ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 9

Bounty Hunters were introduced into the Star Wars galaxy in the Mos Eisley Cantina, but The Empire Strikes Back brought them to an entirely new level of prominence. On the deck of The Super Star Destroyer, Executor, Darth Vader called upon half a dozen of the best to snare The Millennium Falcon. Gentle Giant has nearly completed their line of mini-busts portraying these characters, but just as impressive in design, if not stature, are these "bust-ups," roughly two inches high and made of plastic.

Dengar, Bossk, 4-LOM, and Zuckuss were part of 2005's Bust-Ups Series 3 along with a different Boba Fett sculpt and a Jango Fett. In 2006 a box set with all six seen in the photo added IG-88 and a more classic Boba Fett pose (along with a new Vader). The bust-ups line is currently retired by Gentle Giant but there was also a Battle of Hoth wave released as part of their ESB offerings. 

ESB@30: Happy Birthday, Irvin Kershner!

Irvin Kershner, director of The Empire Strikes Back, turns 87 today!

Happy Birthday, Kersh!

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 8

The Empire Strikes Back, along with the rest of the Classic Trilogy has been released three times on DVD.

For the first two releases, in 2004 and 2006, Hasbro created action figure 3-packs exclusively sold at Wal-mart for about $10. 

The small sticker by Chewie's head warns buyers that there are no DVDs included. The Han and Chewbacca figures were dulicated for the second release (bottom) and Princess Leia lost her spot to a Stormtrooper.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 7

Gentle Giant Ltd. gained prominence as the hype for Episode II ramped up and they've made scores of statues, maquettes, and other sculptures as one of the most successful modern licensees of the Star Wars brand. The most popular of their lines is the mini-bust and the Empire Strikes Back has been well-represented. The bust below is a variant of a 2006 Chewbacca released two years later as a PX Previews exclusive.

The head sculpt has been changed and he now sports a breathing apparatus as seen when Han, Leia, and Chewbacca venture out of the Millennium Falcon while in the belly of the Space Slug. In the photo you'll also see the magnetic-mouthed mynock that was exclusive to Sideshow Toys' Bespin Han Solo sixth-scale figure. A matching Mynock Hunt Leia is due later this year.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 6

Some of my best memories of Star Wars as a kid come from listening to the Star Wars and Empire Radio Dramas on NPR. The latter debuted on February 14th, 1983, and told an extended story of The Empire Strikes Back in 10 weekly episodes and built excitement for the upcoming Return of the Jedi theatrical release. Mark Hamill, Billy Dee Williams, and Anthony Daniels reprised their film roles and were joined by the talents of John Lithgow as Yoda, Brock Peters as Darth Vader, and Perry King as Han Solo among others. The music of John Williams and the sound design of Ben Burtt are heard throughout the serial which runs over four hours.

In 1993 Highbridge Audio released the first CD and cassette versions of the ESB Radio Drama, then in 1995 the Radio Play by Brian Daley was released by Del Ray. The Star Wars Radio Dramas are now also available for download from Audible.com.

For my personal Star Wars canon the radio dramas are only trumped by the actual movies.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 5

For 79¢ each of the four glasses on the left were sold in Burger King restaurants filled with a cross-marketed medium Coca-Cola. My family usually preferred other brands of fast food, but we made special trips to Burger King for 4 weeks in the Summer of 1980. Burger King did similar promotions with four glasses each in 1977 and 1983.

Amazingly, the motif was revisited in 2004 and 2005, when Hasbro released several waves of "Collectible Figures and Cups" for $10-$12 per set. Three of these represented The Empire Strikes Back. The included figures were outdated designs such as the 1995 pilot Luke, but the cups emulate the original glasses with updated artwork. I've put paper in each cup so that the images can be seen clearly.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 4

Today's selections are the Empire Strikes Back pins from Star Wars Weekends 2004 at Disney-MGM Studios (now called Disney's Hollywood Studios). Each retailed for $10.50 and were limited to 1000, available at the second of five Weekends devoted to Star Wars. Interestingly, this weekend began on May 21st, the anniversary The Empire Strikes Back's first release in 1980.

For the Dagobah pin, Yoda is a separate pin-on-pin and there is subtle mist cleverly colored into the background. For the Bespin pin the entire Vader is a pin-on-pin.

In addition to being sold individually they were also included in a Framed Set of 11 pins that included the 9 regular pins, the main logo pin for SWW 2004, and a bonus logo pin exclusive to the set. Star Wars Weekends have been around most years since 1997 and specific Weekends pins have been sold for them in 2000, 2001, and each year from 2003 to present. In celebration of the 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, all of 2010's upcoming SWW pins will have an ESB theme.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 3

Of the many new characters introduced in The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda has arguably had the most impact. There are many collectibles of our little green friend. Most fall in to two categories- the pensive elf from Dagobah or the warrior seen in the Prequels.

The two that I've chosen show the gentler side of Yoda. First is a Tomy diorama from Japan. These were blind-boxed and sold in 2002 along with a packet of about ten sugary pellet candies. This is a common way of selling toys in the candy aisle, which I suppose isn't the worst idea for the candy aisle. It's very expressive considering the figure is about an inch tall. He sits on a detailed log with a fully painted swamp base. For this photo I've put a Knobby White Spider from the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars Miniatures line (2007) in the background.

The second was an unadvertised promo from Taco Bell that came out during the massive releases of the Star Wars Trilogy Special Editions in early 1997. There were seven regular toys offered and this Yoda if you asked for the ages three and under toy.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 2

The Twin Pod Cloud Car, protector of the Cloud City skies over Bespin, has always been one of my favorites. 

When the larger of these vehicles was released in 1980 by Kenner I liked that it held two figures and could be "flown" by my 8 year-old hands all over the yard. Its action features are limited to the cockpit canopies and the duel landing gear. I never even had the vintage pilot that was released a couple of years later, but Luke in his Bespin fatigues seemed to go on a lot of missions with Lando back in those days. 

The renaissance of Star Wars toys brought about the smaller Cloud Car pictured. Galoob, who, like Kenner, was later bought by Hasbro, came out with their take in 1996. It has decidedly more detail and adds a sliding engine cover that reveals inner mechanical detail.

ESB@30: 30 Collectibles, day 1

The Empire Strikes Back was first released in the the US on 21 May 1980. To commemorate the 30th Anniversary of what many consider to be the best movie in the Star Wars saga I'm going to spotlight 30 ESB-related items from my collection.

The first up is a chase item from 2009's Takara Tomy miniature polystone statue collection.

At just 10 cm high it comes in two pieces and perfectly conveys the test pilot for Darth Vader's Carbon-Freezing program. It was released only in Japan but can still be found regularly from importers and on eBay. Other statues in the collection are Vader, Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca. Han in Carbonite is the only one that is specifically an Empire Strikes Back design. Each are randomly packed in sealed plastic "eggs."

Empire@30: Happy Birthday, Clive Revill!

Clive Revill, the original voice of The Emperor in The Empire Strikes Back, turns 80 today.

Check out his performance, here.

Happy Birthday, VaderSculptor, Brian Muir

Brian Muir, guest of honor at Saturday's SWGFA April Social, has a birthday today! Come by Heroes Landing in Clermont and wish him a belated birthday this weekend. Check out his new book, In The Shadow of Vader, that will be on sale there as well!

A week from today... The SWGFA April Event!

We are just one week away from what promises to be our largest gathering to date.

Location, Date & Time:

The SWGFA will be meeting at Heroes Landing on Saturday, April 17th from 5:00pm to 9:00pm. Big thanks to the owners, Todd Merrick and Stu Cohen for opening up their store to us! The physical address for the shop is 12348 Roper Blvd. Clermont, FL 34711. If you have questions about directions, please call the store at 352-242-XMEN (9636).

Sculptor Brian Muir Signing:

We are very pleased to announce that the original Darth Vader helmet & suit, CZ-3, Death Star Droid helmet and Stormtrooper armor sculptor, Brian Muir, will be attending this event for his first US signing ever. Brian will be on hand to sign copies of his new book "In the Shadow of Vader" which will be available for purchase at his table. He will also be signing autographs on officially licensed photos, posters, figures, helmets, etc. for $20.00 each. Brian has worked on such films as A New Hope, Indiana Jones, James Bond, The Dark Crystal, Sleepy Hollow, Planet of the Apes, Alien, The Princess Bride, Tomb Raider, Happy Potter and many more!

Star Wars Artist Tim Proctor:

Official Topps Star Wars artist Tim Proctor will also be joining us to show off his latest work and talk with fans and collectors. Some of his most recent work can be seen in the hugely popular Topps trading card set, Star Wars Galaxy Series 5.

Raffle:

We will be holding a raffle with some very cool prizes including orignal artwork, posters, autographed items, books and much more. Ticket prices are as follows - 1 for $1.00 or 6 for $5.00. 100% of all proceeds from the ticket sales will go to the SPCA Of Central Florida.

501st Legion:

We are happy to announce that members from the 501st Legion Florida Garrison will be in attendance! Be sure to bring your camera!

Food & Drinks:

G's N.Y. Pizza, which is located one door down from the comic shop, will be offering attendees a 10% discount for our event. Drinks will also be available for purchase at the comic shop. These include Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Mountain Dew, Dr Pepper, Aquafina Water, Orange and Grape Crush, and similar drinks. They also sell lots of novelty energy drinks like Ghostbusters, Futurama Slurm and more.

Costume Contest:

Everyone is encouraged to come in costume! We will be holding our very first costume contest. 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. With Celebration V just around the corner, this is a great opportunity to practice wearing it in public.

Store Discount:

All SWGFA, Rebelscum.com, TheForce.net and 501st Legion members will receive 10% off all in store purchases. Just be sure to mention that you saw this story!

What To Bring:

• Bring yourself, bring the family, bring a friend!

• A costume to enter the costume contest!

• Something for Brian Muir to sign!

Alec Guiness born this date in 1914

Alec Guiness, the original (and to some, the only) Obi-Wan Kenobi was born on this date 96 years ago.

The Episode of the Month: A New Hope

A tradition that I started a few years back that some of us have adopted is to watch one of the Star Wars theatrical features per month twice a year. We do it in order so that Episode I is featured in the first month, January, and again in July. Episode II follows in February, and August, and so on. By the end of the year, we've made it through the Saga twice.

It's a fun way to have a number of us be able to focus on one movie in the same month, which means that to a certain degree we can watch them with fresh eyes and a desire to share new and old opinions. Any thoughts you'd like to share would be welcomed in The Movies forum.

If you'd like to join us, the April Episode of the Month is IV: A NEW HOPE. While I've been keeping up with the first three movies this year, I must admit I am particularly interested in watching the original Star Wars and getting back to my fandom roots. Next month, appropriately the month that will include the 30th Anniversary of THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, Episode V will be featured.

Sit back, watch the opening crawl, and look forward to seeing an old favorite again- you know you'll see something new this time. I always do.

Every Saga Has a Beginning

Welcome to the first post of the first blog for the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance, a rag tag group of Star Wars fans from all over the state. If there's a bright center to the Star Wars universe this year, you're in the state where it's at. The Binary Sunshine State.

In addition to the current Out of this World exhibit featuring Star Wars and Indiana Jones costumes and props, Orlando's MegaCon 2010 featured a handful of presentations by Lucasfilm Director of Content Management Steve Sansweet. Direct from Europe when Star Wars in Concert returns to the US this May, it makes three stops in Florida. Disney Hollywood Studios continues its long-running annual tradition of Star Wars Weekends through May and June. Then, the biggest Star Wars party of the year comes to Orlando in the form of Star Wars Celebration V.

The fans couldn't ask for anything more. And this blog is going to cover all these events and represent the Star Wars Grand Florida Alliance.

The Grand Florida Alliance began in the fall of 2008 when Chris Wyman, who would soon be a staffer on Rebelscum.com and your humble narrator, Campbell Evans, leader of Central Florida's The Orlando System started talking about organizing fans in the state into a cohesive group. A few months later we adopted our moniker and had our first official meeting joining the Tampa Star Wars Club to the Orlando System and inviting everyone in between. The connection has led to some wonderful friendships, a lot of fun, and more and more regional fans being able to share their appreciation of the Galaxy Far, Far Away.

Since then, we've gained another club, The Treasure Coast Star Wars Club, led tirelessly by Rich Sledziewski. More clubs are in the making, and we appreciate and welcome everyone else that has a connection to Florida and a love of some part of Star Wars.

We would be honored if you would join us this year, and what a year it's turning out to be....