Imperial Snowtrooper (McQuarrie Concept) - Mini Busts

Ralph McQuarrie's early designs of the Imperial Snowtrooper are uniquely different from that of the final screen version. Based on original pre-production illustrations for The Empire Strikes Back, this mini bust displays a fascinating look at McQuarrie's conceptual development of the Imperial Snowtrooper.

Some claim that McQuarrie Concept collectibles are so 2007, and to a certain degree they’re right about that. But as far as we’re concerned, all Lucasfilm, Ltd. licensees can please feel feel to keep cranking out great collectibles based on the revolutionary concept art of Ralph McQuarrie. Mr. McQuarrie of course wasn’t the only artist involved with the Original Trilogy. And if you read all the comments out there from readers, some even claim that artwork by others gets terribly overshadowed by Ralph McQuarrie’s work. This we’re not so sure we agree with as much. We don’t think Ralph McQuarrie could get enough credit for his involvement with the Star Wars films. Without him, none of the staple characters in the films would look the same. So on that note alone, it’s important to give credit where credit is due. So we are eternally grateful to Ralph McQuarrie for breathing life into George Lucas’ vision. Gentle Giant Ltd. is slowly but surely cranking out Mini Bust collectibles on McQuarrie’s concepts and the latest release is the Imperial Snowtrooper (McQuarrie Concept) that was released as a 2011 San Diego Comic Con exclusive. It is probably better than their 2009 Boba Fett (McQuarrie Concept) Mini Bust but obviously will not be as popular. You’ll have to judge for yourself.

The artists at Gentle Giant Ltd. has taken great care and have show a lot of respect to McQuarrie with the development of their Mini Bust. As evidenced from the actual artwork, Gentle Giant has included two interchangeable portraits (that gloriously connect via strong magnets). Both styles can be clearly seen in the various stills painted by McQuarrie. One portrait comes with the “scarf” that hangs down and covers the “face” and the other portrait comes without it. Interestingly, each helmet has different patterns and designs on them. And in the spirit of the film, the portrait without the “scarf” has a “V” smack dab in the middle of the front of the helmet. Could this possibly mean “Episode V”? The bust comes apart in three pieces as it separates at the head connection and the left hand holding the rifle is removable as well. The Imperial Snowtrooper (McQuarrie Concept) is essentially decorated in two colors: white and off white. Again, this is a very simple color scheme, but is works beautifully and it is an exact three dimensional replica of what we see in McQuarrie’s artwork. The Mini Bust is simple in color but exquisite in detail. And trust us when we say that you need a collectible of at least this size to appreciate just how much there is to admire.

Gentle Giant has designed the “hooved” style of the gloves perfectly. And the Imperial Snowtrooper (McQuarrie Concept) is holding some type of macrobinoculars at the ready so he can spy at the Rebel Alliance when needed. His two chest pockets are accented with horizontal red rectangles and if you take the time to inspect the piece from head to toe, back and front, you’ll realize just how much detail has been incorporated into this piece. Take for instance the backpack. It is stupendously designed. It lies flush against his back and is slim in structure. And there are just a few color details carefully placed as to not overshadow the simplistic and antiseptic look of this concept design. It is just a wonderful collectible all around. Released as a 2011 San Diego Comic Con exclusive, the Imperial Snowtrooper (McQuarrie Concept) Mini Bust is limited to 1800 pieces. This doesn’t represent a big production run, but with the way things are in the economy, this piece may hang around for a while. This isn’t the first collectible released based of the Imperial Snowtrooper by McQuarrie. The first was Hasbro’s 2007 TAC Concept Snowtrooper (Ralph McQuarrie Signature Series) (30 42) figure. That figure is of course great, but the Mini Bust is more accurate as far as the fine details are concerned. So we suggest getting both!