Jabba The Hutt Diorama (The Viewing Frame WIP)

I can't help myself. @Stryker2011's post last page, my head said "Why, he gruesome!" (Sorry!)

Oh my gosh, @Ephiane , your cat! So unabashedly adorable!

Massive box delivery day. My Jabba and the Han in Carbonite both arrived earlier this afternoon. It was a nightmare trying to get those boxes into the house with only one arm and my leg -- then I had to open everything, and take each individual piece out one at a time (not only to inspect, but to move them downstairs into my basement Man-Cave). I had heard many people complaining about the fragility of the pieces, and parts coming damaged -- particularly with Salacius Crumb's ears, but I was lucky -- absolutely no breakage. I can't even begin to describe how cool this thing is -- and IT'S HUGE!!!! The box is just under 3' long x 21" wide x 21" tall. The box in the background is the equally impressive box that the Han/Carbonite Environment arrived in, and the styrofoam sheet was over the first tray of goodies.




Some of the parts are just wrapped in tissue paper, each one separated by layers, and some have an extra piece of foam to protect them (the Salacius heads and the Hookah -- which is real glass). I numbered each tray and labeled their contents as I removed things -- being careful to replace all the wrapping paper and foam to its rightful place.



The base feels pretty solid and is probably polystone. Jabba himself feels like some type of composite (feels like fiberglass). The arms and mouth (not entirely sure about the eyes) have hidden magnets in them that correspond to hidden magnets in Jabba's body -- so things fit together nicely (changing out the mouths is a bit difficult -- those magnets work great). Each of the smaller pieces, particularly Crumb, feel very fragile, so this is not a piece I would mess around with much -- and if anyone else gets this monster -- this is more or less a Statue/Display piece -- to be treated gently.

Here's a quick setup I did with the Creature Pack and a kit bashed Leia (I forgot to put Bib Fortuna next to the throne when I took the pictures). Right now everything is on a card table -- but I have plans for this guy.




And to go along with Jabba, I picked up this pre-owned Han in Carbonite Environment -- that originally came out in 2009 (I looked it up). A really nice piece and almost as big as the Jabba throne itself. The card table isn't big enough to put both of them on at the same time, but I kind of wanted a few things to give it size reference so you could kind of see how big this thing is. Then I added Hoth Leia to help as well.

Congratulations on your baby boys... well boy and space slug anyway. They do look great and I am sure in no time you will have them set up very impressively in a specially designed space.

Got to say, that does look really nice, colour me impressed! Am I right or wrong in thinking that somebody did do a statue of a reclining Slave Leia in 1/6!? Gentle Giant spring to mind.....

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:Got to say, that does look really nice, colour me impressed! Am I right or wrong in thinking that somebody did do a statue of a reclining Slave Leia in 1/6!? Gentle Giant spring to mind.....

CHEERS!

Yes, it was Gentle Giant. Post #78 above there's a picture of it with the new Jabba (icruise removed her from the base she comes with). While it's a nice pose, I'm not all that impressed with the paint job, and the asking prices for it on eBay are insane (anywhere from $400 -1500.00)

This is what it looks like out of the box:





Now that I've had a chance to mess with my kitbashed Leia (she's on a Jiaous Doll Wheaten body -- which oddly, is shorter than a TBL body, but still too tall for Carrie), it is an awkward body to work with. This is one of the early ones with the plastic skeleton and it doesn't have the range of motion of a TBL, so trying to get her into a natural and comfortable pose is impossible. I have another set of the ACPlay Leia kit coming, so I plan on trying to repaint the head color to match the TBLeague S25B body -- which should make posing her much, much easier.


Here's a photo I took yesterday after putting Bib Fortuna in the scene (forgot to put him on something to raise him up).




Here's Bib with Jabba after putting a block under him (still haven't figured his pose out yet):




And a couple details:







By the way, all the pillows are real. They feel like mini hackey-sacks. I just wish there were a few more of them. Getting enough to prop Leia up, like she was in the film, was difficult with the number they gave -- it leaves little to put elsewhere.

The swap out eyes and mouths are pretty cool, giving you plenty of different looks. From a normal viewing distance, the seams aren't as noticeable -- except maybe the one on the right (his left) of the mouth. I didn't spend as much time fiddling with the pieces to get them to sit better as I was taking the pictures. (I didn't do all of the combinations, sorry. But here are a few):

Sleepy/Stoner Eyes:



Standard Eyes:



Surprised -- "Oh my God! She's choking me!" -- Eyes (goes great with the tongue out mouth):




And a few combinations of eyes and mouths:







By the way, the little creature snack in his hand has a magnet in it (as does his hand obviously). The notch in his forefinger/thumb is for the hookah pipe to sit in -- but I haven't messed with that look yet.

Getting better and better. Love the detail photos -- I know we've seen some of it before, but even that was informative. Not to mention very pleasing. Funny how this hobby and this sort of entertainment make us love such repulsive things. The Jiaou Doll 3.0 bodies with the "steel skeleton" (actually just metal joints) were pretty poseable -- so I am assuming you are referring to a version before them.

Very nice!

Wasn't there an Asian set of figures that Phicen did with smaller bodies? Carrie was in the shape of her life for ROTJ. I must have seen repaints of that GG statue, I always thought it was better.

I would LOVE a 1/1 Salacious Crumb, he was sculpted by Tony McVey and owning another piece he's worked on would be amazing

CHEERS!

GubernatorFan wrote:I am assuming you are referring to a version before them.

Yes. The earlier ones. I wonder if the newer ones with the metal joints are the same color as the earlier versions. In hand the head sculpt is a pretty good match with that earlier Wheaten body. If their newer bodies are the same color, it might be easier to just swap out the body as opposed to painting the head...

Rogerbee wrote:I would LOVE a 1/1 Salacious Crumb, he was sculpted by Tony McVey and owning another piece he's worked on would be amazing

CHEERS!

The TBL S25B is the smaller body (not the really, really small bodies), but I’d have to repaint the head to get it to match.

I had no idea the same guy did Crumb who did the Gremlins; that would be cool to have another one of his pieces.

If you’re mainly just going to be having her as part of the Jabba display, then being able to pose her well is probably more crucial than having her be the exact right height. The height becomes more of an issue if she needs to be displayed standing next to or interacting with Han ... ;D

skywalkersaga wrote:If you’re mainly just going to be having her as part of the Jabba display, then being able to pose her well is probably more crucial than having her be the exact right height. The height becomes more of an issue if she needs to be displayed standing next to or interacting with Han ...   ;D

True. It might be worth trying to hunt down one of the new Jiaou bodies (same body design, but better joints). But, I did have plans to do other things with the entire set up once it was done (just for fun type of stuff -- not canon to the movie) -- and it would involve a lot of different figures -- so it would be nice if she were in relative scale to what she's supposed to be.

That is totally understandable, and I too would go for more versatility and compatibility with the other figures. : )

Messed around with her a little more; think I managed to get her about as close as possible with this body to make her look, if not comfortable (who would be under those circumstances), but at the very least a little more natural. Salacious Crumb approves.

I take it that body doesn't have much of an ab crunch, or are you just trying to avoid her leaning on Jabba or supplying a non-canon extra pillow?

I do need more pillows (might have to find a hackey sack); she actually IS leaning on Jabba — but now that you say that — I might have to put something between them — no idea how those two materials will react against each other. She doesn’t have much of a side-to-side shift; even the neck is crooked over as far as it will go like she just raised her head — which is another thing making the posing difficult. Definitely need a better body, one that can swivel and tilt more from the hips to chest, like a TBL can.

Stryker2011 wrote:

I had no idea the same guy did Crumb who did the Gremlins; that would be cool to have another one of his pieces.

I didn't know that either, he must have been part of Chris Walas's crew. I could see him having a hand in the design process. Look at the shape of Crumb's head, do those ears look familiar!?

CHEERS!

Rogerbee wrote:

Stryker2011 wrote:

I had no idea the same guy did Crumb who did the Gremlins; that would be cool to have another one of his pieces.

I didn't know that either, he must have been part of Chris Walas's crew. I could see him having a hand in the design process. Look at the shape of Crumb's head, do those ears look familiar!?

CHEERS!

Yeah, that would make sense. You can generally always spot an artist’s style/signature in their work.

Stryker2011 wrote:I do need more pillows (might have to find a hackey sack); she actually IS leaning on Jabba — but now that you say that — I might have to put something between them — no idea how those two materials will react against each other. She doesn’t have much of a side-to-side shift; even the neck is crooked over as far as it will go like she just raised her head — which is another thing making the posing difficult. Definitely need a better body, one that can swivel and tilt more from the hips to chest, like a TBL can.

Yes, I would put up a little something between them -- when I customized my Hasbro Jabba (3.75" scale) I stupidly decided to secure him in place with a bit of that sticky clear stuff they use to attach credit cards to a letter. It reacted badly with Jabba's rubbery underside and was a mess to clean up and keep safe. Here you are working with different materials, but still a good idea to be cautious. As far as changing her to a TBL body, you've seen the photos from my makeshift custom.

Messing around with Leia some more, I managed to swivel her waist a bit; I've been messing with this so long, I honestly can't tell anymore if it's doing any good. Also, inspired by the 3.75" Jabba set that had a Jawa with a Palm-Leaf fan, and Asta, I had to do the same thing. Went to Michael's today and bought a bundle of fake leaves that I liked the look of, and cut it down to a manageable size. Though I have the two-pack Jawas from Sideshow, I bought this extra Hasbro one just for the purpose of holding the fan. I like how small he is, like he's a little kid Jawa; and amazingly, the "branch" fits nice and snug in his gun hand. The Hasbro figures have no articulation points at the wrists, or I would have turned his left hand to hold the branch better. I think it works okay.

Some updated photos, with additional characters; changed Leia around some more. I'm looking forward to getting started on the diorama for this guy -- but first I have to build a table for this thing. I'm going to be moving that book case to room 2 of my Man-Cave (the "Music" room), and then I'll have 7' to play with.






And with a Flash (really need to get some of those LumeCubes):

It's already looking INCREDIBLE!!! Love, love all the additions, and can't wait to see it on its custom table!

Do you mind me asking which R2-D2 that is? he looks great!

That's the Sideshow 2.0 version (I'm thinking of adding his serving tray and drinks -- even though it wasn't part of his look until the Barge scene, I think it would still look kind of cool). Still waiting on my Sideshow Luke Skywalker so I can add him with his hooded robe. Still waiting to see Sideshow put up the Guard disguise Lando, it'll be interesting to see how badly they manage Billy Dee's features, or if they'll make it so the helmet can't be removed... If HT does a Bespin Lando, I'll skip the Sideshow version.

Stryker2011 wrote:That's the Sideshow 2.0 version (I'm thinking of adding his serving tray and drinks -- even though it wasn't part of his look until the Barge scene, I think it would still look kind of cool). Still waiting on my Sideshow Luke Skywalker so I can add him with his hooded robe. Still waiting to see Sideshow put up the Guard disguise Lando, it'll be interesting to see how badly they manage Billy Dee's features, or if they'll make it so the helmet can't be removed... If HT does a Bespin Lando, I'll skip the Sideshow version.

Good to know! I still don't have an R2 in 1/6 form as most of the ones I've found are quite pricey. I was thinking of just getting an old Kenner one, but wasn't sure how to-scale it actually was. I think adding the trays would look great, though it looks awesome as it is right now, as well. : )

The Sideshow RotJ Luke looks really nice from the pics I've seen!  I already had the 40th anniversary Hot Toys one by the time they announced it though, so I couldn't justify it. :/ I also recently noticed a deluxe version of the HT RotJ Luke, which looks really awesome, but again.... I can't justify getting the whole boxed set, as I already have an RotJ Luke. I really like some of the extra headsculpts in it though, and once it is out I will be scouring ebay for any loose ones if they should ever come up. :3

And that sounds like a good plan re: Lando. You can always kitbash the guard version if need be.

Ubahn chone aleepa !
What a great set!
Does Jabba really have a tail scar in the movie? I constantly miss stuff like that. What a great detail.
I love everything about this.
I'd love to see more pics as they become available.

Thanks, Pontiacivan. You know, I honestly don't know about the scar, but it is a really cool touch. It's like an open wound on the piece -- kind of gouged out and angry looking. However, I believe it must be accurate to the character, as the wax figure of him at Madame Tussaud's has the same detail.

This is looking awesome mate. It's coming together so well. I think Leia's pose looks better in these picks, more balanced somehow.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Paul

Thanks, Brother. Coming from one of our resident Star Wars experts, that means a lot.

I think your new arrangement turned out great. The new Leia pose looks a bit more natural (as a sustained pose, anyway), and the extra characters, including the Jawas, add more depth and dynamism to the scene.

Thanks, Guv. It’s good to hear from the other SW expert. Appreciate it. I think she needs a bit more futzing, but it’s close.

Oh, look. I found a screen cap of Jabba's tail. He does have a cut on it: