Vintage Desert Sail Skiff Vehicle
This was one of the “mini-rigs” that Kenner put out toward the end of their Star Wars toy line. They’re vehicles that weren’t actually in the Star Wars movies, but look like they could have been, and were basically a cheaper, one-man alternative to the larger vehicles. In terms of its design, the sail skiff is basically a cross between the sail barge and the skiff.
I got this one unassembled in the box, including all the original paperwork and unused stickers. It wasn’t sealed and it wasn’t very expensive, so I decided to throw caution to the wind and assemble it and apply the stickers. They were still good even after all this time.
I’ll have to say, it’s a pretty nice little toy. And considering its size, it’s got a lot going on. You can adjust the sail up top in two ways, move the guns on either side of the cockpit, turn a dial on the bottom to make the cockpit and the side fins turn together, and it even has a little gangplank that extends from the nose so you can recreate the scene where Luke is over the Sarlacc pit. Cool stuff. I really need to get a vintage skiff (the full sized one) but they are fairly rare, and can be quite a bit of money, even without the package.
Salacious Crumb Connoisseur Series Autographs by Wattographs
I first talked about Wattographs‘ Connoisseur Series of autographs last year, when they announced their Jabba CS piece, but in short their CS pieces tend to focus on behind-the-scenes names, such as designers, sculptors and puppeteers — sometimes people who have never signed autographs before. The Jabba CS is rather involved, and has had a number of names added to it since the initial announcement, so it’s a ways from being completed even though it started over a year ago. The Salacious Crumb version, which started in May 2009, was a lot less ambitious with only three signers. I didn’t know about the piece at the time, but was able to buy a completed one from a Rebelscum.com board member. It was available in both 11 x 14 and 16 x 20 sizes. This is the 16 x 20, which is quite large, but looks very impressive in person. I’m glad I was able to get it in this size, since that’s the size I chose for my Jabba CS. The frame is a stock frame I got from Michaels, but really seems to be a good match for the piece.
It’s signed by Tim Rose (who was the puppeteer for Crumb, and from whom I also have this autograph), Tony McVey (who sculpted the Crumb puppet), and Mark Dodson (who did the voice). I think it’ll look really nice next to my Jabba CS when it finally gets finished. Wattographs includes a nice certificate of authenticity with their CS pieces showing all of the people signing the piece, which I really like. I’m looking forward to seeing what the Jabba one looks like.
Vintage Max Rebo Band Tins by Cheinco Industries
Cheinco made a variety of Star Wars items out of metal, including a Jabba the Hutt tin and a Return of the Jedi serving tray. Both of these are in the same series as the Jabba tin. One is the same size (about 3 inches in diameter and 1 inch tall) while the other is about 4 inches tall.
They both have the same exact Rebo Band art on the lids, but for some reason it’s a lot brighter looking on the taller tin. The taller tin also features some of the same art that’s on the serving tray, although in this case it’s divided up into “good guys” on one side (not pictured) and “bad guys” on the the other. Overall, they’re nice little tins for storing things, and not overly expensive.
Paper Jabba the Hutt Playset by My Son
For Christmas, my five-year-old son gave me this Jabba the Hutt playset that he made out of paper. It comes with Jabba (with Salacious Crumb), his throne, Leia (looking rather pained), Luke, Han in Carbonite, and the Rancor. 🙂
Drawing Board Greeting Cards also released some other sets of “perk-up” stickers for Return of the Jedi, but these are “3D” (what we used to call “puffy stickers” when I was a kid). There are quite a few characters from Jabba’s palace, with Jabba himself on the throne, Bib Fortuna, Klaatu, Gamorrean Guard, Boba Fett and the sail barge as well. Boba Fett looks a little weird with an all-green helmet. I guess they had a limited color palette to work with.
“Koopa the Hutt” T-Shirt by TeeFury
TeeFury is one of those “sell one thing for 24 hours” type of sites. They sell T-shirts based on funny puns or pop culture mashups — in this case, a combination of Jabba the Hutt and Koopa from the Super Mario Brothers games. I’m a big fan of Mario and Jabba, so I pretty much had to get one, although as I said when the shirt first went on sale, the art could be better. The pose from the “Princess Peach/Slave Leia” character is a direct copy of the Kotobukiya Slave Leia vinyl figure, and I think in general the artist probably got a lot of “inspiration” from Google Image searches. That said, I think the shirt looks a bit better in person than I would have thought.
News: Snow Jabba Spotted in Spokane Washington
I’m a little late in posting this, but what appears to be a life size Jabba snowman was spotted recently in Spokane Washington. It’s quite well done. I’ve wanted to make one of these myself, but whenever we get enough snow to make one, I’m too busy shoveling it off our driveway to make one. Some day…
(Via Fetts)
News: Walmart-Exclusive Jabba’s Throne Set Going On Clearance
I heard a couple of days ago that someone had found Hasbro’s Walmart-exclusive Vintage Collection Jabba’s Throne set on clearance for $19.00, and sure enough I found that they were on clearance at my local store as well. With Walmart, things like clearances don’t necessarily apply equally to all stores, so your mileage may vary, but it’s definitely worth a look. $19.00 for this great set is a steal.
Vintage Hi-C Mail-Away Return of the Jedi Stickers
Hi-C had a number of mail-away offers in 1983 to coincide with the release of Return of the Jedi. One of the things you could send away for was the T-shirt that I wrote about earlier, and another was these stickers. They come on two 8.5 x 11 sheets that are connected, so most of the individual stickers are pretty large (click the pictures above for a larger view). Some of the graphics are hilariously inappropriate. I can’t get over the rainbow “Jabba’s Palace” text over the shot of Jabba on his throne.
The “Max Rebo Band” logo makes a little big more sense, I guess. Anyway, this is definitely a fun and unique set of stickers.
Star Wars Kids Magazine #13: Meet Jabba!
Star Wars Kids Magazine (“The Magazine for Young Jedi Knights”) was put out by Scholastic in the late 1990s. Since this was before the first of the prequels came out, they dealt entirely with the original trilogy (and some expanded universe things), which is kind of refreshing now that everything for kids seems to be Clone Wars related. It was apparently a supplement to the “Star Wars Missions” books (like “The Search for Grubba the Hutt”), although they were later published as actual magazines available on newsstands.
Each magazine featured a different character — in this case, Jabba. This issue is 26 pages long, and has a lot of photos as well as a comic, so the actual amount of content is fairly small. Still, a lot of the magazine actually dealt with Jabba, which is nice. I’ve created a PDF of the main article and a nice Jabba maze from the issue, although there is more that I did not include.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 