Upcoming: Slave Leia Apron & Han In Carbonite Throw
StarWarsShop.com has recently announced a couple of interesting exclusives. The first is a Slave Leia apron. A little tacky methinks. More interesting to me is the Han in Carbonite throw (blanket). It’s 52 inches by 68 inches in size, so I guess it’s a little smaller than life size, but probably close enough. Might be a good decoration for my “throne room.” 😉 It’s kind of pricey at $60, though.
At the San Diego Comic Con, Hasbro has shown pictures of the new Walmart-exclusive Jabba and throne, as well as the Wooof and Gamorrean figures. All of these are due out later this year. The Gamorrean looks kind of odd, but I’m hoping that’s because he’s going to have a soft goods “fur” loincloth that goes over what we see here. (Pictures are from Rebelscum’s SDCC coverage.)
Also, while I had heard rumors to this effect earlier, it’s good to have confirmation that the Jabba set is going to be priced at $34.99, which is frankly less than I was afraid it would be.
Greg Peltz recently unveiled a series of digital paintings showing Star Wars characters in 19th century dress, including brilliant versions of C-3PO, Boba Fett, and Chewbacca, as well as slightly different versions of Darth Vader and Luke & Leia. I really liked this idea (kind of reminds me of the steam punk-inspired “Steam Wars” figures that Silloff made). Anyway, I commissioned Greg to do a Jabba painting for me.
While Jabba is generally thought of as a gangster, my concept for this piece was that Jabba would be a merciless robber baron from the late 19th century, and I think Greg captured that perfectly. I plan to print the high-resolution version of this and put it in a nice oval frame.
EDIT #1: Here it is printed out and framed.
EDIT #2: This piece and the other ones that Greg did in a similar style are now available as officially licensed prints from ACME Archives Direct.
Legacy Collection Yarna d’al’ Gargan by Hasbro
Yarna (or “Gargan” as she is probably better known) is another character from Jabba’s palace that has never had a figure before, although there was actually a prototype vintage figure made, but never finished or released. Like just about everyone else, she had a complicated backstory invented for her, and I’ll have to say this one is more interesting than most.
Apparently Jabba forced her to wear wart makeup and put on weight because it reminded him of his “mother” (I think Hutts are supposed to be asexual, but they didn’t entirely stick to that). She escaped Jabba’s palace after his death and eventually danced at Han Solo and Leia’s wedding.
This figure is a notorious “peg warmer” (a figure that stays on the pegs at the store forever without selling), and I guess that’s not a surprise. A fat dancer with six breasts probably isn’t the most exciting figure for most, unless you’re trying to fill out a Jabba display.
Gamorrean Guard Figural Mug by Applause
Although this was released in 1996, it’s pretty good match for the vintage Klaatu mug from Sigma, even if it is somewhat larger. If anything it’s even less practical to actually use as a mug, though, due to its irregularly shaped mouth.
Vintage Rebo Band Cork Board by Manton
Manton Cork made a fairly extensive line of Star Wars themed cork boards, which are used for posting notes, photos, and the like. This one features the Rebo Band, although there are also two others that have Jabba on them that I have yet to acquire.
It measures 11 Â x 17 and is a little worse for wear, as I got it used. It was apparently once owned by a young man named “Chad” who put his name in the lower lefthand corner.
I’ve been talking about this diorama for a while now, starting with the in-progress shots of the sculpt that Sideshow posted in January. And it’s finally shipping out to customers. Apparently the regular version has actually been available at some online retailers for a couple of weeks, but the exclusive version (with an extra Salacious Crumb statue) is just shipping now.
The Jabba sculpt is excellent, and the paint on Jabba is really well done, with the exception of the nostrils, which have a whitish green color that is kind of odd. I also think the eyes should be a lot more glossy, although that’s hard to see in pictures. I had originally thought I would be repainting the nostrils a darker color, but I think I’ll probably leave it as it is. In normal lighting conditions, they don’t look bad at all. I’d say the overall paint job is considerably nicer (and less overpoweringly green) than the one on the 1/6 scale Jabba, which is a nice surprise. The base is nice, too. Looks like bronze.
It’s not a huge piece, but it’s not tiny either. Compared to the Gentle Giant Jabba, I’d say they are similar in size if you take into account the fact that the SS Jabba’s tail is curved while the GG one is more straight. Of course the GG version appears much larger due to the inclusion of the throne.
Leia is pretty good. She’s painted well, and I guess the likeness isn’t too bad considering her small size. The exclusive Salacious crumb is not bad. He does sort of fill a space on the base that would otherwise be empty, but I wouldn’t consider him to be a must-have by any means.
A couple of nice surprises: the ends of the chain stay in place with magnets. The chain does sort of disappear into Jabba’s back, but you can’t really see that. (I probably could’ve made the chain a bit more taut in the pictures.) There’s also a really cool illustration on the bottom of the base (see below). I almost missed it.
I’d give it a 4 out of 5 stars, taking one star away due to the somewhat high price point, the odd paint job on the nostrils and the eyes that could use more gloss.
Here it is on my shelf, with a framed set of sketch cards by Otis Frampton.
Ephant Mon Figure by Hasbro
Yet another entry in Hasbro’s Saga Collection is Ephant Mon, Jabba’s head of security. He’s quite a large and heavy figure, standing taller than the average humanoid, while also being much bulkier. He comes with a cane and a bladed weapon that can be combined together if you so desire. Although Ephant Mon has been around since the original film, this is the first time we’ve gotten a figure of him, and he’s a pretty good one at that. He doesn’t have a lot in the way of articulation, but he does have a mouth that opens and closes and some nice detailing.
Rappertunie Figure by Hasbro
I’ve covered the “special edition” versions of the Rebo Band here, but there is actually one more member that I left out: Rappertunie (aka Rapotwanalantonee Tivtotolon). As I said in the other entry, I don’t care for the new additions to the band very much. But this one doesn’t look as out of place as the others, probably because he was an actual puppet digitally inserted into the movie, rather than a CGI character. He doesn’t do a whole lot, but he is sort of cute. He’s got a pretty interesting instrument that is essentially a harmonica on steroids. The figure itself is pretty well done, with good paint work and sculpting.
Holographic Luke Skywalker by Hasbro
Another entry in the Saga Collection is Holographic Luke Skywalker. He’s supposed to be from the message the RD-D2 plays for Jabba, telling him that he can keep the two droids as his gift (the scene portrayed in this painting by Tim Proctor). It’s an interesting way of dealing with a “holographic” character — a different approach than the “cast them in blue plastic” approach that they usually use. They’ve used a sort of translucent plastic that still has Luke’s normal colors. I’m not sure it’s entirely successful, but it’s definitely a unique effect. I’m not sure why he comes with a light saber, since he doesn’t use one as a hologram.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 
