A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: Hasbro, Inc. © 2017 Hasbro and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) In the Spring of 2018, even weeks before its scheduled April 13 rollout, many retailers began selling Death Star Trooper, the 60th figure in Hasbro's Star Wars: The Black Series collection of 6-inch scale action figures. Based on the black-garbed Imperial personnel assigned to serve aboard the original Death Star seen in 1977's Star Wars (aka Star Wars - Episode IV: A New Hope ), Death Star Trooper is a well-made repainted version of 2017's 40th Anniversary figure, Death Squad Commander and was part of a The Black Series wave that included Jawa, Han Solo, Grand Moff Tarkin, Range Trooper, and Lando Calrissian.  Two Death Star Troopers guard the conference room in the Empire's original planet-killing battle station in this scene from Star Wars: A New Hope. © 1977  20th Century Fox Film Corp.  In the original Star Wars Trilogy (1977-1983), the black-clad Imperial troopers are seen primarily a...

Star Wars: The Black Series #69 Rebel Trooper. © 2018 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  In February 2018, Hasbro unveiled three new figures from its Star Wars: The Black Series collection at its showroom in the International Toy Fair , which was held in New York City at the Jacob K. Javitz Convention Center. Based on characters from Solo: A Star Wars Story, Star Wars: A New Hope , and Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back , the trio was made up of #68 Tobias Beckett #69 Rebel Trooper #70 Han Solo (Bespin) The six-inch scale figures hit shelves in both online and brick-and-mortar stores in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that July, joining the growing number of the coveted Black Series collectibles introduced by Hasbro in 2015, the same year that saw the premiere of Star Wars: The Force Awakens . What's In the Package?  Recently I decided to splurge on a few Star Wars figures of The Black Series collection; in addition to Emperor Palpatine and ...

Photo Credit: PicClick.com Part One: The first TIE Fighter versions: Good but flawed...   Ever since 1978, the year Kenner Toys (now Hasbro) started the Star Wars action figure collection and its assortment of vehicles and playsets, one of the mainstays has always been the Empire's Twin Ion Engine (TIE) fighter. Unlike the first production version of its Rebel counterparts (the X-Wing and Millennium Falcon ), it has always been proportionate in scale to the 3.75-inch figures, mainly because of its layout -- ball-shaped cockpit connected to two hexagonal solar panels that give the TIE its distinctive H-shape -- is simple and efficient. It could hold one figure -- at first, collectors had no choice but to use either Darth Vader (until he got his own TIE-Advanced X-1 fighter) or a stormtrooper until l...

Han Solo (from Solo: A Star Wars Story ). Photo Credit: Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL) In April of 2018 , a month before Lucasfilm's Solo: A Star Wars Story premiered in theaters, Hasbro officially released Star Wars Black Series: Han Solo as part of one of its "waves" of action figure assortments. This figure represents the first sculpt of the young Han Solo as portrayed on film by Alden Ehrenreich; Hasbro has made at least one more variant ( Han Solo - Mimban ) in his Imperial infantry gear, but this one depicts everyone's favorite Corellian orphan-turned-scoundrel as he appears in the latter half of Solo: A Star Wars Story.   Han Solo reinvents himself after leaving behind his old life. Now, Solo is growing increasingly comfortable traveling with law-benders and scoundrels. - Hasbro character description Although Solo: A Star Wars Story was not successful at the box office, it's still part of the overall Star Wars canon. and Han - no matter if h...

© 1999 Beckett Publications In April of 1999, during the media blitz that preceded the premiere of George Lucas's Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, sports card, and memorabilia-related Beckett Publications published A Movie Fan's Extreme Guide to Collectibles From a Galaxy Far, Far Away, a 256-page guide devoted - naturally - to toys, books, trading cards, posters, comics, and other collectibles from the first four Star Wars films, including the upcoming Episode I. Written by Steve Fritz, Matt Brady, and James Beckett, Collectibles From a Galaxy Far, Far Away gives readers and Star Wars collectors an overview of some of the vast numbers of collectible items in the market, as well as a price guide that reveals how much a 1978 Luke Skywalker 3.75-inch figure in an unopened package was worth in 1999, just to name one of many examples. The book, which is not a licensed publication vetted by Lucasfilm, consists of four main sections, the third of which is divided into...

Photo Credit: www.rebelscum.com. (C) 1998 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  The boggy, swamp planet Dagobah is the principal planet in the star system of the same name. Although explored, Dagobah remains sparsely populated because of its inhospitable climate and generally unpleasant surroundings. Constantly shrouded in mist and strangled by dense vegetation, the planet is the home to numerous animal life, including dangerous flying predators. The Jedi Master Yoda also makes his home and hideout there and is the only resident of notoriety. – From the package blurb, Star Wars – Power of the Force: Dagobah with Yoda (Complete Galaxy) Twenty years ago, Hasbro, Inc.’s Kenner division released a new assortment of globe-and-figure sets called Complete Galaxy. Sold as part of Kenner’s revived Star Wars: The Power of the Force collection, this assortment consists of four detailed globes based on three planets and one battle station where crucial events of the Galactic Civil Wa...

(C) 2004 Hasbro, Inc. and Lucasfilm Ltd. (LFL)  The bone-chilling cold is not the only danger that awaits a traveler on the Hoth plains. Despite standing over two meters in height, the Wampa ice creature is nonetheless a stealthy predator. Camouflaged by its white fur and the howling Hoth winds, a Wampa surprised Luke Skywalker while he was on patrol and dragged him to its cave as his next meal. When the Jedi freed himself, the Wampa fought him - and lost an arm in the struggle. – Product blurb, Wampa (Hoth Attack) I've been collecting Star Wars figures for 40 years, and even though my collection is far from being even close to complete, I own enough of the small action figures to know that the quality of the figures has improved over the past two and a half decades. Not only are the 21st Century Hasbro figures more detailed than their 1978-1985 Kenner Toys counterparts, but they also now include little "extras" that make them more attractive to adult collectors...

Photo Credit: collector-actionfigures.com  Although the Star Wars saga is perhaps associated with dazzling set-piece action sequences replete with lightsaber duels and dogfights in space, the series is replete with small moments that are in themselves fateful or revelatory. In filmmaking, no scene is -- or should be, anyway -- extraneous or tossed in just because it looks "cool." Every tiny bit of dialogue, every single shot has to move the story forward, even something that seems irrelevant.  In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, everything is set up to propel Anakin Skywalker from his life as a slave to the start of his training as a Jedi Knight, a seemingly straight path that will, of course, zig and zag to Anakin's ultimate destiny…his deviation from the true path of the JedI, his forbidden romance with Padme Amidala, and his turning to the dark side of the Force.  Hasbro's Mos Espa Encounter scene pack beautifully recreates the face-off between y...

Garindan, a Kubaz informant, works only for the highest bidders - usually the Empire or Jabba the Hutt. Garindan followed the young Skywalker and his mentor Ben Kenobi through the alleys of Mos Eisley.   - From the package blurb.  The shadowy spy retroactively named Garindan only appears briefly in  A New Hope  as the shrouded figure with the long nose and goggled eyes, he is the character who tips off the Imperial stormtroopers that Luke and Obi-Wan Kenobi have gone to Docking Bay 94 in Mos Eisley.  He appears twice or thrice, following the Jedi Knight and his new apprentice through alleys and bystreets and muttering into a handheld comlink in a squeaky language.  Garindan is not identified by name in the film or the 1976 Alan Dean Foster-penned novelization; the figure is also known colloquially as "Long Snoot" because of his long proboscis.  The Figure:    Height:  1.85 Meters Status:  Spy Classification:  Kub...