I am so excited about today’s unboxing – the Premier Collection Padme’ Amidala statue by Gentle Giant! I have been patiently waiting for this to arrive ever since it was first revealed, and it’s finally here! As a huge Padme’ Amidala fan and collector, of course I had it pre-ordered the second it was available, and the wait was worth it.

Check out my unboxing video –

This statue is part of the Premier Collection line by Gentle Giant (owned by Diamond Select Toys). I have been collecting Gentle Giant for absolutely years now, and while I wish I could collect all of their Star Wars pieces, I tend to focus on my favourite characters like Princess Leia, Padme’ Amidala, and Rey.

This limited edition piece has a edition size of 3,000 – I’m glad it wasn’t a small run, so more fans can add this wonderful statue to their collection. I am always keen for more Padme’ Amidala items to add to my collection, and would have been devastated to miss out on this one!

Of course, the first thing I check for when opening up a new collectible – check for any flaws or damage. Thankfully damage is rare, even with international shipping, but sadly it has happened a few times. This statue arrived safe and sound – a huge relief! A quick check over all the pieces, and it’s time to assemble the statue.

This Premier Collection statue is 1:7 scale, it stands approximately 24cm tall. I have a few other Premier Collection statues, and I think this is really nice scale – big enough for a decently sized statue, but not so big as to take up a lot of display space, and space is always an issue for collectors!

Some Gentle Giant statues are assembled from a number of components, some arrive as one solid sculpt. This Padme’ Amidala statue has three pieces – the large arena base, Padme’ Amidala, and her right arm holding a blaster. So, not very tricky to put together.

Padme’ Amidala herself connects to the base with two metal pins on the underside of her left boot – this connects into place very securely. Her right arm attaches with a magnet – this also clicked into place easily, but I can wiggle the arm up and down. Personally, I am a little worried this might accidentally get knocked out of place, so I will remove that piece when moving the statue to a different display space.

The paint job on Padme’ Amidala is fantastic – the sculpt looks like her, the eyes are good, and the hairstyle is sculpted really well. I really like the details on this statue – including small elements like the texture on her belt that looks like leather, and the subtle arena dust weathering on her boots.

It was a long wait for this statue, and it was worth it. While I know some fans are frustrated that many companies choose Padme’ Amidala’s Episode II arena costume for designs featuring her (when she has so many other amazing costumes to choose from), but I realise that this scene lends itself to some great action poses. Hopefully we will see many more wonderful Gentle Giant statues featuring Padme’ Amidala’s other outfits – I know I would buy them all!

Overall, I am really happy with this Padme’ Amidala statue – I am especially fond of Attack Of The Clones, as that film sparked my Star Wars collecting journey. This statue arrived on 16th May, which coincidentally is the 21st anniversary of the release of Attack Of The Clones – a perfect way to celebrate!

Now I just need to do a bit of rearranging so I can fit it alongside my other favourite Padme’ Amidala pieces – another fine addition to my collection!

May the Force be with you!

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An exciting mail call – our LEGO Star Wars May 4th order has arrived! As usual LEGO had a great promotion for Star Wars Day, with special free promo sets – the perfect time to grab some of the new sets that we had seen on display at Star Wars Celebration Europe.

We picked up three LEGO Star Wars sets, which qualified us for two Star Wars Day May 4th special ‘free gift with purchase’ sets. There was also a third Star Wars Day promo, a Death Star coin, but we suspect NZ did not get a lot of stock of that one because it was gone by the time we were able to place our order. We don’t mind – we were most excited about the two promos we did get, as they are actual LEGO sets.

Check out our LEGO Star Wars haul video –

First up, the new LEGO Star Wars Brick Headz Battle Of Endor Heroes (set 40623). This was originally released as a ‘first to market’ item at Star Wars Celebration Europe, where we got to see it in person. As it was not a convention exclusive, we preferred to wait and buy it at home rather than try to get it home in our suitcase. It was great to see the set built up in person at the convention, so we’ve been eagerly awaiting the moment we could get our hands on it.

The set includes five Brick Headz figures, all from Return Of The Jedi – Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, Lando Calrissian, Wicket, and Princess Leia. I have a few LEGO Star Wars Brick Headz figures already, including the classic white dress Princess Leia from A New Hope, so I’m excited to add five more to my collection.

Next up, another new set celebrating Return Of The Jedi – the Endor Speeder Chase scene (set 75353). This set features a Biker Scout on speeder bike racing through the trees on Endor, being followed close behind by Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia on another speeder bike. I can’t wait to build this set – so many great little details.

The third set we picked up was from Attack Of The Clones – Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter (set 75333). I first started collecting Star Wars during the prequel era, so I’m very fond of collectibles that really take me back to that time. As well as Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter, the set includes three mini-figures – Obi-Wan Kenobi, R4-P17, and Taun We.

Those three sets qualified us for two exclusive giveaway sets – the first, and the one we are the most excited about, is Death Star II (set 40591). The box for this is bigger than we were expecting for a free giveaway set!

The Death Star II set includes a little plaque for the 40th Anniversary of Return Of The Jedi, which is a great match for the other two ROTJ sets we picked up.

Our second ‘free gift with purchase’ promo set is the polybag X-Wing Starfighter (set 30654). Not as exciting as the boxed Death Star II set, but hey, you can’t go wrong with a cute little X-Wing Starfighter! While X-Wing Starfighters are seen throughout the Original Trilogy, this polybag also features the ROTJ 40th Anniversary logo.

We are very happy with our LEGO Star Wars haul for May the Fourth – five sets in total, with a focus on Return Of The Jedi – very fitting as we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the film this month. I can’t wait to get stuck in and start building – now I just have to decide which set to build first!

May the Force be with you!

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So many exciting new Hasbro The Vintage Collection figures lately! Celebrating the recent 20th anniversary of Attack Of The Clones, we have the new Anakin Skywalker ‘Padawan’ figure from AOTC – VC244.

We are still quite shocked to find this figure available on local store shelves, as it is still listed for pre-order on most international collectible websites. We were excited to get our first in-hand look at this Anakin figure, especially after the surprise appearance in a flashback in the Obi-Wan Kenobi series! I think Hasbro knew about those scenes, and put this figure in the same assortment as the first figures from the show.

Check out our unboxing video –

Anakin Skywalker ‘Padawan’ is VC244, as he appears in Attack Of The Clones. The backing card features a promotional photo of Hayden Christensen as Anakin Skywalker, from what looks like the Tusken Raider camp scene.

This figure is part of the assortment containing the first figures from the Obi-Wan Kenobi series – all the more interesting after discovering that this version of Anakin does appear in the series in flashback scenes.

Here in New Zealand, this TVC figure retails for NZ$29.99 each – which is approximately US$20.

So, our first look at the figure loose and up close.

This Anakin figure comes with an alternate ‘robotic’ hand, which is quite unique for Hasbro 3.75″ figures. This ‘padawan’ version of Anakin is from Attack Of The Clones – technically the gold version of his robotic hand is only seen in the closing wedding scene on Naboo, so it’s really interesting to see it included as an option here.

As expected, the figure also comes with two lightsaber accessories – a lightsaber hilt with peg that can attach to a hole on the left side of the belt, and an “activated” lightsaber with blue blade, that can be held for action poses. The figure also comes with a removable soft goods cloak, and attached soft goods lower tunic.

First up – the cloak. Anakin has a unique cloak in Attack Of The Clones – the front has strips, which is quite different to other Jedi cloaks. Unfortunately, his style doesn’t translate well in this small action figure scale – the front strips here don’t want to hang down the front. This is mostly due to the way they have been cut/sewn, as part of the back, so they naturally want to hang down the back. I understand a small change like sewing separate strips to the front would increase production time and costs, but it would have been a big improvement.

With a bit of wrestling, the strips do hang down the front, but that creates a bit of bunching at the shoulders. If I want to display this figure wearing the cloak, I would just lie the strips down the back for a cleaner (if not as accurate) look.

Personally, I prefer this figure without the cloak on, which is a shame – not very many Anakin Skywalker figures have come with a cloak. It can be easily removed – it sits on the figure with a loop of cord around the neck – not very accurate, but as Anakin’s cloak doesn’t have standard sleeves, it needs some method of staying attached to the figure and not just falling off.

Taking a closer look at the figure sculpt up close. I like the Jedi tunic details, some good fabric folds and lines here. The plastic lower front tabbards are joined together, so they lie straight and flat – though they do limit the hip articulation a little.

The padawan braid is curved to the front – it isn’t bent so it naturally sits forward. The hands hold the lightsaber well – though considering the options included here like the robotic hand, I wonder why they didn’t include a second lightsaber. Anakin uses other random lightsabers on Geonosis in the arena and in the fight against Dooku, so it would have been fun to include another here. I know I can always grab a spare lightsaber accessory from another figure, but that would have really make this figure into the definitive AOTC Anakin figure.

There are nice points of articulation at the neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, waist, hips, knees, and ankles. The knee joints on our figure are quite tight, but better than being too loose. To be honest, most of our figures are displayed standing straight, with most posing done with the upper body, so I don’t really mind – I care more about the arms for lightsaber poses.

The detail continues nicely on the back, with the belt pouches and capsules, tunic fabric folds, and boot strap details all very well done.

Our figure unfortunately has a bit of a paint flaw on the back of the lower tabbards. It’s frustrating, but always a risk with Hasbro figures – thankfully it is on the back, as we very rarely pose a figure facing away, so it won’t be seen once displayed on our shelf.

I particularly like the soft goods lower tunic – it adds a nice touch to the figure, and matches nicely in colour to the top of the tunic. It allows for some flexibility of the legs without having to create large artificial cuts in a plastic tunic.

One of my favourite aspects of this figure is the alternate hand – as well as coming packaged with two standard ‘human’ hands, this Anakin figure also comes with a gold robotic right hand. This allows collectors to create a ‘post-Count Dooku fight’ version of Anakin, as we see him during the wedding on Naboo.

Of course we don’t really see Anakin fighting or holding a lightsaber with this version of his robotic hand (it is black in Revenge Of The Sith, and mostly covered by a glove), but I really like the options here. I always feel nervous pulling off parts like hands, but the switch was relatively easy – the robotic hand sculpt has a hole/gap at the wrist so I was careful not to force it too much when attaching, as it can flex and bend.

The lightsaber hilt accessory attaches nicely to the peg hole on the belt, tight but not too tight. I am not worried about it falling out or coming loose. Of course this attachment method always leaves a hole in the belt sculpt if displaying the figure with the activated lightsaber in hand, but I do think it’s one of the better ways of giving collectors the option of displaying the hilt on the belt – and given the style of the belt clip, the gap is not too distracting within the design.

Overall, a great figure. Yes I am frustrated that the cloak isn’t quite as good as I hoped (it really is tucked behind the figure when carded so you can’t really see it at all before purchasing), but I still like all the other design details. Good sculpt details, good articulation, and I love the alternate hands.

As a big fan of Attack Of The Clones, I am really happy to see a new sculpt of a character from the film – especially as this year marks the 20th anniversary. I hope we see more AOTC figures released this year, especially since there are still many Padme’ Amidala outfits that have yet to be made in the action figure line.

May the Force be with you!

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Welcome to the Outlander Club!

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the release of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones a few days ago, we finished up a recover-and-restore project on this Outlander Club bar set piece and moved it from the workshop into our display room. It is from the scene in Episode 2 where Obi-Wan Kenobi turns down the offer of death sticks from Elan Sleazebaggano, and defeats Zam Wesell’s ambush attempt.

This was a large set component that was rescued from the junk pile when the Outlander Club set was broken down after filming in Sydney for Episode 2. We cleaned it up, re-attached some components that had become detached, and build a new support base to keep it off the ground and to bring it up to the correct display height (everything above the metal foot bar is original, except for the internal lighting, which has also been replaced… and will probably get upgraded to something better in the near future).

We have got plans to fill the wall space behind the bar, including some other, related, screen-used Star Wars set pieces, but that’ll take a bit more work. Stay tuned for updates down the line!

The Outlander Club set is reported to have taken a couple of months to build – it was then used for filming for less than a full day, then demolished (mostly) in order for another set to be built in the studio the next day.

This is a rare example of a fully built set on the production, which often relied on partial sets or just expanses of bluescreen for its locations. Every direction one looked within the nightclub set on Stage 3 at Fox Studios Sydney would provide otherworldly scenery. When filled with extras, smoke, and noise, it completed the illusion. But the nightclub only stood half a day, on July 17, 2000. After the club sequence was shot, the crew immediately started tearing it down to build another set needed in production.

Star Wars: Fascinating Facts – Pablo Hidalgo

It was quite the adventure to secure this unique piece for our collection – one that included a two-day road trip across the country. The set piece was located in another city, with a deadline to secure it (the owner was moving house). We hurriedly made a plan that included two important components – a hire van for the journey, and finding a place to stay overnight on the two-day drive there and back.

We picked up our hire van first thing on that Saturday morning, and hit the road out of town. A van isn’t the most comfortable vehicle for such a long road trip, but we knew it was going to be worth it. We took our cameras along for the journey, so we could look back at our adventure with fond memories.

Living in New Zealand, driving literally past Mount Doom (Mount Ngauruhoe), it felt like we were embarking on a epic quest – instead this time we were setting off to rescue an item, not destroy it! We made it as far as the Tongariro National Park for our first leg of the journey, and stayed at Discovery Lodge – a place we have visited before several times on holiday.

Getting up before sunrise the next day, we set off south for our destination. We arrived a few hours later, and finally got our first in-person look at the bar set piece. It was just so exciting! It was big, real, and finally in our hands. Now we just had to get it home.

We had packed blankets, bed covers, sleeping bags, towels, cardboard, rope, and anything else we thought might be useful to help secure the set pieces for the journey home. We used every single thing we had brought to pack it all in securely. Then, we were off!

It was a very long drive home, making only quick stops for food and fuel, so it was late in the evening by the time we pulled into our driveway back home. But that long (uncomfortable) drive was worth it – the bar set was now in its new home, all safe and secure.

We then set about taking our time to carefully clean the components, do some minor repairs and stabilisation, and build a wheeled base for display. And now, finally, it is complete and on display! We celebrated with a toast of blue drinks, just like Obi-Wan Kenobi!

A top-down view of the Outlander Club set during filming of Attack Of The Clones –

The bar as seen behind Obi-Wan Kenobi in Attack Of The Clones –

A great reference shot under natural lighting, from the Star Wars Mythmaking: Behind the Scenes of Attack of the Clones book.

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Today is the 17th anniversary of the release of Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones – a movie that has a special place in our personal story. This promotional banner for Attack of the Clones was the collectible behind the first time Kristy and I met in person. A meeting that took place on Valentine’s Day, no less.

The 150cm x 280cm vinyl banner is an advertising banner originally displayed in an Auckland, New Zealand cinema complex, and also used to promote the movie at Auckland Armageddon Expo in 2003. The banner features Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, with the teaser poster tagline ‘A Jedi Shall Not Know Anger. Nor Hatred. Nor Love.’

I was selling it on behalf of a friend, and Kristy was the keen buyer of this collectible. We’d made arrangements for Kristy to pick it up at an SWNZ swap meet, which happened to fall on 14th of February 2004 (they swap meet was originally set to take place on the 7th of February, but had to be re-scheduled due to booking conflicts at the venue).

Although we’d known of each other beforehand, through the SWNZ community, and had talked on the topic of Star Wars many times, that Star Wars memorabilia transaction was our first meeting. It was not entirely coincidental that an encounter based on a poster of Padmé Amidala and Anakin Skywalker ultimately paved the way to our engagement at Villa Balbianello, in Italy, the Episode II location where Padmé and Anakin’s wedding scene was filmed.

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