Tatooine Skiff Vehicle

People in collecting hobbies talk all the time about "Holy Grail" items... meaning the type of item that comes along extremely rarely, is usually very expensive, and is highly desirable as a centrepiece of a collection. This piece, for me, is a Grail item. The Tatooine Skiff was produced at the very tail end of the vintage era, was released only in "Power of the Force" packaging, is rare, is expensive, and (just look at it!) is amazingly cool.

I obtained this item is several transactions earlier this year. The vehicle was acquired from one dealer, an original spare part to replace a damaged bit of the vehicle from another person, the box from a third, and the original vintage Planetary Map from yet another!

The package design on this box is just wonderful. The play features are great, including retractable landing gear, movable thruster vanes, collapsing side rails, and of course the extending gangplank!

Great pic here of some figures on the Skiff. We can clearly see the "lateness of the hour" in terms of the vintage era from the inclusion of Barada, one of the last 17 POTF figures.

$14.97 pricetag... ha!!

Before we get to the ship itself, let's have a look at another inclusion with the toy - the Planetary Map. Interestingly, the Planetary Map wasn't referenced on the box as an inclusion, and probably made a nice surprise for the original purchaser who found it in the box.

The obverse of the Map has all sorts of interesting information about the planet Tatooine.

The reverse contains promotion for other toys in the later range, including the awesome Droids A-Wing Fighter!

And speaking of Droids... how about this strange description of the Skiff: "DROID DESERT SKIFF VEHICLE" (?)

Perhaps a Droids cartoon aficionado can weigh in as to whether the vehicle appeared in the cartoon, but we know that there was unproduced art for a Droids-branded box.

Here's the box photo...

... and my tableau. Barada is about to push Luke off the gangplank... 

Luke, for his part, looks around nonchalantly, waiting for his lightsaber to come flying towards him, no doubt.

A disarmed Chewbacca is guarded by Boba Fett while Weequay mans the controls of the Skiff.

"Now where's that lightsaber...?"

Luke takes a tumble as pictured on the box.

Followed by Boba Fett... unfortunately the railings aren't strong enough to support a "halfway down" shot like on the box.

Copyright info confirms this example as a 1984 PotF item as opposed to a reissue. Unfortunately the original vehicles were comprised of some very fragile parts - notably the side rails and landing gear struts. I believe that those parts on this ship have been replaced by identical parts from the reissue - not "reproduction" per se as the parts are from an identical toy, but not 1984 production.

Weequay demonstrates the operation of the Skiff's controls. Lever at the left of the picture operates the landing gear. Careful operation is a must as you can feel the delicate nature of the gears inside as you move the lever - yikes! Lever at right works the "drop-down" function on the gangplank.

Operator's eye view of the Skiff controls.

I also picked up a very nice laser-cut acrylic stand for the Skiff from an eBay seller. Great if you want to display the item as it saves stress on the landing gear.

Well there you have it. Grail acquired. I have to say it's great to finally have picked this one up. Not an insignificant investment either... although acquiring a toy, box, and insert separately usually costs more than buying them all together, I think I did OK with this transaction and didn't significantly overpay. The problem with the Skiff is that so few seem to have survived either in box or completely original. I'm happy with this one and it's satisfying to have added it to my modest collection. 

Book Review: The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Star Wars Action Figures

Let's get this out of the way right at the start: Kellerman this ain't.

Mark Bellomo has produced a slick, colourful introductory survey covering Kenner vintage Star Wars toys from 1977-85. The book covers action figures (both "mini-" and "large-size"), creatures, ships, playsets, and even coins. Droids and Ewoks toys are also covered in this slick, weighty 272-page softcover tome.
  

The content is displayed in "catalog" format. Each toy is taken in turn with ample clear photography, mainly of the figure/toy only, without box or packaging (Obi-Wan above notwithstanding). Some major identified variations are also pictured. Ships and playsets are photographed from several angles and excellent detail provided regarding their component parts. There is a "price range" quoted for each item, but the book is certainly not intended to be an accurate price guide. The text, however, concentrates on "in-Universe" information, telling us in (sometimes excruciating) detail about the background of the character or object and how it fits in the Star Wars universe canon.

Not only Trilogy information is mined, oh no. We get lots of details from the prequels and Expanded Universe stuff too. For example, did you know that Greedo's father, "Greedo the Elder", was also a bounty hunter? Me neither. It's an interesting factoid I suppose, but it's only marginally relevant to the original Trilogy and even less relevant to the toy line.

However, some of these factoids, even when toy-related, are just plain incorrect. For example, it's actor Sebastian Shaw whose face was used as a model for the Anakin Skywalker head sculpt - not David Prowse's mug!

Anakin

Not-Anakin

I suppose it was inevitable that a mass-market oriented book about the toys would cross-over into a discussion about the Universe. There's only so much you can say about a mini-action figure that might be interesting to a casual reader. For example, discussion of cardbacks is limited to stating that the first issue are called "12-backs" because of the number of figures pictured on the cardback. "20/21B", same thing. But Bellomo states that beyond this, cardbacks are only referred to as "ESB", "ROTJ", or "POTF". Tell that to somebody who's looking for a 4-LOM on 47-back offerless ESB card ;-) Although to be fair, each character's debut cardback is referenced in its entry.

Okay, so I guess we know why the book is jam-packed full of information about the Star Wars universe - it's to fill the whitespace. Which is fine - if you're interested in the Expanded Universe.

Bellomo's writing style is also... complicated. Here's a quote that's typical, from the entry on the Droids ATL Interceptor:

"Utilized by the Fromm Family of Crime (a.k.a. the Fromm Gang) around 15 BBY, the spacecraft is used by the Fromms (see Droids, Sise Fromm and Tig Fromm) as an interceptor (see INT-4 and TIE Interceptor) where the ship functions to protect their weapons satellite, the Trigon One, and to subjugate and terrorize the inhabitants of the backwater Mid Rim world known as Ingo: specifically, R2-D2, C-3PO, and their masters, Thall Joben and Jord Dusat, along with their ally, Kea Moll (see their individual entries)."

Whew! How about:

"The ship was used by the Fromm Gang around 15BBY to protect the Trigon One (their weapons satellite) and to subjugate and terrorize the inhabitants of Ingo, a backwater Mid Rim planet."

The author also uses the same hyberbolic adjectives again and again... "impossibly rare," "incredibly expensive," every playset and vehicle's parts are noted as being "removable/easily lost"... it just gets a bit same-y.

Those are some examples of how the book might have benefited from more aggressive editing. Another example is a very confusing discussion at the beginning of the book about the terms "MIB" (mint in box) and "MISB" (mint in sealed box). Explanations are given of these terms, then Bellomo introduces the terms "MIP" (mint in package) and "MISP" (mint in sealed package), which have essentially the same meanings as MIB and MISB. Why?? It's incongruous and a waste of space, especially when some figure collecting basics like COO are not even referenced.

However, Bellomo can be commended in producing a worthwhile introductory text for vintage enthusiasts. If you're looking for a guide to what accessories come with what figure, or identification of some major variations, or just want to look at pretty pictures of vintage toys, then this is your book. It's comprehensive as far as it goes, covering all the vintage figures (plus Ewoks and Droids) plus creatures, ships, and even coins. It's all here, in colour, in one volume. The identification of the parts that come with each vehicle and playset is an invaluable reference. And the photos are spectacular!

But as reference for more advanced collectors and fans, there are things lacking. A major deficit, in my view, is the lack of information on cardback variations and more fundamentally, on packaging at all. Kenner's package design is one of the toy elements that's most attractive to collectors and enthusiasts and some pictures or reference on that would certainly be welcomed by the collecting community. This is especially relevant in light of recent developments in the world of reproductions - not only repro cardbacks, but reproductions of boxes and even inserts! I suspect that a major reason for this omission is that the toys pictured in the book are all from Bellomo's personal collection, and he may not personally own boxed versions of the toys - or maybe, like my own collection, his boxes aren't all in a condition that's "ready for prime time" ;-) However, if the book had included photography of cardbacks, packaging and boxes, there wouldn't be the need for all of the extraneous Universe information to fill the book.

I can understand the concentration on loose toys, and that's great. But even in accepting this focus, the lack of any information, or even any mention, of COO information as regards the figures is a significant deficit.

Collectors will love to use this book for parts reference to ships and playsets, and as an accessories/weapons guide for figures. The toy photography is also exquisite. But don't expect any meaningful discussion of packaging or cardbacks, figure variations or COO information. You may also find the excessive discussion of the Expanded Universe and Bellomo's florid prose distracting.

I guess in the end, the book is just a bit confused as to its purpose. Is it a collector's reference? Or is it a fan reference to character backgrounds and the "history" of the Star Wars universe? As it happens, it's a bit of both (almost more the latter than the former), and as such will likely have an increased mainstream appeal. I certainly recommend it for eye candy alone, especially at the price. However, this also means, unfortunately, that we still await the ultimate collector reference. Roll on Kellerman Second Edition!
 Verdict: Recommended for what it is, especially at the price.
 

The Ultimate Guide to Vintage Star Wars Toys by Mark Bellomo
Krause Publications
$17.70 from Amazon.com

EDIT: This review was mentioned on the Star Wars Collectors' Archive podcast (the Vintage Pod/'Chive Cast) episode 59. Tune in around 1:24 to hear for yourself :-)

The Jabba the Hutt Dungeon Action Playset

One of the later releases from Jedi was the Jabba the Hutt Dungeon Action Playset. Clearly this was one of Kenner's final desperate efforts, as it not only included three action figures, but it also recycled most of its content from the earlier Star Wars Droid Factory playset.

I wanted to spotlight this set in particular, for a few reasons. It features some more of that classic Kenner package design that I can't get enough of, as well as the great "bonus" seal call-out on the front. In addition, this set is probably the most complete playset I have in my collection - as you will see, it includes absolutely everything that originally came in the box (bar the packing cardboard) ;-)

Great honking piece of tape sealing the box, as you often see with vintage Kenner...

"Hey kids! Here's how you can make 8D8 torture Artoo-Detoo!" Step-by-step torture instructions are always helpful.

Free figure offer is prominently displayed. The classic yellow and blue seal on the box front looks awesome as well.

Instruction sheet, reply card and used sticker sheet was also included in the box :-)

Figures in original Kenner baggies. Although the baggies were opened, it was done in such a way as to preserve the original sealed appearance. I love when the original owners do that!

Free figures roaming in their intended habitat. 8D8 is ready to pull down the torture arm, cleverly modified from the factory boom from the original "Droid Factory" playset.

Who the heck are these guys now?? Strangely enough, the Jabba Dungeon set was recycled yet AGAIN with a late release that included three free Power of the Force figures: EV-9D9, Barada, and Amanaman.  I've set them up with the Dungeon to give an idea of what the later PotF set would look like in a play scenario.

The PotF figures do look good, don't they? Even Amanaman is starting to grow on me a bit, but Barada is cool and EV-9D9 is one of my favourites with her cool moving jaw piece. "You're a feisty one..."

Vintage Figure Collection Completed!

Today the last of the figures arrived to complete my run of loose figures from 1978-85 (only 35 years in the making ;-) so I'm celebrating with a quick post and photo rundown. Above - the first twelve - all of which I've owned since new.

Here - the next 9 (to make 21 from the Star Wars series, along with the elusive Blue Snaggletooth) plus all of the characters released for "The Empire Strikes Back". You'll notice a few extras in there - some custom figures that have snuck their way in ;-) Can you identify them?

The "Return of the Jedi" assortment.

The "Power of the Force" release. Looks like I've cut off an Ewok there - sorry! Latest acquisition to complete the run was the R2-D2 with pop-up lightsaber.

Lastly, some other oddball variants. Left to right: Death Squad Commander with only one rank bar, Boba Fett with Taiwan COO, matte-grey IG-88, modern bootleg Stormtroopers, Lando with white teeth and eyes, large head Han Solo, Jawa with cloth cape (since it came later than the vinyl cape, I consider the cloth cape version to be the "variant" ;-)

In the background, my only two MOCs - Canadian Toy Fair display Princess Leia Organa and a garden-variety Leia Endor.

Well, there you have it - 35 years of loose figure collecting! Whew!