Top 10 Series: Vintage Star Wars Toys (Misc.)
Hello everyone,
In the continuation of my Star Wars series, I now move to the miscellaneous section.
This is a hodgepodge of items that we all loved as children. The cool toys we loved and begged and put on our Christmas lists. Something I just realized now, did we ever put an individual action figure on our X-mas lists? I don’t think so. We used Christmas to get the big boys we couldn’t afford on our own.
Respect their history and hold in memoriam the actual toys which we played into the ground. Too bad we never kept them as MIB.
We begin with the honorable mentions…For this list there are just so many of them.
DROID FACTORY was an ingenious idea which worked so well. Build your own droids with the pieces provided. It also featured something that I really liked, a third leg appendage for R2-D2 which was sorely missing from the figures.
LASER PISTOL was the smaller of the toy guns, but it was Han Solo’s pistol so it was cool. Personally I think the larger laser rifle was more impressive. But since I never actually had either I can only guess.
A friend of mine had this pistol and yet I was not jealous. Rule #1 in Star Wars toys, never covet a friend’s collection.
I’m sentimental about the DAGOBAH Action Playset as I purchased one on my own when I was younger for about $4.00. When it was first released I believed the playset retailed at around $20.
So here I was getting one hell of a deal and all on my own. I remember the day I went to the K-mart and saw them on sale and I snatched it up.
As far as playsets go, it was not as impressive.
But I did enjoy that swamp feature and I did sink Artoo a lot.
Rebel Armored SNOWSPEEDER was a nice little vehicle which had a cool feature, the figures actually sat back to back in the small cockpit.
I had one as a child but an insensitive cousin practically destroyed it when he decided to make it crash by tossing it across a room.
I’m still seething over that incident.
Now for the list.
10. CREATURE CANTINA Action Playset
One of the first playsets I ever had was the Creature Cantina. A nice little piece that brings back many memories, but at the same time had that incredibly difficult door system to build with rubber bands. Being a young lad of 6 or 7, I don’t recall ever successfully building that part.
But Kenner started off the series with a nice piece that had some interesting features.
09. MILLENNIUM FALCON SPACESHIP
Who didn’t want the Millennium Falcon? Every kid wanted one for Christmas or their birthday or whatever. I always wanted one and never got a Falcon until I started collected the neo line. It had cool features, a hidden compartment, that laser cannon. It wasn’t too heavy so you could fly it around on your arm.
What was there not to love? Of the initial wave the Falcon was certainly a top prize for the neighbourhood kids. If you could claim to have one, then you were something.
08. 3 Position LASER RIFLE
George Lucas wanted guns in his toy series and he got them. One of 2 built and designed, the Laser Rifle was slightly more sophisticated then the blaster pistol with better features.
I suppose the kid in me prefers the bigger gun and my eyes always lit up when I’d see one in the store. Sadly this piece also eluded me as a child.
07. Y-WING FIGHER Vehicle
One of the last vehicles released, it took Return of the Jedi to see the birth of the Y-Wing. Strange considering it first debuted in A New Hope.
To me the Y-Wing was always a cooler starship than the X-Wing so I quite enjoyed this toy. But the most important aspect of this toy to me was the small port which could fit an R2-D2 action figure in the rear.
To me that was so cool.
06. JABBA THE HUTT Action Playset
To me less a figure than a small playset. Jabba was cool to have and you got a bonus Salacious Crumb.
The throne was clever but I never understood what the cage inside meant to be. A smaller version of the Rancor pit or a nasty little dungeon that Jabba sat over.
I did get one of these playsets when I was a kid and felt proud to know that I had a Jabba.
05. IMPERIAL SHUTTLE Vehicle
The Imperial Shuttle was simply an impressive vehicle and design to have. I remember when they came out and not being able to afford one.
A few years later on a cross-border trip to Plattsburgh I found myself in a toy store searching for Indiana Jones action figures (They didn’t sell them in Canada and it was still early enough to find some) and spotted numerous leftover shuttles in stock.
To my shock it was only about $25 dollars and I wanted it so badly. However as I was a guest and the father of the family would not let me get so big an object since we were trying to smuggle what little items we bought.
So I had to say goodbye to my cheap Imperial Shuttle and not until the new line did I get a chance to finally live my dreams.
04. SLAVE I Boba Fett’s Spaceship
I got this toy for Christmas of 1981 and I loved it. The coolest feature by far was the Han Solo in Carbonite which came as an accessory. I remember accidentally finding a bill for SEARS or something that bared the name. So I knew I was getting it.
When it came time to open the presents I didn’t find it. By accident I had covered it with presents and when I started to get nervous about not having it, I almost gave up my secret. Then I found the last gift and all was serene.
I’ve always been a Boba Fett fan and being a Boba Fett fan meant that you got the Slave I, as it says on the box Boba Fett’s spaceship. Not exactly sure why they added that title.
Was it to help sell the toy to those who may not know the Slave I by connecting it to Boba Fett?
03. DEATH STAR
This unique playset was an alternate version of the standard Death Star Space Station. I do believe it was built in the UK and was available in Canada as well. I never had one myself, but a friend of mine had this Death Star type. Something about the simplicity of the design made me really like it.
It certainly didn’t have enough features, though it did have a cool chute to toss figures into the trash compactor. It’s odd that it was never release in the U.S., but I suppose the other version dominated that market.
And speaking of…
02. DEATH STAR SPACE STATION
This bad boy was the first of the mega toys that only a lucky few managed to get. I did happy to be one of them. 3 levels of Star Wars action. A cool trash compacter with foam garbage, rubber Dianoga monster and a screw twist which really closed the walls on the heroes. I really like the consoles where figures could stand and of course the tractor beam controls with death defying ledge.
A nice feature to this playset was the many pegs the makers inserted to make kids able to stand their figures up without fear of them falling over. A nice little feature which was found throughout the toys even to this day.
I got one of these bad boys in the Christmas of 78 and my life changed forever because of it.
01. AT-AT All Terrain Armored Transport
The holy grail of Star Wars toys an actual AT-AT to call your own. This was the ultimate vehicle, better than any of the rest simply for what it was. A massive mechanized monster that could never actually physically move, but you didn’t care.
Sadly I never had one of these as a child, but the moment it was re-released in the neo line I snatched it up and I understand why it reigns supreme. To be perfectly honest, it seems all the Imperials had the coolest toys.
So there’s the list. I hope it brought back fine memories and for those of you who may have not had the best of the bunch that doesn’t matter. Because in truth any Star Wars toy is a good toy.
I bid adieu,
your Origami reporter,
L.Manly
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