Star Wars Celebration is in full swing and many of the companies we love to collect are there. Bandai / Bluefin / Tamashii Nations is among them and they have a display of action figure photography featuring their Star Wars Movie Realization line. This is the line where Japanese Feudal Warriors like Samurai are merged with Star Wars lore for a completely unique alternate universe range of figures.
I was fortunate enough to be asked to contribute to this display again, I did so back in 2017 as well. I wanted to share the full resolution version of the pictures shown on display (4 of them), along with another 35 or so from the same sessions that produced the ones actually printed and out at the show. I like to shoot fast with lots of repetition, slight angle and lighting changes, then pick the best at the end. Sometimes it’s hard and you get a ton of unused but still cool shots. So at least they’ll have a home on the web now!
Read on to check them out, and make sure to stop by the Tamashii Nations booth at Star Wars Celebration 2019 this weekend if you are at the show!
The Chosen Ones
These are the ones that Tamashii Nations actually chose and printed out, from the selection I sent them. They had awesome pics from other photographers, and a balance in tone and products featured to consider.
UPDATE: Looks like the folks at Bluefin called an audible after our initial submission. Different ones are on display at the show including some shots from last Celebration! I am currently at the show so can’t redo this whole article :) Everything should be on this page tho, or at the link there.
Final Cuts
These are the other pics I submitted to them for consideration of being chosen and printed for the show. I really like how all the Darth Maul shots came out, each different in execution. But I don’t think they needed a wall of Darth Maul pics. :) The Vader shot and getting to that point gave me a new appreciation for that figure which I was flat on prior to these sessions.
Xtras Part 1
These shots below I didn’t submit to Tamashii Nations at all, I didn’t want to over load them with too many, so I culled them down to the ones above. It’s always hard, and I’m sure someone out there will argue one of these is better than the ones above, happens every time! I started down a neon path with the colors but steered back to a more grounded red/orange/warm tone in the end.
Xtras Part 2
These were probably never going to be submitted, but I like to snap around and test things out while in a session. Just because they won’t be “the one” doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy of some sharing! Each one of these, and the countless others I never even edited to this point, are what lead me to the final shots above that worked. Stormtroopers are basic but iconic in nature, in all forms. I wanted to try some simple top-down lighting with them to play on the light / dark contrast. These came out cool, but not epic I think, so they get the third tier love.
CompaniesTamashii NationsBandaiBluefin
CharactersDarth VaderStormtrooperBoba FettDarth MaulC-3POSandtrooperSnowtrooperJango FettRoyal Guard
Scale7 Inch
Sub-LineRealization