Vintage Star Wars (1977–1989) | Vintage Action Figures

Princess Leia Organa on Bespin – Star Wars most fashionable!

Almost all vintage Kenner Star Wars figures seem to have slight variations that set the hearts of adult collectors a flutter, but the 1980 Leia Organa is found with three major variations – crew neck, turtle neck or the rare gold neck. Identified as the “Bespin Gown” figure thanks to a spectacular decorated vinyl cape that does an excellent job of representing the cloak that Carrie Fisher wore on Bespin in The Empire Strikes Back, my crew neck version is possibly the easiest to track down, but being the most movie-accurate rendition, is definitely my favourite.

Luke Skywalker - brown and yellow haired versions

Luke Skywalker: Legally Blonde!

In many ways, vintage action figure collectors have toy giants Kenner to thank for first nurturing the collecting bug in kids when they launched the hugely popular 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figures and thus set-off a chain reaction of film tie-in merchandising which is thriving even to this day. They also threw in a enough variations in paint work and molds on certain figures, that over thirty years later adult collectors are still kept extremely busy tracking them all down.

Back in 1977, head sculpts were pretty crude compared to today’s standards, but Luke Skywalker does look vaguely like Mark Hamill I suppose, although in the first wave of figures (those that were issued on cards detailing 12 other action figures on the back and known nowadays as “12 back figures”) farm boy Luke looks like he’s taken a bottle of peroxide to his head and sports bright canary yellow hair! At some point along the line, however, a light brown haired, as well as a dark brown haired version appeared, both of which are far more like Mark Hamill’s movie coiffure, although it’s probably the yellow haired Luke that is the most instantly recognisable figure from those years.

Boba Fett - 1979 vinatge action figure by Kenner

Legendary bounty hunter Boba Fett!

I say the legendary Boba Fett, for there can be no doubt that some vintage action figures acquire a kind of cult status and become must-haves in a collection. Boba Fett – everybody’s favourite bounty hunter and man of few words – has always seemed to fit that role perfectly! He is hardly a rare figure and was available from his first appearance as a The Empire Strikes Back movie tie-in, right up to, and including, the Droids animation line, but he is just so perfect in his detailed moulding and paintwork, with four different extra colours added to the grey body, that he stands out on a shelf and ends up being the star attraction!

Lando Calrissian: Show me your teeth!

When today’s toy manufacturers launch a new action figure with myriad variations it’s hard not to smile ruefully and picture the board meeting in which that decision was made and to hear the Kerching! of the cash register ringing in one’s head as collectors scramble to add every version to their set. It’s fun, therefore, to look back at vintage action figures with genuine oddities or variations depending on their country of origin or for reasons which are hard to explain. Kenner’s Star Wars action figures practically invented band wagon film tie-in merchandising and this smiling Lando Calrissian is an excellent example of the variations out there.

Star Wars Variations: Big and small head Han Solo

Han Solo: Two heads are better than one!

Without wanting to seem mono-thematic here at Vintage Action Figures, last week’s look at Indiana Jones made me want to take a closer look at another Harrison Ford action figure – indeed, not one but TWO figures: the big and small head varieties of Han Solo. When in 1978 kids could finally get their hands on Kenner’s 3 ¾ inch Star Wars action figures (with 1977 stamped on the back) the Han Solo figure complete with Rebel Blaster proved enormously popular. Let’s face it, not only was he the coolest character in the movie, Harrison Ford who played Han Solo so charismatically in the movie, was the only cast member who went on to become a superstar. Soon after its release, the powers that be at Kenner looked at the original figure and decided that Han needed some work and in an unprecedented move for those days, chose to re-sculpt the head. And so the mother of all Star Wars action figure variations was born.

Star Wars Variations: Grey-haired Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi

Back in 1977, the only Obi-Wan Kenobi anybody had ever heard of was played by veteran British actor Alec Guinness in the original Star Wars movie. Ewan McGregor, on the other hand, who would slip on Obi-Wan’s cloak in the prequels, must have been just about old enough to play with the Kenner action figures which belatedly appeared in 1978, but was probably still too small to have seen the movie at the time!

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi was one of the original so called “12-back” Star Wars 3 3/4″ action figures, meaning that he appeared in the first 12 figures range which were featured on the reverse of the original action figure blister packs.

Star Wars variations: I lost my heart to a Star Wars Stormtrooper!

Kenner’s sculpt for the Star Wars Stormtrooper (later renamed Imperial Stormtrooper on the repackaged The Power Of The Force card back) was one of its most accurate action figures. Like many of the vintage Star Wars figures there are, however, minor variations in moldings and even stance – collectors should keen an eye out for varieties that may fly under the radar of less-informed sellers.

Star Wars action figure variations: My, what small eyes you have, Chief Chirpa!

Love them or hate them (or even love-to-hate-them by joining those who have formed a Facebook group dedicated to their eradication) the Ewoks are very much part of the Star Wars trilogy and for the action figure collector provide a few harder to find variations to track down.

Being the characters that so many – even die-hard Star Wars fans – loathe, as well as being figures that are not so instantly recognisable to the uninitiated, means that you can often pick them up for mere cents in the bargain bin at markets where they’ve been simply overlooked, like this Chief Chirpa action figure that I found the other day.