| Tooling Master Hardcopy for Gamorrean Guard Action Figure | |
| The Gamorrean Guard was the first figure from The Return of the Jedi that I can recall seeing. A friend of mine brought it to school. What an introduction to the movie (which I hadn't yet seen)! The figure looked like nothing else in the Kenner line -- it was massive and had elements (notably the face and legs) that were tucked into the figure's core in ways that were novel and almost naturalistic. I immediately wanted one.
The unusual engineering of the figure is evident when looking at the above hardcopy prototype. Because the face was sculpted as a separate element, its finished plastic form intended to be welded into the opened torso, its hardcopy incarnation does not integrate with the rest of the figure. The small pock marks visible at the back of the helmet part of the torso reflect the unifinished appearance of the original wax sculpt. Because that part of the figure would be covered by the face and thus not seen, the sculptor didn't bother to smooth it out. This item was part of a substantial find of hardcopies representing the 65-back-wave figures. Believed to have been intended for use in the creation of tooling (i.e., the molds used for mass production), they are what prototype collectors refer to as tooling masters. As such, they are all complete and immaculately finished. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Ron Salvatore |
| From the collection of: | Ron Salvatore |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Return of the Jedi |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Action Figure Related |