#1007 STAR WARS - DARTH VADER and IMPERIAL GUARD (1977 and 1983)

This character here does not need to be introduced, anybody will recognise it immediatly. It is Darth Vader, as it was released in 1978 (copyrighted in 1977) by Kenner and representing the character of the first movie of the Star Wars saga (Episode IV: A New Hope) premiered in 1977. The reason why the figures were a bit late and all the topic with the mail away coupons is also well known.

  

I will only say that the retractable lightsaber that came as an accessory has its tip broken, which is something extremely common, as the tip is so thin and so fragile that it is rarely unbroken. I had somewhere a repro lightsaber, but I decided to keep the original one. The vynil cloak is also original and it is removable, although this is not recommendable, as the holes for the arms may open and even break, especially after so many years.

Those of you who haven't watched the movie The Return of the Jedi many times, may not recognise the three guys behind Darth Vader. They are imperial guards, and appear in very few scenes of that movie. Their mission is just to scort The Emperor wherever he goes, but in that particular scene, they appear behind the Emperor and Darth Vader. It is one of my favorite figures ever released by Kenner in this toyline, as the mask and the cloak have a very specific design. Also the burgundy red perfectly contrast the white or the different troopers and the black of Darth Vader and the Emperor. In this case, the cloak is not removable, but behind it, there is a quite elaborated sculpt (not painted, though). How the artist imagines what is below the cloaks, or if they just took some parts they happened to have around (from some unreleased project), is something I would really like to know.

In the official films they do not have a great protagonism, so I do not know much about them.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: DARTH VADER and IMPERIAL GUARD
• Toy Line: Star Wars (Star Wars and The Return of the Jedi)
• Year: 1977 and 1983
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#842 TOYS FROM THE PAST - MUSEUM (V)

See more of these entries here: http://toysfromthepast.blogspot.com/search/label/TFTP

See you next month!

Important notice: The items on display are NOT for sale.

#781 STAR WARS - AST-5 (ARMOURED SENTINEL TRANSPORT) (1983)

I once wrote about the MTV-7, and there I already made some notes on these mini-vehicles a.k.a. mini-rigs. See entry #640.

I got this vehicle in a figure lot and I like its design very much. It is some kind of jet with orientable turbines/reactor/afterburner (?) and orientable guns, but the coolest thing for me is the coffin-cockpit, with capacity for one figure. It also has a cool colour ideal for dessert planets like Tatooine.

I was willing to write something interesting here and to expand my previous article on the topic, although I think it won’t be necessary . There are many "official" sources of information for this topic, and they are very easy to find using Google.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: AST-5 (ARMOURED SENTINEL TRANSPORT)
• Toy Line: Star Wars (Return of the Jedi)
• Year: 1983
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#741 STAR WARS – REBEL COMMANDO vs DENGAR (1981 and 1983)

Until now, I always showed figures together belonging to the same series, but this time, I made a mistake, I took the pictures of Dengar (a character from the Empire Strikes Back) together with Rebel Commando (from the Return of the Jedi). Now that the job is done, I will simply comment the figures until the next entry.

Dengar is one of the bounty hunters hired by Jabba the Hut, but despite being quite recognisable, has a rather secondary role in the movie and appear only during a short time on the screen. The figure came with a long blue rifle, but mine is a repro part. The figure is a bit shorter than others in this collection. Having different sizes is something great that I miss in other toylines like G.I.Joe: ARAH or Masters of the Universe. The fgure also looks great in this small snow diorama shown in entry #640.

The Rebel Commando is the rebel troop for the last battle in Endor and is collected and "armybuilt" by many collectors, since they need a big army to fight the imperial troops. The weapon of this figure is original and I got it through my friend Pablo from Coleccionismo80-90. I love this figure for its simplicity, a guy in a green overall with a helmet. I wish I had a few of them, a small army.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: REBEL COMMANDO and DENGAR
• Toy Line: Star Wars (The Return of the Jedi and The Empire Strikes Back)
• Year: 1983 and 1981
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#729 STAR WARS – ANNAKIN SKYWALKER and HAN SOLO in CARBONITE CHAMBER (1985)

For the amateur collector of Star Wars figures (like me), finding some of the most difficult figures of the series (like the last 17) can be a really difficult task. I first found Han Solo in a flea market and bought it for almost no money, but then I had to wait like 2 years to get the carbonite chamber for a reasonable price. This accesory has not been reproduced yet (and it will probably never be), because a cast with these dimensions would simply cost toooooo much money.

No matter what, I completed this figure, and then I recently bought Annakin.

Continuing with Han Solo, the figure is probably one of the worst ones in the whole series, pretty dull outfit, the face does not resembles Harrison Ford and it came only with the chamber accesory, not even a small gun or something to add some playability (note that the hands are prepared to carry any accesory from another figure). The cool feature is that the figure is placed in the chamber, and then, since the chamber is partially transparent, you can see the figure from the outside, a little bit like in the Return of the Jedi.

The other figure I present today is Annakin, who by the end of the first trilogy (episodes IV to VI), was a very enigmatic character. We know it is Darth Vader, but we would have to wait around 15 years for the second trilogy (episodes I to III) to know the complete story of Annakin Skywalker). This figure was initially a mail-away offer, and could be obtained bagged for a few proofs of purchase and some money. Later was packaged in blister cards available in the US and the UK. The figure came without accessories.

Like other figures in this series that wear those long dresses, I like the way the legs articulation is solved. It looks fine when standing or seating, and it is still movable and can be played in a normal way.

Both figures are among the famous Last 17, which are the last figures ever produced by Kenner during that first “vintage” era, and that ended in 1985 with the “The Power of the Force”. All 17 are very hard to find, as I explained in a previous entry with Barada and Yak Face (see #138).

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: ANNAKIN SKYWALKER and HAN SOLO in CARBONITE CHAMBER
• Toy Line: Star Wars: Power of the Force
• Year: 1985
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 11 cms or 3,75’’

#640 STAR WARS - MTV-7 (1981)

 

At the time when the Kenner toyline was released, it was still uncommon to see film characters as action figures. Kenner did a big effort releasing a lot of characters, even though some of them were only visible during a few seconds on the screen.

 

 

 

Of course, Kenner also manufactured vehicles, many which can be seen on the movies, and which had a considerable size. Apparently, there was a lack of smaller size vehicles, so Kenner had to invent them. We have commented several times, how important is for an action figure line to have references in every price level, so people who want to spend a certain amount of money can find an appropriate figure/vehicle/playset for that price. Another reason was the rising price of oil, that made very big vehicles and playsets very expensive, so in order to keep selling "cheap" vehicles (or vehicles in the lower range of prices) it was necessary to create this new series of small cute vehicles.

This trend started in the Empire Strikes Back toyline, and continued with the Return of the Jedi.

 

This vehicle is one of the invented vehicles. The MTV-7 (Multi Terrain Vehicle) has a small size and carries one figure. It was launched in 1981 as part of the Empire Strikes Back movie series and it is a light armoured exploration vehicle for icy planet Hoth.

 

 

I think it looks great, and it could be very practical in a ice planet, supposing that it does not sink in snow.

 

I do not collect vehicles from this row, maybe the only one I would like to have is the speedster bike, I got this one cheap only to see how they are built, observe it and write this entry.

 

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: MTV-7
• Toy Line: Star Wars (The Empire Strikes Back)
• Year: 1981 (to 1983)
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 9,5 cm (3 3/4'')

#596 STAR WARS - QUEEN AMIDALA, PADME NABERRIE and CHEWBACCA (1997)

I bought these figures a long time ago in a flea market. I thought (as many many other collectors) that these might become high valuable collectables some time. Both blisters were partly opened, and the comm-chips had been removed, but they were cheap, so I didn´t care.

These figures were a bit different to what there was available at the time. The figures are very similar to the actors playing the characters in the film, so the figures have very nice, realistic sculpt. The technique used for the sculpt was probably something new. Until then, all action figures that had to resemble real people were somehow not very accurate, and that was the main attraction of this toyline for me.

 The first two figures belong to the Episode I movie and were sold in "Episode I" red blisterpacks. Chewbacca is casted as it appears in the Episodes IV, V and VI, and was therefore in a "Power of the Force" green blisterpack. They were just more merchandising from the Star Wars´ franchise, but unlike the figures made by Kenner from 1977 on, these didn´t caught the attention of young collectors, probably because of the overwhelming number of other merchandising items (for example video-games).

The figures were not very successful among children, but some adult collectors bought them massively or remained in the store shelves and were cleared out at very low prices (and bought by people who thought about reselling them). Even today, almost 20 years after, they are very easy to find MOC. And at the same prices (+/-) than 20 years ago!

Note: I forgot to include in the pictures the rifle that came with Chewbacca. i'll try to correct the pictures soon. This last photo with the blue background was taken from forum.rebelscum.com/t1105419-30/, the best source of  information for Star Wars figures.

Note2: Padme Naberrie's toy pictures will be added later.

FACTS and FIGURES:

• Name: QUEEN AMIDALA, PADME NABERRIE and CHEWBACCA
• Toy Line: STAR WARS EPISODE I and STAR WARS POWER OF THE FORCE
• Year: 1997
• Company: Hasbro (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 8 cm

#447 STAR WARS – LOGRAY and REE-YEES (1983)

Two more figures that appeared in “The Return of the Jedi” (Episode VI) and that are quite common to find and cheap to buy.

The first figure is Ree-Yees, one of the many aliens that appear for a few seconds in the movie. It is supposed to be one of Jabba’s henchmen. The character in the movie had a great head sculpt, that the figure could not really imitate. The rest of the boy is quite standard except for the big hands. The figure was sold with one golden accesorie that resembles a walking stick, although it is some kind of rifle that doesn’t fit very well its right hand. The rifle in the pictures is a repro one.

The Ewook figure is Logray the medicine man. I cannot really remember if the character had a big role in the movie or a smaller one, but Ewooks are always nice figures. In this case, all accessories are original and in very good shape. They’re made of flexible plastic, and they could harden, but it is not the case.

Two more to my collection. Logray was a gift from my friend Fernando (mismotus.blogspot.com). Many thanks, man!

 

FACTS AND FIGURES:

• Name: REE-YEES and LOGRAY
• Toy Line: Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
• Year: 1983
• Company: Kenner (U.S.A.)
• Size of the figures: 11 cms or 3,75’’