Bandai’s Mandalorian Samurai Warrior
Comments Off on Bandai’s Mandalorian Samurai WarriorBandai’s Mandalorian Samurai Warrior
If you have seen season two of The Mandalorian you may have noticed that Chapter 13 felt very much like a Samurai film. There may be something in the aesthetic of the Mandalorians that pays homage to Samurai film traditions.
With this in mind, Bandai has just announced that they have just opened pre-orders for the latest addition to their Meisho Movie Realization action figure line. The line seeks to transform characters from the Star Wars Galaxy into feudal-era Japanese warriors.
Previously, they have reimagined Boba Fett, Darth Vader, Kylo Renn, and even C-3PO among others.
Their latest offering is a Samurai warrior version of Din Djarin’s armor from the first two chapters of the series.
According to StarWars.com (original article can be found here.), the two designers, Julian Oreska and Takayuki Takeya, tried to walk a fine line between the Meisho style of armor while keeping the character recognizable. For the helmet, arguably the most recognizable piece of Mandalorian armor, they wanted to keep the iconic look and so decided to use a specific helmet style from Japanese history.
“There was a highly independent fighting group known as the Saikashu,” Takeya told Starwars.com, “who wore a very distinctly shaped helmet called kabuto. In the Star Wars universe, I felt the Mandalorians were a similar fighting group, so, from the start… I thought it would work well to make the Mandalorian character’s helmets in the style of the Saikashu.” The effect is just a beautiful piece of work.
While the latest offering does not include The Child “Grogu,” the designers do say that our favorite little green padawan will appear in future offerings.
The action figure stands 6.7 inches and is made from ABS & PVC with a cape made from cloth.
Pre-orders began in October and will run through the end of February. It is expected to ship in March.
BOBA IS BACK!!!
Comments Off on BOBA IS BACK!!!Boba is Back!
If you waited through the ending credits of the season 2 finale of The Mandalorian, you might have noticed a fun little scene that announced that The Book of Boba Fett is coming to Disney+ right around Christmas of 2021.
I have to admit that, and it appears that I wasn’t alone, I wondered if Boba Fett’s story would be taking over for Din Djarin in season 3 of The Mandalorian. Thankfully, I was wrong. As it turns out, according to StarWars.com, The Book of Boba Fett will be its own series.
That’s twice the Mandalorian goodness from Lucasfilm and we only have to wait a year!
As you probably know, the part of Boba is being portrayed by New Zealand actor Temuera Morrison who played the role of Jango Fett, (Boba’s clone Dad) in the prequel films.
I first saw Temuera in the mid 90’s while taking a film class in college. He was cast in a New Zealand produced film called We Were Warriors in which he played a violently abusive husband known simply as “The Muss.” He did a convincing and very memorable job in the part, so, when he showed up in Attack of the Clones a few years later, I was already primed to know that his particular Mandalorian clad bounty hunter was no one to be messed with. Maybe that’s just me projecting one character onto another, but his performance in We Were Warriors left an impression on me.
Tamuera was born on the 26th of December 1960, on the North Island of New Zealand. He began his acting career in 1973’s Rangi’s Catch but didn’t really gain any attention until his role as The Muss in We Were Warriors.
Since then, he has had parts in such films as 1997’s Speed 2: Cruise Control and The Beautiful Country from 2004, but it was his portrayal of Jango Fett in Star Wars Episode 2: Attack of the Clones (2002) for which we know him best.
In this film, Temuera played the bounty hunter Jango Fett, who was known to wear Mandalorian armor even though his association with the creed, at the time, was somewhat in question. When not engaged in his primary profession, Jango spent his time among the cloners of Kamino lending his genetic material to the grand army of the republic for a considerable sum of credits and a cloned “son” that he had named Boba. Because of his character’s time among the cloners, Temuera was not only able to portray Jango, but also voiced all of the clones who spoke in Attack of the Clones and in the following one, 2005’s Star Wars Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith. He went on to replace all of Boba Fett’s lines for the re-release of Star Wars Episode 5: The Empire Strikes Back (1980), originally voiced by American actor Jason Wingreen.
Throughout the years since Attack of the Clones, Temuera has been called upon to provide the voices for Jango Fett, Boba Fett, and for various clones in numerous video games including Star Wars: Bounty Hunter (2002), Lego Star Wars (2005), and several of the Battlefront Games. You could say that he knows these characters very well.
So when he was able to kit up in his mandalorian armor once again for The Mandalorian, he said in a StarWars.com interview, “There were moments when I put the armor on and I was looking at [executive producers] Dave [Filoni] and Jon [Favreau], and the expression on their faces just said it all,” he told StarWars.com, “It felt good. It felt right. It felt like, ‘Yes, I should be wearing this costume.’ And it gave me this sense of, ‘I’m back.’” (Full article available: Here)
Being members of a club that is, pretty much, based on Boba Fett, I think that we can all agree that we’re mighty happy that he’s back as well.
Temuera Morrison was admitted into the MMCC as an Honorary Member on September 2, 2011.
Thank you Jeremy!
Comments Off on Thank you Jeremy!Sad news came to us this week. Jeremy Bulloch, the actor who portrayed Boba Fett in the 1980 film Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, has passed away on Thursday, December 17, 2020 he was 75.
Jeremy was born on 16 February, 1945 in Market Harborough, Leicestershire, England. He began acting at the age of 10 and later went on to be trained at the Corona Stage Academy.
While he appeared in dozens of movies and television shows including a couple of episodes of Doctor Who, it was his portrayal of the Mandalorian armored bounty hunter, Boba Fett that he is most known for, despite his limited screen time.
How that came about was a bit of good luck for him. Jeremy’s half brother, Robert Watts, was working as an associate producer on Empire Strikes Back, and was tasked with finding an actor who would fit the Boba Fett costume. Robert called up his half brother Jeremy, who, at the time was working on the British television show Agony.
Jeremy then met with Tiny Nicholls, the wardrobe supervisor for ESB and after 20 minutes of dressing, found that he was a good fit.
Being a versatile actor, Jeremy also played the imperial officer (Lieutenant Sheckil) who grabs Leia when she tries to warn Luke Skywalker about Vader’s trap. His only non-masked appearance in the original trilogy.
He reprised his role of Boba Fett in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, where he was disappointed about the character’s believed demise in the sarlacc pit. Jeremy said that he would have liked to explore the character more.
About the character, Jeremy once said that portraying Fett was the most uncomfortable of his career and that “the jet pack was very heavy.” Jeremy has said that the inspiration for how Boba Fett moved came from Clint Eastwood in A Man with No Name and A Fistfull of Dollars. His slow movement, his stance, even how he held his blaster was pure Eastwood.
Jeremy was very devoted to and appreciative of his fans. He enjoyed attending conventions and according to Wikipedia, he was actually an official member of the 501st Legion and trooped as Boba Fett.
Jeremy was inducted into the Mandalorian Mercs as an Honorary Member on 30 November, 2008 by the Vok’chi Clan.
For all of the joy and inspiration that Jeremy has given those of us who have chosen to walk the way of the Mandalore, we thank you.