As you may have noticed, it’s been a while since my last entry. Part of the reason for that is that I am currently in Japan. It’s not really a vacation so much as a working holiday, so in addition to meeting people and going places around here, I also have to keep up with my normal freelancing workload, which hasn’t left a lot of time for other things. But I have kept my eyes open for Star Wars-related items, and I’d like to talk a little bit about what I’ve seen.
I was last in Japan exactly two years ago, when I took my son to Tokyo Disneyland and we tried out the then-brand-new Star Tours: The Adventures Continue” ride. When we visited the local Toys R Us at that point there was essentially no Star Wars merchandise at all, aside from a couple of LEGO sets and maybe a handful of very old figures on clearance. The difference between that and what I saw recently is incredible. At that same TRU there’s now an entire aisle dedicated to Star Wars, and I’d say it rivals our local store in terms of selection. In addition to a nice selection of Japanese exclusives, they also had a lot of Hasbro Black Series figures that I had never seen in person before, but unfortunately they were a little pricey.
I’m convinced that this is due to The Force Awakens sparking renewed interest in Star Wars. I’ve even seen a couple of people (adults) wearing Star Wars t-shirts, which I can’t recall seeing before. I do think that they are mostly targeting adult collector types with these displays, rather than kids (who are more interested in the likes of Pokemon or Yo-Kai Watch than Star Wars). But it’s exciting to see stuff like this in stores again, and to get the chance to pick up some Japanese exclusive products. Stay tuned for more!
Bootleg of Mexican Bootleg Jabba the Hutt Figure
No, that’s not a typo. This is in fact a bootleg of a bootleg — a sort of bootleg inception, if you will. As I mentioned in a post from a few years ago about Mexican bootlegs of vintage Kenner figures, there was a bootleg figure of Jabba made, but (presumably due to the size) it was a new sculpt rather than a direct copy like the other figures. This bootleg Jabba is very rare and valuable (to bootleg collectors, at least), so I don’t have one. But this is what it looks like:
Earlier this year, something that looked very similar to this figure appeared on eBay, but cast in green plastic. I’m not sure what the original bootleg was made of, but it was painted in a similar color scheme to the Kenner figure, so this was odd. After some consulting with people who know more about bootlegs than me, my suspicions were confirmed: they were selling a fake version of the original bootleg.
Whether they actually had the original mold or had just made a new mold from one of the bootlegs is unclear, but it is pretty clear that these are modern bootlegs and not from the vintage era. If there was any doubt, the appearance of many of these on eBay in colors like gold, purple, red (like mine) and orange should make it very clear that these have been made for eBay. Still, it’s interesting for me to have a copy of the original. As you can see below, it’s really quite tiny compared to the vintage Jabba figure.
It’s cast in a fairy dense and almost waxy plastic. The arms are in fact attached to ball joints, so they can move in a way that’s not that different from the original figure.
Hooray!
This is the last of the Celebration Anaheim exclusives I picked up. It’s a metal bottle opener in the shape of the rancor’s head. It’s about 3.5″ tall by 2.5″ wide, and has a nice heft to it. The back is rubber with the Celebration Anaheim logo on it. I did try it out on a bottle, and it performed as expected. It originally sold for $20.
As I mentioned in a post about a t-shirt I made almost exactly 5 years ago today, Javva the Hutt is the in-house coffeeshop at Industrial Light & Magic. While they did have some t-shirts (and possibly some other things?) available to people visiting the shop, they were not available to the general public, so if you wanted any you had to hope that someone would sell some on eBay. But that all changed with Celebration Anaheim, where people could buy a number of items featuring the “Javva the Hutt” logo. One of these was a t-shirt, but I was unable to get one. It was very similar to the one I already had, though, so I can live without that one for now (it retailed for $25).
I did get the other items, though, starting with the mug above, which is quite nice. It has the “Javva the Hutt” logo on one side and the Celebration Anaheim logo on the other, and seems to be a pretty high quality product. It sold for $12, which isn’t too bad. I was not so pleased with the travel mug version, however.
I was expecting a hard plastic travel mug, but it’s actually covered in a squishy material like you might find on a “koozie” (one of my least favorite product names ever). The hard parts of the mug seem to be made of very cheap and lightweight plastic, giving the whole thing a rather nasty feel, especially since at $15 it’s more expensive than the nice mug. Also, the logo on the side looks terrible, like it was printed an a cheap inkjet printer with the wrong settings.
Finally, there’s a patch of the Javva the Hutt logo, which sold for $8. I’m not sure I entirely get the appeal of patches, since absolutely nobody ever seems to use them for their original purpose. They’ve become collectibles in and of themselves, like pins. This one’s not bad — it looks nicer in real life than in this photo. It’s around 4 inches wide.
Underground Toys made one of my favorite Jabba the Hutt plushes, and recently announced that they were going to be releasing a Salacious Crumb plush. So I suppose it’s not too surprising that their exclusive from Celebration Anaheim is also Jabba’s Palace related. It sold for $35 at Celebration, and apparently didn’t sell out since there are some available at ReedPopSupply for retail price.
Like the Jabba plush, this one “talks” in the sense that it makes noise. But since Max Rebo never had any lines in the movie, it just plays Lapti Nek.
It’s on the large size — maybe 6 inches tall — and seems to be more or less in scale with Jabba.
This clock was available exclusively at Star Wars Celebration Anaheim and sold for $40. I assume it’s an homage to the classic Kit-Kat Clock, as they both have tails and eyes that move. This is definitely my favorite of the Anaheim exclusives. It’s sculpted well and just looks charming. It’s made of resin, and is a bit heavy — it feels like it would break if you dropped it. There’s also fake fur on his head and shoulders. Here’s a video showing what it looks like in action:
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank Charles for getting this and other items at Celebration Anaheim for me. You really helped me out!
Upcoming: Bib Fortuna and Boushh Funko POP! Bobbleheads
If you’ve been to a Barnes & Noble recently, you’ve probably noticed that it’s being slowly taken over by Funko’s line of bobbleheads. They must be really popular, because they have an incredible selection of pop culture characters. I’ve talked about the Jabba, Slave Leia and Gamorrean Guard bobbleheads before (as well as this cool custom version of the Jabba figure), and now they’ve announced two new Jabba’s palace characters: Bib Fortuna and Boushh.
Interestingly, the previous Jabba-related figures all date from 3-4 years ago, so I was a little surprised to see them adding more. Is this the effect of the Force Awakens, which I speculated about in an earlier post? Either way, I’m not complaining. These should be available in a few months (Entertainment Earth lists them as coming in August).
Madame Tussauds in London is going to be opening a Star Wars exhibit on May 16th, and has recently revealed what their Jabba and Leia look like.
While one could probably find something to complain about somewhere, it’s light years beyond any of the other life size Jabba’s I’ve seen — even those shown at official conventions. Very impressive work.
Leia herself is also amazing. The likeness seems subtly off somehow in the way that these things often are, but I also think it’s easily the best Slave Leia sculpture that’s ever been made. It looks so amazingly lifelike that when I first glanced at these shots I thought maybe I was seeing a cosplayer at Celebration Anaheim.
Here is a video about it as well.
Upcoming: Jabba-Related Celebration Anaheim Exclusives
As you may know, Celebration Anaheim starts April 16th. Unfortunately I won’t be able to go, but I am looking forward to getting some cool merchandise. This year there are a number of Jabba-related items, so I thought I would do a quick rundown. (Rebelscum has a complete list of items with prices and photos here.) First we have a number of “Javva the Hutt” items. Javva the Hutt is the on-site cafe at Industrial Light & Magic, and while they’ve had some merchandise available (like this shirt) for some time, this is the first time it’s been more widely available.
There’s a T-shirt ($25):
A patch ($8):
A coffee mug ($12):
And a travel mug ($15):
Next, there are some collectible pin sets. The ROTJ one has Jedi Luke, Wicket, a Gamorrean and Admiral Akbar and goes for $25:
It seems that if you spend more than $80 (just on pins or in the entire store?) you can get this Han in Carbonite pin:
There are also apparently Yak Face and Bib Fortuna pins that can only be obtained by trading with staff members, but I don’t know anything more than that.
There is a talking Max Rebo plush that goes for $35 (I assume the “talking” part is actually him playing music since he never said anything in the movies, although I suppose it could be this.)
There are also a few products that feature Jabba and related characters in an ensemble, like t-shirts with Christopher Lee’s Star Wars poster designs on them, or these cool building blocks ($25):
But my favorite is probably this resin “tick tock clock” shaped like Salacious Crumb ($40):
I’m not sure how I’m going to get these, but I’m hoping that I can either find someone to help or that there will be more of them listed on eBay once the convention is underway.
EDIT: Forgot this Rancor bottle opener ($20):
“Who You Calling… Jabba!!” T-Shirt by George
This shirt was sold by ASDA supermarkets in the UK under their “George” label. It’s a bit of an odd design and I’m not sure I entirely get it. Is the wearer supposed to be upset that someone has called him Jabba (i.e. fat)? Or is this a reference to something else? Either way, I’m glad it uses the actual Jabba from ROTJ, and the partially B&W look is kind of interesting.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 