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By
Julian H. Betancourt |
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HOLIDAY EDITION: FLASHBACK
Ralph
McQuarrie's conceptual art is a legacy well known by Star Wars
enthusiast throughout the world. His creations were a driven force
defining the Star Wars Universe before the production of the first
film began. With the success of "A New Hope" the artist's work
continued to portray the characters from the Saga not only in
related film-like environments, but also as a reflection of daily
life in a galaxy much closer to us, our own.
McQuarrie's 1979
drawing of the Sandcrawler, Landspeeder and Bantha lined up along
Star Wars characters, cleverly portrayed the ongoing outgrow and
move of Lucasfilm original offices from the Bay Area to renovated
ones in North Hollywood and, it is a great example of the
crossover between fictional characters and real events. Take a
look at the picture below...
It
was also the artist's idea to create annual Lucasfilm Holiday
cards showing Star Wars' familiar faces involved in Christmas
activities. The cards became famous among lucky recipients and
fans alike. Based on these cards Hasbro began a series
of sets properly named "Holiday Edition" and thus bringing
McQuarrie's art to life and shaping it within the plasticized
world of 3 3/4" action figures.
Christmas
of 2002 saw the series first offering with the release of
McQuarrie's Santa Threepio and Reindeer Artoo. It was also the
first time for one of the artist's drawings to be turned into
action figures. The set was a very loyal rendition of McQuarrie's
work and it even included a reproduction of the original Christmas
card, rapidly selling at Wal-Mart stores were it was made
available.
In
2003 Hasbro continued the series with Santa Yoda, beautifully
capturing the Jedi Master with a present laden bag slung over his
shoulder while wearing Santa's red outfit and hat. Once again the
set was true to McQuarrie's art and just as its predecessor it
offered a rectangular black base and reproduction of the original
card.
Hasbro's
third release for the series came in 2004 as a Jawas 2-pack,
having the little scavengers picking through Christmas' presents.
To give it the Season's spirit the translucent pieces on top of
the Jawas' heads were made in red and green allowing for light to
seep through, making the eyes glow in Christmas colors. And again,
the set was offered with a rectangular black base and included a
reproduction of McQuarrie's original card showing a group of busy
Jawas opening presents.
Everything
was going in the right direction for the festive series. So much
thought had been put into the Holiday sets that fans happily
awaited for the next one come along. Unfortunately, the fourth set
in the series turned positive comments into general dislike ....
HOLIDAY
EDITION: DARTH VADER
In
2005, once again Hasbro offered a special Holiday set around
Christmas time. This time around it was Darth Vader in his first
ever Holiday appearance as a 3 3/4" action figure. However,
apparently exhausting McQuarrie-inspired card concept, Hasbro
opted for a too familiar sculpt, much simpler than those of
previous sets, a much simpler package and a base that totally
departed from what seemed to be a trademark for the series. The
set was a complete misfire on many levels. Here is why:
THE SCULPT:
The Vader figure was an awful rehash. A rehash already
experimented with, four times:
Like
previous releases of this mold, Vader's cape was made removable
and so was his right hand and the lightsaber it held. The figure
offered eight points of articulation: neck, both shoulders, below
right shoulder plate, right wrist, waist line and both hips. No
action features to speak of.
THE PAINT APPROACH:
As cheap as it could be. With so many possibilities at hand the
figure was given a senseless, all flashy solid scarlet red color.
No green accents anywhere, not even white trim of any source to,
at least, mimic a Santa's outfit. Only the saber's hilt didn't get
painted red. The whole paint approach felt as if
some overpaid Hasbro executive might had said "Hey we ran out of
silver, so we'll use red instead. They will still buy it."
-
How difficult would had been for the toy maker to give Vader a
red cape, white trimmed boots, a molded Santa hat and some green
highlights here and there while leaving the rest of his outfit all
black? The contrast would had been appealing to the eye while
creating a true Christmas design.
-
What about using the Holiday Santa Vader from the cover of "Return
of the Jedi Weekly" Issue 28 from 1983, where Vader was drawn
wearing a Santa hat, red cape and gloves and holds a
present? Sadly that never occurred. However, I did my own creation
based on such art work. See the picture below. You'll be the
judge ...
THE BASE:
The familiar rectangular black base/stand was thrown aside and
replaced instead with a rounded one. It was painted white with a
snow-like texture and given a small peg towards its center
where for the Vader figure to be attached. A green wreath, red
bow and a tiny black nameplate with the series name on it where
added surrounding the base. These Christmas elements are in fact
the only reminders this is supposed to be a Holiday Edition set.
Although not too shabby on its own, the base does look odd when
placed next to the other sets from the series because of its
geometrical difference.
THE CARDBACK: The
so appropriate snow globe-like presentation package that made
other sculpts from this series look like Christmas ornaments was
axed. Hasbro went the cheapest way possible by placing the figure
in a standard metallic wrap-around logo Saga card and changing the
color from gray to red. The backdrop of the card depicted a
McQuarrie-inspired (INSPIRED as in not
original) Executor bridge decked out in Holiday lights,
candles and red bow.
The
card was double backed. The sides and bottom of the blister
wrapped around the card with flaps that were taped behind it. By
carefully removing the tape holding the blister to its back, a
flap could be lifted allowing for the greeting card inside to be
removed.
THE
GREETING CARD: Although not a McQuarrie's drawing,
the card was good enough to give the set some collectible value.
On it, one could see a whimsical scene of Vader building a snowman
in the shape of a Stormtrooper. But again, seeing the great design
of the card only helped fueled even further people's
disappointment thinking what a fantastic set this would had been
if it would had represented the illustration.
FINAL THOUGHT
Loyal
collectors of the series truly felt cheated out on this one handed
laughable lemon. Many of them didn't even bother to buy the set.
- Why did Hasbro, after three excellent exclusives suddenly changed for the worst?
- Did it have anything to do with Hasbro's
new Star Wars chief experimenting on dumb designs?
T o make matters even worse the figure was made available only as a Fan Club exclusive, priced at $15.00 and placed in a StarWarsShop case many of us didn't even care for (but had to pay for it) as part of the set's "exclusive" status. Adding more to its price was the Club's high shipping fee, bringing the final cost to way over $20.00. Fans ended up with one of the most overpriced, lamest exclusives ever offered in the history of modern Star Wars figure collecting.
The Holiday
Vader set was so incredibly ridiculous that it instantly became a
subject of discussion. The awful tasting licorice look of the
figure showed that coloring something red doesn't make
it Christmas themed.
Artoo
and See-Threepio,Yoda and the Jawas, they all incorporated
traditional Holiday elements in their designs: presents, red hats
and a bag full of toys. If one is to put away the distracting
colorful base of this fourth set, allowing for Holiday Vader to be
examined alone, it becomes clear this was nothing but a cheap way
to get collectors to buy into the Star Wars Christmas spirit by
offering a disgustingly painted rehashed. A rehash so out of
touch, only one question can come to mind:
Where did the
good taste go?
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