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A closer look at the Shadows of the Empire art by the Hildebrandt Brothers

Posted in Boba Fett, Empire Strikes Back, movies, Star Wars with tags movies, pop culture, Star Wars on April 28, 2011 by Paxton

I discussed the 15th anniversary of Star Wars: Shadows of the Empire on Tuesday. In that article I mentioned that a set of trading cards was created for that event featuring awesome artwork by the Brothers Hildebrandt. I want to look at the paintings that made up this set.

You get a great look at the creation of these paintings in this book:

The above book goes into a fair amount of detail about the Hildebrandt creative process. It’s fascinating. The book mostly covers the creation of the paintings for the Shadows of the Empire card set. But it provides a lot of information about that set. It’s a really good read.

Now let’s take a look at some of my favorite of these Shadows of the Empire paintings.

These are the heroes of the book; Luke, Leia, Lando and Chewie. I created a custom Jedi Luke figure based on the Shadows of the Empire book cover. See that figure and card here.

This is Boba Fett going toe-to-toe with Dengar and Bossk over the frozen Capt Solo. This actually happened in the comic book, not the novel.

Here’s a new character created for the book, Guri. She’s the android bodyguard of Prince Xizor, ruler of Black Sun, who is also a new character.

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Brand New Rocket Firing Boba Fett and other Star Wars Toy Fair announcements

Posted in Boba Fett, movies, nostalgia, pop culture, Star Wars with tags Boba Fett, movies, pop culture, Star Wars, toys on February 18, 2010 by Paxton

Well, Toy Fair in New York was this past weekend. There were tons of toy reveals going on for all types of toys and games, but one piece of news actually has me giddy as a schoolgirl at a Jonas Brothers concert.

Hasbro announced that for The Empire Strikes Back’s 30th anniversary this year, they are bringing the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection back. Hasbro started the Vintage Original Trilogy Collection (OTC) back in 2004 (see pics here). It consisted of mostly movie based figures in “vintage style” packaging reminiscent of the Kenner figures in the early 1980s. The vintage packaging for these new figures looks fantastic but the best news about this vintage set is that if you buy five figures, you can send away for a rocket firing Boba Fett!!

Why is this fantastic news? Well, for those that don’t know, back in the day, right before Empire Strikes Back came out (pre-1980), Star Wars figures had a mail away offer for an exclusive Boba Fett with a rocket firing backpack. It was a way for Kenner to promote the new movie before it was released. Here’s an advertisement showcasing this mail away toy offer (via my Flickr buddy Jason Liebig):

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Recent Star Wars toys based on The Star Wars Holiday Special

Posted in Boba Fett, holiday, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows with tags Boba Fett, holiday, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows on November 19, 2009 by Paxton

On Tuesday I discussed the 31st anniversary of the Star Wars Holiday Special. At the end of the article I promised to look at merchandise having to do with the Holiday Special. Well, that article is now going to be posted in a few weeks on Monkey Goggles instead of being posted here. However, I think I can give you a quick preview of that article right now.

In the upcoming Monkey Goggles article I’ll mostly talk about vintage Star Wars items that have a connection to the Holiday Special. In today’s article, I’ll take a look at a couple modern Star Wars items that have a definite, if not obvious, connection to the Holiday Special. Remember, Lucas hates it, and will not advertise the fact that certain toys have a connection to the special.

So let’s take a look at a few modern Star Wars toys that have their roots in the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special.

Lucasfilm may not want you to remember it, and many people don’t actually remember it, but Boba Fett, one of the most popular Star Wars characters, debuted in a cartoon segment featured in the Star Wars Holiday Special. That cartoon is considered the only good thing about the Holiday Special by the overwhelming majority of Star Wars fans.
Last year, during the Holiday Special’s 30th anniversary, several versions of an “animated” Boba Fett were released to celebrate Boba Fett’s 30 year anniversary (and also quietly celebrate the Holiday Special’s anniversary). Hasbro released an “Animated Debut: Boba Fett” figure (on the far left) which depicted the bounty hunter in the color scheme from the TV special. It even included the forked staff he uses in the cartoon. No mention of the Holiday Special is on the front of the packaging, but there is a small mention on the cardback about Boba’s debut on the special.
Gentle Giant released a maquette statue (in the middle) also depicting Boba in the cartoon color scheme. The maquette is in a cool, “about to collect a bounty” pose including a dramatically flapping Wookie pelt as if Boba is standing in front of a giant fan.
Finally, Kubrick released a six pack of mini-Boba Fett figures, one of which was in the animated color scheme and they all came packaged in miniature versions of the vintage Star Wars figure cards (on the far right). Those mini-figs are sooooo cute.