"All good things must come to an end" This is of course my final Vintage Kenner review, and I wanted to save my favorite Kenner Star Wars figure for the very last one, and on Return of the Jedi's 40th anniversary no less! Christmas 1983 is one of my favorite childhood Christmas's because this figure (which one day a fee years later became a dog's chew toy) was the highlight of my presents that year, along with Chewie, an X-Wing fighter and TIE Fighter. Years later, I would replace that childhood figure a few times as I would get a couple off the secondary market. Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker is hands down my favorite Kenner figure on a lot of levels, and I will cover both versions of this figure here! Jedi Luke 1: Blue lightsaber, snap cloak In the teaser trailer for Return of the Jedi, Luke is seen wielding a blue bladed lightsaber (and in the Revenge of the Jedi trailer as well. Another fun fact was Alec Guiness wasn't a shiny Force Ghost in those trailers...

  On this day 40 years ago, fans of the Star Wars Saga got to see how it ended, and get answers to a lot of questions: Is Vader really Luke's father? Who is the "other" Yoda spoke of? And also: what happens to Han Solo? Well, movie audiences found out! Return of the Jedi was the box office champ of 1983, a year in which other franchises like Jaws & Superman had their 3rd films released. There were even 2, yes, 2 James Bond movies released that year as well! Looking back, 1983 comes close to overtaking 1989 as the best movie year of that great decade known as the 1980's. Well, from a movie fan perspective, anyway! But one reason why I love Return of the Jedi, is because this was the 1st Star Wars movie I ever saw! So this post comes from the heart as I share one of my earliest movie theater memory and go back to 1983... Now before I begin, a couple points to clear up, I will be putting in my opinions into this post. I am not going to bash Disney (it's too easy ...

  When Hasbro announced the new Speeder Bike coming to the Vintage Collection, I was excited, yet also nervous. How much would this cost?! At $45 it's a high price. At the most it should be $30 but eggs are now $5 a dozen (at the time of writing where I live) so there's that. I decided against pre-ordering it since at that price I'd gamble if it became available on shelves. Like the Mandalorian and BOBF versions of Boba Fett and the Dark Troopers have been. And to my surprise, Wal-Mart actually has them! On an unrelated note Target has the Endor Bunker! The only other vehicle coming to the VC this year is the AT-ST and at $90 that is a no go. Besides that's coming in the Summer. With ROTJ's 40th Anniversary days away, I thought now would be the time to review a good new vehicle. Why is it good, and how does it compare to the original Kenner/POTF2 version, please read on to find out! Vintage Speeder Bike Fooled you, didn't I?! Well, the POTF2 version is Kenner...

  Some of you may be wondering why I'm  reviewing Kenner's Endor Leia Organa the weekend after Mother's Day and not on Mother's Day? I mean, I did Endor Han for the Mom's LOL! It just happened that I wanted to do Leia and Luke last, so Han got the call. So this weekend it's Endor Leia! This was a figure I found at clearance back in the late 1980's but lost during a move and I was able to get one in not only good condition but at an excellent price (she had only her blaster and not her Endor gear). So how well does this figure hold up? Let's find out! First of all, there is no variant of this figure that I'm aware of, or could find visually. Like the Boushh Leia, on the card there is a separate bubble for her helmet, and she has on her belt and poncho in the main bubble.  Leia has the 5 basic articulation points, and the sculpt is decent, and the paint apps are well done, but not screen accurate. Her face sculpt isn't bad, and is an improvement ov...

  It took a lot of tries by Kenner to get Han Solo right, and while I have noted the missed opportunities by Kenner since the line started with the little head, then big head Han Solo, to the wrong color hair on Bespin Han, to the "Bull Neck" Carbonite Han, Kenner gets it right for Endor Han! Maybe that was the problem: trying. As Master Yoda says "Do or do not. There is no try!" Kenner went and did it, they made an incredible figure of Han Solo, and this is definitely one you want to own. Now, he is currently available in the Retro Return of the Jedi line, I will try to find some pictures to compare between this and the classic Kenner version. I will not be covering those figures since it was revealed they take away from Vintage Collection and Black Series tooling budgets. That's not to say I'm not grateful for the Retro Mandalorian figures, they got me into it. But, I'm done collecting them, and honestly, with some rare exceptions the Kenner ones look ...

  The villains in Star Wars are often very memorable onscreen. But in a movie series, we get one of the best onscreen villains in Darth Vader. But the stakes go higher for Return of the Jedi! We saw the Emperor briefly in The Empire Strikes Back, but in Return of the Jedi, he makes a physical appearance, based off his look in the 1980 version (voiced by Clive Revell, and portrayed by an older woman wearing a mask) to being portrayed by Ian McDiarmid (and in all his film appearances after ROTJ). I mean, the Emperor made Darth Vader look forgiving, for crying out loud! But the Emperor wasn't alone. His red robed Royal Guard accompanied him to the second Death Star. Kenner would make both of these into action figures, with the Emperor coming near the end of the line. Emperor's Royal Guard Honestly, while they don't have a lot of screen time, the Royal Guard made for an incredible figure! As a matter of fact it looks so good, you could even use them for POTF2 and beyond for any...

  As we get closer to the actual anniversary of Return of the Jedi, I am at the final spot for non-main characters who get action figures. This post covers the Rebels and Imperial Endor action figures, which have a large Rebel presence, and a minimal Imperial one. Some of these figures are among my favorites in the Kenner line! The alien figures, troop builders, they're all here! Galactic Empire AT-ST Driver There really isn't much about this figure, really. He's a very basic figure, and if you had the Kenner AT-ST you only needed one figure to drive it as the cockpit was big enough for one figure. He has the 5 basic articulation points, can hold his blaster decently and fits in his vehicle. That's all you need him for. If you don't have the AT-ST then you don't need this figure at all. But there is great detail in the sculpt  especially the helmet and the goggles are dark, just as they are in the movie. Some of these drivers are seen in the scene where the Em...

  May the 4th is Star Wars Day. I mean, it's a fun play on "may the Force be with you". This is a day created by fans, for the fans of Star Wars. Fans take on many different levels. There are casual fans, dedicated fans, and the hardcore fans. And yes, collectors are fans, often they are in the hardcore category. Since this is the day of Star Wars fans, I want to give a rundown on the categories, and what they mean not only for past success of the Star Wars franchise, bit also its future success. Casual fans of Star Wars will be the ones who buy movie tickets. They find aspects of it interesting, like special effects, story, or they heard an actor or actress they like is in the movie. Casual fans played an important role when Star Wars first came out in 1977. They told their friends about the movie, and then it would become the highest grossing film of all time. Casual fans may also tune into the current Disney Plus shows, maybe not all the time, but just to "catch u...