Gentle Giant Ltd. will be bringing Ralph McQuarrie's art to life with its newest Darth Vader figure. An exclusive release, the oversized figure will have limited stock and a unique design.
The latest Gentle Giant Jumbo Figure will stand 12 inches tall and is inspired by some of the earliest pieces of Star Wars content: the original Ralph McQuarrie concept designs for A New Hope. The figure will have an all-new head sculpt, modeled after Vader's early appearance fighting Deak Starkiller, the character that would become Luke Skywalker. It will also feature a blue-and-black paint scheme, rather than the usual black and grey. The toy includes a vinyl cape and a retractable white lightsaber. According to the Gentle Giant website, the figure will come packaged in a "resealable, retro-style blister card, so you can hang him on your wall or take him out and play with him!" The toy was designed by Eamon O'Donoghue and retails for $80.00 USD. It is available now for pre-order.
Darth Vader's costume went through several iterations before reaching the big screen. After it became clear that the character would need an apparatus to breathe in the vacuum of space — as necessitated by several scrapped set pieces — Ralph McQuarrie set out to design a pressurized helmet. George Lucas expressed that Vader needed to have a Samurai influence in his design, which lead to a bug-like appearance with dilated eyes and carved cheeks. This would later be refined to better reflect Vader's cyborg elements and developing backstory before the design was finalized.
The Star Wars: Rebels animated series featured Vader sporting an appearance similar to the original designs. Funko also released a line of Pop! collectibles based on the McQuarrie art in the summer of last year.
Source: Gentle Giant Ltd.
0 Comments