Since first starting this blog almost fifteen years ago there has been a huge amount of change in the Star Wars universe. The generation of kids who grew up watching the prequels – episodes I to III – are now adults and the action figures they played with back in the day have officially crossed that magical albeit arbitrary line of twenty-years, the minimum requirement to becoming ‘vintage’. Meanwhile, many of the Generation X-ers who derided the prequels so much, are now revisiting them. Hating Episodes I-III was the cool thing to do, right? Maybe it took a series of even more divisive sequels in the shape of J.J. Abrams’ The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker, and Rian Johnson’s The Last Jedi – episodes VII-IX for those of you who are still counting – to provoke a prequel reappraisal. And there is nothing quite like a powerful injection of nostalgia to kick-start a Renaissance!
Vintage Star Wars (1977–1989)
Remembering Princess Leia Organa
We’re back! Surprise! Did you miss us?! This blog may have been on an extended hiatus for a few years, but never fear, dear reader, the vintage action figures collection has continued to grow, albeit with greater focus on specific toy lines. With The Rise of Skywalker, the third and final Star Wars reboot movie (making number IX in the entire series if you insist on counting the prequels) recently hitting cinemas just in time for Christmas, and the Disney Channel’s small screen offering The Mandalorian wowing critics and Star Wars fans alike, what better time to go right back to where it all started, with one of the earliest Kenner Star Wars action figures: Princess Leia Organa.
Green-haired General Madine variant figure
When Kenner issued General Madine as part of its first wave of Return Of The Jedi 65-back carded figures in 1983 the resulting action figure followed the company’s hit-or-miss track record of movie-likenesses, with only a vague resemblance to the actor Dermot Crowley who played him on screen. Instead of Crowley’s fair beard and hair, Kenner opted instead for a thick grey Kenny Rogers-style beard and mane! This turned out to be of little concern, however, when sadly for Kenner – not to mention Crowley – most of General Madine’s scenes during the Battle of Endor never actually made it past the cutting room, with only a brief appearance in the rebel briefing room scene hitting the big screen, meaning that back in the day the General Madine figure didn’t exactly fly off toy store shelves. It was later “sold-off” in Return of the Jedi bargain 2-Packs with other remaindered figures such as the Biker Scout.
The Emperor – The Dark Side of the Force
It’s a strange thought now, looking back at the original Star Wars trilogy, but Darth Sidious aka Dark Lord of the Sith, the biggest baddie and antagonist of the entire series, didn’t have any live action screen time until Return of the Jedi in 1983 (although a hologram did make a flickering appearance in the earlier The Empire Strikes Back). The archetype for hooded evil, Emperor Palpatine was played by Ian McDiarmid, who has had the very good fortune to reprise his role in all three of the prequels, which chart the character’s devious political career from Senator, to Supreme Chancellor, and eventually Emperor. Back in the 1980s, however, when Kenner still held the keys to the action figure toy chest, he was simply known as The Emperor.
Meet a ‘Return of the Jedi’ Hero – Nien Nunb!
When Kenner started out on its 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figure adventure in 1977 the popularity of the movie caught the toy company by surprise. It would be unthinkable today, where a marketing frenzy surrounds every film released with a potential toy franchise, but back then Kenner were so unprepared that they were unable to deliver any Star Wars action figures to toy stores in time for Christmas! The solution they came up with would become the stuff of collector legend – Kenner pre-sold empty boxes with an “early bird” order card, which could then be mailed away and redeemed for figures (Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, R2-D2 or Chewbacca) when they became available. Kenner not only got away with this stunt, but seeing its success would repeat the idea later down the line with several “mail-away” or “mail-in” special offers.
Princess Leia in combat poncho on Endor
This blog has been running a little low on girl power recently, so let’s fix that right away with a truly wonderful vintage figure from Kenner’s legendary 3 ¾ Star Wars line – Princess Leia Organa sporting her Endor combat poncho. It’s a staggering thought today, but of the entire list of 93 characters immortalised in the original Kenner line, Princess Leia is the solitary female. As if to make up for this, besides her iconic white robed figure as she appeared in Star Wars, Princess Leia was issued in several different guises, which charted her progress through the three original trilogy movies: from beautiful princess in need of rescue, to this tough rebel in combat gear.
The Palace Guard formally known as Klaatu!
I seem to have added quite a few aliens from the original Star Wars trilogy to my vintage action figure collection this year, particularly henchmen of Jabba the Hutt seen fleetingly in the palace scene and the various guards riding the desert skiffs in the Sarlacc Pit Battle scene in Return of the Jedi. Whilst these figures may have enjoyed only split seconds of screen time, they were still important players in the imaginary Star Wars universe created by kids back in the day. Bewilderingly, they’ve since acquired gloriously complicated personal histories and new names in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.
Weequay aka Queequeg – Skiff Guard from ‘Return of the Jedi’
One of the most well-loved of the minor characters in Herman Melville’s Moby-Dick is surely that of the cannibal Queequeg, the archetypal “noble savage”, and dab hand with a harpoon. It’s no surprise, therefore, that during pre-production of Return of the Jedi the crew nicknamed this Weequay skiff guard “Queequeg”. After all, he brandishes a harpoon-like pike weapon, swaggers up the deck of a Desert Skiff like a pirate on a sloop upon the high seas, and even forces Luke Skywalker to walk the plank during the Sarlacc Pit Battle scene!