Stan Solo Holiday Special Boba Fett

I'll admit that I'm a sucker for a well-done custom or repainted figure, I've created and featured several on the blog. I'm especially enthusiastic about custom figures that were never made by Kenner in the first place, but look like they "could have been." That is: five points of articulation, vintage-looking capes and accessories, that kind of thing.

So this custom Boba Fett from Stan Solo is right up my alley. I'm a big fan of the Fett cartoon from the Holiday Special and when I found this custom from Stan Solo on Etsy it bounced right into my cart.

The figure sculpt is very similar to - but not an exact copy of - the original Kenner Fett. Notably, the helmet incorporates a "scope" and the backpack is quite detailed and is removable. The figure also has attached "soft goods" - a very cool fabric cape fastened to the left shoulder.

You'll also notice that the weapon is a really well-done replica of the HS rifle. This also appeared as the Mandalorian's "Amban phase-pulse blaster" in the eponymous Disney+ show, of course. It's monochromatic (like all vintage Star Wars weapons) but looks quite accurate.

Mr. Solo has done a fine job on this figure and I'm happy to have one. It's a great representation of the Holiday Special Boba Fett and really carries off the vintage aesthetic. Mine was a bit less expensive than the regular one as it had a "paint error" (some brown paint is missing from the figure's belt) but it's all good by me. Nice to have it in the cabinet. 

"Brown Snake" Yoda with RotJ Cardback plus GW Acrylic Case!

                                                        

So a twofold post for today - a new figure and a review of the case I picked up for it. The figure is straightforward of course, just a variant of the familiar ESB Yoda. The main difference is the accessory, and it gives its name to the variant - "Brown Snake Yoda". This example is a very nice one, correct figure, correct accessories, complete, and with the original cardback. Score!                                            

                                                  

The cardback is actually quite nice, unpunched, intact POP, and not too badly damaged around where the bubble was torn off.

This is a 77-back RotJ card, of course. Near the end of the vintage run.

Let's have a closer look at the case, it's from GW Acrylic. This is a really cool way to display a figure with cardback. 

There's an internal "platform" that positions the loose figure right where it would be if this was a sealed MOC, and a small indentation in the stand to fit a one-inch base. It all fits together quite seamlessly and is really a great display solution. Cost is about $30USD.

Now let's look at the figures! This of course is the "usual" orange snake variant. Note the lighter green skin and light brown cane.

The brown snake variant is most often found with darker green skin and a dark brown cane, and has distinctive "pac-man eyes". According to jeditemplearchives.com these are correct for the brown snake variant, which has been found on all but ESB-32B and -41A, B, and -D cardbacks.

Here are the two together. Quite different looking aren't they! And the snakes are different in ways other than colour. The orange one is pretty stiff while the brown snake is much more rubbery and flexible.

The orange-snake Yoda is from my own childhood collection, but nowadays genuine brown-snake Yodas command a significantly higher market value than orange-snake examples. Accessories for both are also super-expensive, I've seen people asking $60USD or more for just a cane. Best to buy one complete and if you can get a cardback with it like I did, so much the better!

Boba Fett Star Wars Holiday Special Animation Script & Character Model Sheets Package

My friend Mike F, proprietor of 4th Moon Toys in Toronto, runs an annual special "Life Week" sale full of cool goodies both vintage and modern. Being a fan of Star Wars books, especially the oddball ones, I was particularly interested in this book by John Celestri, formerly an animator at Nelvana Studios here in Canada, and an industry artist and creator for over 50 years. The book was offered in a limited edition signed by the author with a bonus autographed print. SOLD!

The book arrived quickly and was all that I'd hoped. It's a pretty slim paperback, magazine sized and perfect bound, with colour covers and a B&W interior, all on high-quality slick paper with heavy card covers. 

It has some awesome character reference pictures done by John for the holiday special animation. They're so good!

The book also includes the full shooting script of the Fett cartoon from the Holiday Special...

...and of course many many renderings of the sinister bounty hunter himself!

As if the book wasn't cool enough, the package included this signed Fett print by Celestri. I put it in a frame and it's hanging upstairs in my house. 

Highly recommended to Fett fans and enthusiasts of the Holiday Special. The tv show was awful for the most part but the Fett cartoon was AWESOME and this book is a great memento of that time in Star Wars history.

Millennium Falcon (Kenner ESB version)

Well I've blogged about the Millennium Falcon before, and regular readers (both of you?) will know that it's a toy I never had as a kid, but always wanted. Although somewhat underscale for the 3 3/4" mini-action figures, until the AT-AT came along it was the biggest and most expensive Star Wars vehicle. It's awesome. 

This example was very kindly given to me recently by my late wife's cousin Austin, it was part of his and his brother's childhood collection. Kudos to you guys for keeping the box, Austin, and well done on keeping this thing in one piece. So many Star Wars vehicles got smashed to pieces, blown up with fireworks, etc. and it's great to see that one like this survived.

While the box front carried a new image specific to The Empire Strikes Back, the rest of the package art remained the same as on Star Wars-branded examples.

Gotta set up the tableau right!! The box image is so great, but the eagle-eyed will note I added some "diversity" to the Bespin Guard group. I only had two white Guards in my own collection...

The character mix here is kind of interesting too. Dengar is literally 10 feet away from the people he's supposed to capture, but he's just stood there having a chat with Lobot. 

Meanwhile Lando, Han and Leia are visiting but all have guns in their hands (!) while the Bespin Guards seem unconcerned that these two strangers are packing heat while talking to their boss.

These three discussing the Cloud City Cafeteria's amazing pulled-pork sandwiches maybe...?

Chewbacca working as usual.

Droids hiding in the ship interior. Would've been a good idea for Threepio at least, considering what happened to him in Cloud City.

If you look at the tableau on the box, it's strange... the camera vantage looks low, but you can still clearly see the droids inside the ship. Maybe they tilted the Falcon for the shot, I can't quite figure it out.

Some beauty shots, this ship cleaned up so nicely and looks so good.

Of course, as with most childhood vehicles, some small accessories went missing over the years. The training arm and ball and the hatch struts are 3D printed replacements, unobtrusively marked as such. They look quite good, the struts are kind of translucent but that's OK, makes them less likely to be mistaken for originals. 

Fortunately the old ones were just lost, and not broken off in the hatch holes as often happened.

The space chess table was missing too but I sourced an original one to replace it - they're not hard to find.

Cockpit is all original equipment and looks great! Austin, thank you again for this ship, it's a wonderful piece.

I guess I also should offer an apology for it being over a year since the last post here, but it's been busy. Anyway I will have another post coming up shortly featuring a neat item that's on the way from 4th Moon Toys... 

Darth Vader and C-3PO Carrying Cases

Some unsung heroes of collecting here - the infamous carry cases. Seems like you can't swing a dead tauntaun sometimes without hitting a Darth Vader case with one broken hinge, but when you find one with the inserts and sticker sheet it's still something special for a production completist like me. As for the 3PO case, these were never sold in Canada and have been something I've always been on the lookout for. Finally found one!

This ESB Vader case is a Canadian version (you'll see) and as with many finds in my collection, I have Mike Freeman of 4th Moon Toys to thank for it. Mike spotted this one in Winnipeg on Facebook Marketplace, and while he didn't have an interest in picking it up for his shop stock (mainly due to shipping cost), he very kindly sent me the ad. As I didn't have a case with inserts in my collection I quickly made a deal with the seller.

The seller was a woman about my age whose mother had bought her Star Wars toys when she was a child. This case was the last remnant of her collection and was essentially unused. It came with the insert and an unapplied sheet of stickers.

The insert is nice and crisp with great lithography.

Here's the sticker sheet - note the rather untidy borders, which I am advised are a peculiarity of the Canadian version of the case.

Back of the sheet with manufacturer identification ("Mactac") and "Made in/Fabrique au Canada".

Interior of case with no stickers applied, ever.

Note bilingual identity on the insert. No "L'Empire Contra-Attaque" there though!

Which brings us to this definitely minty RotJ C-3PO carry case with its distinctive vacuum-metallized finish. This special gold finish is infamous from the cover of the book that brought many of us old-timers (back) into collecting - Steve Sansweet's "From Concept to Screen to Collectible." This book featured a very cool  shot of a Darth Vader case done up in gold vac-metallizing ("one of less than 100 originally created by Kenner Products as a packaging sample") and it looked awesome!

In any event, I've always wanted to add a nice 3PO case to my collection. I just picked up this one from Mike at his shop on a recent trip to Toronto and although it wouldn't fit in my checked luggage, it made the trip back with me as a carry-on.

This one also came with its insert showing 65 different figures then-available in the range. 

I just think these inserts are really cool.

Stickers are mostly unapplied...

... as the original owner got about halfway through applying them and obviously lost interest!

The 3PO case includes a lengthy statement and 1983 date, but the Vader's is limited to some faint chicken-scratchings on the inside of the front.

Interestingly, period catalog advertisements describe the C-3PO carry case as "life-size"! I guess that could well be the case, as it's noticeably much larger than the Vader case.

So that's it for these two cases. As noted, Vader cases are super-common but 3PO cases much less so. I did find a good use for busted Vader cases though - you can use a Dremel to cut off the hinges and separate the two halves of the case, polish up the front with Plexus or another quality plastic polish, and hang the front half of the case in your collecting room... or in my case, give it to your Star Wars-loving nephew to hang on his bedroom wall :-)