Without a doubt, the craftsmanship of the 16 Star Wars products shown was beautifully detailed, and they all looked gorgeous, especially the armoured characters like Darth Vader and Boba Fett. This was due to the metallic nature and look for pewter, of course.
Red Dot Diva had a little chat with Royal Selangor's Training Executive Vance Khaw about the Star Wars collection, which consisted of iconic characters and emblems from Episode IV, V and VI.
Vance mentioned that these items are part of an initial release, and there will be add ons later on. (In fact, Red Dot Diva noticed that there was a still-in-progress sample of Captain Phasma standing in a small nook to give a visual tease on the next phase of items. Unfortunately, guests were not allowed to take any photos of it at all.)
He also asked Red Dot Diva what her favourite character was, and she said that it did not seem to be available at all. With that reply, Vance guessed correctly, that her favourite was R2-D2, and there has been feedback on the lack of R2-D2-ness, but who knows? The fan-favourite astromech droid might be included in the next phase. YES, PLEASE.
Vance also confessed that his favourite is the Boba Fett figurine, because the armour was made to look battle-worn with carefully sculpted dents, each of which was crucial and specific to the look of the character from the movies.
Red Dot Diva learned a couple of interesting background information from Vance about the creation of this Star Wars line. He said that it took nearly 2 years from brainstorming on what designs to do, to conceptualization, design and sculpting, of which, these were then sent to Disney for their approval. During this time, there was a lot of feedback from Disney concerning the details and look of the characters and so the sculpts went to and fro, until the company had the final nod of approval from Disney.
There had also been a deliberation on whether to have the figurines coloured or not, and after some discussion, it was decided to leave the sculptures plain in their "natural" pewter colour. Red Dot Diva thought that was a great choice because they looked less like expensive action figures, and more like classy collectors items, meant to be shown off.
For an idea on the work that went into the making of the product line, check out this link on Royal Selangor's website, and this video from Star Online.
Four of the sculptures available on sale are limited editions:
- Darth Vader (SGD 450)
Red Dot Diva thought this particular figurine was the most majestic in pewter form.
- Han Solo (SGD 450)
- Princess Leia in slave costume (SGD 450)
For those is in the know about the merchandising/ licensing rumour, this might be an "extinct" form soon, so if you are a hardcore collector and love pewter, grab this one quick!
- Luke vs Rancor Diorama (SGD1,350)
There were also the stormtrooper, Boba Fett and Yoda, the mugs from the both sides of the Force, cufflinks... and this bowl which is obviously from the Dark Side:
And cute little 16GB flashdrives, priced at SGD 100 each!
Red Dot Diva would have loved to own a Millennium Falcon one. If only she had a deep pocket!
The Royal Selangor Star Wars collection is available for sale at their pop-up store located at Suntec City (West Wing, near H&M and Uniqlo) from now till 22 November. So, if you are hardcore Star Wars fan who wants to put a finely-crafted pewter figurine on display, or simply love beautiful shiny things from a galaxy far far away, head there to nab an item for your personal collection.
Also, do not miss the life-sized display of frozen Han Solo in carbonite at the store. Take a photo with him, upload the photo on Facebook or Instagram and add the hash tag #RoyalSelangorxStarWars and #SuntecCity. 5 set of Star Wars gift sets consisting of Stormtrooper figurine, C-3P0 mug and Galatic Empire cufflinks are up for grabs.
So what are you waiting for?
Hi from Canada, I was looking for info on the Royal Selangor Star Wars set and have gone to 15-20 sites across the net. Just wanted to say yours was the most entertaining and some of the best images of the new set, specially the Luke vs. Rancor, which I'm trying to talk myself into purchasing but it's just too expensive. (I did find a great price on Fett so I have at least 1 from their series) so what's the gossip on Leia in slave costume?? No more slave costumes cause it's not "Disney" enough?
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say I enjoyed your writing, I must have made it to around May, reading past articles, Bravo! And thank you for all the great info and opinion!
Charles
Wow, thanks for the compliments.
DeleteThey are really beautiful pieces but very pricey indeed!
About the Leia in slave costume, yeah.. so that's what's been going around and seemingly, the Royal Selangor people have gotten wind of that piece of news too.
Although, whether it's true or not, no one really knows yet??? Diva sees two different stories about this, but it seems like what a very "PC" Disney would decide to do.