Off the success of Dark Empire, Dark Horse Comics made plans for a sequel. After all, there were more stories to be told! By this time the Jedi Academy Trilogy came out, with new Solo child Anakin Solo being already born. But, how to tell the story? After all, Palpatine had appeared to die a final death at the hands of Luke Skywalker and Leia Organa Solo. But as he told Luke "It isn't the first time I died". The biggest change for Dark Empire II was there were no West End Game supplements at the end of the issues as they did for DE1. Jedi Academy Trilogy writer Kevin J. Anderson wrote the intro for the Dark Empire TPB, and revealed not only did he work with Tom Veitch (DE writer) on getting to a starting point for his trilogy, plus something else they'd collaborate on called Tales of the Jedi. As DE2 opens, followers of the Emperor try to keep the Empire from fracturing. Meanwhile Luke Skywalker has found his 1st apprentice Kam Solid as while Leia, who is about t...

Currently, I'm watching one of my favorite shows, That 70's Show as the main characters see Star Wars. It's one of my favorite episodes of that show, and shows just how popular a movie it really is. Heck, Star Wars launched the Summer Blockbuster, plus movie toys, books, comics and other merchandise. Most popular TV shows today have, or have yet to parody Star Wars. So which ones are my favorite? I've already mentioned one of them already! That 70's Show Eric Forman and his friends go see Star Wars, while Kelso, the biggest idiot on the show called the Han/Leia romance. A dream sequence with Eric as Luke, his father Red as Ben Kenobi and Eric's girlfriend Donna as Leia is quite memorable "Jedi dumbass!" The best line at the end is Red watching the movie and saying "Eric liked this movie?! That kid's on dope!" Suddenly an explosion and laser blast shows onscreen, and Red suddenly likes the movie. As a bonus, all of Eric Forman...

For Christmas of 1983, I would get my favorite Star Wars action figure of the Kenner era: Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (well that's what I called him anyway). When the Vintage Collection debuted, their first Luke Skywalker from Return to the Jedi put Luke in his Endor duel outfit on the classic 1983 Kenner card. But fan's correctly pointed out that Luke's figure didn't match the card, so Hasbro made a change to the card and we got Endor Capture Luke. A Luke Skywalker in his Jedi outfit from Jabba's Palace was put on a ROTJ card, but it was a deleted scene. When Hasbro ended the Vintage Collection in 2013, fans gave up hope we'd ever get a modern version of the 1983 Luke. Then 2019 happened. At the last San Diego Comic Con, Hasbro did an exclusive 3 pack featuring Luke Skywalker called Jedi Destiny. Luke was in 3 outfits, a Stormtrooper, X-Wing pilot and his Jabba's Palace outfit. Fans immediately wanted single card versions, the 1st came that November ...

Dark Empire changed everything for a small comic book publishing company called Dark Horse Comics. No longer just an independent comic book company, Dark Empire put them on the map, and while Marvel is publishing Star Wars comics again, Dark Horse still has a strong retail presence in comic book stores. When it came out, Dark Empire issue 1 was one of the top selling comic books of all time. An impressive feat once you realize Todd McFaralne's Spider-Man issue 1, X-Force issue 1 and Superman: Man of Steel issue 1 dropped around the same time, give or take a few months. The story by Tom Veitch is interesting. 6 years after Endor and 1 year after the Thrawn Trilogy the Galactic Empire regrouped and drove the New Republic off Coruscant, but as they achieved their goal, a civil war breaks out amongst the Imperials. Hoping to retake Coruscant, Lando Calrissian & Luke Skywalker (with R2-D2!) use a captured Star Destroyer which Luke is able to safely land. Han, Leia, and Chewbacca a...

The Vintage Kenner Han Solo is a figure that, well, it's not my favorite. From the neck down, it isn't a bad figure. But, boy oh boy. This figure is a mess! I've been dreading doing this but I have the strength to do it because I like the next one I'm doing (Ben Kenobi) so, let's take a look at the Kenner Han Solo, and his amazing multiple heads. The small head Han was the first one released. While not bad (nobody expected this to look like Harrison Ford), Kenner just wasn't happy with it. In time, this version would quietly disappear from store shelves. And in case you were wondering, yes. This is one is worth more. The big head Han would be the standard one going forward. However, Kenner didn't sculpt a new body, so it just looks weird. His head is bigger than the rest of his body (some say that about Harrison Ford. Not me obviously!). Both versions come with his standard blaster. Kenner didn't offer much in the way of accessories in the 1...

I've said, and will continue to say that if you want good stories in Disney Canon the comic books are the way to go. Vader: Down is simply awesome. The 1st 2 Vader monthly series were incredible. Skywalker Strikes, the 1stb6 issues of the 1st Star Wars monthly series should be required reading. The Han, Lando and Leia miniseries are all great reads. Which is why War of the Bounty Hunters has intrigued me. It's a take off from Legends when Boba Fett got hunted by his fellow hunters before dropping Han Solo off to Jabba the Hutt. Now in Disney Canon Boba got robbed of Han by Qi'ra who has resurrected Crimson Dawn and is auctioning off Han to the highest bidder. Now to the new Star Wars monthly written by Charles Soule. He wrote the 2nd Darth Vader monthly series and those are 25 of the best Vader or Star Wars comics ever written. In it, Luke has a new yellow bladed lightsaber, rescued from a Jedi Temple in a pretty unique way: fighting off the "spirit" of the ...

Bespin Gown Leia was one of the last figures released in the Vintage Collection before it became the 3.75 inch Black Series. It's also one of the rare Vintage Collection Figures to not get a Kenner style card but a new and unique packaging that was exclusive to the final few Vintage Collection Figures from the 1st run. Leia sports 14 POA and comes with an Imperial blaster rifle, a removable cloth outer robe and a plastic shoulder collar which is also removable. She looks great, especially the head sculpt which to this day remains one of my favorite Leia head sculpts. Her unique hairstyle is perfectly done (unlike the current Bespin Escape Leia). Her articulation is simple, and if needed, Leia can shoot her way out of any troubling situation. But what makes this Leia my favorite, is her height. Hasbro has endeavoured to make sure their 3.75 inch line is properly scaled. Han should be taller than Luke but shorter than Chewie and Vader. Leia has had an issue with always being too sh...

Alternate realities, do they have a place in Star Wars? I'll answer that question in a bit. Alternate realities in science fiction aren't a "new" idea. The idea of alternate realities actually existing onscreen is new. When the 2009 Star Trek film came out it wasn't an unseen moment from the past, it was a bold "new" future made possible by Nero going back in time. This is at least my first recollection of an alternate reality playing out onscreen. For Star Trek this has happened for years. Fan fictions, and later comic books and pocket novels played out infinite alternate stories that aren't considered Trek Canon. Most stories aren't bad. Some are cringe worthy. But it exists. This doesn't mean the older stuff isn't appreciated. I walked away from Trek until the 2009 movie came out. I went out and bought the entire OS, and TNG on DVD, plus any old Trek book I could find. I enjoyed "NuTrek" but still appreciated and enjo...

C-3P0 is one of my favorite vintage era Kenner figures. The shiny vac metal paint, the plastic screw on his back which would be out of place on other figures fits in well with our favorite protocol droid. The last line was from Steve Sansweet, so giving credit where credit is due. But, like R2-D2 this figure would quickly be replaced. As seen, this C-3P0 captures his look from A New Hope quite well. In 1978 it would be impossible to paint his lower right leg silver, but he is shiny thanks to the vac metal process. If you don't hold him often, or keep him in a plastic container, you'll find that paint finish won't fade away as easily as your other figures. Threepio sports the standard 5 POA as most Kenner figures at this time did. His card is from a still, and not a promotional photo, and is one of my favorite ones. But in 1980, for The Empire Strikes Back, there would be a change. In that movie, Threepio gets blasted apart. Just as R2-D2 got refreshed with the sensor ...

R2-D2 is the final figure from the Kenner Early Bird pack, and is the only figure in this entire line (other than R5-D4 who I'll cover later) who has only 3 POA (dome, left and right leg). The only paint on R2 is his dome, which has a vac metal finish and blue paint. Instead of a fully detailed sculpt like he would get today, stickers are what Kenner used to accentuate his features. The problem is of course, over time and rough play they wear off. Back then there wasn't a way to replace them. Now, you can find reproduction stickers on eBay. As a bonus, Artoo's head makes clicking noises when turned! This version of R2 has no accessories. The only card you can find this version of him is the Star Wars card. Some of this version did appear on The Empire Strikes Back cards, and those are the real collector's items as he would be replaced by the sensor scope version going forward on both ESB & ROTJ cards. This figure would get repainted for the Droids carded versio...

With Rex, Echo, Jesse and Wolffe getting VC figures, and the animated versions of Anakin & Obi-Wan getting repacked last year, the Clone Wars is getting some much needed love. Coming soon are Ahsoka and Maul from the final season, and sporting a look that combines animated and realistic in a neat way. The 2D Clone Wars figures are realistic figures getting painted in animated colors. A separate list for the 2D Clone Wars figures will be a future blog post. This will be from the Clone Wars series which debuted in 2008. 1. Savage Oppress. He's Maul's brother, plus he takes part in one of the most epic lightsaber battles ever, teaming with his brother to fight Darth Sidious. 2. Asajj Ventress. She's the main villain, although she is redeemed. She should be in her blue outfit, and the skirt removable to recreate her rescue of Nute Gunray. 3.  Pre Vizla. Voiced by Jon Favreau, he played a big part in the return of Darth Maul. Plus he had the Darksaber. Use the n...

As Bantam was ending their run of Star Wars books in 1998, the man who started their run would be the one to end it. And of course, it was going to be big. Known as the Hand of Thrawn duology, it would bring the war between the Imperial Remnant and the New Republic to an end, and lead to Luke Skywalker and Mara Jade getting married. Of course, this was written just before The Phantom Menace hit movie theaters. Specter of the Past is the 1st book. The story starts off wirh a bang as Admiral Pellaeon decides the time is now to surrender. Meanwhile Han takes Luke on a diplomatic mission while Mara Jade and Talon Karrde help Leia out at Wayland. Meanwhile, is Grand Admiral Thrawn back as the New Republic deals with a major internal incident which could spark a civil war?! Vision of the Future has Luke going to rescue Mara who investigated a lead in the previous novel. Leia and Han with an assist from Lando try to keep the Republic from fighting each other while an ambitious Imperial of...

Coming in at 8th is Darth Vader (VC 93) as depicted from A New Hope. He is an incredibly well made figure, and is the first Vader figure to get ball joint hips. The good news here, is that this Vader figure can still fit in his POTF2 TIE Fighter. Vader has 14 POA, and comes with a cloth cape and cloth lower robes, and a full lightsaber with no unlit hilt. But what really makes this the best OT era Darth Vader, and the best VC Vader in his suit, is he can actually hold his lightsaber IN HIS RIGHT HAND!! Amazing! It's a problem other Vader figures have had over the years. This version of Vader is different as in A New Hope, Vader has cloth over his shoulder armor while in ESB & ROTJ it is under the shoulder armor. This figure has molded plastic over the armor that forms into cloth below the belt, making posing this figure easy to do. So why isn't he higher? There are some issues wirh his chest plate and mask that may not be entirely film accurate to ANH. Also, the lack o...

Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader Coming in at 9th is Anakin Skywalker although the name pill says Darth Vader. This is meant to depict him on his duel on Mustafar with Obi-Wan Kenobi. So why does he rank 9th? Well, they made a lot of improvements over the previous versions. The biggest change is the addition of ball joint elbows. Previous versions had swivel elbows, which offered a good range of motion, but just looked odd. Hasbro also made the best likeness of actor Hayden Christensen that hasn't been replicated since then. Even the eye scar has incredible detail. Vader has 14 POA, and can achieve almost any action pose you can think of. The paint apps are clean, although the paint on some samples has smudgy paint on the belt.  Other than that, a great figure. He can easily stand on his own and has no balance issues. He comes with a robe that fits alright, I feel it's a bit oversized but he wears it well. He comes with both a lightsaber and unlit hilt that fits into ...

"Pass on what you have learned." One of Yoda's last words when he was alive. But what did he mean by that? In Disney Canon Luke knew this meant to rebuild the Jedi Order, same as in Legends. However, in Disney Luke went different. He trained young kids. In Legends he took older people and trained them the way Obi-Wan and Yoda trained him. Just another case of Legends getting it right. My opinion, anyway. Yours may vary.  As we saw with Disney, Luke's Jedi Order fell into the mistakes of the Jedi of the Galactic Republic while Legends New Jedi Order made mistakes but grew stronger over time. So, Luke took this literally. But Legends Luke followed the more literal interpretation than his Disney counterpart. A rare case when taking Yoda at his direct word is the right call.

Princess Leia Organa was part of Kenner's Early Bird package that came out in the spring of 1978. Included was her blaster, and a vinyl "robe" which was in white. Ben Kenobi, Darth Vader and the Tusken Raider came with a similar "robe". For the entire production run of the Kenner Star Wars toyline, this Leia figure managed to appear on cards from all 3 movies as unsold figures would get repacked into figures for the next film. For the Return of the Jedi card, the image was changed in order to "freshen up" the line. Leia remained largely unchanged through the lines run, however, some figures have a lighter shade of hair color, but unlike Luke really can't be considered a variant. Her blaster fits well into her right hand, but keep an eye out because it will fall out and can easily be lost. Her "robe" sadly easily tears up. It's a common problem with all vinyl materials used by Kenner back then. She has a simple 5 POA and can fit ...