Hi All,

I'm wondering if anyone knows of a site which has hi-res scans of any of the vintage boxes, specifically the Desert Sail Skiff. That mini-rig is one of my all time fave toys and I've been wanting to find a hi-res (minimum of 1024x768) scan of the full back as shown in the pic below:



I think a crisp clean scan of that would make a great wallpaper for my pc's desktop, and I'm surprised I've not come across a site which has scans of vintage packaging just for that purpose. Anyone happen to know of such a site?

Thanks!

Despite the myriad number of music threads already (please mods don't ban music talk!  ) I had something on my mind sparked from a conversation I had earlier today with a friend.

Who do you think are the Top 10 Rock Bands of ALL Time? A basis on who would make the cut would be their success at their time, their influence on the genre, their continued success today (especially if they are no longer active), and of course their musical abilities. Here's the Top 10 list my friend and I came up with, including some reasoning behind it. It's not in a particular order, it may be too difficult to rank one band over another....

1.) The Beatles - they are responsible for the modern rock band concept and of course helped lead the way for the British invasion. The music they played had not been heard on such a wide scale when they appeared on the Ed Sullivan show and it forever changed the way people thought about rock and roll.

2.) The Rolling Stones - The Stones took what the Beatles started and gave it more of an edge sending Rock a bit farther away from it's Blues and Motown roots. Wildly successful for 40+ years, the fact that they can still play is a wonder all onto itself.

3.) Led Zeppelin - Not only did they take what the Stones and Beatles did and gave it even more of edgier and unique sound, they revolutionized the idea of "conceptual rock" that would later lead to bands like Pink Floyd and Dream Theater. Considered by many to be the pinnacle of rock bands, their music is as fresh today as it was 30 years ago.

4.) Jimi Hendrix - The man did things with guitars no one else could ever dream of at the time. It's his take on the axe that has given rock it's true voice and was no doubt an inspiration to everyone on this list.

5.) Pink Floyd - While Zeppelin revolutionized the idea of "conceptual rock", Floyd took it to a whole other level. Their music allowed people to think outside the box when it came to rock and has led to some amazing work throughout the years.

6.) Black Sabbath/Ozzy Osbourne - Sort of a combo here as Ozzy was wildly successful after he left Sabbath, but the band wasn't so much. Sabbath is the pioneer of heavy metal, they took the style of the Stones, mixed in a little bit of the blues and gave a darker feeling that had never been heard before. Without them, modern rock today could very well be the equivalent of bands like Oasis or REM.

7.) AC/DC - Coming in a little bit on the lighter side of Sabbath, AC/DC is a fast paced explosion of rock that can electrify anyone. Their song library is considered to be the epitome of arena rock and despite the saddened change of lead singers they have never lost a step.

8.) Metallica - Disregarding the last 7 or so years (every band has to have a hiccup), Metallica has been the influential driving force for today's hard rock/metal. Influenced by such bands as Motorhead, the Misfits, and Diamond Head, Metallica took their spirit and brought out the fast-paced speed metal mixed in with melodic overtones.

9.) Pearl Jam - Though many credit Sonic Youth and Nirvana for starting the grunge/alternative phenomenon of the 90's, it was really PJ that brought it into a national scale. Their angst-ridden songs became the anthems for Generation X'ers such as myself worldwide and have influenced the not so heavier but certainly not soft side of rock for the last decade.

10.) Grateful Dead - This was solely my buddy's entry into the list as I would have put The Who in, but the Dead's amazing ability to draw in people seems almost unmatched. Even after Jerry Garcia's death people still clamor for the Dead and that certainly has to count for something, doesn't it?

So what are you're thoughts and what's your top 10?

Hi All,

I've been in the process of finally getting my loose figure collection displayed in my Collection Room and was taking a look at various figures of which I had multiples and had some variation questions. I've already consulted Toysrgus, the Scum Vintage Archive and Kim Zoll's webshoots photo gallery, but they did not have all the answers I am looking for. Hopefully though someone will so I can more accurately document my collection database.

Imperial Commander: I have both the "Skinny" and "Round" head versions, of which I understand the Round head version w/o COO stamp is a TriLogo figure. My questions for the Round head version are, what country could the figure have been produced in and is the skin on the face painted or the actual color of the plastic the head was moulded in? That second question coincides with a question I have on the Skinny head version, I have 2 which appear to have paint applied to the face and another which appears to have the face color in the color of the plastic the head was moulded in, could this be correct?

Emperor's Royal Guard: I have 2 "Dark Red Helmet" w/o COO stamp ERGs (as opposed to the "Pale Red Helmet" w/ COO stamp), Kim Zoll's site indicates that these figures were produced in Taiwan, could they have been produced for the TriLogo cards?

Klaatu: I recall hearing that there is a variation where the face paint has a bluish hue to it, is this correct? I have a Klaatu which appears to have this bluish hue, but I'm wondering if that's a paint variation or just a reaction of the plastic over the years.

Cloud Car Pilot: I found two CCP's where the Copyright year stamp and COO stamp were on different legs. One had the year on the right leg with the COO on the left, the other had the stamps swapped. Is this an indication of a change in the figure, I didn't notice much difference between the two otherwise. I can't imagine Kenner would have gone thru the effort to modify the molds to change which leg each stamp was on.

Normally, I don't go off looking for variations except for the limb variations on the Klaatu as they intrigue me with all the possibilities, yet while putting up my figures, I found I actually had quite a few. If anyone has the answers to my questions that would be of great help.

Thanks!

As I sit here at the office reading the September issue of Wired magazine, I came across an article about the THX-1138 redux. Amongst the description of the movie itself and how it's central theme is the focal point of every Lucas movie there was a great line about the movie and it's creator...

"... THX was the battle cry of a subversive 26-year old visionary before he suffocated under the burden of his own mythology."

Never have truer words been spoken about George Lucas. The desire for a worthy prequel follow up to the Original Trilogy along with giving his perceived finishing touches to the OT have indeed been a burden to Lucas. But I think they are an unfulfilled (the PT) and unnecessary (OT SE's) burden that Lucas has placed upon himself.

I wonder if the prequels and the special editions were as much a need by Lucas to take back his universe from those who played in it in novels, comics, games, etc as they were a need by Lucas to see his "true" vision come to be.

As we get closer to the release date for the OT DVD which is in essence the Original Star Wars Trilogy version 3, I wonder what the rest of you think about the prequels and special editions in relation to the Original Star Wars trilogy that most of us grew up with. Have the new additions and changes adversely affected the way you look back on that far,  far away galaxy or are they for the better. And what of Lucas, where do you stand on what he has or has not accomplished with the additions/changes in his own mythology?

So I got my first 2 VOTC figs today Han and Leia, WOO HOO, and noticed a couple of interesting points that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere.

1.) The pics on the back showing the vintage versions are the same as those used in Sansweet's Action Figure Archive. When comparing the figures inside the bubbles they are positioned and lit the same way as in the book. Nothing overly important, I just find it interesting.

2.) On the Han cardback, there is a line under the pics of the vintage versions indicating these are not available for purchase. These lines don't appear on the Leia cardback. Could that indicate a running change on the VOTC cards?

3.) On the Leia card they kept the info about the product meeting product standard requirements under the Kenner logo, but its not on the Han card.

4.) Opening the clamshell and getting at the cards, I felt as if the smell was the same as when I would get vintage as a kid. It's probably just my mind playing tricks, but the sense of smell is a powerful one that can bring back old memories to the forefront and today that occurred.

Still in the midst of unpacking after my move, but after picking up a vintage Walrusman for a buck, I decided it was time to go forth with a repaint I've wanted to do for a long time. Based on the Walrusman in this picture  I present my version of the original Kenner prototype Walrusman....
   

Enjoy and as always constructive thoughts, comments, and suggestions welcomed.

Happy Customizing!

I kinda forgot to post here about the January Casting Call oops.



The January Casting Call is all about Luke Skywalker, as the focal point of the OT gets his very own CC. Any and all customs of Luke from all genres are welcomed, deadline for submissions to appear on the debut though is a bit soon, January 23rd.

 

For February, the Casting Call will be of a Coalition Trooper from a fan-made project called "Virtual Sequels" that will "re"create Episodes 7-9, and is scheduled to debut in May 2004. There is a contest involved with this particular CC, details to be given soon. Details on the "Virtual Sequels" project can be found Here.

For March, the Casting Call will be one that has been often asked for, the Podracers! Any Podracer jockey based off the Episode 1 genre are welcomed, in fact if you have a Podracer vehicle you'd like to share, feel free to send those in as well.

For more details on these Casting Calls, check out the main page at FFURG.

Happy Customizing!