In the spirit of those temporary art forms like sand castles, sidewalk art, and urban graffiti, discussed before at borg.com (including here), we bring you sci-fi and fantasy of the monumental variety.  Lucasfilm and Disney teamed up with Japan’s 11th Brigade of the Ground Self-Defense Forces to create a new view of Darth Vader and his own troops in an unusual medium.  At a Hokkaido Snow Festival in Sapporo, Japan held earlier this month, the Japanese army orchestrated the Imperial version of Mt. Rushmore in snow, public art that was only intended to survive for a few weeks.

Giant cranes packed 3,500 tons of snow into three stormtroopers, TIE fighters, the Death Star, and Darth Vader himself, all to the awe of millions of attendees to the 66th annual festival full of giant sculptures in snow.

The result is pretty amazing.

The Japanese troops have been part of the Sapporo festival for 60 years.  Building the 50 foot tall sculptures isn’t simply for fun–it’s considered a military training exercise.

The participation by Lucasfilm and Disney in this year’s event was all part of early marketing for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, coming to theaters in December.

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com