July 2005
Story and Photos by Chris Spice (Darth Spice)
Graphical Work by David Syczylo (Boba Binks)

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IT'S ALL ABOUT THE DEWBACK
Perhaps one of the most intriguing releases to date that is not a min-bust could be the Sandtrooper and Dewback diorama model. It is good to see Gentle Giant Studios branch out and doing so much more with their quality craftsmanship and amazing replication skills. At first glance you can see the mascot of our website seated in a comfortable pose, but at the same time commanding respect. With various pouches and even a blanket to rack out and cop a few z’s after you have searched until you can search no more, they didn’t miss a trick.

The Sandtrooper is really taking one for the team via the screw insert firmly attached to his rear-end! The Stormtrooper armor is only slightly modified for the rigorous field duty. The thing that was really missed was the dirt that usually accompanies the detail in a Trooper. All the markings are correct in the diamond-shaped left kneecap. There isn’t too much detail put into the backpack, in an otherwise spectacular scale model. You can really get the impression of how large the force pike or lance is when you view the piece from the front. There are plenty of saddlebags and blankets but I’m still wondering why an ammo-clip isn’t present on his left shoulder. 

While still not the fastest method of transportation the Empire has to offer, the Dewback is still one of the most popular beasts from A New Hope. Gentle Giant did a magnificent job of bringing the scales to life, if it were only warm would you think it were real. The detail in the neck is very impressive with the multiple wrinkles of fat rolls. The green color is exactly as I remember it and the boys in Burbank blended the colors very well. The dark green fades away into a lighter gray color, and while we didn’t get close enough to the beast even in the Special Edition, you can clearly see it’s dead on. The only thing I may have done different would have been to crack the mouth to show us a little glance of the inside of the beast. The bridle is simply screwed into the side of the head, this way you could have had a little more detail on the reigns. They almost feel like paper. I wonder why they didn’t use real leather? 

The base leaves nothing to be desired, but how could you screw up sand? The Dewback prints are nicely embedded and they didn’t forget to include the back drag the tail would leave behind. The texture is rough and that of sandpaper, another great feature of realism put into this piece. The flip side of the base is another example of how rough this piece was by only 1,500 being made available worldwide. 

This is overall wonderful replication of one of the greatest foot soldiers in film history. Okay, I’m a little biased on that one but for those of you who are looking to add one of these collection I would highly recommend this of any of the larger Gentle Giant statues. The release of this was huge, I remember the first time I saw it at Wizard World Chicago last year. They moved rather quickly and unfortunately the world of Ebay or trade could be your only possible way of acquiring one for your collection today. We’d like to thank (link) Big Bad Toy Store for the photos of this beast, and unfortunately is no longer available for purchase. We look forward to future release of the larger scale models from Gentle Giant and will do our best to add them to our gallery.