“Palace Pandemonium” by Timothy Arthur-McLaughlin (Tim Art)
I’m very happy to announce the addition of this commissioned painting to my collection. It’s by Timothy Arthur-McLaughlin, an up-and-coming artist from the UK who has done some very impressive work with Wizard of Oz characters (among other things) and is now looking to break into Star Wars art. I was quite impressed with the work I saw on his site, so when I saw on the Rebelscum forums that he was interested in doing Star Wars art, I jumped at the chance to have him do a piece for me. Although I called it a painting, I believe it was done primarily in watercolor pencils, and in person the colors are very impressive.
I had in mind a chaotic and comical scene that would be packed with action and detail, and Tim certainly delivered on all counts. We decided on a relatively small size (about 8″ tall by 11.5″ wide), so the amount of detail per square inch is really quite astounding (Be sure to check out some of the close-ups below to see what I mean). Tim took the time to find out what kind of style I was looking for to ensure that I got just what I wanted, doing several mockups so we could get the right composition, etc. I think he’s done a fantastic job interpreting the characters in his own style.
Starting at the upper left and moving clockwise, we have Boba Fett enduring a bit of a wardrobe malfunction due to a curious jawa, Han in Carbonite, a confused Gamorrean Guard, Salacious Crumb clinging to Jabba’s head while Bib Fortuna tries to get him down, C-3PO knocking over Jabba’s water pipe (setting free one of his snacks in the process) as Bubo looks, Oola trying to casually untie herself from the throne, and finally Lando suffering some unwanted advances from Yarna.
Here it is framed. I usually use very dark frames but I decided to go with gold for this one and I think it turned out really well. It doesn’t come through as well in this photo, but I was quite impressed with how it looked. It has a double mat (green and off-white).
Here are some close-ups of the piece:
News: Jabba the Hutt/Pizza Hutt Mashup T-shirt at Ript Apparel
Wow, after yesterday’s “Cup of Java” shirt at TeeFury, I didn’t expect there to be another Jabba-themed shirt available at Ript Apparel (a similar site where they sell shirts for one day only). This isn’t the most original idea (aside from Space Balls, also see here and here), but it seems well done.
News: “A Cup of Java” Shirt Available Today only on TeeFury (Jabba the Hutt in a Coffee Cup)
TeeFury (the site that sells a different t-shirt design every day) has a Jabba-themed shirt up today. I think it should’ve been called “A Cup of Jabba” but maybe there were copyright concerns. Anyway, I’ve already placed my order. The shirt is available until the end of the day, so you have around 12 more hours if you want one.
Did you know Jabba was on the cover of People Magazine? You do now. At the time it was still called “People Weekly.” The cover story is entirely about Carrie Fisher’s life and only touches a bit on Star Wars (Jabba himself is mentioned only in passing). But still, it’s a pretty cool cover. I’m starting to think that I could make a collection just of Jabba magazine covers.
Jabba the Hutt Pewter Figure by Rawcliffe
This Jabba might look familiar to you if you’re a regular reader of this site. That’s because it’s the exact same sculpt as the one used for Rawcliffe’s Pewter Jabba the Hutt on Throne figure. They just chopped off the Jabba part and put him on a separate base. They did the same thing with the Slave Leia part of the figure, making it into a standalone figure. It’s about 5 inches wide and is quite heavy as it’s made of solid pewter.
I’m still looking for a good deal on Rawcliffe’s version of Jabba’s Sail Barge, and then I will have everything I need from their range.
“Jabba the Pimp” T-Shirt by Mad Engine
The “Jabba as a pimp” idea is not really new, but I was pretty surprised to see this design on a licensed T-shirt. It’s by Mad Engine, who apparently do a lot of pop culture shirts (this particular one doesn’t seem to be on their site though). I love the artwork.
Unlicensed Bib Fortuna and Gamorrean Guard Rings
The Galaxy Collection sterling silver rings by JAP Inc. are some of the favorite pieces in my collection. I’ve got Jabba, the Rancor, and Bib Fortuna, and I’m still looking for their Gamorrean Guard. The rings I’m talking about today are very similar, although not really in the same league when it comes to the artistry and materials.
They’re unmarked and the eBay seller I got them from didn’t know anything about them either, except that his friend had bought them at a convention in the UK some years ago. I’m pretty sure they’re just stainless steel or some other relatively inexpensive metal, rather than silver. The Gamorrean is relatively well done, but Bib Fortuna is a bit… Scary.
They’re bigger than the JAP Inc. rings, so I can wear them on my ring finger, although they’re pretty tight on my middle finger. Anyway, I had never seen these before they popped up on eBay UK, so I was pleased to get them for a very reasonable price.
Upcoming: Jabba’s Palace Mimobots (Series 7)
I guess these are already out, so they’re not really “upcoming” but they’re new to me. Mimobots are USB Flash drives shaped like Star Wars characters. I have the older C-3PO one and it’s pretty nice, although the prices were always way out of line with what generic Flash drives cost. They seem to a bit more reasonable now, though, starting at around $22.95 for a 2GB drive.
Despite the “Jabba’s Palace” name for Series 7, there is no Jabba or even any of the other characters I might have expected. They do have Han with a Carbonite carrying case (nice), Boba Fett, and Leia as Boushh. There’s also a Lando, but he isn’t dressed in his skiff guard outfit, so he really doesn’t have anything to do with Jabba’s palace.
There’s a cute video below introducing the series that shows characters like Oola and Gamorrean Guard in Mimobot form, but as far as I know these aren’t actually products (at least not yet). I’m really hoping they’ll put out a Jabba.
“Bounty Hunters” Metal Trading Cards by Metallic Images
This is an interesting set of trading cards made of metal. Put out in 1998 by Metallic Images (slogan: “Not just another card. It’s a memory!), this particular set features a “bounty hunter” theme. Now, if I said a set of six cards was “bounty hunter” themed, you’d probably think that it included Dengar, IG-88, Boba Fett, Bossk, 4-LOM, and Zuckuss, but in this case you’d be wrong. In fact, it does include cards for Dengar, Boba Fett, IG-88 and Bossk, but the other two cards are for Greedo and Jabba/Han Solo. An odd decision if you ask me, although I can’t really complain about the addition of Jabba.
I can complain that it’s the crappy CGI version, though. The cards are made of metal, as I said, which does give them some nice weight. They have edges that are curved-over and the cards are relatively thick to begin with, so they feel quite sturdy. Each card has a picture on the front and another picture with some info about the character on the back. Overall, it’s an interesting concept that apparently didn’t catch on.
Attakus Han in Carbonite Statue
I actually got this a few weeks ago but hadn’t had a chance to take pictures of it until now. I’ve had this on my want list for some time, but they don’t show up on ebay all that often (at least compared to some of the other Attakus pieces). As with all of the other Attakus pieces in my collection, this was purchased for way below the original retail price. In this case, it was about $120, which I think was quite a good deal as I’ve seen them go somewhat higher.
I think it’s pretty well done, especially when you consider how most Attakus humans don’t really look anything like the actors. This definitely appears to be Harrison Ford. This is of course in scale with the other Attakus 1/5 scale statues, so it’s quite large — about 18″ tall on the stand. The carbonite block is separate from the stand, so I suppose you could display it on its own, but it doesn’t come with a hole in the back or anything that would allow you to hang it on a wall.
Representations of Han in Carbonite tend to either be silver or black/gunmetal and this one is definitely in the silver camp. That makes it a lot closer to the version included with the Gentle Giant Jabba’s Palace bookends than the Sideshow 1/6 scale environment. I think the Sideshow version is probably closer to the actual prop, but silver does make it easier to see some of the details on a small-scale replica like this.
Here it is with some of my other Attakus statues. Pictured are the Gamorrean Guard, Oola, and Bib Fortuna statues. Ideally I would have him displayed with the Jabba statue, but he will only fit on one surface in my office so that will have to wait until I can figure out some other display option. Han in Carbonite is the last of the explicitly Jabba-themed Attakus statues that I needed, although the C-3PO, Jedi Luke, Boba Fett and even R2-D2 ones could conceivably be displayed with these.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 