Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Licence to Whill - Looey's Obscure Star Wars Reference

I'll never know why George Lucas called his early draft of Star Wars "Journal of the Whills" and I guess this far on, it really doesn't matter...

So here I am in a nice little hotel in Asacusabashi Tokyo. The railway station has a big poster for a local business called Yoshitoku Dolls that makes traditionally crafted Japanese dolls.

That is, until they got a License from Lucasfilm to make traditionally Japanese themed Star Wars dolls.

Here's our favourite Sith Lord with a heavy dose of Bushido styling...

Sadly the top of the range version, with a silk painted background view of Mustafar, is already sold out.

And with a price tag north of Au$ 3,400 each, they must have made someone a nice little packet!

" I find your lack of availability disturbing..."

Looey
Oz Base in Japan

7 comments:

  1. where theres a Whill, theres a way. they are sublime, especially the stormtrooper one! Bill

    ReplyDelete
  2. Paul Adams from New Zealand5/14/2025 6:31 pm

    Those prices certainly are impressive. And a shock to the system.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Darth Vader was basically a samurai wasn't he.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am always surprised (and somewhat depressed) at how much Japan charges for their aftermarket cultfilm items. I guess its what the market will bear. Those lovely vinyl monsters, for instance, called Sofubi, were originally sold for about a dollar in the 1960s, then they crept up to about $10 throughout the early 2000s, and I saw a Marusan ad on Facebook a couple of years ago for a new release of an old Ultraman monster - $99 please! Seems greedy? SFZ

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lewis Morley5/15/2025 11:01 pm

      I know what you mean, Anonymous/SFZ (It's Zig, isn't it? Google Blogger has really messed up their login procedure recently!)

      I just visited Maderake Coo Coo, the boutique Sofubi (Soft vinyl figures) shop.
      "Our prices are even more stupid than your desires..."

      I took pictures, but I'm not sure if they fit in to the Moonbase Mission statement. (Woodsy?)

      Delete