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."