Toby Philpott Autograph (Celebration V)
Here is an autograph by Toby Philpott (aka “Jabba’s Left-Hand Man). He was one of the puppeteers inside Jabba, controlling his left arm and tongue, and he also kindly donated a box of French chewing gum to my collection. I also conducted a short interview with Toby a couple of months ago.
John Coppinger Autograph (Celebration V)
This is an autograph of John Coppinger from Celebration V earlier this month. John not only sculpted and painted Jabba, he also controlled his eyes via radio control. I’ve always thought Jabba’s face looked rather different when viewed from this angle, but John has said that this is his favorite photo of him, at least when it comes to the colors. When I was researching my article about Jabba’s coloration, he told me that he thought the greens looked most accurate and that it captured the iridescent colors on his face and eyes. (Of course, this is just a scan of the photo, so I can’t guarantee it looks the same way on your monitor as it does in person.)
Since I will have most of the Jabba crew on the upcoming Jabba Connoisseur piece from Wattographs, I hadn’t originally planned to get individual autographs. But then I realized that it would be a good excuse to pick up lots of different shots of Jabba, so I think I will go ahead and get them.
Official Pix Celebration V Jabba the Hutt Pin
Official Pix handled the autographs at Celebration V, and they made a set of 41 pins that corresponded to the people signing autographs at the show (or, more often, the characters that they played). They only made about 150 of each pin, and you could only get one by buying a “metallix” photo of the character in question for $10. The 41st pin was of George Lucas, and you could only get that one by spending $100 on photos. I didn’t even know about this until after the fact or I would’ve made arrangements to get one, but luckily someone on the Rebelscum forums was able to help me out.
It’s a little under an inch in diameter and is made of metal. It’s really quite nice.
EDIT: I later found out that there was a second Jabba pin made. More about that here.
Vintage Pepperidge Farm Cookie Boxes
I’ve already talked about my set of Pepperidge Farm plastic tumblers, which were given out with purchase of these cookies. But here are the boxes themselves. These are for the Chocolate and Peanut Butter flavors, but there was also a Vanilla flavor that I don’t have. The chocolate cookies (aka “The Dark Side”) were the bad guys, which they called the “imperial forces” even though Jabba and his minions were not related to the empire. And they have characters like Max Rebo lumped in with the “rebel alliance.” Honestly, if we can’t expect accuracy from our cookies, where can we expect it? 😀
There were quite a few Jabba-related characters, including Jabba himself, Bib Fortuna, Max Rebo, and Gamorrean Guard. They apparently really liked Max Rebo, since they pictured his cookie on both sides of the box.
Here’s a TV commercial for the cookies:
Link: LEGO Cube Dude Jabba’s Palace Scene on Flickr
I’ve been a fan of this kind of abstract LEGO sculpture ever since I saw the first ones a while ago, but of course these are something special. Joel Baker has created just about every major character from Jabba’s palace, plus the palace itself. Very impressive work. Click through to the Flickr page to see the full-sized pictures.
Vintage Jabba the Hutt Children’s Bathrobe by Wilker Bros
This doesn’t actually have the manufacturer on it anywhere, but it looks identical to this Ewok robe listed on the Star Wars Collectors Archive (with the exception of the color), so I’m assuming it was made by Wilker Bros. Before this cropped up on eBay, I didn’t even know it existed. I can’t seem to find any references to it online, or even in Gus and Duncan’s Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles, so I think I may contact them about adding it.
In any case, it’s a blue and navy kids’ bathrobe with a picture of Jabba the Hutt on the left breast. I got this used from the original owner and the decoration looks a little faded. I don’t know if that’s just the way it always looked, or if it faded after use and washing.
One thing I love about this robe is that it has no other characters other than Jabba. They obviously felt that Jabba had enough “star power” to make kids want to buy it. Of course, when you consider how unusual this item seems to be, it may be that it didn’t sell particularly well.
Finding this makes me want to find the matching pajamas even more…
Jabba the Hutt Boy Scout Patch (2010 Jamboree)
I was never a boy scout, so when I think of boy scout patches, I just think of merit badges, which are given for accomplishing something or learning a particular skill. But I recently discovered that they also make patches like this one, which are made to be taken to the National Scout Jamboree (a huge gathering of boy scouts held every four years). Apparently each troop brings patches that relate to their region, and the scouts trade them at the Jamboree. The most popular ones tend to feature pop culture characters.
This one is part of a Clone Wars set (picture from an eBay auction). It’s from Marin Country, California — home to George Lucas. It’s fairly big at around 5″ by 3.5″ and is embroidered in a way that gives it a quasi-3D effect. It’s hard to capture with a photo. I like how it has the motto “courage, confidence” at the bottom. Those are the qualities I always associate with Jabba, too. 😀
Jabba the Hutt Scruffy (Plush) by Comic Images
As I mentioned in my first post about this series, this Jabba and three other characters (Wampa, Chewbacca, and Ewok) are sold by Comic Images, who also did the Rotta the Huttlet plush. These were first sold at Celebration 5, but I’m not sure if these are actually limited to the convention or not. My hunch is they will probably be available on Starwarsshop or possibly somewhere else at some point, but at the moment anyway, the only way to get one of these is to have gone to Celebration or know someone who did. I didn’t make it to Celebration, but DarthBeek, a user over on the Rebelscum.com forums, kindly offered to get me one. (Thanks!)
It’s about 7.5″ wide by 5″ tall, and is made of a nice soft plush material (unlike the leathery Star Wars buddies version). I really like it, even if it is all one greenish-brown color. It makes me want a much larger, pillow-sized version. Frankly I’m surprised we haven’t seen something like that, or at least more plush versions, considering how many speciality plush toys there are (there are several different plush versions of Cthulhu, for goodness sake!)
EDIT: Sure enough, they’re available on Starwarsshop right now, although you have to buy the entire set of 4 for $30.
News: “What Color Is Jabba the Hutt? (Part 3)” Added to Articles
In the final part of my series on Jabba’s color scheme, I talk about how many different colored versions of Jabba there have been in collectibles, and try to figure out some of the reasons behind this.
Left: Power of the Force Gamorrean. Right: Original Trilogy Collection Gamorrean.
This figure was originally released as part of the Power of the Force 2 series in 1997, and then was re-released as part of the Original Trilogy Collection in 2004. It’s the same figure, but with somewhat different paint. I’d say the Original Trilogy Collection version is better, but it’s not really a huge difference. They’re both better than the vintage figure overall, but of course lack the charm of the vintage sculpt. None of them are really very good likenesses in my opinion, so I’m very happy that we’re getting a new Gamorrean figure soon.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 
