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.