Legendary Collectors Defend Their Rarest Vader Memorabilia — The Saga Vault

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Tonight on the SAGA Vault, Darth Vader, the silhouette, the icon that turned a fairy tale into a nightmare. But here's what's wild, Vader isn't just a character, he's a product, and sometimes a pair of fuzzy slippers. Four collectors, four items, one slot. Let's open the SAGA Vault. Welcome to the SAGA Vault, where the world's most passionate Star Wars collectors bring their most cherished artifacts to our table. Today's subject, Darth Vader, everyone's favorite Lord of the Sith, also known as Little Annie, the ultimate bad guy who's not afraid to mix Nazi helmets with biker leather. Let's meet today's panel. Duncan Jenkins, one of the nicest guys in Star Wars collecting, and first runner-up in the Howard Hughes look-alike contest. [00:01:05] Duncan Jenkins: It was an honor just to be nominated, really. That's right. All right. Next, we have Mr. [00:01:10] Speaker 1: Gus Lopez, Seattle's preeminent Star Wars collector, who has earned hundreds of running medals all from eBay. Thank you. And Lisa Stevens, a passionate Star Wars collector who's imprisoned the original Yoda in a windowless room never to see the light of Dagobah again. And finally, the maestro, Steve Sansui. The only panelist here to be immortalized with his own officially unofficial action figure that sits in a place of honor in his own museum. They're carefully locked up so nobody tries to sell me on eBay. All right. Let's get started. Steve, you've got the first piece to present. Okay. Look at what we have here. We've got Darth Vader who looks like C-3PO. Strange thing, that. It is. Tell us about your piece. [00:02:07] Gus Lopez: So this is a Darth Vader action figure carrying case or storage case. But of course, the ones that we all had were made of black plastic. Like the one I had, yeah. So I found this at a toy show in the late 80s and wondered what the heck it was. What's that from? Why was that made? The Kenner people did a packaging test for the upcoming C-3PO gold vacuum metalized carrying case. And so they made 200 of these. When I did my first book, we were puzzled about what we would put on the cover. And my partner, Bob suggested the Darth Vader gold action figure case. And so we suggested that to Chronicle Books. And their designers came up with this. And it was so evocative that they didn't need to put the title on the cover. Either that or the title was so long that they figured we can't even fit it on the cover. It's really the book that got me the reputation of being the godfather of Star Wars collecting because it turned a lot of people on to what was available to collect back in the early 90s. [00:03:17] Speaker 1: I mean, this is the exact same mold that the black version was, right? [00:03:22] Gus Lopez: It is the black version, vacuum metalized. [00:03:25] Duncan Jenkins: And is the interior gold as well? [00:03:27] Gus Lopez: Yes. Gold, but you can see the black much easier. I think it's a very unusual piece. It's one of a kind or 200 of a kind, I guess, but maybe there are a dozen or so that exist. And it sort of takes you behind the scenes. And that's what I love collecting is behind the scenes items. [00:03:43] Speaker 1: So this would have been manufactured and sent out when? [00:03:46] Gus Lopez: They were probably doing the tests on this in '83 or '84 because '84 is when the C-3PO case came out. [00:03:53] Duncan Jenkins: The thing I really like about it is that it's instantly recognizable to everybody that had those Kinder toys growing up, but at the same time you do the double-take because it's completely different than what you're expecting. [00:04:08] Speaker 1: I'm looking forward to seeing if Lisa has something we can actually put inside this. We have a Star Wars Darth Vader original action figure. [00:04:20] Lisa Stevens: It's more than just a little original action figure. So this is what they call a double-telescoping lightsaber action figure. I heard rumors about that. So when Kenner was first looking at making the action figures that had lightsabers, they came up with a mechanism where the first part would pull out and then there was a thin second part that would come out. And it would make a nice long lightsaber. Unfortunately, that was really brittle and it broke a lot. So they made a single push out that had a little tip. This particular piece was created for Toy Fair in 1978. So Toy Fair, this is the retailer's first chance to the New York Toy Fair to actually see the action figures. Right. And they actually took a proof card and hand put the bubble on the card to replicate what they'd find in stores. Right. And so there was a Luke Skywalker, a Darth Vader, and an Obi-Wan Kenobi with double-telescoping lightsabers that were at Toy Fair. And I managed to get all three of them. Pretty darn neat. It's in great condition. I think it has lots of things going forward. First of all, instantly recognizable. Darth Vader. And then you get the little story about Toy Fair and being the first time this would be, you know, presented to the public. And then as you get kind of geekier about it, you know, the double-telescoping lightsaber and, you know, those never got released except in prototype. Right. And then, of course, the whole card itself is a prototype because it was hand put together, Pat Kenner. [00:05:51] Gus Lopez: There are more Luke figures out there because Luke in the very first maybe 1,000, 2,000 early bird kits were the double-telescoping lightsabers. [00:06:01] Speaker 1: Right. But Vader and Obi-Wan, do you think how many of those were made? Very few. Very few. [00:06:05] Duncan Jenkins: Very few. Do any of you have the same Vader? I have one that's off of the card, but I don't have one carded version at all. It's extremely rare. Yeah, it's very rare. [00:06:14] Lisa Stevens: I actually do have a loose one, too. You should have made for Robert. [00:06:17] Gus Lopez: You couldn't touch these things for under four or five figures these days. [00:06:23] Speaker 1: Wow. You've hit the subject matter of Darth Vader very, very well. It's going to be a hard one to beat. We'll have to see what Gus has. We'll not be able to see it just yet. I dig this piece a lot. Yeah, it's quite amazing. [00:06:38] Speaker 5: This is the artwork for a patch that was designed by Ralph McQuarrie. The patch was originally a crew patch, so it was on the parkas they used in Norway. So Ralph McQuarrie did the concept art for Star Wars. It really helped sell Star Wars to 20th Century Fox. But then Ralph McQuarrie went on to do a lot of other art for Star Wars. He did matte paintings. He worked on cast and crew items, holiday cards, a lot of the art for Star Wars. And so I just love the piece because it's just this kind of beautiful specced piece of original art from Ralph McQuarrie. Which is very hard to acquire. [00:07:11] Speaker 1: Very hard to acquire. [00:07:12] Speaker 5: It's generally in few collections. And color pieces from McQuarrie are rare. They are. It's usually like black and white pencil sketches in the case you do find some McQuarrie stuff. So a color McQuarrie piece is always wonderful. So what I did is I put it next to one of the patches. [00:07:26] Speaker 1: Is that a patch from a production? [00:07:28] Speaker 5: That is a crew patch. That's a crew patch. [00:07:30] Gus Lopez: Was this art used to make the patch given to the patch makers? [00:07:33] Speaker 5: Yes, that's right. This is sort of the detailed spec piece for the patch. But this is an early version of the patch. And some of you will know, note on the artwork that there's a blue halo above Vader's helmet. You see the original specs for the patch that McQuarrie had was this blue halo. And so this version of the patch is the blue halo version of the patch. So the crew patch is exceptionally rare. But this one's even tougher. The rare of the rare. The rare of the rare. These didn't even make it onto the crew outfits. But it does match the artwork better. [00:08:04] Speaker 1: How did you acquire this piece? [00:08:06] Speaker 5: This came up for auction. But it sat in a very well-known collection. [00:08:11] Speaker 1: How often did he do these non-on-screen artworks? Because this is just crew stuff. [00:08:18] Speaker 5: Yeah. I mean, the early years, I think almost every crew item Ralph McQuarrie had a hand in. So he was involved in all that stuff. He didn't do all the holiday cards, but he did a lot of them. So he worked full-time for Lucas? He was working full-time during those years. So that's the kind of thing I love, tracking down that stuff. But, you know, McQuarrie's stuff is wonderful. I mean, I love the concept pieces he did as well. And I have a couple of those. I have several of the Norway parkas as well that have that patch. [00:08:43] Speaker 1: Several. Several. Several. Not only is this an important piece of Star Wars history, but there's personal connection to you as well. So Duncan... It's beautiful. Yeah, it is beautiful. What do you got? These are so darn cute for something so evil. [00:09:02] Duncan Jenkins: So these are some fuzzy slippers. Yes. With Darth Vader heads right on the top. I love the juxtaposition of the evil Sith Lord turned into fuzzy little slippers. Yeah, they're cute. It just points to that irony and the ubiquitousness of the license and Star Wars being merchandised in so many ways. You know, and this is really one of the earliest pieces of clothing from the late 70s. What was the manufacturer? That's an interesting question. This is one of the big unknowns. Really? I don't know. [00:09:39] Speaker 1: You don't know? Uh huh. Are Star Wars savants? Merchandise savants? [00:09:43] Duncan Jenkins: That's right. They did a series of three different ones. There's C-3PO and Chewbacca and Darth Vader. All with heads like that? All with the heads like that. Are these from the U.S., do you think? They are from the U.S. And are these the ones from your childhood? Those are my, yes, exactly. I kept them in really good shape. You were very careful with the height of that age. Exactly. Even at that age, I just wanted to keep them in perfect shape. [00:10:05] Speaker 1: This totally seems like something that would get used and thrown away. And the fact that something like this exists in such good condition years later is quite impressive. Thank you. Well, I think, you know, this is going to be a tough decision to make because there's some really great pieces of all different levels. Let's dive into the debate. We have four very different pieces. We have a piece of artwork from Ralph McQuarrie, a set of slippers from an unknown manufacturer, a prototype case of Darth Vader in C-3PO colors, and we have a multi-telescoping Darth Vader figure from Kenner. [00:10:50] Speaker ?: We have two different pieces of artwork. [00:10:52] Speaker 1: What are your thoughts? [00:10:54] Gus Lopez: Well, I like my piece because it shows the production behind objects that were some of our childhood favorites. Right. And it shows a very unusual aspect of the manufacturing of products. [00:11:08] Speaker 5: The concept of screen and collectible, you know, coming up on 35 years, I mean, it's such a -- it was a monumental book for collectors who grew up as kids with Star Wars because it was like, wow, the recognition of collecting as this serious hobby. [00:11:23] Speaker 1: Are we voting towards a merchandise perspective connected to Darth Vader, or are we connected to what evokes Darth Vader the most? [00:11:30] Speaker 5: What's interesting in yours is that it's really trying to take Darth Vader's head and then put it on a product. The merchandising of Darth Vader is really apparent in your case. [00:11:40] Lisa Stevens: You know, when I think of the museum, what's most likely to be the piece that's going to resonate? If you put it in front of a person and they go, oh, yeah. [00:11:47] Speaker 5: Well, certainly in your case, the piece, the action figures, a lot of people collected them. There's a huge nostalgic thing because that was what was king in the merchandise. When I think about your piece also, I mean, it's a great and exceptionally rare -- as a collector, it's one of the most coveted -- it is also esoteric. [00:12:05] Lisa Stevens: I think it works on different levels of complexity. And at the top level, it's a Darth Vader action figure, you know, and a beautiful card with, like, iconic imagery, and then people remember having action figures. The people who want to be geeky, they can get geeky and be wowed by its rarity. [00:12:21] Speaker 1: When it comes to the subject matter of Darth Vader, if it was just a regular action figure, okay, but since it's so unique, it kind of puts it over the top. That does feel like something that embodies the category that we're looking at. [00:12:36] Duncan Jenkins: Yeah. Initially, Vader was not that central to Star Wars merchandising and things like that. [00:12:45] Gus Lopez: By 2012, when we did the Ultimate Action Figure Guide, even though Vader has one costume that he wears in the original trilogy, that was the most produced character of all of the action figures. [00:12:59] Speaker 1: There were 90-some variations on Vader. We've thrown out some ideas of what works and what doesn't, certainly for me, but it doesn't mean that's what the vote's going to be, so let's vote. Let's vote. [00:13:09] Speaker ?: That's all right. All right. [00:13:09] Speaker 1: Steve. [00:13:10] Speaker ?: All right. Steve. what's your point? All right. Steve. What's your point? Steve. what's your vote and why? I can't pass up the Vader in flames. The art itself is just pretty good. All right. Steve. What's your point? I can't pass up the Vader in flames. The art itself is just beautiful, but I love Macquarie. I've met Macquarie. I've spent time with Macquarie. I've spent time with Macquarie. And I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. The art itself is just beautiful, but I love Macquarie. I've met Macquarie. I've spent time with Macquarie. I've spent time with Macquarie. [00:13:27] Speaker 1: And I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:13:42] Gus Lopez: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:13:53] Speaker ?: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:13:54] Lisa Stevens: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:14:04] Speaker 5: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:14:11] Speaker 1: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. I can't pass up the Vader in flames. [00:14:15] Duncan Jenkins: I can't pass up the Vader in flames. Well, for all the reasons that have already been mentioned, I definitely went Macquarie. It's just so beautiful. And I love the patch. I love the artwork. [00:14:27] Speaker ?: Yep. [00:14:28] Speaker 1: All right. Well, my choice is the double telescoping Vader. As much as I love Gus's piece, I think for the museum, a piece like that, if you're going to have one Darth Vader figure, that's the one to have. Can't argue with that. Yeah. Yeah. So for now, we've got three for Gus's piece, two for Lisa's piece. We still have potential for Steve and Duncan based on the audience vote. So you've got a week to vote. Go out there, vote based on the QR code you're going to see. Gold Vader case. And on that note, thanks, everybody, for hanging out with us. And this was a lot of fun. I enjoyed it. All right. Good one. All right. [00:15:16] Speaker ?: Bye, everyone.