The Saga Museum Blog!

I would like to thank everyone for such a positive reception at Star Wars Celebration V. It was an honor to speak with representatives from Lucas Film, Hasbro and the countless fans and supporters of The Saga Museum book project.

It was our pleasure to have a couple of our favorite Star Wars sites stop by the booth and cover The Saga Museum promotion. SirStevesGuide.com and YakFace.com were generous with their valuable time and shot some great pictures and featuring them on their websites.

http://photos.sirstevesguide.com/g6122-the-saga-museum.html/

http://www.yakface.com/?file=features/CV/sagamuseum/saga1.htm

I would like to personally thank Steve and Jason for stopping by our booth and taking time out of their busy day.

- Todd DeMartino

It was very memorable having many of the incredible costumers stop by the booth for a picture. There were so many great ones to choose from... here is my favorite.

Wampa Girl:

- Todd DeMartino

Here are the final cover designs for the slipcase, volume one and volume two. Notice the new The Saga Museum logo as well as the final picture choices for the band that wraps around all three.

Slipcase: Volume One: Volume Two: Complete Set:

- Todd DeMartino

We have been working hard with the completion of 19 out of 20 chapters and we are putting the final touches on Chapter 1 - About the Book/About the Author. The lengthy editing and re-writing stage is in full swing while the final page count came in at 1100 pages instead of the original 600-700 page estimate. We have enhanced the look of the two book covers with slipcase along with improving on The Saga Museum logo.

We are pleased to announce that we will have a booth display at Celebration 5 to showcase the size and quality of the project. On hand will be a book mock-up and a 37" monitor projecting a 500 page slide show. We are looking forward to meeting with all of the fans and supporters.

I, with Steve Bruno the photographer, Jeff Correll the designer and Bill Wills the editor will all be on hand to meet with everyone to answer questions about the development of this 15 pound comprehensive photographic guide. Please make sure you stop by the booth and pick up a high quality 8-page brochure while supplies last.

Additionally, I am honored to join Steve Sansweet, Gus Lopez, Duncan Jenkins, Shane Turgeon, Anne Neumann and Pete Vilmur for the Star Wars Collectors Author Panel. Mark it on your survival guide schedules so you can acquire a free box of "Greedos" with a certain little book shown on the back. Also, the 16 different collectors panels are not to be missed so attend them all!

We look forward to seeing everyone at C5 in a few weeks so please make sure you stop by booth #107 and say hi.

- Todd DeMartino

We have added our 20^th chapter with the separation of the Kenner/Hasbro coins from the action figures chapter. The action figures section was just too massive with almost 500 pages to do these little coins justice so I gave them a well deserved chapter of their very own.

“Chapter 10 - Collector Coins” will have everything Kenner with the original vintage 1984 - 1985 silver Power of the Force, bronze Ewoks and gold Droids coins and even the modern 1997 silver Power of the Force 2 millennium minted coins.

 

Hasbro will contribute with their throwback to the originals showcasing the 30^th Anniversary silver, gold and black coins.

 

You will also see the Vintage individual mailer envelopes, 62 coins set mailer and executive 124 double framed set as well as the Modern coin album, Toy Fair promotion, mail away promotion and convention exclusives.

This chapter has a lot to offer with almost 200 coins shown just a bit under their original 1:1 size. Sorry prototype collectors, no UDE coins.      

-          Todd DeMartino

We ordered a Page Proof from our printer, Palace Press International http://palacepress.com/. This is very exciting because it means we're getting close… well, closer!  The proof is comprised of four of our most challenging 9 ½” X 12” pages to print for this project. The goal is to make sure the photographer and designer have everything just right, so we chose pages showing Baggie Figures (transparent), Plush (fur - die Ewoks, die!), Action Figures (details through plastic bubbles) and introductory text over pastel colors.

This proof will be 27” X 40” and will contain all four page samples. This will take about a month to get back from Hong Kong and will be the exact same size as a modern Movie Theater One-Sheet Poster. I will be sure to post a picture in this blog once we receive it from the printers.

Palace Press is no stranger to high quality Star Wars books, including the following two fantastic Self-Published books:

John Kellerman’s Star Wars Vintage Action Figures (now a collector’s item of its own)                             http://www.frontbackbooks.com/

Shane Turgeon’s The Force in the Flesh - (the one and only Star Wars tatoo book)         http://www.theforceintheflesh.com/index.php

Additionally, Palace Press has done many licensed Star Wars Lucas Film books including:

Dressing the Galaxy        http://insighteditions.com/product_info.php?cPath=18&products_id=96

Sculpting the Galaxy - (my favorite $400 book) http://insighteditions.com/popup_image.php?pID=97&image=0

The Art and Making of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed http://insighteditions.com/product_info.php?cPath=18&products_id=72

Since I am self-publishing this book with DeMartino Publishing, LLC (I know, how original), I spent many years researching and interviewing printing companies and found that Palace Press produced the extremely high level of standards this “discerning” publisher was looking for.

-          Todd DeMartino

We all know that the Kenner and Hasbro Star Wars line generated plenty of packaging variations to keep OCD “completist” collectors like myself extremely busy over the years. From major and minor variations to unproduced packaging variations... it is all here!

Some variations were very exciting to uncover, especially those that had never been documented.  Others took some major perseverance to track down, while others would wreak havoc on my bank account once I was lucky enough to find one for my collection.

Here is a sample page spread from Chapter 7 - Vehicles. This 2-page sample (out of 11) documents all known variations of Star Wars Kenner Mini-Rigs.  3-backs, 5-backs, Special Offers and Rebates:  it covers every release from The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi and The Power of the Force.

In The Saga Museum book, there are a total of 38 production mini-rigs with 14 unproduced (Revenge of the Jedi & alternate artwork) Mini-Rigs, for a total of 52 in the Vintage Star Wars line alone.  Some of these variations are quite rare with only a handful (3-5) currently known to exist.

 

Adding variations to my collection always gave me a sense of accomplishment...well, not always. Sometimes I did it to add to the hobby and document an unknown item, while other times I did it out of pure and utter boredom. 

Whatever the reason, at the end of the day, it was all about the thrill of the hunt.

-          Todd DeMartino

I thought it was very important to show in great detail any special contents other than the normal toy, inserts, instructions and product booklets. Most of the items in this book are mint in sealed box but I was still able to pull off showing you all of the special contents by purchasing many of these items separately over the years.

 

Many collectors have asked: “How is this item different than a regular version?” or “What is special about this item?” This book will answer those questions by showing all of the details of the variations next to the item.

 

Below is a sample page spread of Chapter 8 – Playsets. This page gives you examples of the special contents for the Cantina Adventure Set and the Action Figure Display Stand.

 

 

The Cantina Adventure Set shows close up details of the 4 baggie figures and their boxes. Please take notice of the Snaggletooth action figures… the Blue Snaggletooth comes in the exclusive black text box while the Red Snaggletooth comes in the exclusive red text box.

 

 

 

The mail away premium Action Figure Display Stand and the photo box Action Figure Display Stand both came with exclusive sticker sheets. The mail away variation came with a long sticker strip that names the first 12 characters. The photo box variation came with a rectangular sticker sheet that names the first 21 characters.

 

 

 

Other examples of detailed contents are found in the Early Bird Envelope, all Special Offer items with Baggie Figures, Carded Figures and Backdrops, all four 3-Pack Backdrops, $1.00 and $3.00 Rebate Offers, Jawa/Sandperson/Stormtrooper Cash Refund Flyers, Imperial Troop Transport Comic, Yoda Backpacks and AT-AT Survival Kits, exclusive Sticker Sheets, etc, etc, etc…

 

I hope this gives everyone a good idea of the type of detail that is going into this book project while still maintaining the Mint in Box standard.

 

-          Todd DeMartino