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1985 figs
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<blockquote data-quote="Snaketibe" data-source="post: 434206" data-attributes="member: 7379"><p>Welcome to the forum.</p><p></p><p>As for the original question, this thread may be old, but it's still an interesting topic. As I understand it (and as Carrie Fisher made plain many times down the years in interviews), the principle Star Wars cast members signed away their likeness rights as part of their original Star Wars contracts. Bear in mind that at the time, film merchandising in general, and toys in particular were deemed to be a relatively worthless commodity, which is why when George Lucas went back to Twentieth Century Fox during production of Star Wars and asked for a larger director's fee, they appeased him with the merchandising rights for Star Wars! :-D</p><p></p><p>With their likeness rights effectively in Lucasfilm's hands, all the main cast members of the original Star Wars could then have figures made of them without being able to object, or (I believe) receive any royalties / residuals. Lucas on the other hand.... $$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carrie Fisher used to point at her own face in interviews and say, 'You see this?... I don't own this. Every time I look in the mirror, I have to pay George five cents'.</p><p></p><p>Having learned their lesson from the fortune the merchandising made them from the first film, from Empire onwards Lucasfilm ensured all cast members, big or small, had to sign away their likeness rights as part of their Star Wars contracts. However, in order for Hasbro to revisit those characters from A New Hope that had not signed away their likeness rights at the time (presumably because no one in their right mind could ever have foreseen anyone ever wanting to try to make money from them <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />), such as the actor who played the cantina bartender Wuher, individual contracts / agreements were reached with the actors and actresses. And of course, most of them happily agreed as it was basically free money for them. However, the actresses that played the Tonnika Sisters refused to sign (a rumour for the reason being possibly because they felt Lucasfilm were not being particularly generous with their share of the financial pie, but this part may not be accurate), and for that reason we still have no modern line versions of them to this day. The legal situation may have become ever murkier as one of the actresses has since died, but Hasbro has previously made it plain that they know the fans want the Tonnika Sisters made into figures, but for now they are off limits.</p><p></p><p>I mention all this because it's entirely possible that Kenner / Lucasfilm regarded Grand Moff Tarkin, whilst a major character in the film and one played by a very distinguished and famous actor, as not being an especially appealing one to kids (if they did think this btw, even as a kid myself I disagreed and wanted that figure to be made... but then I'd have bought third Imperial grunt from the left, if they'd made him into a figure back then!). And if Kenner / Lucasfilm did consider Tarkin in this way, it's doubtful he was among those actors whose likeness rights were signed away back in 1976/7. And so once the figures started to appear and exploded in popularity, a decision would have to be made by Kenner / Lucasfilm regarding Tarkin; 1) not bother making a figure of a character whom they would probably still deem to be not as popular as many others they could make, and this would likely seem even more true in 1985 since the character had not appeared in a Star Wars film for eight years by that time, and instead make other, more kid-friendly (i.e. saleable) figures instead, or 2) Approach Peter Cushing and pay him money to use his likeness. With option 1 Kenner / Lucasfilm can make any number of figures without having to pay extra residuals, but with option 2 they have to pay extra cash to make a figure they probably deem would be a poor seller... The choice for Kenner probably seemed obvious... EXCEPT, as has been pointed out, they made the Imperial Dignitary, and whilst the likeness rights would not have been as issue for that character, as has also been stated, that particular figure was never going to fly off the toy shelves, so Kenner's figure choices remain rather difficult to understand.</p><p></p><p>I certainly agree that making Luke Stormtrooper (once they decided it was OK to revisit the earlier films to scour new figures from) was a no brainer; it's a figure of a principle character in a costume never previously made into plastic. However the other choices for figures made in 1985 can be regarded as eyebrow-raising in some cases, and not just by us fans who would have loved them to have made a Tarkin (which I genuinely don't think would have sold particularly well in 1985 with no film presence in years for kids to remember him from, and at a time, don't forget, when the Star Wars action figure line itself was waning in popularity). I refuse to believe that a Han Stormtrooper or Leia as Jabba's prisoner wouldn't have sold better than the Dignitary or Anakin, but unless someone in the know from Kenner at that time explains it further, the exact reasons behind their choices for the 1985 figure line may forever remain mysterious.</p><p></p><p>(Post edited once for grammar <img src="data:image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP///yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7" class="smilie smilie--sprite smilie--sprite1" alt=":)" title="Smile :)" loading="lazy" data-shortname=":)" />)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Snaketibe, post: 434206, member: 7379"] Welcome to the forum. As for the original question, this thread may be old, but it's still an interesting topic. As I understand it (and as Carrie Fisher made plain many times down the years in interviews), the principle Star Wars cast members signed away their likeness rights as part of their original Star Wars contracts. Bear in mind that at the time, film merchandising in general, and toys in particular were deemed to be a relatively worthless commodity, which is why when George Lucas went back to Twentieth Century Fox during production of Star Wars and asked for a larger director's fee, they appeased him with the merchandising rights for Star Wars! :-D With their likeness rights effectively in Lucasfilm's hands, all the main cast members of the original Star Wars could then have figures made of them without being able to object, or (I believe) receive any royalties / residuals. Lucas on the other hand.... $$$$$$$$$$!!!!!!!!!!!!! Carrie Fisher used to point at her own face in interviews and say, 'You see this?... I don't own this. Every time I look in the mirror, I have to pay George five cents'. Having learned their lesson from the fortune the merchandising made them from the first film, from Empire onwards Lucasfilm ensured all cast members, big or small, had to sign away their likeness rights as part of their Star Wars contracts. However, in order for Hasbro to revisit those characters from A New Hope that had not signed away their likeness rights at the time (presumably because no one in their right mind could ever have foreseen anyone ever wanting to try to make money from them :-)), such as the actor who played the cantina bartender Wuher, individual contracts / agreements were reached with the actors and actresses. And of course, most of them happily agreed as it was basically free money for them. However, the actresses that played the Tonnika Sisters refused to sign (a rumour for the reason being possibly because they felt Lucasfilm were not being particularly generous with their share of the financial pie, but this part may not be accurate), and for that reason we still have no modern line versions of them to this day. The legal situation may have become ever murkier as one of the actresses has since died, but Hasbro has previously made it plain that they know the fans want the Tonnika Sisters made into figures, but for now they are off limits. I mention all this because it's entirely possible that Kenner / Lucasfilm regarded Grand Moff Tarkin, whilst a major character in the film and one played by a very distinguished and famous actor, as not being an especially appealing one to kids (if they did think this btw, even as a kid myself I disagreed and wanted that figure to be made... but then I'd have bought third Imperial grunt from the left, if they'd made him into a figure back then!). And if Kenner / Lucasfilm did consider Tarkin in this way, it's doubtful he was among those actors whose likeness rights were signed away back in 1976/7. And so once the figures started to appear and exploded in popularity, a decision would have to be made by Kenner / Lucasfilm regarding Tarkin; 1) not bother making a figure of a character whom they would probably still deem to be not as popular as many others they could make, and this would likely seem even more true in 1985 since the character had not appeared in a Star Wars film for eight years by that time, and instead make other, more kid-friendly (i.e. saleable) figures instead, or 2) Approach Peter Cushing and pay him money to use his likeness. With option 1 Kenner / Lucasfilm can make any number of figures without having to pay extra residuals, but with option 2 they have to pay extra cash to make a figure they probably deem would be a poor seller... The choice for Kenner probably seemed obvious... EXCEPT, as has been pointed out, they made the Imperial Dignitary, and whilst the likeness rights would not have been as issue for that character, as has also been stated, that particular figure was never going to fly off the toy shelves, so Kenner's figure choices remain rather difficult to understand. I certainly agree that making Luke Stormtrooper (once they decided it was OK to revisit the earlier films to scour new figures from) was a no brainer; it's a figure of a principle character in a costume never previously made into plastic. However the other choices for figures made in 1985 can be regarded as eyebrow-raising in some cases, and not just by us fans who would have loved them to have made a Tarkin (which I genuinely don't think would have sold particularly well in 1985 with no film presence in years for kids to remember him from, and at a time, don't forget, when the Star Wars action figure line itself was waning in popularity). I refuse to believe that a Han Stormtrooper or Leia as Jabba's prisoner wouldn't have sold better than the Dignitary or Anakin, but unless someone in the know from Kenner at that time explains it further, the exact reasons behind their choices for the 1985 figure line may forever remain mysterious. (Post edited once for grammar :-)) [/QUOTE]
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