Vintage Jedi Luke Figure by Kenner
For some reason, I don’t remember ever having this figure as a kid. Which is strange, because I always loved Luke as a character. In any case, he’s fairly well done for a vintage figure. You get a cloak and blaster so you can replicate his look in Jabba’s palace, although the cloak is a little on the bulky side and if you want to get technical, he shouldn’t have his black glove on his hand until later in the movie. And of course you also get his lightsaber. The saber was originally blue (probably because someone at Kenner assumed the color wouldn’t change from the previous movies) but was later corrected to the green one you see here. It’s interesting that it looks a lot more like a Japanese katana than a lightsaber.
Jabba the Hutt Quotable Magnets by Cards Inc.
These are from a series of “Quotable Magnets” put out by Cards Inc. in 2006 and only sold in the United Kingdom. They show some iconic scenes from the movies with quotes in a comic book-like style. I think they look pretty cool. Special thanks go to Rodders for getting these for me!
Vintage Jabba the Hutt Cork Board (Small) by Manton Cork
This is the last of the three Jabba-related cork boards that Manton Cork released around the time of Return of the Jedi. It’s the same 11 x 17 size as the Rebo Band cork board, rather than the 23 x 17 size used by the large Jabba’s Palace cork board. It features Jabba, Salacious Crumb, two Gamorrean Guards, and C-3PO and R2-D2.
The same art is used across all three boards (so the C-3PO, Gamorrean Guard, or Rebo Band drawings are identical wherever they appear). Interestingly, while the art is the same for the Jabbas as well, their coloring is quite different. This one has a definitely yellow color, while the Jabba on the large board is brown.
The three cork boards look pretty cool when arranged together. With a number of the characters appearing twice, they don’t quite connect together to make one large scene, but it does sort of give you that impression.
Return of the Jedi Plate by The Hamilton Collection
This was one of three plates released by The Hamilton Collection for the original Star Wars movies. At about 10.5″ in diameter, it’s an inch bigger than my other two Hamilton plates (the “Heroes & Villains Jabba plate and the Sail Barge plate). This time Jabba doesn’t take center stage, but he is on the plate, and Luke and Leia on the center are on his sail barge. Overall, the art by Morgan Weistling is quite nice, but I’m afraid Luke looks a little like he’s been replaced by his slower cousin.
Here’s a closer shot of the Jabba.
Topps Tags Clone Wars Jabba the Hutt Dog Tag and Trading Card
This is part of a new series of trading cards that is showing up in Target stores (and probably elsewhere). There are 24 characters, each of which has a trading card and a dog tag. The tag itself is kind of lightweight. It appears to be made of a thin piece of metal with an acrylic layer on top where the character art is.
These are blind boxed and cost $2.99. With 24 characters, getting exactly the ones you want can be very difficult, especially because there is a apparently one chase rainbow dog tag in every box of 24. I think the chase can be any of the other characters, so if you really wanted a complete set you’d have to get all 24 tags and cards, plus the 24 rainbow tags. That would be insanely difficult, even using eBay, which is where I got this one. I don’t really have any desire to get other tags in this series, but I will be keeping an eye out for the rainbow version of Jabba.
“Jabba Claus” Print by Daniel Falconer
Like the Jabba’s Palace Montage print I posted about a few days ago, this excellent image is by Daniel Falconer. He originally did the image for a Star Wars Action News Christmas card a couple of years ago, but he kindly printed up a copy for me without the original text. The image above is a photo of the print I took with my camera, but it doesn’t show just how vibrant and clear it is. I brought this and the Palace Montage print to the framing shop to have mats cut for them, and the people there kept talking about how impressive the colors were. They had no idea they were prints of digital images.
I just love everything about this print. Jabba as Santa, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Rancor, the thermal detonator from “Uncle Ziro,” the comb for Chewbacca, and of course the inclusion of Rotta. It’s all perfect. I plan to bring this out every year at Christmas time.
Here it is matted and framed:
Vintage Australian Jabba the Hutt Erasers by Crystal Craft
These Jabba erasers were apparently only sold in Australia. Neither one is in great shape, and if you compare them you can see Jabba is a different shade of green. I assume that maybe one was exposed more to light or something, and that they were originally the same color. They’re 1.75″ x 1.25″ in size.
Slave Leia Mini-Bust by Gentle Giant
After the Oola mini-bust turned out so well, I think a lot of people had high hopes for the Slave Leia one. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look nearly as nice as the prototype. You’re always going to see some differences when you compare a prototype to a production piece, since the production piece has to be made under factory conditions instead of being painstakingly painted by an artist who has a lot of time to make it look its best. But in this case the changes are a lot more drastic than that. They changed a lot about the face, including the facial features and the tilt of the head, as well as the length of the vibroaxe she’s holding. I don’t know if Gentle Giant has said anything official about these changes, but it’s not uncommon for licensees to blame Lucasfilm or the actors that the pieces are based on for demanding changes. It’s hard to believe that anyone would insist on going from the prototype version to this, but I guess it’s possible.
From reading responses from Gentle Giant fans online, I think it’s safe to say that most people are disappointed, but as long as you don’t compare it to the prototype (which, it should be mentioned, is still pictured on the box that the bust comes in), it’s actually a pretty decent version of Slave Leia. The likeness to Carrie Fisher is weaker in the production version, but I’ve certainly seen worse. I got a good deal on it on eBay (less than half the retail price, brand new) so I guess the lukewarm reception wasn’t all bad. I’m glad to have her in my display of Jabba’s palace-related busts. Still need to get Yak Face though…
Link: Jabba Sings “Alone Bed-Time”
Anybody else sleepy now? 🙂
Vintage Fan-Made Ceramic Jabba Statue
I talked about this kind of statue in my post about my vintage Jabba “lamp,” but in short they are ceramic statues that people could make and decorate on their own. Whoever made this one chose a very different color scheme than was used on the other statue. I imagine they used the vintage figure’s color scheme as their inspiration. It’s an odd brownish-yellow color. This one is also lacking any sort of eyes — there are just holes. Interestingly, it does have a slit for the mouth, while the other one’s mouth was closed.
My nickname for this is “soul stealing Jabba” because those eyes are pretty darn creepy…
Mighty Jabba's Collection 
