Pin-up of the day- Emperor Palpatine

Emperor Palpatine by Taylor Lymbery

I was told that the first movie I saw in the theater was "The Empire Strikes Back", but I don't remember it. I would have been a baby at that point. I do however remember seeing, "Return of the Jedi" at what was the old Pineywoods theater. (That theater later became the dollar theater and was responsible for me seeing Episode One: The Phantom Menace seventeen times on the big screen.) Return of the Jedi was a huge deal for me. It was my first introduction to science fiction/fantasy and was responsible for hooking me into that kind of story genre for life. When I first see the Emperor in the film, I was a little afraid of him. I do believe that you are supposed to be afraid of him, but I really didn't get that sinking gut feeling of him being a REAL bad guy until I saw him in his thrown room. The lighting in that room was just right to raise the creep factor of Palpatine. I was hooked! Towards the end of the movie when Luke and Vader are fighting in the thrown room and Palpatine is just sitting there, I was sold! The cold blues of the ambient light, the warm splash of light shot onto his face, illuminating his red/orange eyes realIy portrayed pure evil in my youthful eyes, especially when he shot lightning out of his fingers! I thought this was the best movie ever! In all honesty, I think of Empire as the best Star Wars film, but this movie does hold the best theater experiences for me growing up. Now I never got an Emperor action figure when I was a kid. Most of my Return of the Jedi action figures were characters featured in Jabba's palace. When the Power of the Force 2 series came out, you can bet that I had an Emperor, even the one with the lightning feature! I have since got rid of those toys, but I did hold on to one. When I was in Junior college, I had to make a quick run right before art class to Wal-Mart down the street. I ran in to get The Emperor 12" action figure/doll. I remember running back to class and hiding my newly bought treasure in my backpack. Every time I went to get something out of my backpack, I would have a whole wave of Jedi nostalgia hit me. I could still see the Death Star 2 being built, Jabba's sail barge being blown up, the ewoks battling the white robot people (Stormtroopers), and the epic saber duel of our hero Luke and his father, all the while sitting next to my own hero, my father. It truly was a great experience for me and always makes me smile when I reflect back on it. These days I have that same Emperor doll sitting above my desk. You can also see this art piece here.

Just a quick update: I did go ahead and purchase a table for the Fan Days Convention in October. I'll be there with a ton of new work to sell, a new issue of Xenex the Bug Man and new posters. So I'll see you there!

There's been an update to the store tabs on both Xenex the Bug Man, and this site. All of the print on demand issues, cafepress stores and commissions info will be under the new store tab on both this site and the Xenex the Bug Man site. Hopefully this page makes shopping a bit easier. Go and check it out! 

I just updated the Xenex the Bug Man website with rather grand news that the long awaited issue 4 is now up for order. It's a great looking comic book! Head on over to the Bug Man site and see what I'm talking about!

Now, you mighty be asking what this Marvin Dog media is. I've got answers. I had been working with a good friend of mine, Jeff McGee, before I got sick on designing logos and banners for a podcast that I am on and logos and banners of podcasts that other friends are on. I have listened to all of the shows so far and they are great! Jeff and I are on the show where we talk about toys! (Go figure, I mean Go action figure!) That show is called Talking toys with Taylor and Jeff. The other two shows are The pilot episode, where Jeff and Josh Taylor break down the Pilot Episode in TV series, and The Loosely Based Podcast where Brynna and Jeff compare the book to the movie adaptation! Again, the shows are great! If you are interested in what we got, go to Marvindogmedia.com  and give us a listen. You can subscribe to the shows on itunes and get up to date info on upcoming shows on facebook:
Talking Toys with Taylor and Jeff on facebook
The Loosely Based Podcast on facebook
The Pilot Episode on facebook

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