole! May the Force be with you...always.

* Note: Emerald City has two locations in the Tampa Bay area. Clearwater and Seminole. This event will be at the Seminole location and NOT at the Clearwater location.

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That's no moon!

Today's RIPT Apparel t-shirt features a parody of E.T. and Eliot biking in front of the moon.  

$10 buys it, but it goes away at midnight.

Mother Falcon Struck Back

Andrew Spear

Back to the regular world following Celebration V, I wanted to see what I missed at Mother Falcon Strikes Back, Mother Falcon Clothing's unofficial Empire Strikes Back Celebration. It took place on the first day of Celebration and by the accounts I heard was a really fun time.

The highlight of the show was the t-shirts and original art that had been created with Empire themes by local artists. The shirts can be seen here and the art will be displayed in the store till September 15th. The SWGFA's own Danny Haas contributed this classic:

Danny Haas

Next year is the 30th anniversary of Indiana Jones, could Raiders of the Lost Art be far behind?

I Melt With You

Today's t-shirt from RipT Apparel depicts a melting Stormtrooper ice cream pop by artist Yanmos. It seems appropriate as we approach this week's Celebration V during this hot week in Orlando.

If the concept seems familiar, it might be that you've seen something similar at Star Wars Weekends in the last couple of years on t-shirts and pins.





Or perhaps you recall David Schwen's melting Han-sicle from last year.

Today's shirt is available till midnight for $10. For additional designs by Yanmos, check out his site which includes a number of other Star Wars-inspired designs.

Won't You Join Us?

Always two sides there are, when it comes to handbills. And last week I revealed the dark side of the GFA CV postcard. Now, just a scant three days before we commune in the Orange County Convention Center here's the more informative side.

With art by Celebration Art Show artist Kevin Graham and another great layout by The Jawas, we've got two great designs to tell the world about the SWGFA.

Many older fans will recognize that the image of Vader is an oft-seen promotional shot from Return of the Jedi. Kevin's mashed up his own rendition of the Dark Lord with J.M. Flagg's classic World War I recruitment poster depicting Uncle Sam.

  

Interestingly, the Flagg poster was based on an even earlier poster featuring British Secretary of War, Lord Kitchener.

Known commonly as the "Lord Kitchener Wants You" poster, it's unlikely that anyone could have predicted that 94 years later the concept would be morphed into Lord Vader beckoning Florida fans to join the Grand Florida Alliance.

Many thanks to everyone who helped make the flyer possible. We've got plenty of copies on hand and we'll be passing them out at our booth, #1520, each day of Star Wars Celebration V.  

Heroes Landing & Star Wars Action News Unite To Beat Leukemia

SWGFA ally Heroes Landing has a special event in Clermont the night before Celebration V begins:

from Yakface.com

Heroes Landing, along with Star Wars Action News have joined forces to host a Star Wars Trivia Night to benefit the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society of Central Florida. The event will be held on August 11, 2010 at 7:00 pm. This event will be emceed by Marjorie Carvalho and Arnie Carvalho, hosts of Star Wars Action News, a popular Star Wars podcast.

The event will be held at Heroes Landing, located at 12348 Roper Boulevard, Clermont, FL. All questions will be Star Wars themed with topics ranging from the six Star Wars movies to the hit Cartoon Network show Star Wars: The Clone Wars.

Trivia will be team-based with the winning team receiving 50% of the entry fees with the rest, as well as any other money raised, donated to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Central Florida. In addition to the team cash prize, there will also be chances for individuals to win door prizes donated by Star Wars Action News, Sideshow Collectibles, Dark Horse comics, and a gift certificate to Heroes Landing.

This event will take place the evening before the official Star Wars Celebration begins in Orlando. “We are very excited that Heroes Landing asked us to help out with the trivia night,” said Arnie Carvalho of Star Wars Action News. “This is a perfect kick off to the biggest Star Wars party in the galaxy - Star Wars Celebration and it’s a great benefit for great charity.”

Heroes Landing’s Todd Merrick added "Heroes Landing has always supported local charities and knew that teaming up with Star Wars Action News would reach a broader audience than just our local community. We look forward to hosting this event with great success."

Join Heroes Landing and Star Wars Action News as bring Star Wars fans and trivia buffs together to raise money for an important cause. The event begins at 7:00 PM, teams or individuals can register starting at 6:30 PM.

Five Clubs, Five Patches for Celebration V

If you happened to check the main page of StarWars.com a few days ago you may have seen an article about our patch project with The Washington DC Area Star Wars Collecting Club (DCSWCC), The Kentucky Star Wars Collectors Club (KSWCC), The Ohio Star Wars Collectors Club (OSWCC), and The Pennsylvania Star Wars Collecting Society (PSWCS). Even now, their Collecting page features it prominently.

Crack reporter, and SWGFA co-founder, Chris posted it on Rebelscum and it soon made it's way to the Official Star Wars Blog, and collecting sites like Galactic Hunter, Jedi Defender, and Yodas News.

It was a long process to get these patches made and we're really proud that the group is moving ahead. Looking forward we hope to develop further exclusives which may include charity patches, pins, and coins. This past year we've been recognized by Lucasfilm who approved not only this project but all of the logos that you see sporting trademarks.

To the veterans and to those of you just coming on board, the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance is on the move fulfilling our mission to bring together Florida fans in all quarters.

Today's TeeFury: MASTER TODA

The shirt of the day at TeeFury.com available till midnight (EST) tonight is a visual pun: Master Toda by artist Joao Lauro Fonte.

For $9 and a couple of bucks shipping it can be yours.

A Rather Angular Circular

If we're going to have a booth, we need to have an exclusive, right? Ramping up to Celebration V we've been developing a sharp-looking handbill to give out at our booth. With ideas contributed by the Alliance Council and realized by ForceCastTV producer Mark Minckiewicz this flyer will be our first professionally printed giveaway. We wanted it to convey who we are, but we also wanted to make it desirable as a collectible, one of those things you pull out of your convention swag bag to keep.

One side has most of the information about who we are, how to be part of the group, and some exclusive artwork by Celebration V Art Show artist Kevin Graham. I'm going to show that art very soon, but today you get to see The Dark Side.

We're all familiar with the classic Kenner action figure packaging of the Original Trilogy whether you know it or not. Maybe you saw these hanging on the pegs like I did in the 70s and 80s or bought variations on them in the last decade, Star Wars fans generally like the vintage metallic "racetrack" border, the black background, and classic logos. It's with this in mind that The SWGFA now brings you:    

Look for the 4x6" flyer to be handed out from booth #1520 at Celebration V all four days.

Celebration V: SWGFA Booth #1520

The Alliance Council and Justin (whendroidsfly) are working on some pretty neat ideas for our booth which include some very nice flyers (to distribute), t-shirts (to wear, not to distribute), our banner, a slideshow of past activities, the AT-AT, and our Patch wedge.

However, we can always use more input. Do you have any ideas that you think might make this a particularly interesting booth? Can you think of a game or method of giving out our patches creatively? Got a large display or collectible you'd like to show off? Let us know! This is everyone's club. We'd love help volunteering, but even if you aren't able to do that, you can help with the creation of this booth. We've got only 13 more days till we set this thing up and it's getting pretty exciting!

TeeFury.com's Shirt of the Day

For the past year or two I've been acquiring t-shirts from a handful of websites that often feature a single design. Due to parody rights they are able to use what we'd normally think of as intellectual property and use it without licensing fees. This makes the shirts very inexpensive. Perhaps not to overstay their welcome, many of these sites only sell most of their designs for a single day.

The one that most frequently posts Star Wars designs is called TeeFury.com. Their t-shirts are $9 each plus $2 shipping to Florida.

Today's design exemplifies their bizarre mash-ups and mixtures of Star Wars culture. Some are hits, some swing and miss. Choose for yourself. I give you, Love Child, by artist Jon Plante. It's available till midnight.

To check on several other shirt-a-day sites in one stop, check out Teemagnet.com. 

Cartoon Network is offering one heck of a prize for their Ultimate Fan Getaway:

In addition to $10,000 cash, the grand prize winner gets 4 VIP tix to Celebration V, a 2-story Presidential Suite at the Peabody, and $15,000 worth of Star Wars merchandise.

Signin' mesa up! But hurry- the contest ends on Friday night (9 July) at midnight PST. The winner will be announced on or about 12 July.

ESB Telephone promos

In the months leading up the to the May 21st release of The Empire Strikes Back a telephone number was set up for eager fans to get a preview of the movie from the main actors themselves. These were performed in character by Harrison Ford, James Earl Jones, Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels, and Carrie Fisher.

StarWars.com revisits those halcyon days with a really cool feature where you can read about the promotion, listen to the clips, and even download the audio files.

An enterprising fan has gone one step further and created a telephone line that reproduces the original experience, save for the rotary phone dial. Call (714) 643-2997 and get ready to (re-)experience a new chapter in the Star Wars Saga.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 25

On 16 May 1990, 20 years ago today, the world lost Jim Henson to cancer. One of his greatest legacies is The Muppet Show, and The Muppet Show featured the cast of The Empire Strikes Back way back in it's fourth season. That season has not been released on DVD, but the episode was released on the discontinued Best of The Muppet Show. Pictured is the 25th Anniversary DVD which also includes bonus material such as "screen tests" where Muppets vie for the role of Yoda.

The Empire episode features Mark Hamill as both Luke Skywalker and himself, Peter Mayhew as Chewbacca, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and R2-D2. Amid the regular Muppets madness they join the Pigs in Space on The Swinetrek and perform in a finale medley featuring "When You Wish Upon a Star." 

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 24

SW in C

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 23

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 22

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 21

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, Day 20

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 19

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 18

Happy Mother's Day!  Star Wars isn't known for happy mothers. Think Anakin leaving his Mom: "Will I ever see you again? Shmi basically says, "Well, what do you think?"

So I'm skipping ahead to an Empire Strikes Back-related Father's Day collectible. In 2007, Hasbro released this, "I Am Your Father's Day" 2-pack that included Darth Vader and a fairly ugly Bespin Luke Skywalker. Included inside is a card that proclaims "You're the greatest Dad in the galaxy!" While I didn't open his, I did make sure my old man had one of these. 

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 17

Leia, Luke, and Vader and 3po spinning figures.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 16

Sixth-scale Hantaun.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 15

30 Topps ESB Photo Cards

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, Day 14

ESB NES video game

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 13

In the Empire Strikes Back, the phrase, "May the Force Be With You" is said only once, at the end of the movie by Luke to a departing Lando and Chewbacca. We waited 30 years, but we finally got an action figure of the suave Calrissian the one and only time that he borrowed Han Solo's wardrobe.

May the Fourth Be With You!

Over the last few years fans have made May the 4th the unofficial Star Wars Day. This being May, may I say to you, too, May the Fourth Be with You!

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 12

Vinyl albums have largely been forgotten in the last couple of decades, but in 1980 they were very much a part of the collection of many Star Wars fans. The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack, like the Star Wars soundtrack before it, was a double-album.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 11

Star Wars Weekends merchandise has included over a dozen Star Wars "Big Figs," resin statues that stand over a foot tall, since 1996. This Donald Duck in Carbonite was released in 2009 and is one of only two directly referencing The Empire Strikes Back. The other features Mickey in Dagobah fatigues with Yoda in his backpack. Except for the initial Jedi Mickey which is now an open edition, each are limited to 600 pieces and retailed for about $150.



At this year's Star Wars Weekends, there will be an action figure of "Don in Carbonite."