Don't know whether you can consider this as a limelight posted thread, but I wish like to share these narrative pictures that I've taken some time back, which are inspired by selected scenes from STAR WARS : THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The action figures, creatures and Hoth terrain piece are naturally from the Vintage Kenner Star Wars line. Enjoy folks!


From the opening scene in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, shortly after the "meteorite" landed on the frozen plains of the ice planet Hoth...




"A small figure gallops across the windswept ice slope. The bundled rider is mounted on a large gray two-legged snow lizard, a Tauntaun..."





"The rider gallops off a slope and reins his lizard to a stop. Pulling off his protective goggles, Luke Skywalker notices something in the sky..."




Luke : Echo Three to Echo Seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?

*After a little static a familiar voice is heard over the comlink, " Loud and clear, kid. What's up?"*

Luke : Well, I finished my circle. I don't pick up any life readings.

*(over comlink) Han : There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. The sensors are placed. I'm going back.*

Luke : Right. I'll see you shortly. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I want to check it out. It won't take long.





Luke clicks off his Commlink and reins back on his nervous lizard. He pats his Tauntaun on the head to calm its twitching nervousness...




Luke : Hey, steady girl. What's the matter? You smell something??

When suddenly.....




... a LARGE shadow falls over him from behind. He hears a monstrous howl and turns to see an eleven-foot-tall shape towering over him. It is the WAMPA ICE CREATURE!!! :





...whose huge white clawed comes swinging down like a massive pendulum!!




The WAMPA ICE CREATURE lunges at Luke ferociously!




Luke : Aaarrghhhh!! :noooooo:

Luke is hit flat in the face by the huge white claw and falls unconscious into the snow...




...and in a moment the WAMPA lunges onto its next kill!




The terrified screams of the Tauntaun are cut short by the horrible snap of its neck being broken!




The WAMPA grabs Luke by one ankle and drags.....




...him away across the frozen plains of Hoth back to its lair.


Please excuse some of the blur shots as I did not have optimum lighting most of the time. Until the next set of pictures, happy viewing!

Introducing the cast of my little photoshoot :

Luke Skywalker (Hoth Battle Gear) action figure, with his corresponding Category IV Luke (Hoth Coin) - still a rare coin to get even today.




Kenner 1980 TAUNTAUN (first version Close Belly)




Kenner 1982 First Version WAMPA with its box





....and the Hoth terrain from my 1981 Sears Exclusive REBEL COMMAND CENTER Adventure Set :

Very nice photography Peter, as always, I like the action shots!

Do you make dioramas by any chance?

Between this thread and Wolff's great new dioramas I am warming to the idea of making a diorama and some "action " shots!

absolutely brilliant, Peter! Great fun and well put together little scenes and photos. The Tauntaun looks petrified!

" The terrified screams of the Tauntaun are cut short by the horrible snap of its neck being broken! "

brilliant!

Those are some excellent photos there Peter. I like you you just casually have that Luke Hoth coin there. It was the last one that I needed for my coin set and took some patience waiting for one to show up.

That's called showing off in style

Joe_O wrote:

Very nice photography Peter, as always, I like the action shots!

Do you make dioramas by any chance?

Between this thread and Wolff's great new dioramas I am warming to the idea of making a diorama and some "action " shots!

Thanks Joe and that is what I will want to do again, hopefully from this year onwards after I have cleared up the working space I need in my living quarters. Action shots is what our out of the package Vintage Star Wars action figures, creatures, vehicles and playsets have been made to do. After all they are called Action Figures for a good reason.

Due to space constraints I wish I could make permanent display dioramas, but will have to settle for temporary photo shoot settings for the time being.

I have a good suggestion for your first diorama - Jabba's Dungeon where you can feature your 8D8 doing what he does best!

Artoo_Detour wrote:

absolutely brilliant, Peter! Great fun and well put together little scenes and photos. The Tauntaun looks petrified!

" The terrified screams of the Tauntaun are cut short by the horrible snap of its neck being broken! "

brilliant!

*Takes a humble bow* Thanks Artoo_Detour yes and indeed it was fun recreating those scenes from TESB using pieces from my Vintage STAR WARS collection. It is almost like turning the clock back 3 decades and using our kiddie imagination with our then new Star Wars acquisitions!

Ha ha ha we must give credit to the talented sculptors employed by Kenner who sculpted the Tauntaun's head and face. They managed to capture that petrified look when I took the picture at that angle.

shawn_k wrote:

Those are some excellent photos there Peter. I like you you just casually have that Luke Hoth coin there. It was the last one that I needed for my coin set and took some patience waiting for one to show up.

Thanks Shawn and glad that you like my pictures. Talking about the Category IV Luke (Hoth) Coin I believe Gus Lopez may still have this very coin you need for sale at FS: POTF coins including some rare variations However, it is much on the High End side though!

Joe_O wrote:

That's called showing off in style

Joe, just making the best of what I have in hand and what inspired me to do.

FYI I also photograph small vignittes consisting of Vintage Star Wars action figures, Mini-Rigs and playsets apart from scenes from the movie, like this example titled "Trandoshan Bounty Hunter's catch of the day"





putting BOSSK to good use capturing his Wookiiee target instead of that inaccurate Rebel Commander as featured in Kenner' CAP-2 box picture. The 2 mechanical arms of the CAP-2 are put to good use to add some agony to Chewbacca! You can see that I've replaced the standard issue Stormie blaster Kenner issued to Boba Fett with the more accurate BlasTech EE-3 Blaster weapon, courtesy of Hasbro's 1996 POTF2 Boba Fett figure. Propped my setting up against a pinkish background that is associated with the mood of Cloud City.

Here is another picture of the same shot, taken from another angle :



and yes my 2 Vintage Kenner Stormtroopers have maintained their whiteness.

Chancellor_Peter wrote:

shawn_k wrote:

Those are some excellent photos there Peter. I like you you just casually have that Luke Hoth coin there. It was the last one that I needed for my coin set and took some patience waiting for one to show up.

Thanks Shawn and glad that you like my pictures. Talking about the Category IV Luke (Hoth) Coin I believe Gus Lopez may still have this very coin you need for sale at FS: POTF coins including some rare variations However, it is much on the High End side though!

Thanks for the link Peter, but I did find one already. I saw that one come up for sale, but a little later found one more accurately better priced.

shawn_k wrote:

Thanks for the link Peter, but I did find one already. I saw that one come up for sale, but a little later found one more accurately better priced.

You're welcome Shawn and roger to that. BTW I have a PM for you.

Chancellor_Peter wrote:

Action shots is what our out of the package Vintage Star Wars action figures, creatures, vehicles and playsets have been made to do. After all they are called Action Figures for a good reason.

nice. I can see this thread becoming one of my favourites I never thought to use CAP2's 'claws' to hold figures just the back clamp. I look forward to more action scenes.

aussiejames wrote:

nice. I can see this thread becoming one of my favourites I never thought to use CAP2's 'claws' to hold figures just the back clamp. I look forward to more action scenes.

Thanks for the encouragement James. I do my best in each photo session, in the past and in the future, till I get the pics right. Yes as a matter of fact when you check the side of your Vintage CAP-2 you can see Kenner placed a Bespin Security Guard (black, 2nd version) in the clutches of its 2 front claws.

Here is another Vintage Star Wars action figure and Mini-Rig vignette that I've photographed. Its appropriately titled "March of the Blizzard Force" :



This scene depicts the Snowtroopers from the 501st Legion who've been attached to the Blizzard Force during the Battle Of Hoth. This scene depicts the "off camera" shot where the Snowtroopers after disembarking from the AT-AT gingerly makes their advance towards the Rebel's Echo Base. The MTV-7 is utilised by this small squad of Snowtroopers to dispense with any Rebel stragglers who might be defending the outer perimeters of their Echo Base.

Chancellor_Peter wrote:

This scene depicts the Snowtroopers from the 501st Legion who've been attached to the Blizzard Force during the Battle Of Hoth. This scene depicts the "off camera" shot where the Snowtroopers after disembarking from the AT-AT gingerly makes their advance towards the Rebel's Echo Base. The MTV-7 is utilised by this small squad of Snowtroopers to dispense with any Rebel stragglers who might be defending the outer perimeters of their Echo Base.

Great little scene! Like it's come straight from a mini-catalogue. I love how the snowtrooper on the left is marching - he looks cool.

Chancellor_Peter wrote:

Don't know whether you can consider this as a limelight posted thread, but I wish like to share these narrative pictures that I've taken some time back, which are inspired by selected scenes from STAR WARS : THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK. The action figures, creatures and Hoth terrain piece are naturally from the Vintage Kenner Star Wars line. Enjoy folks!


From the opening scene in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK, shortly after the "meteorite" landed on the frozen plains of the ice planet Hoth...




"A small figure gallops across the windswept ice slope. The bundled rider is mounted on a large gray two-legged snow lizard, a Tauntaun..."





"The rider gallops off a slope and reins his lizard to a stop. Pulling off his protective goggles, Luke Skywalker notices something in the sky..."




Luke : Echo Three to Echo Seven. Han, old buddy, do you read me?

*After a little static a familiar voice is heard over the comlink, " Loud and clear, kid. What's up?"*

Luke : Well, I finished my circle. I don't pick up any life readings.

*(over comlink) Han : There isn't enough life on this ice cube to fill a space cruiser. The sensors are placed. I'm going back.*

Luke : Right. I'll see you shortly. There's a meteorite that hit the ground near here. I want to check it out. It won't take long.





Luke clicks off his Commlink and reins back on his nervous lizard. He pats his Tauntaun on the head to calm its twitching nervousness...




Luke : Hey, steady girl. What's the matter? You smell something??

When suddenly.....




... a LARGE shadow falls over him from behind. He hears a monstrous howl and turns to see an eleven-foot-tall shape towering over him. It is the WAMPA ICE CREATURE!!! :





...whose huge white clawed comes swinging down like a massive pendulum!!




The WAMPA ICE CREATURE lunges at Luke ferociously!




Luke : Aaarrghhhh!! :noooooo:

Luke is hit flat in the face by the huge white claw and falls unconscious into the snow...




...and in a moment the WAMPA lunges onto its next kill!




The terrified screams of the Tauntaun are cut short by the horrible snap of its neck being broken!




The WAMPA grabs Luke by one ankle and drags.....




...him away across the frozen plains of Hoth back to its lair.


Please excuse some of the blur shots as I did not have optimum lighting most of the time. Until the next set of pictures, happy viewing!

Class!!!

Thank you Glen!




...and now here is another random picture that is not in sequence of my photosets. This is an amalgamation of old school Vintage Star Wars figures and modern day Photoshopping. I present this scene that depicts a freshly Carbon Freezed Han Solo in the Carbon Freezing Facility of Cloud City,



Photoshop credit goes to my buddy, Lionel who is also a Vintage Star Wars collector from Singapore.

Peter your photography shots are great. I love the way you set up the scenes they really do look class. You’re very imaginative!

Please keep them coming!

Craig T wrote:

Peter your photography shots are great. I love the way you set up the scenes they really do look class. You’re very imaginative!

Please keep them coming!

Craig thanks for your kind words. I'm glad to hear that you enjoy these STAR WARS Episode V inspired scenes, which I've re-created using Vintage Star Wars figures, creatures and even vehicles. Not only I let my imagination do the job, but patience is also a must to take many, many shots to ensure that they are a close match to these iconic scenes from the movie. I will definitely keep them coming in time to come.

Here is a bonus offtake shot where the position of the Wampa attacking Luke was not "screen accurate"

Great photography work!! Kind of reminds me of a lot of the photography work that Kim Simmons does. He is a guest at our SW show every year and does a stunning slide presentation on his work and how he sets his scenes up for photos on packaging. I really love your Bespin freezing room scene, that's just cool.

Can't wait to see more.

rebojazz wrote:

Great photography work!! Kind of reminds me of a lot of the photography work that Kim Simmons does. He is a guest at our SW show every year and does a stunning slide presentation on his work and how he sets his scenes up for photos on packaging. I really love your Bespin freezing room scene, that's just cool.

Can't wait to see more.

Hi Rebojazz / Steven, thank you for the compliments.

I'm sooo HONORED to hear that my pictures remind you of the excellent photography taken by Kim Simmons. I have checked his official Simmons Photography website to gain a better appreciation his works. Its interesting to know that he also did the packaging photography for Hasbro's 1999 SW Episode I Anakin's Pod Racer vehicle.

Furthermore, after checking to : http://www.brianstoys.com/store/category.aspx?categoryID=3598 I was amazed to find out that Kim Simmons is "...the photographer in charge of virtually all vintage Star Wars photography work at the outside design firm used by Kenner.....He was ultimately responsible for images that would be used for packaging, comps (or mock-ups), some publicity images, and some of the slide presentations. Fortunately, for Star Wars collectors and enthusiasts alike, Kim meticulously kept nearly all of his work that was not given to Kenner as final art pieces." Such as this iconic piece of group photography of the Unreleased Vintage Power Of The Force carded figures for Kenner's 1985 Toy Fair Catalog



As for the Bespin Carbon Freezing, I can't take full credit for it since the yeoman task was carried out by my friend Lionel. He also provided the Stormtroopers to complete this movie scene.

Watch this thread for more TESB inspired movie scene inspired photo sets to come!