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February 2017 meeting - McLean

Posted: Sun Dec 04, 2016 11:12 pm
by Kingpin
The February 2017 meeting of the DCSWCC will be held on Saturday, Feb. 4th at the Dolley Madison public library in McLean, VA. 12 Noon.

Meeting theme: Star Crunch Cards Collectibles / Rancho Obi-Wan Memories

Library address:
1244 Oak Ridge Ave
McLean, VA 22101

Library website
http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/library/BRANCHES/dm/

Re: February 2017 meeting - McLean

Posted: Mon Dec 05, 2016 11:09 am
by Foxer
Original date of Superbowl Sunday has been changed to Saturday.

Re: February 2017 meeting - McLean

Posted: Sat Jan 21, 2017 4:13 pm
by h2
Meeting Theme for February - Star Crunch Cards Collectibles / Rancho Obi-Wan Memories.
 
Did you own or do you still have in your collection any of the items featured in the Star Crunch cards?
We invite you to bring your items or photographs for a quick show and tell of your memories on how, where and when you obtained your collectible.  
 
Have you visited Rancho Obi-Wan?
We would like to hear about your experience, thoughts and any advice you may have for those of us that have not been able to make it there.  
 
Below is the list and actual description on the back of the cards:
 
1.      Battle Droid: About a half-dozen life-size battle droids were made in 1999 as display pieces for the high-end toy store chain F.A.O. Schwarz. They were made using 3D files from Industrial Light & Magic, Lucasfilm’s visual effects division, which created the droids as a computer-graphic army for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace. F.A.O. Schwarz filed for bankruptcy court protection twice in 2003, and many of its iconic fixtures including this battle droid were sold off in an online liquidation auction.
 
2.      Chewbacca: George Lucas said that while writing the screenplay for the first Star Wars movie, he really thought about only a couple of items that could be merchandised. Since dog-breed coffee mugs were (and remain) popular, and since he partnered the character Chewbacca after his faithful Alaskan malamute, Indiana, this ceramic tankard became one of the first items produced in 1977. Along with Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi versions, the tankards were sculpted by Jim Rumph for California Originals.
 
3.      Early Bird Certificate Package: Surprised by the huge success of Star Wars, and not able to produce any action figures for the Christmas of 1977, toymaker Kenner Products took some media heat by selling the infamous “empty  box.” In reality, it was a cardboard stage for the first 12 carded figures that would be released and a mail-away certificate that assured purchasers they’d be the first to get by spring 1978 the first four figures produced: Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, Chewbacca and R2-D2.
 
4.      Luke Tauntaun: This teapot was part of an extensive line of ceramic collectibles sold by Japan’s Sigma between 1981 and 1984. Many of the items were of a semi-practical nature such as this Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back teapot (Luke separates at the waist, and the tea pours from the tauntaun’s mouth), a snowspeeder toothbrush holder and a landspeeder soap dish. The sculpts of characters had more of a childlike look than one of movie realism.
 
5.      Princess Leia: Leading Edge Promotions started a Star Wars Strike Force bowling league in 2005 in over 1,100 centers in the U.S. and the U.K., and Brunswick made seven different officially licensed Star Wars bowling balls under its Viz-a-Ball brand. There was one ball representing each movie and a pink one that featured Princess Leia on one side and Queen Amidala on the other. The balls came in multiple weights; two different bowling bags also were available.
 
6.      Queen Amidala: Toy license Hasbro made at least a half-dozen reasonably priced Queen Amidala dolls for Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, but sales weren’t high because the film didn’t attract much of a young female audience. But in 1999 the Robert Tonner Doll Co. made high-quality porcelain collectible dolls of the queen with two different outfits. Consumers could get on doll and both outfits in an elaborate “trunk set.” Despite the many layers of clothing, the dolls didn’t come with any instructions or even photos for how to get Amidala ready for her appearances.
 
7.      Boba Fett: The holy grail of action figure collectors, these unproduced prototypes of Rocket-Firing Boba Fett are rare and very pricey. The bounty hunter was first introduced in a short animated segment of the fall 1978 televised Star Wars Holiday Special. The next Year Kenner Kicked off a major promotion to get the rocket-firing toys by mail. But a change in product safety rules meant that the missiles were too small and could result in a choking hazard. The final figure had no firing mechanism and a sonic-welded missile along with a note of apology to disappointed kids.
 
8.      Wicket: Lucasfilm used the Ewoks, the small heroes of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, in two made-for-television live-action films (with a limited theatrical release in a few countries) followed by an animated kids’ series that ran two seasons. The series wasn’t popular in the U.S. but attracted decent sized audiences in some countries in Latin America and Europe. This oversized Wicket the Ewok plush toy was sold by Quiron in Spain in 1986.
 
9.      Darth Vader: One of series of five tin windups from the Osaka Tin Toy Institute in Japan, the foot-tall Darth Vader has a certain naïve charm to it. Although produced in 1997, the design of Vader and the other windups harks back to classic post-WW II Japanese wind-up robots, spacemen and creatures. The others in the series are a Stormtrooper, Boba Fett and the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO.
 
10.   Falcon: Rarely has there been a year when an Action-figure compatible Millennium Falcon wasn’t available in the Star Wars toy line. After all, this most of the vehicles in the saga may look like a piece of junk, but “it’s the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs.” This vehicle/playset debuted in 2008, and the nearly three-foot-long Falcon was almost the size of the original model used to make Star Wars. It has electronic sounds and lights, missile launchers and secret compartments. It can fly 18 action figures to a galaxy, far away.
 
11.   R2-D2: Everybody’s favorite droid, R2-D2 was a natural for a cookie jar and one of two items of merchandise that George Lucas considered when he was writing the screenplay for the first Star Wars movie. When you’re sitting and writing all day long, you ruminate,” Lucas said in an interview. “It was simply that the design of R2 reminded me of a cookie jar, and I thought it would be funny to lift his top off and grab a cookie.” The glazed ceramic jar, produced by Roman Ceramics Corp. in 1977, was one of the first household items made for Star Wars.
 
12.   Yoda: This small Yoda bronze by sculpture Lawrence Noble was the first statue ever licensed by Lucasfilm. Fifty of them were produced by Kilian Enterprises in 1990 and priced at $500 each. Most were sold-slowly-though the Official Star Wars Fan Club. Today they sell for as much as $5,000 on the secondary market. Fifteen years later Noble sculpted a life-size Yoda bronze statue that graces a fountain at Lucasfilm’s San Francisco headquarters and other locations.