The ROTJ toy line was definitely the coolest of the original set of movie figures (not counting the Power of the Force toys). First film's were way too flimsy and cheap-feeling, which really hobbled Vader, Luke and Obi-Wan particularly. Empire had the badass Imperial Walkers but how many kids actually had those? But by Jedi the basic figures had gotten fuller and heavier, and there were all these great ones - Bib Fortuna, the Gamorrean troll guy, the Emperor and his red guard, Leia with bounty-hunter mask, so cool. Shame about all the Ewoks though.
I love how you would seriously need a whole display case just to handle all variants of Luke Skywalker: http://www.jedibusiness.com/star-wars-figures.aspx?type=name&typeName=Luke%20Skywalker
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 17 August 2014 20:37 (nine years ago) link
holy grail for nine year old me was a basement-sized super star destroyer, which tbqf i never actually saw, i just invented it in my head. i wanted it to come with a spaceship dock below it large enough to hold a star destroyer, which in itself would have a dock large enough to hold a senator's escape shuttle.
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Sunday, 17 August 2014 20:50 (nine years ago) link
The story goes that when the Kenner toy designers were making the prototype figures, the only visual resource they had for the character Snaggletooth was a grainy, black-and-white photograph of the character's head. With so little to go on, the Kenner employees did their best and just made up the rest, making a figure of a blue suited, average human height creature from a character that actually wore red and was about 3 feet tall. The figure was quickly scrapped and never seen again, making it possibly the rarest Star Wars action figure on the market.
http://actionfigures.about.com/od/historyofactionfigures/tp/top_5_starwars.htm
gotta love the haphazardness of that early merchandising.
― piscesx, Sunday, 17 August 2014 20:56 (nine years ago) link
from the soundtrack album:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kqeGtCtDVqs
― i was a downy lad, and twee (stevie), Sunday, 17 August 2014 20:59 (nine years ago) link
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Sunday, August 17, 2014 4:50 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
closest cousin, the awesome GI JOE Defiant, with a space shuttle base that launches a shuttle that can fold out to become a sort of building-like playset, and which is host to...another shuttle:
http://www.planetdiecast.com/hwdphotos/originals/12130/1173/defiant.jpg
― Doctor Casino, Sunday, 17 August 2014 23:05 (nine years ago) link
My buddy named his stoner rock band Blue Snaggletooth:
https://m.facebook.com/profile.php?id=105410702837250
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2014 02:08 (nine years ago) link
Also, I always thought the USS Flagg was the end-all/be-all of 80s action figure toys, as that thing was like 7.5 feet long
http://www.timidfutures.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/gijoe-uss-flagg-aircraft-carrier.jpg
Fun/dumb fact: the set was based on the aircraft carrier used in _The Final Countdown_
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2014 02:18 (nine years ago) link
Also, on a related note, I scored an original FX-7 in great condition for $3 from a local consignment store:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpa1/v/t1.0-9/s640x640/1621788_10152257103346596_8544268108627425152_n.jpg?oh=bf1dc3da1f95d0766e90a8e228b54ac0&oe=545FE731&__gda__=1417510900_7a83575bdfaca484daa6cc30f48f2fac
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2014 02:24 (nine years ago) link
They have a USS Flagg at this place near my house: http://bigfunbigfun.com/
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Monday, 18 August 2014 02:28 (nine years ago) link
Ha; my ex-gf strongly recommended I visit there last time I got sent to Cleveland. Didn't get the chance to make it down, tho.
― Stephen King's Threaderstarter (kingfish), Monday, 18 August 2014 02:30 (nine years ago) link
I had one of the cardboard UK death stars as a kid! It was so rad - it had a tunnel you could throw your figures down, into the trash compactor...
― i was a downy lad, and twee (stevie), Monday, 18 August 2014 08:34 (nine years ago) link
Switching gears a little but, I had one of these things. Cool because it had nothing to do with the movie.
http://media.liveauctiongroup.net/i/5361/8439313_2.jpg?v=8CB24FA57116B70
― how's life, Monday, 18 August 2014 09:18 (nine years ago) link
little bit. Anyway, there were a few other similar one-man ships called mini-rigs.
― how's life, Monday, 18 August 2014 09:21 (nine years ago) link
should just re-name this thread "arrested development"
― Οὖτις, Monday, 18 August 2014 15:42 (nine years ago) link
Shakey turned into Dr. Morbius so gradually, we hardly even noticed.
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Monday, 18 August 2014 15:44 (nine years ago) link
would he prefer it if we just sat around wishing Lucas were dead?
― i was a downy lad, and twee (stevie), Monday, 18 August 2014 16:10 (nine years ago) link
I wonder if previous generations got all "man when I was a kid I had this one stick I used to play with, it was the coolest thing" as they aged
― Οὖτις, Monday, 18 August 2014 16:24 (nine years ago) link
George Washington wouldn't shut up about his favorite ax from childhood
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Monday, 18 August 2014 16:30 (nine years ago) link
Some people reminisced about the stick, some people prefered to walk around with the stick firmly planted up their wizened asses.
― The Ape In The Outhouse (Old Lunch), Monday, 18 August 2014 16:51 (nine years ago) link
oh HELLO
http://www.empireonline.com/news/story.asp?NID=41928
― piscesx, Monday, 18 August 2014 16:55 (nine years ago) link
xxp yeah no baby boomers definitely were never a target market for having their own childhoods sold back to them, that is a thing that never happened.
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Monday, 18 August 2014 18:01 (nine years ago) link
As io9.com pointed out the other day, all this talk of unaltered Original Trilogy Blu-Rays is just talk, since Fox owns the worldwide distribution rights to Star Wars in perpetuity, and to the other five movies through 2020.
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Monday, 18 August 2014 18:04 (nine years ago) link
Yeah, but as also pointed out elsewhere, Fox could stand to strike a deal that would make them bucketloads of money. I think it'll still happen sooner rather than later, there is way too much money to be made for it not to.
― Bus Sex Teen Busted After Queef Beef (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Monday, 18 August 2014 21:02 (nine years ago) link
yeah with Lucas' petty ego out of the way the $$$ will win out
― Οὖτις, Monday, 18 August 2014 21:08 (nine years ago) link
i really hope osmeone writes a good article or oral history or wahtever about g-luc's decision to sell off star wars
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:00 (nine years ago) link
that would def be good reading, but surely it all comes down to '$$$$ + tired of being yelled at by nerds'
― Bus Sex Teen Busted After Queef Beef (jon /via/ chi 2.0), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:08 (nine years ago) link
afaik he'd said that if his black WWII fighter squadron movie failed he was done w movies. (It failed).
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:17 (nine years ago) link
TBF, he did not try to make it good, so he was clearly looking for a way out the whole time.
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:18 (nine years ago) link
yeah there could v well have been some subconscious self-sabotage there, it is kind of his overall m.o.
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:19 (nine years ago) link
such a massively insecure dude
all of his terrible ideas were just cries for help
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:20 (nine years ago) link
darth booger or whatever from the cartoons et al
― Dokken played here for a Ribfest and people were total assholes (Sparkle Motion), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 16:21 (nine years ago) link
i wanna know the moment he went from i am the mastermind and god of this complex universe and i will be overseeing it and all its technical innovatiosn for decades to come to "ah fuck it"
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:42 (nine years ago) link
I mean, $4 billion
― heck (silby), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:45 (nine years ago) link
Bob Iger probably gave him a call and was like "our stock is up ever since we started this Marvel thing and we're looking for more bankable franchises, how's $4 billion for the whole kit and caboodle sound to you"
― heck (silby), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:46 (nine years ago) link
s1ocki otm
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:48 (nine years ago) link
i know it was a lot of money but dude was already loaded, there had to be some sort of large shift in his consciousness
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:50 (nine years ago) link
"Those ILX guys sure are mean to me. I'm getting off this boat."
(PS frogbs is George Lucas)
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:52 (nine years ago) link
maybe he realized this stuff was just kinda fucking stupid?
― go ahead. make vid where u rap about this new TMNT movie. (forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:53 (nine years ago) link
you guys know i wasnt specifically asking YOU for your insights on this matter
― socki (s1ocki), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:54 (nine years ago) link
Well Lucas should be along any minute
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:55 (nine years ago) link
it was four billion dollars s1ocki, how can you not comprehend that
― ╲╱\/╲/\╱╲╱\/\ (gr8080), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:56 (nine years ago) link
he really wanted that ivory backscratcher
― Οὖτις, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 17:57 (nine years ago) link
maybe he was like hey kids, when i die, do you want four billion dollars or responsibility for star wars
― difficult listening hour, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:03 (nine years ago) link
think he's gonna philanthropize so they won't get all 4 bil
― heck (silby), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:31 (nine years ago) link
I, George Lucas, being of sound mind and body, do hereby bequeath all of my worldly belongs to the Sarlacc, where they will learn a new definition of pain as they are slowly digested over a thousand years.
― Welcome to my spooooooky carnival! Hope I don't... blow your mind! (Phil D.), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:37 (nine years ago) link
so boba fett probably died of old age, i just realized
― LIKE If you are against racism (omar little), Tuesday, 19 August 2014 18:52 (nine years ago) link
Not partic relevant but the talk upthread about ridiculously huge toys, do you think it wd be interesting to do a thread about that - consumer products so extremely expensive that (I assume) almost no-one ever owned them?
― cardamon, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:41 (nine years ago) link
xp iirc from when i was 12 or so the expanded universe take is that boba fett somehow managed to crawl out
― Merdeyeux, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 21:44 (nine years ago) link
"this will be your last chance to own the original masterpiece"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKr5R1VNPjI
hillarious how they flogged them on video before the 97 special versions.
― piscesx, Tuesday, 19 August 2014 22:00 (nine years ago) link