So you grew up with the old Kenner Star Wars Toys, managed to keep them in decent shape and started back up collecting until you got married, and had kids so collecting Star Wars toys went on the back burner. Until that is you showed the kids the Star Wars movies, and they love it. They love it even more when you tell them you had a big collection and still have it. So you show them the action figures and they want in. Well, they want yours. In that case use your best judgment if they prove to be careful let them go play! If they aren't careful hesitation is okay. But a good idea is getting them started on collecting. With that being said, the Vintage Collection and Black Series are pricy. The Retro toys are good (so far priced below VC MSRP), but aren't made for kids. So where to begin? It's easy in most cases. And there are affordable ways to get your kids collection up and running: 1. Mission Fleet. Frankly, this is a great kids line. Vehicles are cheap, figures come w...

  Named the Imperial Stormtrooper in Hoth Battle Gear, this figure has become the Snowtrooper in fan circles and in 2011 would be named so on it's name pill for the Vintage Collection release. But we aren't talking VC, but Kenner, and this figure which came out in 1980. Simple sculpting detail on this figure, there is supposed to be a backpack on his back, but you can make it out even though it doesn't stand out like the Rebel counterpart. Besides the new armor scheme there is a new helmet, and another feature which fans nicknamed. He has a vinyl "skirt" which is around his waist. Fans have called this the "butt skirt". He is sculpted in the simple pose and has 4 POA as his head cannot move. Just like the original Stormtrooper. The weapon is one that doesn't make sense to me. The Stormtrooper should come with a standard Imperial blaster, but this figure comes with a long rifle that he can hold but not too well, as raising the weapon to a firing posi...

  The Hoth Rebel Trooper is notable for being painted with a vest worn by officers like Major Bren Derlin. However with a generic face, he can pass as any normal trooper. After all, why give an officer a blaster rifle and the main Trooper a pistol?!  Kenner would make another more notable mistake with character names on cards. But that's for another time. Even on the card you can see the vest isn't the right color, it should be white not brown or tan. But despite being the wrong name and vest color, we finally get a Rebel troop builder figure, and it only took them the 2nd movie to offer it! Once again, simple paint job and good sculpting detail for 1980. Standard pose and 5 POA. This figure comes with a blaster pistol similar to the Bespin Guards who will get covered later on. He holds the weapon best in his right hand. If you want a Rebel troop builder you do need this figure, as it is more of a generic face which could pass for many individual troopers. Sorry this isn'...

  I bet not many people know or remember that John Ratzenburger was in The Empire Strikes Back. Yep, Cliff Claven beat Woody to a Star Wars set by nearly 40 years. When you see the Hoth Rebel Commander it does kind of look like him. So technically this is the 1st Cheers action figure! Now the character is really named Major Bren Derlin, while this isn't named on the pill, the figure definitely looks like his character, the card however shows a different character, and he does not have the same color vest as Major Derlin. He is intended to pass as a generic Rebel Commander but there was only 1 who had a mustache (cue up the Mustache Song from the movie A Million Ways To Die In The West), Major Derlin. Now this figure is simply articulated with 5 POA, and has good not great sculpting detail on his vest and sculpted on accessories. Even a backpack is sculpted on his back! He comes with a blaster rifle which he can hold best in his right hand. It also has a strap that can fit on eithe...

  Yes, I skipped X-Wing Luke Skywalker when I reviewed Kenner Star Wars figures from the first film, with good reason. He wasn't in that outfit a lot in Star Wars. But in The Empire Strikes Back he is (kinda), so he gets attention from me as I cover those figures. Plus he is on an ESB card, so TECHNICALLY he's okay to review under the ESB figures ;) Once again, simple pose and in 5 POA. If you use this figure as Luke, he isn't painted quite accurately to his onscreen look but Kenner originally intended for this figure to be any of the other X-Wing pilots but putting R2-D2's dome on the X-Wing was a sign that kids weren't making this Red Leader or Wedge Antilles. So he is for all intents and purposes a Luke Skywalker action figure. The sculpt and paint are decent. For this to be Luke though the face just doesn't seem to match Tatooine Luke that well. But he conveniently fits in the Kenner X-Wing and that is all he really needs to do. The details on his vest and ...

  If you read my blog you know I am a fan of the Legends EU and prefer it to what Disney has done. But just like Disney making Rogue One, Rebels and the 1st 2 monthly Darth Vader comics, well, Legends has some bad stories to. Characters needlessly being killed off, cringe worthy stories, bad comic books and villains that you just don't fully understand their motivations. So in no particular order, I'll be listing the times Legends screwed things up. 1. Bringing Palpy back to life. Dark Empire was great when it came out for Dark Horse Comics, put them on the map! But bringing back Palpatine was well, bad. It undercut Anakin's redemption and sacrifice. To make matters worse, Han Solo fatally wounds the final clone Palpy with a blaster and Jedi Empatjoyas Brand sacrifices himself as he contains Palpatine's spirit. Tom Veitch from all accounts is a nice guy, but the Dark Empire writer made a boo-boo which was approved by Lucasfilm Licensing. 2. Death of Chewbacca and Anaki...

  I had wanted to do a birthday tribute to the greatest living musician of our time, John Williams, but it would have been rushed. So I felt waiting would be a good approach. While there are talented musicians living today, none have the impact of John Williams. His music is legendary and an added treat to your movie popcorn and beverage. He has given music to so many movies and TV shows, such as Lost In Space, Jaws, ET, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, Jurassic Park, and so many more. But his work on Star Wars is what I and many people admire the most. The themes are all legendary, across the 6 Lucas Films and yes, his music was one of the bright spots of the Disney Trilogy. Picking themes he has done for Star Wars is hard to do, but I'll do it anyway. For the 9 Star Wars films he has done I'll pick 9 themes, but there are rules. The main theme, for instance is not included. It is epic, awesome, chills go up my spine, but it's too obvious to...

  This past Wednesday Hasbro had their 1st Fan event of the year. While the VC has been the primary focus on the last several events, the Black Series won this round, but there was a big win for the Vintage Collection, as something will be offered that fans have wanted for a long time. Or short  time depending on your point of view. The Black Series Archives has been a great addition by Hasbro in repacking hard to find or expensive secondary market figures and giving them photo real head sculpts to make them different. The latest 4 additions are no exception! Dengar, Skiff Guard Lando, C-3PO (from ANH) and the one, the only, Palpy! The Gaming Greats Black Series line gets a new exclusive, the Nightbrother Archer from Jedi Fallen Order. Coming in the near future to the Archive line will be Grand Moff Tarkin, Chewbacca (ANH), Leia as Boushh and Old Man Han as we get a rare sequel trilogy figure. All will have updated photo real head sculpts which is something that collectors a...

  Unlike the 1st 2 figures from The Empire Strikes Back, we finally get a figure of a main character in the outfit they are in for a majority of the film. Also like many Kenner figures of this era, she is not accurately portrayed as she was on screen, but this is one of the better Kenner figures of Primcess Leia Organa. She has the standard 5 POA, and still comes with the same blaster as her previous figure. However this time she is in her cold weather gear from Hoth, and as I pointed out that it isn't accurate to how she looks onscreen, this outfit and color scheme are replicated in Marvel's modern Star Wars monthly series. So, this figure in a way serves a purpose for modern times. But there are improvements over the previous Kenner version of Leia. The details in the clothing stand out the most. Unlike the previous "skirt" Leia wears, here she is in an outfit conducive to action sequences. And of course she is in this outfit for a majority of the film (with modific...

  25 years ago, George Lucas and 20th Century Fox brought back the original Star Wars Trilogy back into theaters for the 20th anniversary of Star Wars. It also served a double purpose: Lucas wanted to use this as not only a chance to add scenes he wanted to back in the original releases, but also to finance the 3 prequels he was writing and casting at the time. For many, this was their first chance to see the original films on the big screen. For me, I had only seen Return of the Jedi in movie theaters in its original run. But to see all of them in theaters was a treat worth waiting for! I can remember when I first saw the Special Edition Trailer. I was seeing Star Trek First Contact, and suddenly there it was! The rumors I had heard were true! Thankfully First Contact was a wonderful movie, but I was ready for late January of 1997! My parents had been divorced for a long time, and my mother made me promise to wait a week to see it since she wanted to be the one to take me, and my ...