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Archive for the Star Wars Category

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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5 Star Wars items they shockingly haven’t made yet

Posted in humor, movies, pop culture, Star Wars with tags humor, movies, pop culture, Star Wars on January 26, 2010 by Paxton

George Lucas is a media merchandising whore. There is not one other property that consistently sells billions of dollars of toys and merchandise to consumers than Star Wars. Not one. And Star Wars has been doing it since 1977. So it’s not surprising to think of the breadth of items that have been released with the Star Wars logos all over them. I myself did a very popular story (that pretty much changed the world) about hilariously inappropriate Star Wars items. There isn’t a lot of items that are man-made that haven’t had some type of tie-in to Star Wars.

However, I have come up with a few items that have yet to be produced. Below are 5 Star Wars branded items that surprisingly have NOT been made yet. And George really needs to get on this because these items are AWESOME. They would easily give Lucas that little extra pocket money he so desperately needs right about now.

The Emperor Collector Series Taser Gun – One of my favorite scenes in the Star Wars movies is the final Death Star Showdown between Jedi Luke, Darth Vader and The Emperor. When The Emperor pulled out Sith Lightning after Luke had defeated his father, I was like, “OH S**T!! WTF WAS THAT!?” Sith Lightning is BADASS. So I think it’s a natural to take The Emperor, Sith Lightning and Taser guns, mix well, and give them to law enforcement and kids. Imagine thousands of kids playing Death Star in the backyard, whipping out The Emperor Taser gun, whispering, “And now young Skywalker, you will die” and then unleashing the full stunning fury of blue Sith Lightning on their brother or sister. Can you imagine a cop that wouldn’t shout “Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Darkside” before he tases the crap out of a degenerate criminal? It would be GLORIOUS!!!

Darth Vader Asthma Inhaler – It’s quite obvious that Vader has a bit of an asthma problem. Listening to Vader wheeze his way through three and a half movies is like listening to Rosie O’Donnell walk a flight of steps. Maybe we should use this to give confidence to kids with asthma. “See, Darth Vader has asthma and he destroyed an entire PLANET!” I can just imagine the commercial now, Darth Vader in the Death Star planning room. One of the Moffs starts choking and weezing and you think Vader is choking him with the power of The Force. Instead, Vader says, “Your lack of breath is disturbing” then hands the out of breath officer the Darth Vader Asthma Inhaler. The Moff takes a few puffs and the meeting can resume to pats on Vader’s back for a job well done. Excuse me while I head to the patent office website to copyright that “lack of breath” line I just came up with. GENIUS!

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The Star Wars Holiday Special and its vintage merchandise

Posted in movies, nostalgia, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows with tags movies, nostalgia, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows on December 3, 2009 by Paxton

A few weeks ago I wrote about the infamous The Star Wars Holiday Special and its 31st birthday. I also promised a followup discussing toys and items released to promote the TV special. Well, that article is up on Monkey Goggles right this very moment. I discuss the prototype Chewie’s family toys you see above as well as a media kit and several other items released back in the ’70s to promote the horribly received Star Wars special.

So click on over to the article and read about these rare and vintage Star Wars items. Honestly, the Monkey Goggles article is one of my favorite articles I’ve written. I really am proud of it. Take a look and let me know what you think.

And just to let you know, Saturday is Ninja Day! So I’ll have two new ninja themed articles on Friday and Saturday for your enjoyment!

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.

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The Star Wars Holiday Special: Boring fans for 31 years

Posted in holiday, movies, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows with tags holiday, movies, pop culture, Star Wars, TV shows on November 17, 2009 by Paxton

The infamous Star Wars Holiday Special aired for the first time on CBS on November 17, 1978, 31 years ago today. The Holiday Special was created as a bridge between the original Star Wars in 1977 and The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. It was a way to keep Star Wars “on people’s radar”.

The Special was neither written nor directed by George Lucas. Lucas only allowed the use of his Star Wars characters and environments. The Special was produced by the same group that created the Brady Bunch Variety Hour (itself a famously bad variety program). Lucasfilm does not regularly comment on it and has never officially released it on home video nor has it ever been broadcast since the initial airing in 1978.

Lucas famously said that if he had the time and a sledgehammer, he’d track down every bootleg copy and destroy it. And trust me, there are TONS of bootleg copies of the special out there. If you can’t find a bootleg copy for yourself, then you just aren’t looking hard enough, my friend. You can probably watch the majority of the Special on YouTube.

Is the Special really that bad? Yes it is. The format is similar to variety specials that were popular in the ’70s. The main story involves Chewie and Han as they are racing back to Chewie’s homeworld for Life Day, a generic Star Wars version of Thanksgiving. The story goes back and forth following Chewie and Han and then following Chewie’s family (wife, son and father). Little to no action happens when the camera is with Chewie’s family. You may think I’m exaggerating but there is NO ACTION during Chewie’s family’s scenes. Periodically little vignettes are inserted into the non-action like Jefferson Starship or Dianne Carroll singing a song or Bea Arthur running the cantina (image above) or Art Carney mugging for the camera. You also get short visits with Leia and a Luke Skywalker with so much makeup on he looks like he’s about to perform Kabuki (see image below). To be fair, Mark Hammill had just been in a car accident a few weeks prior so they were covering up massive amounts of reconstructive surgery.

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