Star Wars Retro Collection: 10 of First 12

 I've only acquired ten of the first twelve Kenner Star Wars figures released again in Hasbro's Retro Collection, but this post will cover the first twelve figures released by Kenner in 1978 - the remaining two I actually have vintage samples of. I had every one of these figures as a child, and though I sold off or gifted them all since, I've had fun rediscovering them as an adult. There were a lot of complaints about how Hasbro's Retro Collection were distributed and released, beginning in 2019, but I'm just glad to have a few.

I only recently acquired these three Stormtroopers, all vintage samples. Two are stamped Hong Kong, the other China. According to Perplexity.AI, the Hong Kong are considered among the first production runs of this figure, Chinese Stormtroopers having been produced later as Kenner's outsourcing throughout Asia broadened.

Below, Kenner's original Stormtroopers and Darth Vader with their later 

Power of the Force line Stormtroopers and Darth Vader from 1995...

Kenner's Death Squad Commander was a somewhat odd choice for Keener to include in the original twelve, but he has his own thing going on and fills out the troop lineup nicely....

My vintage Obi-Wan Kenobi can finally do battle with my Retro Darth Vader ...!

I actually have two vintage Obi-Wan Kenobi figures, both outfitted with replica lightsabers, one the coveted telescoping model ...

It's been a while since I've had a 3.75" Princess Leia in my hands! 

She can now load the Death Star plans into R2-D2 while C-3PO looks on ...

Luke Skywalker was a coveted figure in my youth- having a clean Retro Collection sample is fun! The Bespin Luke figure took his place in 1980, followed by Jedi Luke Skywalker in 1983, but Farmboy Luke was my first in 1978!

The Retro Collection Chewbacca and Han Solo look just like I remember them in 1978! You can probably see some putty holding Han's blaster in the picture below- sadly, he cannot hold his weapon at all. Really unfortunate! Regardless, they'll handle Greedo and Walrus Man easily with their smuggler's swagger!

And last, but certainly not last, the Tusken Raider and Jawa, mysterious inhabitants of Tatooine. Both captured my imagination seeing Star Wars for the first time in the '70s!

When returning to collecting actions as an adult several years ago, 3.75" Star Wars figures were oddly not my main point of interest, though they occupied a lot of my play time as a child. But with the 50th anniversary quickly approaching, I was reminded how much Star Wars meant to us '70s kids and it's fun to have this classic lineup once again!

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Star Wars POTF TIE Fighter (1995)

I had a Kenner Darth Vader TIE Fighter in the '80s which had lights and sounds, a feature sadly missing from this 1995 update. The Power of the Force TIE had added sculpt on the wings however- a definite improvement on the decals used on the original ship. You can find these used at relatively reasonable prices. There's a white version of this produced in 2003 as well (like Kenner's original 1979 TIE Fighter), they seem to be more rare.

I kind of had to get a Power of the Force TIE Fighter Pilot to fit in the cockpit and picked up a couple Stormtroopers and a Darth Vader to lord over them while I was at it. I wasn't into collecting in '95, so I never had any of these- they are cheap to acquire. For years I've seen these warming the pegs of reseller's shops- Kenner's production runs on this line must've been enormous.

I don't care much for Darth Vader's clunky plastic cape, and his lightsaber is way too long, but the Power of the Force figure line's "beefed up" styling is most effective on him. The mix of matte and shiny black throughout are nice ...

The Stormtroopers can be a little challenging to stand- I've ordered some bases to display mine. While not the iconic figure from 1978, these figures haver added neck and waist articulation and are far more affordable. While I had no figures from this '90s line and the original line is where I came from, I find these POTF figures charming.

I actually bought this TIE Fighter to display with some of the larger vintage Kenner Star Wars figures in my collection, using this Starship Wall Mount I bought from Galactic Collector on eBay...

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Kenner 12in. Sand Trooper and Jedi Luke Skywalker Customs

For years I've searched for decent samples of Kenner's 12" Star Wars line from the late '70s at prices that aren't ridiculous, which are getting harder to find as time unfurls. Kenner returned to this larger format in the late '90s with a much more deeply expanded selection, but they lacked the charm of the late '70s line. When I found a seller kit-bashing the outfits/accessories of the later figures with the '70s figures, however, my mind was blown! 

This Sand Trooper was otherwise just a very clean sample of the 1978 Kenner Stormtrooper with a customized backpack that utilized magnets to cling to the small screws on the verso of the figure. I could easily convert him back to a standard issue Stormtrooper by finding a blaster like the one they were originally sold with, but I like the orange shoulder pauldron, and Tatooine was probably my favorite setting in the original Star Wars Trilogy- the locale where Luke Skywalker's adventure begins.

The custom Sand Trooper with my 1978 15" Darth Vader ...

From the same seller as the Sand Trooper, I bought this custom Return of the Jedi Luke Skywalker what utilized the outfit from the late '90s figure with the '70s figure body, essentially a Ken doll. In fact, all the human characters from that earlier 12" line were Barbie/Ken dolls with that limited articulation, but the facial portraits on those figures were great, and really reminded you of the Star Wars actors who portrayed those characters.

The seller added their own custom brown cloak, a blaster from a Hot Toys figure, and a custom green lightsaber of the same funky design that the original Kenner figure had. He also painted the hair to be browner, as actor Mark Hamill appeared in Return of the Jedi.

Father and Son ...

And finally, Luke Skywalker, Jedi Knight, with his faithful companions, C-3PO and R2-D2. These kit-bash custom Star Wars figures really set my imagination going, and I'm planning a couple of my own as I write this. I also picked up two or three other kit-bashed figures from this seller, which I'll share in future posts. In the meantime, check out the Toy Collector's Guide on Kenner's 12" Line, 1978-1980!

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