From what I understand, this small booklet is one of a series that was included with some General Mills cereals in Canada in 1983. It’s about 3″ tall and folds out to reveal 5 “pages” filled with photos and text (both in English and French). One thing I found interesting was that in the French text Jabba is referred to in three different ways: “Le Hutt Jabba,” “Jabba Le Hutt,” and “Jabba the Hutt” (as in “Ensemble de jeu Jabba the Hutt”). I don’t speak French, but you’d think they could’ve settled on one version.
It’s actually got some pretty nice closeup shots of the aliens of Jabba’s palace, as well as ads for the Vintage Jabba the Hutt Playset and a couple of Star Wars games for the Atari 2600 (both of which I had as a kid). Click the images below for a closer view.
Oola Statue by Attakus
Attakus is kind of an unusual company compared to many of the other ones producing Star Wars statues. They release them at a very leisurely pace, and just when you think they might have stopped altogether they will announce something new. Their retail prices are quite high, but most their pieces haven’t held their value very well. There are some exceptions, like their Jabba the Hutt, but most can be had for well under retail on the secondary market. And Oola, like Bib Fortuna, is one that can be had for comparatively little even brand new. I paid about $90.
Like the other Attakus pieces, Oola is 1/5 scale, which puts her right between 1/6 scale figures and 1/4 scale statues like Sideshow’s Premium Format figures. Unlike many of the other Attakus pieces, her outfit is made of real cloth netting, which gives her a feeling similar to a PF, if a bit smaller. She also comes with a “rope” that is flexible and somewhat posable. From looking at the picture on the box, it seems that you’re supposed to fit this rope between her index finger and middle finger, but it just didn’t seem possible in my case. The rope is too thick and I could easily see her finger breaking off if I tried to force it. So I used a slightly different pose that looks just as good to me.
Attakus pieces generally have issues when they involve human likenesses. They come off looking overly stylized and cartoonish, like their Slave Leia. There’s some of that here (and it’s accentuated when you take a closeup like the one above) but overall, I think the likeness is really quite good. It looks a lot more like Femi Taylor (who played Oola) than the Gentle Giant mini-bust. It doesn’t really come through in the picture, but the dots on her forehead are actually sparkly things meant to recreate her makeup, and in person the effect is really quite nice.
Compared to the Gentle Giant Oola, the Attakus version has darker green skin, which I personally prefer. Overall, while the Gentle Giant piece is very nice, I’m going to have to give the edge to the Attakus statue as the ultimate Oola collectible, especially since she isn’t all that expensive.
Jabba the Hutt Altitude Hi Sneakers from Adidas
When I first posted about these shoes back in August, I said that I couldn’t believe they were actually making them, and it’s still a little hard to believe. The shoes in this series are like grown-up versions of the kinds shoes we might have worn as kids, which I love. Some people have dismissed them as being childish, but I’m not above having a little fun with something like this. The $140 price tag is not so fun, but this type of shoe isn’t cheap to begin with and these are made in relatively low quantities so maybe that’s unavoidable. I bought these back when they first became available on the Adidas website in October, but I ended up having to make them a Christmas present to myself in order to appease my wife, so I’m only just now getting to open them. 😀
The shoes in this line come in pretty simple packaging. It’s very reminiscent of an action figure on its card. I’m not entirely sure if that was intentional or not, but you do certainly get that vibe. You can slide the card out quite easily, allowing you to access the shoes without destroying any of the packaging. The Jabba ones come with a card that has a cool blue-toned image of Jabba and Leia that I intend to keep and display with the shoes.
Some of the entries in the Adidas Star Wars line have been better than others. Much of the clothing is forgettable, and some of the shoes look ridiculous. But some of them have really hit a sweet spot between Star Wars geekery and coolness. Maybe I’m biased, but I think these fit into that category quite nicely. For one thing, the design manages to be attractive on its own, without being overpowered by the character it represents. I don’t think wearing these would immediately brand you as a Star Wars geek, and in fact I could see some casual fans wanting to wear them, partially because Jabba has a sort of “gangster” cred that other Star Wars characters don’t. The colors they chose go well together as well, while still being appropriate for Jabba.
Both of the shoes have a little metal plate on the laces that reads “GANGSTER.”
There’s a nice image of Jabba, along with the “Jabba the Hutt” name on the tongue of each shoe.
Jabba’s tattoo is on the side of each heel, and the leather around the ankle is wrinkled in a way that is very similar to Jabba’s skin.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think these were designed to go with the New Era Jabba the Hutt fitted baseball cap. They both share a lot of similar design elements, and I think they’d go pretty well together, at least on the kind of person who could get away with that sort of thing. Aside from the price, I can’t really think of anything that I would do differently if I had to sit down and design Jabba sneakers.
Han Solo in Carbonite Throw Blanket (StarWarsShop Exclusive)
This is a StarWarsShop exclusive, and retails for $59.99. It measures 68 x 52 inches, which means that it’s not quite life size, but pretty close. It’s made of cotton and it even said that it was made in the USA, which surprised me. I didn’t really have very high hopes for this, and I finally pulled the trigger because SWShop was having a sale. But I’m actually very impressed. I had assumed that it would be somehow printed on the surface of the blanket like the kids’ towels and blankets that I’ve seen, but that’s not what it is at all.
If you look at the surface of the throw, you can see that the image is made up of lots and lots of individually colored threads. I’m not entirely sure how they managed to weave them together to make the image appear, but they did. Of course, images of this sort are kind of difficult to make out when seen from close by, so if you’re actually using the throw you might not be able to tell that it’s Han in Carbonite at all. (To get the first picture above, I had to spread the throw out on the living room floor and take the photo from the stairway.) When you’re using it, it looks more like a normal multicolored throw, which I like.
Here you can see some more of the detail. The reverse side of the throw doesn’t really have a recognizable pattern.
There are two different types of fringe, one on the top and bottom edges and one on the two sides. The nice thing about this is that the Star Wars aspect of it isn’t overwhelming. I think it’s perfect for the sofa in my home office.
Handmade Hutt Christmas Ornaments
My sister made these great Christmas ornaments for me and surprised me with them on Christmas. They’re handmade from felt and other materials, with a few store-bought accessories like the candy pieces.
I’ve got a few other ornaments, like the Hallmark Rebo Band ornaments and the Kurt S. Adler Jabba, but these are definitely my favorites. I think I may make getting Jabba-related ornaments a yearly tradition, and I may even buy a small artificial tree just for them. That’s how hardcore I am. 😀
Merry Christmas from Jabba Claus!
Jabba Claus would like to wish you a very merry Christmas and a happy new year! Thanks for reading!
Vintage Unlicensed Return of the Jedi Keychain
This is kind of an unusual item. It is a keychain made up of five thin pieces of plastic about 3 inches long, all with scenes from Return of the Jedi on both sides. Of course when you actually had it in your pocket, you would stack the sheets on top of each other so they would be more compact, but you could flip through them any time the urge to see something from Return of the Jedi struck you. Presumably they were originally white, but have yellowed significantly with age.
It appears to be unlicensed, as the only markings of any kind are a “Taiwan ROC” notice on one of the plastic sheets. There are several Jabba-related shots, including one of him on his throne with Leia, the droids approaching his palace, the skiff, and Luke on the sail barge.
Bib Fortuna Figural Mug by Applause
This was released in the late 1990s by Applause, along with a Gamorrean Guard mug. It’s a little scary looking, but of course Bib wasn’t the most handsome guy in the palace if you know what I mean. I still don’t understand why there are mugs of characters like this and Klaatu (!) and none of Jabba.
I think this is the last of the Jabba-related figural mugs out there, although I think there are a couple of more steins I still need to get.
I just picked up “It’s A Trap!” (the third in the series of Family Guy Star Wars parodies). This time they tackled Return of the Jedi, so I thought I would post some screenshots of the Jabba scenes. I thought it was pretty interesting to see how all of the characters translated into the Family Guy style, and some of the jokes from that part of the episode were pretty funny. It’s definitely worth watching if you like Family Guy and Star Wars.
This is an “ad slick,” which is a piece of camera-ready art that a company might send to a magazine for them to photograph and print in one of their issues. In this case, it’s an ad by Kenner for their new line of Return of the Jedi action figures (including Jedi Luke, Gamorrean Guard, and Bib Fortuna). I have been told that it was used in the Summer 1983 issue of Muppet Magazine, although I haven’t been able to get one of those to check for myself. This was originally obtained from a former Kenner employee, and I think there are only a handful in existence. It’s roughly 10 x 12, and you see it here matted and displayed in an 11 x 14 frame. Click the image for a closer look.
There are a couple of interesting things about this image. One is that the Jabba figure pictured has a lot of little pockmarks on his face that don’t exist in the actual production figure, and the surface of his skin looks more like paint than colored plastic. This leads me to believe that it was taken with some sort of prototype rather than a production figure. I also find the composition interesting, with the figures in the foreground and Jabba in the background. For quite a while I couldn’t figure out what the figures were supposed to be standing on, but then it hit me that Jabba is supposed to be holding them in his hand. I think the difference in scale is what threw me off, as well as the fact that it’s not possible to pose Jabba’s hand in this position. But I’m pretty sure that’s the idea here.
Mighty Jabba's Collection 
