The many, the proud, the clones!

This weeks SOTW (Stormtrooper Of The Week) is from a fold out magazine printed back in 1981. Star Wars was old news as Empire Strikes Back had made it's splash, and this tabloid was there with all the fact and fiction from both movies. I remember pouring over this magazine for hours, it is full of interesting little tidbits from that galaxy far, far away. This thing was referenced several times, and came in handy when arguing the fine points of the Empire's weaponry. I also remember liking the layout of the magazine, huh, little designer in the making.

There are actually two sections about the Stormtroopers, one a little blurb mixed in with the other weapons and fighting forces of the Empire, and this one that is actually an article by Anthony Fredrickson about the clone soldiers of the Empire. I remember thinking this was a pretty cool concept (actually seeing it realized on the screen years later with the prequels shot that all to hell). The article talks about the origin, training, promotion, and even retirement!

"As they get older, they are assigned to light duties: training, communications, stores. Eventually they are sent to the Troopers' Rest camp on the holiday planet of Sochi..."

I can see it now a "postquel", Nap time on Sochi or Retirement of the Clones!

Squee!

It can't always be about the toys. while messing around with a camera phone recently, I managed to snap this shot of one of our beloved Bassets, Squee. That's right Squee, our son named her after the character in the comic book, Johnny the Homicidal Maniac by Jhonen Vasquez.

We usually call her Squee Baby, or just Squee B for short.

SDCC!!!!

I've always wanted to go to San Diego Comic Con, but alas I have never had the opportunity. Not to worry I will celebrate my geekness all the same. I plan on hitting the Post Office at lunch for the release of the Marvel Heroes Stamps, I've been watching old episodes of Star Trek the Original Series and the Filmation Batman and Robin Adventures, I've been listening to an old GI Joe record (thanks, Rob!), blown the dust off a few of my toys, and broke out one of my first comics here!

So here it is, in all it's dog eared, bent cover, loose spine glory. One of my first comics, Man-Thing. Man I really enjoyed my comics back in the day. Only a handful have made it to the present day (all pretty much in the same condition). It's been a while since I read this story, but in a nutshell all the heroes on the cover are not really the heroes, they are some sort of demons, or something. All I know for 25 cents this last image scarred me for life, and now I put it up here for all to see.

A friend once thought his cowboy comics were bad influences on his life, I broke out the Nightmare Box here and showed him some images from my childhood and he agreed I had the most messed up comic for a kid.

Biggs? Who the...?

Biggs Darklighter finally gets an action figure in his civis! I thought I would never see the day. Biggs is the pilot at the end of Star Wars: A New Hope that was Luke's buddy back on Tatooine, we never saw any film footage of him back on the desert planet because it ended up on the cutting room floor. Kind of makes this figure that much cooler.

Even though it wasn't in the movie, there was still photos used in publications and the scene played out in the Marvel Comic movie adaptation at the time. These are shots from the Story Book back from an earlier post. I always thought it was a shame that we never really got to see this scene played out on the big screen. Maybe it made Luke seem more nerdy than he already was, I thought for sure when they made the Special Editions that we would see this added back, but instead we got the Jabba scene that ended with some Boba Fett, cause George needed a new boat. Don't get me wrong, I am a Boba Fett fan, but did I need to see him at the end of that scene, I think not.

SOTW: 12 Inch Trooper!

Around 96-97 Hasbro started producing 12" Star Wars characters again, and instead of the stiff leg pose of the 1978 Vintage Stormtrooper, these utilized the re-tooled G.I. Joe 12" body. That is in part what makes these some of my favorite figures, because even though it's the re-tooled body, it reminds me of the old 12" Adventure Team Joes.

The initial release of 12" Star Wars Figures included Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, Luke, and Han Solo. It wouldn't be until the subsequent releases that we would see the Stormtrooper (in his many uniforms), Boba Fett, Princess Leia, and all your other favorites.

The Stormtrooper had a vinyl "shell" that made up the armor on the figure. While the armor ended up being soft, it did allow for the figure underneath to bend and move given the articulation of the newer Joe body. Included with the trooper was his standard issue blaster, that for the first time at this scale was a pretty close representation of the movie prop. Later versions of this rifle would be tooled to fire a little red missile.

These first few releases of Star Wars 12" figures came packaged in a five panel box, that lent itself to a vintage feel. The fifth panel being revealed when the flap on the box was open to show the figure in all it's packaged glory. As the Hasbro lines changed packaging direction through out the years, the fifth panel was deleted for just a display style package.

Compared to the newer figures that are being released today, the Hasbro Stormtrooper seems a little clunky, but as I said before, it was the best for it's time and is still a fun figure to have.