Grubee's Star Wars Tumblers

Some flea market finds to post today... four (two sets of two each) collectible tumblers and a very nice Luke ("farmboy").

I never thought I'd find these tumblers but never say never! They were giveaways produced for a Winnipeg burger joint called "Grubee's".

Grubee's was one of the many restaurant creations of Oscar Grubert, a Jewish kid from the tough North End of the city who grew up to be a lawyer and later, restaurant entrepreneur extraordinaire. For any Manitobans who remember the '70s, Grubert is the reason you might know Kentucky Fried Chicken as "Champs", for it was Grubert who brought the KFC brand to Manitoba as "Champ's Chicken".
 

Grubert was also the man behind such well-known local eateries as Mama Trossi's, Thomas Button's, G. Willaker's, and of course Mother Tucker's Food Experience. He also dabbled in nightclubs (Strawberries and Blue Jeans Cabaret) and concert promotion. Quite the impresario!

Grubee's was a burger joint as noted in the contemporary newspaper ad shown above. Apparently there were five locations but none of my long-time resident Winnipeg buddies can remember them. However, a co-worker of my wife's remembers being taken there on a date, and that would've been in the early '80s. But there haven't been any Grubee's around here for a long time... a long time :-)

Anyway, the cups are certainly rare finds and it's tough even to find pictures of them on the Internet... even the vaunted Star Wars Collectors Archive, while maintaining an entry for the items, doesn't host any pics. I'll send these to them and perhaps they'll make it online.

In any event, I feel pretty fortunate to have found two sets in near-mint condition for a very fair price, and a really nice Luke as well. If you want to read more about the remarkable Oscar Grubert, his obituary is here.

EDIT: After appearing on The Vintage Rebellion podcast, I was contacted by a collector who noted that the illustrations on the cups were also used in Canada by Coca-Cola for marketing their bottle cap promotion. The illustrations (in colour) appeared on the associated bottle neck hanger, counter-top promo piece, and poster. Cheers to Jonathan M. for that information. I also understand that he was the person who originally scanned the ad above and put it on the Internet, so thanks for that too!

Takagi "Elfin Knights" Blade Runner Blaster Water Pistol

Okay, I'm banking on a little fandom cross-pollination here. I've posted before about ALIEN toys but at least there was a Kenner connection in common, back in the day. With Blade Runner there's a similar degree of separation - Harrison Ford starred in both movies :-)

So, assuming you're still tuned in, I'd like to introduce a small project - a repaint of the world's most awesome water pistol - Deckard's blaster from the original Blade Runner!

The story of the BR blaster has been told many places - the original prop was an unholy union between a Charter Arms .44 cal. Bulldog revolver and a Steyr-Mannlicher .22 cal rifle with some extra greeblies and LED lights sprinkled to taste. Long thought lost, the original prop resurfaced in 2006 at a fan convention called WorldCon. In the meantime, several prop makers had turned their skills to producing more-or-less accurate replicas of the blaster based on screen caps from the movie. However, the emergence of the "WorldCon Blaster" in detailed photos has lead to more definitive replicas being produced, one of the most popular being made in Japan by Tomenosuke and retailing for nearly $1,000.

photo: eBay

I'd always wanted to have a BR blaster of my own but $1K is just too much. Enter the Takagi "Elfin Knights Project" M2019 water blaster! Injection molded in translucent black and amber plastic, it's an amazingly faithful replica of the film blaster, at a knockdown price.

 However faithful it looks, though, a plastic water gun is never going to have the have the heft of a full metal (or even resin) prop. I fixed this by plugging the holes in the molding and filling it brimful with clean sand - weight is now over 800 grams or almost two pounds. I then masked off the grips and primed the piece with satin black spraypaint.

After priming, I painted the upper receiver and triggerguard with a dark metal colour and the buttplate with a lighter metal. The rest was carefully weathered, mostly with a sponge technique, concentrating on the parts that would contact the holster or hand of the user. I glued two metal BBs on each side of the piece to represent the red LEDs, and painted them as well as the green LEDs with acrylic paint, finished with a gloss coat.

Lastly, I had my friend Byron of Northern Lights build me a fantastic clear acrylic stand for the prop. This will look pretty cool in my collecting room - although after having painted this one, I'm thinking of buying a resin kit to do up with working LEDs... crazy? who knows.

That's it for now, and all there is left to say is "have a better one!" :-)

Turret/Probot Playset

You may not have guessed this, but there is an aspect of the Turret/Probot playset that is the subject of some controversy. The debate apparently centres around whether the "Probot" is really an action figure and should be included in a "loose figure run". Personally, I think that figures that are part of a playset, like Jabba the Hutt or the Dianoga, shouldn't be included as part of a loose run. Perhaps there's a clue from Kenner...

AHA! "Action Figures Sold Separately"! I guess we can definitively say that the Probot isn't an "action figure" then... although I doubt this will convince the die hards on the other side of the debate. Like student politics, "people are so passionate about the issue because the stakes are so low."

In any case, on to the playset... one of the earliest in the ESB line with a copyright date of 1979, the T/P Playset consists of four main parts - the base, turret bottom, turret top, and Probot figure.

There was even some "action" in this playset too - as shown above, kids could move a lever to shake the rod precariously supporting the Probot, tipping it off. "I didn't hit it that hard, musta had a self-destruct."

Some great play features shown here.

Plus a movie still on the end flaps!

Here we go with the live tableau! As I've noted before, the farther we get into the range, the more extravagant the box-art play scenarios get in terms of toys. Here we've got Han Hoth, four Rebel Soldiers, Darth Vader, and five Snowtroopers!

Here are some close-up looks at the box side images. Probot vanguards the Imperial assault.

Rebel Soldier sneaks into the turret.

Peeking out the turret hatch.

I hadn't noticed this before, but the box art shows Han with a "Bespin blaster" rather than his traditional smuggler piece. The main box art picture has him with this different gun as well.

Copyright notice is the most detailed one I've blogged yet: "(C) CPG PRODUCTS CORP / BY ITS DIVISION KENNER / PRODUCTS / CINCINNATI OHIO 45202 / CAT. NO. 38830 / CAV. NO. ONE 722001 / (C) LUCAS FILM / LTD. L.F.L. 1979 / REV. 11"

Lots to unpack there... notably the "REV. 11" notation (revision number 11?). Presumably this is the only revision to make it into production but I'd be curious to see if any readers have a T/P playset with a different revision. Also, "LUCAS FILM" as two words!

To sum this one up, I really like the playset. Mine has a remnant price sticker on it of "$10.97" and I reckon that the value was there for kids. Whether re-enacting the first encounter with the Probot, the all-out Imperial assault on Echo Base, or some other Hoth scenario that took place off-screen (a remote Rebel outpost attacked by a rogue Probot maybe?) this playset brings the goods. You can even use the Probot independent of the rest of the playset. Maybe Probot has landed on some other non-Ice Planet??

Make sure, though, that if you buy one, your Probot has the full complement of legs! They are detachable from the body and can be tough to find loose.

Till next time on the Ice Planet!

Tauntaun (Kenner Canada) and Tauntaun with Open Belly Rescue Feature

The second "riding animal" to be released in the vintage line (after the Patrol Dewback) was the Tauntaun, released in "Empire Strikes Back" packaging. The example in my collection happens to be a Kenner Canada item. Let's have a closer look!

"Contents: One marsupial mammal." Oddly specific, isn't it? I quite like this line, probably the Marketing Department's idea of a clever little joke. "One creature" or "one riding animal" just doesn't have the same ring, does it? Interestingly, this directly contradicts (!) the ESB script which reads:

EXT. PLAIN OF HOTH - DAY

A small figure gallops across the windswept ice slope.  The bundled 
rider is mounted on a large gray snow lizard, a Tauntaun.

Being a Kenner Canada item, French and English coexist in easy harmony on the box. Unfortunately some English infiltrated the French side as the "Action figures sold separately" appears in both languages on both box ends.

Back of the box demonstrates play features. Those reins... I have three Tauntauns in my collection and I think every set of brown rubbery plastic reins is broken and repaired, right at the top of the "loop". One of them is from my childhood collection and I remember that the reins broke soon after I got it. Superglue effects a repair but any flexibility in the repaired area is gone.

Typical Kenner escalation in this photo... two Rebel Soldiers, OK... but what kid is gonna have THREE TAUNTAUNS??

This is quite a nice picture of the Rebel Soldier grooming and saddling his smelly disgusting Tauntaun.

That's the box, now on to everyone's favourite part... playing with the toys setting up tableaux of the box photos. Must've been early in the ESB toy cycle as here we have Princess Leia Organa (as opposed to Hoth Outfit) and a non-Sensorscope R2. However as I've noted before, availability of certain figures often didn't seem to "figure" into the Kenner box art choices. Stormtrooper flying a TIE Interceptor anyone??

A fine profile shot of the Tauntaun with Han Hoth aboard.

Rebel Soldier lovingly grooming his mount. Perhaps trying to leverage the "horse-mad preteen girl" market? In any event, I like this softer side of the Rebel Soldier.

Setting off in search of Luke. Not quite the scene from the movie with Han storming off with his "I'll see you in Hell!!" line, but this is definitely more kid-friendly.

Now, the main thing people remember about Han's rescue of Luke on Hoth is stuffing him into the carcass of Han's dead Tauntaun. It was gross in the movie, and it's equally disturbing as a toy. However, by '82 the Tauntaun toy may have been getting a bit stale, and adding another play feature was a great way to invigorate sales.

No longer a "marsupial mammal", now just a mammal. Perhaps "marsupial" was removed so as not to create the impression that the open belly feature was some sort of joey pouch? Because reference to a natural birth process would be disgusting and inappropriate, not at all like a reference to cutting open a dead animal and stuffing your friend inside the carcass...

Ugh... nice close-up. We get the idea.

Recycled top picture from the Tauntaun box, with a re-imagining of the Hoth Rescue, this time with Rebel Commander and two Rebel Soldiers as witnesses to the horror. What is seen cannot be unseen!

Further recycling from the Tauntaun box.

It's surprisingly difficult to stuff Luke all the way into the Tauntaun abdominal cavity. I actually had to open the back hatch and stuff Luke's legs through there.

Close-up picture of the horrifying scene.

Maybe this is actually a reenactment of the rescue back at Echo Base, for the benefit of the Rebels who didn't get to see it the first time?? "Then I totally had this awesome idea, I took Luke's lightsword thingy and cut open the smelly old Tauntaun, and stuffed Luke inside it! He was totally unconscious so he didn't even realize until he woke up covered in Tauntaun guts, bile and feces! Try making time with the Princess now, farmboy! You're disgusting!" Makes drawing a dick on someone's head at a party look absolutely pedestrian in terms of pranks.

Well, enough with the Tauntaun stuffery... An interesting tidbit is that the COO information on both Tauntaun versions is exactly the same, on the bottoms of the feet - except for letter designations (A and D for regular and B and C for open-belly). Luckily for Kenner, they didn't print the COO on the belly of the beast like they did with the Dewback - if they'd done so they'd have needed to move it for the open-belly version. Just luck? Or did the designers anticipate a later "open belly" version when designing the first toy?

Another difference between the toys is that the saddle on the open-belly version (top) has a much thicker strap than the standard version (bottom). Presumably this is the result of real-world feedback on the flimsiness of the plastic strap. Kenner really does care!

Anyway, there you have the comprehensive survey of the Tauntaun in both versions. For me, I'll take the original recipe. The open belly just freaks me out.