San Diego Comicon 2012

Photo 1: It's the biggest and the best, and this year, San Diego Comicon one again lived up to it's reputation as the largest and most exciting comic convention in the world. 

Photo 2: And I came fully prepared! Red 5 and I drove a truck full of merchandise, promos, posters, props, supplies, and a metric ton of Star Wars t-shirts so we could spread the word about all of the shows we did this year, and promote my new company, Floppets!

Photo 3: Floppets had lots of new items to promote, but we were also excited to bring one of our original products to the con for the first time this year. The Guild Floppets are a fan favorite, and we could barely keep full sets in stock once all the Guildies found us!

Photo 4: Our big announcement this con was the premier of Star Trek Floppets! They are so new, even the first time my partner Rich saw them was at the booth! We made these exclusively for Roddenberry Entertainment, so we were honored to be able to promote them at the Roddenberry booth, which has been a staple of Comicon for years. 

Photo 5: I know there is a ton of Trek merchandise for you to chose from, so I thought I would sweeten the deal with a show special! I designed this blue command symbol as a premium only available at the conventions, and only as a bonus if you buy a full set of the standard nine designs. We sold a ton on Preview Night, which was a good sign of what was to come for the weekend ahead.

Photo 6: Thursday morning started early for me, but not as early as it did for Rod Roddenberry! He was up, at the beach, and prepping to dive by 5:30! Luckily, I got to meet up with him around 7:30. I did some press for our film, White Room: 02B3, which premiered later that evening, then supervised a small beach cleanup in conjunction with the Roddenberry Art Project I am doing. Rod's dive team is sponsoring a contest called Trashy Diver, which promotes waterway cleanups and awards prizes to participants. I gather up all the trash, and am turning it into a sculpture to create awareness for the damage we do to our water sources. thank you to everyone that came to help out on the beach!

Photo 7: After the cleanup, I went with the Roddenberry Dive Team to the Birch Aquarium, where Rod was the guest diver in kelp tank. It was quite the sight to see, and Rod's underwater speech about how the ocean was as alien to us as outer space was so moving it teared me up! 

Photo 8: I couldn't stay for the whole event, as Comicon had already opened and I needed to get back there, but I did manage to sneak in a private behind-the-scenes tour of the aquarium, including the usually off limits seahorse nursery! Spending a few moments with those adorable baby creatures only fortified my passion for using my art to inspire people to help save the seas. 

Photo 9: I made it back onto the floor just in time for my first signing with the stars of my film, White Room: 02B3. It was shot in 360 degrees, and at the Roddenberry panel, we officially announced that not only will you be able to watch the film at a dome theater near you, but also on your iphone or ipad, where you can move the screen around to view anywhere in the room. That way you can watch Milynn Sarley as she paces the room, ready to strike at any moment! (photo courtesy of Beau Ryan)

Photo 10: After a full day of comicon, I headed to the Birch Theater to watch the director's cut of WR:02B3, and Rod's documentary about his father, Trek Nation. It was awesome to see both films on the big screen, and afterwards writer Tory Mell, actors Milynn, Tony Janning, and myself Joined Rod on stage for a Q&A.

 Photo 11: Friday started out with a live version of Felicia Day's Flog, filmed on the YouTube stage. I was thrilled that Felicia asked me to appear with her in the segment, and even more so with the turnout! We came up with the crazy idea of making masks so that Felicia can move about Comicon more freely, as it is hard for her to get from place to place without being bombarded with fans. By all means, that's a good thing, but because her schedule is so tight, she ends up feeling bad that she has to deny people autographs and photos in order to not be late to appearances. I thought it might be easier for her if she was in Comiconito!

 Photo 11: Felicia and I met up with the rest of the Guild cast for a signing at the Roddenberry booth. It was only an hour, as the whole gang had a packed schedule, but it was the ONLY signing on the convention floor for the whole weekend, so we had a huge turnout. It was awesome seeing celebrities from other huge shows wait in line to say hi, and express their love for THE GUILD and how much of an inspiration it was to them.

 Photo 12: It was also great to see so many custom made Avatar weapons! I always love seeing Codex with her staff, but I am constantly blown away by all of the other characters that show up, like this Tink. The detail and accuracy of her costume and bow prove how much she loves the show. Great job!

Photo 13: Friday night ended with the Roddenberry/Geek Nation party. It was a blast. So many Sci-Fi faces. Of course, Claire Kramer's face stands out in any crowd! You loved her on Buffy, now follow her as she leads Geek Nation on a never dull journey through all things geek. A stellar example would be her podcast, 5x5, which I guest starred on last week! She got me to tell stories I have never told a soul before...

 Photo 14: You know a Star trek party is a success when face huggers start impregnating assimilated federation officers! This is what I love the most about Comicon. It has opened up to so many genres, it literally is it's OWN genre! It has become a melting pot of everything that everybody loves, and it is the one place you can go where you are not judged for your specific allegiance. Star Wars and Star Trek fans share equal admiration for each other's universes, DC and Marvel diehards help each other in line for panels, Twilight and True Blood fans camp together all night to share the best seats in the house. It's its own universe, where everything we think is cool, is actually cool!

Photo 15: Saturday was very surreal for me. When I was 10 years old, fighting to stay awake late enough to watch re-runs of Star Trek, I never imagined I would be a guest at the world's largest comic convention, hanging out in the back of the official Roddenberry booth, applying Vulcan ears to a beautiful unicorn while being interviewed by a sci-fi magazine, while Brent Spiner, star of Star Trek: Next Generation, checks in on me to see if I'm ready to sit in with him for a signing promoting a new Star Trek product I created. It was a little chaotic, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I dream of the day when every moment of my life could be as magical as that opening to the biggest day of Comicon.

Photo 16: Brent and I have crossed paths many times, including the approval sessions for this Legends in 3 Dimensions bust I sculpted years ago. Most recently, I designed Brent's web-series, Fresh Hell, and we thought it would be a good idea to do a joint push for the show, and my new Star Trek Floppets.

Photo 17: If you haven't seen the show, definitely check it out. It's hilarious, and the cast is amazing. That's the lovely Kat Steel sitting next to me. She co-stars as Dakota, Brent's neighbor who helps him on his journey to restore his Hollywood career. Brent was kind enough to join me for free signatures to anyone who bought Trek Floppets, and if you bought a full set, he gave away Fresh Hell t-shirts that exclaimed, "At least I'm not Brent Spiner!". Trek fans know it's rare to access the main cast for free, so we had a massive crowd. I can't thank Brent enough for helping me spread the word on Floppets.

Photo 18: Brent wasn't the only Next Gen alum to get Floppetized! Luvar Burton dropped by to say hi and the fans went crazy. After I talked to him for a few minutes, the girl who was next in line burst into tears and said, "that was the most amazing thing to ever happen in my life!" It's amazing how much these guys have affected us all. Even after all these years, Star Trek still inspires.

Photo 19: After a while, we had a few members of White Room: 02B3 join in to sign some posters to promote the film. I've had a crush on Tamlyn Tomita since I saw Karate Kid II, and her kindness and beauty never let that die. We first met on the pilot of Babylon 5, and although we have been friends ever since, WR:02B3 was the first project I ever directed Tamlyn in. It was great to have her at Comicon. Especially for the Glee fans! David Blue also sat in to sign for a while, and gave some awesome interviews about the 360 experience. I'm very proud to have worked with such a stellar cast, and I think you will be blown away when you finally see the new form of entertainment we created!

 Photo 20: Wait...is that...? Yeah, I think it is! I think that's a Figment from Epcot that she's holding...

Photo 21: Saturday was full of signing, panels, interviews, and pitching Floppets, but when the show floor finally closed at 7pm, it seemed like the day had only just begun! All the big parties are on Saturday night, and we hopped from one to the other, ultimately ending up at Zack Levi's private Nerd HQ till around 4:30am!

 Photo 22: It used to be the rule of thumb that Sunday was the quite day. And this was always a good thing, usually having been out till all hours of the night, and often being trapped in a booth or a table, the slower day allowed you to get out and see the floor. But now that the show is so popular, tickets sell out so fast that Sunday is the only day available for many hardcore fans. So this year, Sunday felt as energetic and packed as Friday and Saturday. Luckily, we still had plent of events to share with the crowd. Sandeep Parikh and the gang joined me for a combo Legend of Neil/ Save the Supers signing. We gave away a bunch of the LON DVD cover posters that I illustrated, as well as more WR:02B3 posters!

Photo 23: For the final signing of the weekend, we went out with a bang! Team Unicorn took over the booth to sign posters and give out the last of the TU logo floppets. The crowd was so dissapointed when the ran out, we decided to let them give away a bunch of Pets and Munchin monsters! Michele Boyd started a frenzy by tossing dozens of Floppets into the crowd, and so many people gathered around to get some, the rest of the girls had to join in to keep up with the demand!

 Photo 24: It was perfect wrapping up the con with team Unicorn, especially since these girls got the whole thing started this year! They were some of the first runners in Chris Hardwick's Course of the Force, and they promoted the Star Wars themed event by appearing in full costume as The Night Sisters from the Clone Wars. They got a lot of attention from the press, and it was exciting to see them wielding the weapons i made for them last year.

Photo 25: Actually, many of the costumes I helped make last year got massive attention THIS year! Brian Kameoka's Nien Nunb ended up on StarWars.com's best Star Wars cosplay list, and Kenny Mittleider's Hobbit was featured on the Weta homepage! Honors like rthat were worth the 12 month wait!

Photo 26: When I finally got to walk around for a bit, I ran into a few people who knew who i was! mostly because they studied the "Making Codex's Staff" video I did with Felicia. I had to stop for a picture, because nothing makes me happier than to see everybody's interpretation of the work.

 Photo 27: And the more of them I see, the happier I am! If you cosplayed as Codex and made your own staff, but I didn't run into you at the con, send me a picture! I want to make a coffee table book or something to show all of your great work!

Photo 28: There is so much great cosplay at Comicon, but there is no simpler joy for me than seeing actual StormTroopers cruising around. I may be bias, but there is something about the design that just seems so real. More so than any other character costume, they just never seem out of place in our real world. Even when they join in to help San Diego's finest with crown control!

 Photo 29: I'll admit, though, it was refreshing to finally see some Cylons join the mix. Having only trailed Star Wars by a year in the 70's, it was about time a legion of these sword wielding robots infiltrated the con circuit!

Photo 30: I'm certain there were a million other things that happened over the week that I have neglected to mention, but hopefully you get the idea of what Comicon was like for me this year. I'm already planning and scheming for new things to premier next year, so stay tuned! Too soon, you say? Not really! Even with a whole year ahead, Comicon has a way of sneaking up on you, despite it's massive size!

San Diego Comicon 2012 Schedule

It's that time of year again! Comicon is a week away, and I have a full schedule this year. I thought I'd post the events I will be part of so you can join me and we can celebrate our love of all things geek together!

Comicon is starting early this year, and it's starting with a bang! The Nerdist Chris Hardwick with helming a relay race from the Santa Monica pier to the San Diego Convention center to officially open this year's festivities. And he's doing it Star Wars style! The Course of the Force starts Saturday, July 7th, but Chris has already started his journey. I gave him a hand, literally, to help him on his way. Check it out...



Learn more about this exciting charity event here.

Check out more of my blog for the other events I will be part of at this year's Comicon. I'll be updating this list as things are added and shifted, so keep an eye on it. Hope to see you in San Diego!

THURSDAY, JULY 12TH:

I am creating a sculpture from all of the trash the Roddenberry dive team pulls from the beaches and ocean in order to help create awareness for the conditions of our sea life. I would really appreciate if you could join us on the clean-up. Every bag of trash collected helps so much!

Comic-Con Dive & Cleanup

“Come Boldly Explore the Underwater Universe at La Jolla Shores!”

WHERE: La Jolla Shores 

DATE: July 12th, 2012 (First Day of Comic-Con) 

TIME: 5:30am Early Bird Gathering. 7:30am & 9am Dives. 9am-10:45am Beach Cleanup.

NOTE: A Comic-Con Pass is not required to attend this event.

COST: FREE 

RSVP REQUIRED: Click Here to RSVP! 

To all Scuba divers, ocean lovers and Comic-Con attendees, come join Rod Roddenberry and the Roddenberry Dive Team for a morning of adventure as we dive La Jolla’s Underwater Ecological Preserve and cleanup the beach. We have joined forces to provide our out-of-town aquatic brethren an unforgettable dive and beach cleanup opportunity. Prizes will be awarded for our above and below water “Trashy Diver” winners. Divers and non-divers are welcome! 

Special effects and art director Greg Aronowitz will be on hand to oversee the cleanup for the “Roddenberry Art Project”, and an Aquarist from the world famous Birch Aquarium at Scrippsto talk about the local marine life. 

Donuts & Coffee: 

For the early birds; a few of us will be arriving at La Jolla Shores (next to “Kellog Park”) around 5:30am to enjoy the sights and sounds of the ocean as the sun pours onto the pacific (Sunrise = 5:50 am). Coffee, juice, yogurt, donuts and muffins will be available to the first 50 (approx) people that arrive. We plan on gathering at one of the beach-side fire-pits for a bit of warmth and camaraderie. 

Diving & Discovery: 

Around 7:00/7:30 am Scuba divers will begin suiting up for our adventure to the La Jolla Underwater Canyon. Another group of divers will go out around 9:00am. Once geared-up and ready, we’ll do a surface-swim out about 100 yards to where the depth is approximately 40+ feet. After a final buddy/gear check, we’ll descend to bottom where we’ll continue west to a maximum depth of 100’. From there, each buddy team, while monitoring their depth, time and air, will explore this magnificent underwater realm and gradually work their way east back to the shore. 

Trashy Diver Underwater & Beach Cleanup:

We encourage you to be a "Trashy Diver" and join us for an underwater cleanup and a shore cleanup to keep our beach and ocean healthy and safe. The Beach Cleanup will take place from 9:00am - 10:45am. Comic Con Trashy Diver Awards will be given for trash "Most likely found on the USS Enterprise" and the "Most Amount of Trash" for both the underwater and shore cleanups. 

RDT has commissioned famed special effects and art director Greg Aronowitz to create a life-sized sculpture made from trash collected by RDT members and volunteers at underwater, beach and river cleanup events. Greg will be on hand to coordinate the cleanup. The trash collected will be used in the “Roddenberry Art Project” sculpture.

La Jolla Shores Parking: 

La Jolla Shores has an extremely convenient parking lot located next to the beach and only a few yards from where we’ll be gathering and doing our dives. The cross-streets are “Calle Frescota” & “Camino del Oro”. Click HERE to see a map of the dive site and parking lot.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP!

11:45-12:45 The most action packed hour of the weekend, Stan Lee's World of Heroes announces a new line up of shows, and lets you meet legendary talent like Mark Hamill of Star Wars, Adrianne Curry of America's Next Top Model, My favorite craftsperson, Bonnie Burton, and Monster High's America Young. Jeff Lewis and Sean Becker of The Guild will be in attendance to debut a trailer for a brand new show I helped them put together, filmed right here at the BarnYard. you won't want to miss it!

I will be at booth #2543, promoting my new company, Floppets. I will be having all of my coolest friends joining me throughout the weekend so you can meet them, get autographs, and of course, get a hold of all the new Floppets! We will be premiering tons of new product, like our Munchkin Monsters, so make sure you come by!

Thursday, July 12th:

2:00-3:00 Meet the cast of White Room:02B3, including Tony Janning and Milynn Sarley.

3:15-5:00 Meet the cast of Legend of Neil, with director/co-creator Sandeep Parikh. Get your hands on an exclusive poster featuring the new DVD cover art I created!

I directed a film for Roddenberry Entertainment called White Room: 02B3. It is making it's US premiere at Comicon this year. Please come see the film, and meet the amazing cast. Plus learn all about the new and exciting 360 technology we used to film it!

TREK NATION & WHITE ROOM SCREENING

WHERE: The Birch Theater in North Park, San Diego, CA

                   2891 University Avenue, San Diego, CA 92101

DATE: Thursday, July 12, 2012  

TIME: 7:00pm

Friday, July 13th:


10:00-Noon Geek and Sundry hosts duel panels for two shows I designed, The Jeff Lewis 5-minute Comedy Hour, and Save the Supers. This is sure to be the most halirious panel of the entire weekend!

Noon-1:00 I will be on stage with Felicia Day, crafting something entertaining during her live Flog broadcast for YouTube Live! Come be part of the fun!

2:00-3:00 Come meet Felicia and the cast of the Guild at my booth.

We have Guild Floppets, and I will be signing Team Cawkes posters and Dark Horse covers along with Felicia, Sandeep, Jeff, Amy, Robin, and Vince.

Saturday, July 14th:

12:00-2:00 Brent Spiner is signing with me at booth #2543. Come talk to us about Star Trek Floppets and Fresh Hell!

3:00-4:00 The Roddenberry Panel in room 7AB. I will be joining Rod to talk about White Room:02B3, Trek Floppets, the Dive Team Trash Sculpture, and we will see some awesome behind the scenes footage and learn more about amazing Roddenberry projects like Trek Nation. 

4:30-5:30 Save The Supers panel at YouTube. Come meet the heroes from Super Force, stars of the new web-series, "Save the Supers." I Executive Produced and designed the show with creator/director/genius Sandeep Parikh. Find out more about this incredible show on Facebook. Be sure to like us, and definitely follow us on Twitter to get all the minute by minute details as these Supers take over Comicon!

Sunday, July 15th:
11:00-12:00 Team Unicorn joins me at the booth. Come meet these amazing ladies, get an exclusive TU Floppet and a signed poster I created for them!

More to come...

Legends in 3 Dimensions: Star Wars

I’m currently in London, and with so much history and grandeur to explore, I am still most excited about a quick trip to Elstree studios. Only because this is where Star Wars was filmed!

Coincidentally, it is once again May the Fourth, so I have yet another excuse to share my love of Star Wars with you! It doesn’t seem like an entire year has past since I first let you in on my personal secret hobby of making Star Wars Smurfs. It’s been a busy year, so I’ve only been able to create a few more. So many characters still to go! I thought about showing you some new ones, but that would be so redundant! I’ll save those for later. Instead, I wanted to share my first major licensing partnership with Lucasfilm: a series of collectible busts I created for Legends in 3 Dimensions.

Photo 1: When I first started L3D in 1994, my partner Henry Unger asked me to create a list of the licenses I wanted the most. Of course, Star Wars was at the top of the list. But I felt it was there more as a goal than a reality. I figured it was beyond my reach, and too large of a franchise for my fledgling company.

Well, Henry worked his magic and got us a meeting up at Skywalker Ranch almost immediately. So fast in fact, that I hardly had any examples of product to show. At this point, we had only secured two other properties, and those sculptures were both in the works. Henry had sent Lucas a copy of my General Urko bust from Planet of the Apes, and that got them interested in meeting with me. But I felt I needed something really special to seal the deal. So I picked one of my favorite characters and sculpted my first Star Wars bust to show the caliber of product I wished to deliver.

Sadly, although Admiral Ackbar is probably still my favorite L3D bust, this prototype is the only one in existence. The approval department at Lucasfilm requested some changes, which put the piece on the back burner, and he never made it into the fold again. The saddest part, thinking back, is that the only major alteration was an alternate version of the nameplate, which they felt was too “retro”, which I guess is was, as I based it on the original Kenner action figure card backs.  

Photo 2: My original presentation for the L3D Star Wars lineup included mostly obscure characters. With Star Wars being at the height of its popularity today, it may be hard to remember a time when the brand only focused on main characters such as Luke, Han, Darth, R2, and 3PO. You may even be too young to know that pre-prequel background characters didn’t even have names so much as “descriptions” we only knew of from the Kenner action figure card backs. But we still loved them all, and in the late 80’s and early 90’s, when new merchandise was scarce, I spend most of my money tracking down rare gems I couldn’t obtain in my childhood, such as the elusive vinyl capped Jawa, or the European released Yak Face. My vision with L3D was to bring those creatures that only got a few seconds of screen time to endear themselves to us into the spot light and immortalize them as busts. I figure if I would pay $950 for a 3 ¾ used Yak Face, someone would love to have him as a brand new bust for $99!

The reps at the ranch didn’t quite seem to grasp what I was talking about, although it seems I was just too ahead of the curve! Now, companies like SideShow create collectibles of every frame of film in as many various formats as we can consume. It is truly a fan’s paradise these days, but at the time I got a lot of head scratching and questions like, “Do you think anyone would really be interested in a Greedo bust? Han kills him in less than a minute!” (Yes, these meetings were PRE special addition, too!!! )

The compromise was that I would do a rarer main character that also supported the franchise’s most recent effort to provide fresh content, the multi-platformed “Shadows of the Empire”. So I sculpted my first OFFICIAL Star Wars bust, Emperor Palpatine.

I wanted to give each character a base that connected them to their environment, and while creating this “throne room” pedestal, I decided to forgo the nameplates, which then followed through for the majority of L3D busts.

Photo 3: The natural follow up to the Emperor was a bust of Boba Fett. The notorious bounty hunter was deeply integrated in the Dark Horse comics version of Shadows, and had been a fan favorite since he first appeared in animated form in the Star Wars Christmas Special way back in 1978. Once again, up until the late 90’s, there was very little merchandise surrounding this supporting character, so it was a great opportunity to satisfy a growing hunger for Fett fans.

Photo 4: When I start to write these blogs, I always worry that there won’t be enough to talk about on any given subject. But as I start to pull the images, tons of stories flood back into my mind.  One specific thing I remember about creating this bust was controversy over the paint scheme. I presented my prototype based on the Jedi version of Boba, who is commonly known as the “carnival version” due to the bright primary colors on his jet pack.  The approval department rejected it, stating that Boba Fett was always all olive drab, and provided photos from Empire Strikes Back.  I was determined to keep the vibrant colors, so I took my SW laserdisc box set and “stepped” frame by frame through both movies, capturing the slo-mo on VHS to bring to the ranch for proof. Like I said, this was a long time ago.

The staff was shocked to realize there were differences in the character between movies, and granted me permission to run the carnival version. Since it became so glaringly apparent after this process that there were TWO different Boba Fetts, I decided to do a limited edition variant of the ESB version. We only made 500, and they are so rare, I don’t even have one! This photo is of my original paint masters, which were destroyed in China after the manufacturing run.

Photo 5: Having the Star Wars license brought the company a lot of attention, and the Boba Fett variant got a lot of press. Some of my favorite articles are printed in magazines I can’t even read, like this full page in HOBBY JAPAN.  You can see a shot of me working on the Emperor in the lower right corner. Notice the reference book I’m looking at. It’s the Japanese version of Star Wars Chronicles. The book has highly detailed photos of almost every prop, model, and costume used in the original trilogy. It was originally released in Japan, and later there was an American version available. If you don’t own it, you should!

Photo 5a: You may have also noticed the Cantina diorama at the bottom of the page. I’m gonna save that one for a future blog, because it’s a long story, but you can read more about it in Steve Sansweet’s book, Star Wars: 1,000 Collectibles: Memorabilia and Stories from a Galaxy Far, Far Away

Photo 6: Of the L3D Star Wars busts actually released, Greedo is my favorite. I tried to capture his blank expression, subtle head tilt, and groovy 70’s ski jacket. His base is, well, based on the set itself, drawing from the tiled archway tiles and the stucco earthen walls with faded stripes.

Photo 7: This became the first manufacturing challenge for L3D, since I decided to have the Bounty Hunter’s mohawk of spines laid in with individual brass rods. There are about 100 spines per head, all hand glued in place. 

I also built the miniature sets for the product shots. Mos Eisley was probably the most fun to build, and with minor modifications, I was able to use it for several of the other bust, as the cantina was a huge source of inspiration for the L3D lineup.

Photo 8: So, it goes without saying that there would be a Cantina Band Member. I know they all have individual names now, but when I was a kid, they were simply known as the Cantina Band.

What makes the band member bust special is that it was my only use of hands in an L3D SW bust. I wanted to keep the pieces as close to the classical form as possible, but I felt that it was the instruments that really connected these aliens to the band, and most of them were woodwind style props. I went with the one that resembles a flute, as it was compact enough to keep the bust proportionate to the others.

Photo 9: Another unique quality was my use of airbrushing on the piece. I usually tried to avoid this technique, as it often ended up being overly done in production and giving the end product a cheesier, cheaper look. But the color scheme on these creatures was so subtle, standard brush processes were even more risky. In the end, the factories nailed it, and the Cantina Band Member sold out almost instantly.

Photo 10: Putting this blog together, I suddenly realized that majority of the L3D Star Wars line are inhabitants of Tatooine. I guess I was drawn to all of the rustic textures, especially on the Sandpeople, or Tusken Raiders. Wrapped head to toe in protective bandages to shield them from the double suns, the Raiders viewed the world through aluminum tubes breathed through heavy leather sand filters.

Photo 11:  This bust involved as much machining as it did sculpting.

The base is designed to represent the head of the Raider’s Gaffi stick, and I tied him to it by continuing the bandolier straps past the bust cut off. In order to ensure that these thin straps would last on your shelves, I tooled them to be cast separately out of pewter. I needed to engineer deep pegs into the backs of the straps to lock into the cold cast porcelain bust to make sure they held on securely, since even the strongest epoxy has trouble binding the metal.

Photo 12: But not all of my over-engineering makes it to the final product! I was very concerned that Greedo's large, pointy ears and suction cup like antenna would not survive in polystone, so I initially opted to make them as separate white metal pieces. The ears turned out to be too heavy, and we had more issues with them falling off in the drop tests then we had breakage with the cold cast ones. I believe the pewter antenna stayed, although it has been 16 some-odd years since I reviewed these things on the assembly line, so I could be wrong!!!

Photo 13: Many of the Star Wars bust had complicated elements like the straps and ears, so I came up with the idea of showing random steps of the process on the certificate of authenticity. I love Star Wars for many reasons, but perhaps most of all for introducing me to “behind the scenes” at such an early age. Lucas never had any reservations about pulling back the curtain and revealing exactly how he made the magic, and who the artist were that helped him make it happen. Even in the original Topps trading card sets, images of models in progress, concept art, and sets under construction found their way between the final film frames and character glamour shots. In my mind, “the making of” is just part of the Star Wars esthetic, so I tried to include as much of that in my product as possible.

Photo 14: Speaking of the Star Wars aesthetic, there is one man whose art is synonymous with the franchise: Drew Struzan. Drew has illustrated some of the most famous Star Wars posters. He also gave us a wide collection of book covers and promotional art since the galaxy far, far away was first brought to our attention. When it came time to create the box art, it was the only logical choice for me to ask Drew to do it. I had been creating the most of the L3D box art myself up to this time, but in no know universe could I even dream of bringing the Star Wars characters to life the way that Drew does.

Photo 15: Drew created 4 unique panels for the box: two sides, the back, and the lid. He designed a “space port” border to connect all the paintings as the wrap around the box, and I cut out the character art from one of the panels to create the border for the box front window.

Each panel is so beautiful, I couldn’t begin to pick a favorite. But being as R2 and 3PO are my favorite characters, it was a dream come true to have this piece of art created exclusively to house my sculptures.

Photo 16: The opposite side of the box featured a squad of Stormtroopers charging at us, with TIE fighters blasting something into smithereens in the background.

Photo 17: But without a doubt, the greatest Star Wars moment in my life came from seeing this piece of art. It was customary to include a photo of the artists involved in the sculpture on the back of the L3D box, and Drew asked me if I planned to do the same for Star Wars. I was going to be the only sculptor, so Drew asked if I wanted him to draw my portrait instead of using a photo. Drew is most famous for his portrait work, immortalizing the likenesses of Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, Michael J. Fox as Marty McFly, and Dustin Hoffman as Hook, just to name a few, so it was a great honor to have him do an illustration of me.

Photo 18: While designing the box layout, Drew decided that I needed to integrate into the Star Wars theme rather than just be a floating head on the back of the box. So he put my head on Luke Skywalker’s flight suited body from Empire Strikes Back. He gave me this black and white comp to submit to Lucasfilm, and I nearly passed out! It was the coolest thing I had ever seen, but I was pretty sure that there was no way that George was going to approve it!

I went to San Fran to present it to Lucas, and he laughed heartily. It turns out that by this time, he had become a big fan of my work, and was very pleased with the L3D prototypes. He gave me permission to use Drew’s art on the box under one condition: remove the lightsaber. His exact quote, “You are not a Jedi yet!”

That moment will forever be the highlight of my geek life. Drew removed the lightsaber, and the finished art made it onto the box. I guess this made me the first person not in the original films to be represented as a Star Wars character on official merchandise!

Photo 19: The Star Wars line was very successful, and I was invited to Skywalker Ranch a lot to talk about new product and to show my progress on new pieces. During one trip, I was in the president of Lucasfilm’s office when I noticed that he had my 1/6^th scale sculpture of the Gamorean Guard on his desk. When I mentioned that I had created it, the room went very quiet. It turns out that the sculpture had a lot of history with the company, and as much as they loved the art, it came in their possession in what was viewed as a very negative way.

I had sculpted the pieces years earlier to be a resin garage kit when that was a popular hobby. I never actually finished it, but a friend who owned a specialty model shop saw pictures of the work in progress and asked if I could finish a prototype for him to present to Lucasfilm in hopes of getting an official license. When the company got the statue, it came with rumors that they were already available on the underground kit market. They sent my friend a cease and desist letter, but kept the Gamorean Guard.

I had only heard that the license had not been approved, and I thought my friend kept the original. I explained that the piece Lucasfilm had been the only one in existence, and that I had the original molds locked safely away. We were able to work out a deal that let me finally release the sculpt as an official product, but the president still kept the original prototype!

Photo 20: I had big plans to continue the L3D Star Wars line, and hopefully someday I will get to continue that vision. I got to do some cool interactive promotions with Lucasfilm in the meanwhile, like this full size Jabba the Hutt photo-op for Star Wars Celebration 1. Over the course of the 3-day weekend, we ended up shooting hundreds of digital photos with excited fans. It was great to be able to share my love for Star Wars with so many people in person, and learn that I had made so many of them happy with my sculptures. Hopefully you are one of them!

May the Fourth be with you!!!!