Cutting It Down to Size

As it's the beginning of study week, I've been able to take an hour or so and crack open the ESB Blu Ray pack. Well, I say crack open the pack; so far I've only punched Snowspeeder Luke out of the blister! That's not for any negative reasons though; in fact it's quite the opposite - this guy is awesome! Further to that, when POTF2 was released, this Luke was the first figure I bought, closely followed by R2 D2, and they became the focal point of most of my adventures. As such, it was nice to re-create the feeling for a little while before getting overwhelmed with Boba Fetts and Princess Leias...

Anyway, I made a little set, messed around with the lighting and got a few shots. There weren't any where I thought straight away 'that's it!', which is normally a troubling sign, but there were enough maybes to work with, so I got the images onto my computer and produced the picture above. Now, I like it - the pose works, the shadows on Luke are nice, the composition is solid - but I was just bugged by the shadow on the wall. And that's the problem: because of that shadow, you know that's a wall. Instant scene killer. The solution?

Well, how about a drastic crop?

By re-centering and trimming the image, I turned a flawed scene into what I think is a decent portrait. It may not be what I had in mind when I broke Luke out tonight, but it's still the best shot I think I could've got, and highlights the detail of this excellent figure.

Striking Back!

It's the OTC Luke and Yoda again! But deservedly so I say, because if ever a day warranted some Dagobah shots, it's today - misty, damp; it's Autumn hitting full speed, that's for sure...

Fond as I am of these two figures, there's another reason I'm getting all Empire on you:

This is one of the five Blu Ray Commemorative Packs that finally arrived yesterday after a hold-up in customs. In one bargain purchase, I've doubled my Star Wars figure collection; exciting times indeed! I'll probably sell off the prequel sets to recoup the cost, but I sure am excited about these guys now. Looking at the figures above, I find myself thinking the unthinkable: Roll on winter, roll on...

The Autobot Spy

It's the turn of Episode One: The Phantom Menace to be on TV today; however as I critically re-appraised that for myself the other week, I have no inclination to watch it again. Instead, let's try a little Jazz, hmm?

This is the Reveal the Shield Special Ops Jazz, released by Hasbro in 2010. It's the most recent of my Transformers purchases, and goes some way to healing the wound opened by this same character some decades before...

Light-piping in Action

Back in the late 80's/early 90's, my family tended to go shopping in Milton Keynes as much as Northampton. The highlight of these trips to the new city for me was always John Lewis. The huge department store was in the centre of the MK shopping centre, and provided a toy perusing experience like no other. I remember the excitement of taking the escalator to the first floor, and seeing the boxes and boxes of Transformers piled up. Sure, there was other stuff like Lego, Dino Riders, Zoids and whatever else was popular with us kids then, but the Transformers were it for me.

Yeah, Prowl was alright. But this guy!

I was at a point where more than anything, I wanted an Autobot car. I had a Grimlock, many hand me downs and a few newer robots for Christmas and birthday presents, but it was one of the iconic Autobot-mobiles I wanted more than anything. I saved up my £6 a month pocket money, which would have seemed like an eternity back then, and eventually, one glorious day, went back to John Lewis with my parents and bought the G1 Autobot Spy.

Exhibit A

Now, sad to say, the original Transformers weren't always the most sturdy of toys. And I wasn't the least clumsy of kids in my family. Or street. Or most likely town, actually, so you can probably guess where this is going. Within about two hours of being home, I'd already lost the missiles for his shoulder cannon, but then, whilst trying to transform him, I broke the arm off. I remember my feeling of shocked disbelief, and going to my brother to see if he could fix it. He couldn't, and I ended up getting a scolding for breaking my new toy. Jazz ended up in the bin, and the whole experience was like a terrible, terrible dream.

And... Relax.

So, finally having gotten a newer, sturdier version of the Autobot that caused so much trauma before, am I over it? Am I a happier, more well-adjusted person? Owning this guy definitely makes me happy, but all the same - I still exhibit insane amounts of caution when transforming him...

As always, thanks for reading. Any similar nightmare toy stories out there?

Detention Block Escape!

And so, the Paint.net experimentation continues apace. Or, perhaps that should read continued. It's been another prolific month here at Mos Espa, but it's drawing to a close, as is the amount of free time I'm going to have with College starting back up. I'm already starting pre-production on two different films, and then I'm sure there'll be re-writes of the feature film script I've been hired to work on as well, so it's going to be busy. 

Updates here will likely be less frequent, but don't worry; when the stresses of words and deadlines get too much, there's nothing better to do than crack out the toys for a shoot. In the meantime, if there's anything you'd really like to see, let me know in the comments. Otherwise, as always: thank you for reading!

The Streets of Mos Eisley: Re-made!

Following the incident at the Cantina, the Droids aren't the only ones wanted by the Empire...

I'm working on a new display piece for my many Tatooine figures. The moisture vaporator is a key prop, although the 30th Anniversary Luke Skywalker it came with isn't as good as the one in the picture, which comes from the Blu Ray Commemorative A New Hope set (same as Obi Wan Kenobi, in fact). That's what I love about coming a bit later to the Star Wars party; at this point I can pick and choose the best versions of each character...

Ain't no-one taking Palpatine's moisture... *shudder*

The moisture vaporator is the one diorama piece that instantly makes a set indisputably Tatooine, and you could argue that it's not even convincingly Mos Eisley (or Anchorhead, or even Mos Espa) without it. Of course, a few more Sandtroopers, Droids, Aliens and Landspeeders wouldn't go amiss either, but everyone has a budget, which I've certainly blown for a few months with my latest haul (not the vaporator - exciting news to follow, pending shipping :D)! This set is still very much a work in progress; but I have plenty of photos for a making-of when it's finally done. Just a shame I still can't decide for sure between set-building for photography, and diorama creation for display...