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Subject: 
Re: Panaka is yellow?
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.starwars
Date: 
Wed, 22 Dec 1999 16:29:48 GMT
Viewed: 
389 times
  
In lugnet.starwars, Dave Lovelace writes:

I think that the Flash Speeder minifig is not Panaka. In the movie, the
flash speeder was used in the first moments of the seizure of the castle
/ government building, and he was not driving it, and that is what IMHO
TLC (TLG, LG, LC) was modeling after, thereby going completely around
the race issue. I think we have enough problems here in the US involving
race, so they decided to just go around it.

Indeed, this would have been an easy way to circumvent racial issues, this
particular time.

Still, there are four thumbnail pictures from the movie towards the top of the
instruction pages, and the human portrayed most clearly (in two of the images,
and one is even a close-up) is Panaka.  At no point is the scene you are
describing shown.  Coupled with the outfit on the mini-figure matching
Panaka's
as shown in those images, and there is little reason not to run the risk of my
prior assumption (be it in error or not) to be completely inferred.

I think you're right- that is a reasonable assumption to make.  I don't think
that's what Lego intended, however.  All the Naboo Guards wear the same
uniform, and Panaka is the most clearly photographed of the guards in the
movie.  The stills of the scene with the flash speeder would be unintelligible
at the size they're reprinted in the manual.  So, they used closeups of Panaka
for clarity.

Anyway, yep, there's bigger issues on the grill here, even if they turn out to
be unassociated with the 7124.  I was just looking at brown pieces, and
they're
a good medium-hued tone of brown which would allow perfectly legible
imprinting
of the "black dot eyes and mouth."  I say "why not?"  :-)

Maybe they will.  I agree, by even taking the Star Wars liscence TLC opened up
a huge can of worms.  Until now, they've been able to say "all minifigs are
yellow, all one race" etc etc etc.  But with Star Wars, they have three basic
options:

1) Brown Lando
2) Yellow Lando
3) No Lando

Option one makes them look bad for not having multi-racial minifigs before (or
after, if they don't start introducing them into other lines).  Option two
gives them the moral high ground ("We *said* all minifigs are the same race,
and we meant it!") but leaves everyone scratching their heads with a yellow
Lando.  Option three makes everyone ask, "Why no Lando?  He was a major
character!" and it becomes obvious that the reason was simply to sidestep the
issue.

If Panaka becomes an even more prominent character in the next two films, or
Mace Windu does, then the proble will be even worse.

As you said in your original post, it's a no-win situation.

eric



Message has 2 Replies:
  Re: Panaka is yellow?
 
(...) or (...) And from what I understand, Mace will indeed become a very important character in the next film... -- -Bones- = (URL) = NecroBones Enterprises Lorbaat wrote in message ... (...) the (...) images, (...) of my (...) think (...) (...) (25 years ago, 22-Dec-99, to lugnet.starwars)
  Minifig Colour Precedents? (Was: Re: Panaka is yellow?)
 
Hi, (...) This is an issue that came up with Fisher-Price over the "Little People" line back in the 1970s. Everyone had hitherto been a generic Caucasian-hue, and then Fisher-Price made a licensing deal with CTW to make Sesame Street sets. The (...) (25 years ago, 22-Dec-99, to lugnet.starwars)

Message is in Reply To:
  Re: Panaka is yellow?
 
(...) Indeed, this would have been an easy way to circumvent racial issues, this particular time. Still, there are four thumbnail pictures from the movie towards the top of the instruction pages, and the human portrayed most clearly (in two of the (...) (25 years ago, 22-Dec-99, to lugnet.starwars)

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