Link: Display for Original Jabba the Hutt Latex Casting
Tom Spina Designs has just posted about a display that they created to display what is apparently the only surviving latex casting of the Jabba the Hutt puppet. It’s apparently about 5 feet wide. I’m not sure if this is the same skin that John Coppinger used for his life-sized Jabba bust. I’ve asked for more info in this thread at the RPF, but in any case, it’s very impressive.
[Via the Jabba the Hutt Facebook page]
“Angry Birds Vs. Gamorreans” Sticker
This sticker from Redbubble is a Gamorrean Guard done in the style of Angry Birds — the smash hit game for the iPhone and other mobile platforms. I like the game, although I’m not entirely sure why it’s become so popular. The artist, called FAMOUSAFTERDETH, also has some other Star Wars-inspired art, including some more Angry Birds mashups. As with most of these Redbubble stickers, you can also get this on a T-shirt.
“Jabba the Droid” Sticker
This sticker from Redbubble.com is a mashup of Jabba the Hutt and the mascot for Android mobile phones. Like the other Redbubble stickers I’ve been posting about, this design is also available on clothing. I’m a pretty enthusiastic iPhone user, so this doesn’t appeal to me as much as it might, but it’s an interesting concept.
Bend-Ems Gamorrean Guard Figure by JusToys
It’s kind of hard to believe looking back on it today, but there was a time after the original movies had ended when there were no Star Wars on store shelves. Kenner certainly milked the franchise as much as it could, but by the early 1990s, Star Wars merchandise was hard to find. I wasn’t a collector or even an active Star Wars fan back then, but from what I hear many fans were excited when JusToys came out with their line of Star Wars Bend-Ems, mostly just because they were glad to see Star Wars toys of any kind available again. Released in 1993 and 1994, these were not particularly impressive as toys — they’re just unarticulated blobs of rubber with a wire skeleton underneath, allowing for some very basic poseability. But on the other hand, a lack of moving parts and tiny weapons probably made them safe for younger kids. There are different packaging variations, but this style came with a Topps trading card featuring Gamorrean Guard art as a bonus.
Generally speaking, I’m an “opener” — I like to open my toys rather than keep them in their packaging. But in this case, I think I’m just going to leave it as it is. It’s survived since 1994 in relatively good shape, and it’s not as if there’s much you can really do with a Bend-Ems figure once you get it out of the package. One thing I was interested to see on the back of the package was that they had appropriated the old Darth Vader carrying case from the Kenner vintage line for use with Bend-Ems. I’m not sure if they changed it all. It seems like they even let the carrying case determine how many figures would be in the line, since the case held 20 figures and that’s how many characters they made.
The only Jabba-related figures are the Gamorrean Guard and Bib Fortuna (who I still need to pick up). To be honest, if I had to pick 20 characters from all three Star Wars movies to make into figures, I don’t think either of these would be on the list. I can understand not having a Jabba, since size issues would make that difficult. But these two characters seem pretty out of place without one. I guess they needed some easily identifiable bad guys, but I probably would’ve gone with a Tarkin or one of the stormtrooper variants (snowtrooper, scout, etc.) over these two. Still as a Jabba collector, I’m happy they chose them.
Sideshow’s new 1/4 scale Han in Carbonite PF is now up for preorder on their site for $299. It doesn’t have an exclusive version though, so you might want to wait and see if other retailers will have it cheaper. Like the 1/6 scale Han in Carbonite, this has a Jabba’s Palace-themed base (as opposed to the carbon freeze chamber on Cloud City). While considerably bigger, the PF actually looks somewhat less impressive than the 1/6 scale version, since they only included a small portion of the wall. However, it does have a light-up feature for both the control panels on the sides and the “thawing” effect, which looks pretty impressive. It can also be wall-mounted without the stand if you prefer.
I’m hoping the fact that they chose to use a Jabba’s Palace-themed base indicates that a Jabba PF may be in the works, since this would make a nice companion piece for it.
Attakus Gamorrean Guard Statue
I’ve had my eye on this statue for quite a while, but never convinced myself to pull the trigger until recently. Like most Attakus Star Wars statues, this can be had for quite a bit less than retail (which I believe was $450 when it came out a few years ago). However, it hasn’t plummeted in price the way pieces like the Attakus Oola or Bib Fortuna have. I ended up paying $189 for a new in the box example, which is more than I paid for Oola and Bib combined. Still, I don’t feel like I paid too much, especially when you consider that high-end 1/6 scale figures sometimes retail for more than that these days.
This is a very impressive statue. Many Attakus pieces have problems with their human likenesses (or perhaps I should say that they opted for a more stylized look instead of trying to recreate the actual actors’ appearances). But with an alien character like this, that’s not an issue. Indeed, I think they captured the look of the Gamorrean Guard perfectly. The detail work is incredible, from the fluffy fur of the loincloth to the texture on the armor and skin. And the paint is impeccable as well. I really have no complaints.
The Attakus Star Wars statues are 1/5 scale, so they’re a nice size, if not quite as big as one of Sideshow’s Premium Format statues (which are 1/4 scale). This is about 15″ tall, and its girth makes it seem particularly hefty. I’d certainly be interested to see what Sideshow could do with a Gamorrean Guard PF, but they’ll have their work cut out for them, as Attakus has set the bar pretty high. I’m not all that impressed with the work Sideshow did on their 1/6 scale Gamorreans (which is why I don’t have any yet).
Unfortunately I simply don’t have the room to display all of my Attakus statues together. Someday I’d like to be able to display them all, including the Attakus Jabba, Leia, and Salacious Crumb, and also get the other pieces I’m missing like Han in Carbonite and C-3PO. But at the moment, the only place that might even remotely be able to accommodate them all would be the kitchen table, and I don’t think my wife would take too kindly to that…
This parody of the Pizza Hut logo is another Redbubble.com sticker, which is also available on clothing. It’s a very similar idea to the other Jabba-themed Pizza Hut logo parody on Redbubble, but I think I prefer this one for a couple of reasons. On this one, the “roof” shape has been turned into Jabba’s entire body, and the sprig of green from the original logo has been turned into Salacious Crumb (look closely).
Hello Kitty Gamorrean Guard Sticker
Over the next couple of weeks I’m going to be introducing a number of designs from RedBubble.com. One thing I like about RedBubble is that you can get most of their designs as t-shirts, kid’s clothes (like t-shirts and baby onesies), and as stickers. I don’t really wear that many t-shirts, so being able to get a version of these designs in a much cheaper form is nice (if you buy 6 or more stickers, they’re discounted by 50% so they end up costing $1.25 to $1.50 apiece). They’re about 3″ long and are printed on vinyl that is individually die-cut according to the design.
The first is this Hello Kitty/Gamorrean Guard mashup (interestingly misspelled as “Gommorian guard” on the product page). I’ve toyed with some Jabba/Hello Kitty mashup designs but haven’t been able to come up with anything that really satisfied me. This is definitely well done, though.
Vintage Dutch Jabba the Hutt Magazine Ad
This is a Dutch ad for the vintage Jabba the Hutt figure. Unlike my “Do you dare recreate all the adventure?” ad slick, which was one of the original pieces of photo art sent to magazines for them to photograph, this is just a page that has been cut from a Dutch magazine, but it’s still pretty cool.
I ran the text through Google Translate, which did a surprisingly good job with it. (I’m a Japanese translator, so I know that machine translation for a language like Japanese isn’t nearly as good.) I did have to clean it up a bit and rearrange a few sentences, but it was surprisingly understandable right from the start. Here’s the text:
“Do you feel powerful enough to free HAN SOLO from the clutches of this horrible monster?”
“HAN SOLO is locked in a cage of carbonite. He is a prisoner of Jabba the Hutt, the biggest gangster in the galaxy. Ruthless and unscrupulous, he rules the desert planet TATOOINE. His entourage consists of ruthless henchmen who live merely to eat.
Be warned, young JEDI. If you want to free your friend from this cold hell, you must go up against the most horrible of monsters. In your hands lies the future of HAN SOLO, the Rebels and the REBEL ALLIANCE. May The Force be with you.”
(Caption) Use the two knobs to open the prison bars. Figure not included.
(Caption) Turn Jabba the Hutt’s head to make his tail move.
Attacktix is a game that you play with a variety of collectible figures, most of which have exaggerated features of some kind, such as a very large fist that can be used (along with a spring-loaded joint) to knock over other figures, or an oversized gun that shoots projectiles. (Here is a good list of the figures in the Star Wars line — it looks like they also made a Slave Leia that I’m going to keep an eye out for.)
The line started in 2005 and was canceled (or at least put on indefinite hold) a couple of years later. There were four main series of figures released, but I recently discovered that Hasbro actually created a Series 5 and released pictures of it before deciding to can Attacktix altogether. This Gamorrean Guard was part of that unreleased series. You can see what it would have looked like when painted in the picture above. This figure manages to escape the freaky oversized look of so many of the characters. In fact, it’s a pretty nice sculpt.
Like most Attacktix figures, he’s got an action feature in the form of a spring-loaded waist that allows him to swing his axe. You can also move his arms up and down, and turn his head. He’s a large figure at about 3″ tall, and it’s got a nice heft to it. Here he is with the Attacktix Jabba the Hutt.
I got this from an eBay seller in Hong Kong, and I’m not sure how many exist. It’s certainly not one-of-a-kind, but it’s also a lot more rare than normal figures of this type, since it never went into production.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 
