Kenner Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear)

With winter just around the corner, I figure now’s as good a time as any to profile a figure from Hoth, my favorite Star Wars environment. I’ve spoken before as to why I have such a fascination with the setting, which is why I sometimes worry if I give a figure like this one special treatment, but he is a good figure in my eyes. I don’t think the Hoth Rebels are as iconic as other Star Wars army builders, but that doesn’t hold this figure back, and there’s something to be appreciated from his simplicity.

As a sculpt, he’s very detailed, but a bit chunkier than most other Kenner figures. I suppose it could be assumed that his uniform is bulkier than usual, which would make sense and be a nice touch in ways. He has a fairly good amount of paint for a vintage figure, with details like the badge on his chest painted, the strap on his goggles and his belt around his waist. It’s very detailed looking in comparison to most of the figures from years prior, and even a few others from 1980. I’m personally a little more fond of Hoth Luke and Han, but this guy’s still a good looking figure, and it’d be a shame for anyone collecting the vintage guys to not have a few of him.

Kenner C-3PO

Goldenrod here seems like one of those must have figures for a Kenner collection, although he’s sadly more frustrating to acquire than other main-cast members. Still, him and R2-D2 have been present in almost any major Star Wars story, and I’d go ahead and say both are the most iconic sci-fi characters ever created. If you’re gonna collect these things, you have to have these two.

Like the Deathstar Droid, C-3PO is entirely chromed. This means most samples of the figure you encounter will have loose joints and some distracting scratches. It’s a frustrating thing, though I’m glad Kenner did chrome him rather than just cast him in yellow plastic or some such, as the figure has such a luster he really stands out in a collection. The sculpt on this one is also sharp and very accurate for a Kenner figure. As characters, I prefer R2-D2 of the droids, but there’s something about C-3PO that makes him uniquely attractive.

Modern Sandtroopers

Taking a look at two different figures today, but with mirage of toys based on this troop, there’s sometime’s not much point in looking at them individually. Then again, there’s also a certain charm to being able to pick one up every now and then for army building rather than having to do all of that at once.

Despite that I don’t have too many of these guys, just two of the Saga Collection version and a pair of the first Vintage Collection figures. I remember when the Vintage Collection one came out, I was very frustrated that it was the only figure I could find from the line, besides ROTS Anakin, Obi-wan, and Clone Troopers. Not a very compelling selection, especially since I cared less for PT stuff at the time.

The Vintage Collection Sandtrooper himself is a fairly cool figure, although he could have been somewhat more. The figure lacks any attempt at weathering and is perfectly clean. This could be appreciated by some, but for me, this figure doesn’t look right without any weathering at all. I also find the older Stormtrooper head/helmet sculpts more attractive than the one this figure sports, though it isn’t terrible. On the bright side, he includes two cool blasters you don’t see too often, and the ball-jointed hips really help this version if you want him posed on a dewback. There’s still more good than bad to this one, though it would’ve been cool to get a few more parts and more paint given the price for TVC figures.

The Saga Collection one is also nice for the differences it has, but like the VC one, it isn’t without flaws. This one features the more traditional t-crotch, which I do like for its more natural standing walking poses. He includes the more standard E-11 Blaster, a thermal detonator, and a vibro lance. I imagine most have plenty of E-11’s, but this isn’t a bad loadout. This one also attempts to do some weathering, but it’s very poor. It just looks like brown smudges, and not much else. As such, I weathered the examples you’ll see below myself.

OTC AT-AT Driver

Another sculpt from quite a few years ago that’s aged well. As one could expect, he doesn’t feature the insane amounts of articulation a newer figure does, but the sculpt for this figure is unhampered by such complexities. For a pilot, the simplicity goes a long way in improving the figure’s overall look.

The AT-AT Driver hasn’t seen many sculpts over the years, the most recent being the Legacy version from 2009. On the surface, that figure would seem more attractive for its added articulation and removable helmet, but those features weaken the definition of the sculpt, making this one far more attractive visually. With the swivel elbows and wrists, this version can do really all the posing he needs.

This version has been sold a lot since he came out in 2006, and can be had cheaply today. To me, this is the kind of figure that makes collecting Star Wars toys fun. It’s an old figure, but it’s satisfying, and that’s what makes it fun to go back and discover.

Kenner Bespin Security Guard

Bespin figures are kind of addictive: the more I get of them, the more I want. It’s an interesting world portrayed in Empire Strikes Back and part of what gives the film an edge over the other two original trilogy movies. The Bespin Guard strikes me as being very memorable in the ESB, being the guys who actually carried Han to the Slave-1.

The original Kenner figure accurately represents their cool uniforms fairly well. He seems to lack the beard the actor on the card featured, coincidentally making him more resemble Charles Bronson. In that way I think that actually makes him cooler, but it’s still kind of odd. The figure comes with the blaster used for most of the other Bespin figures, I feel this one was a bit overused, but fortunately it isn’t a bad gun. He also features an attractive yet fragile gold paint application, I’ve had to repaint it on two of mine, but fortunately the color doesn’t seem hard to match.

It’s also really interesting that Kenner seemingly thought this design was important enough to be worth making again as a second figure, who was black and an entirely different sculpt. I’ll profile him another day, but he definitely adds something to this figure, in the way that it helps both feel individualistic.

Vintage Collection Darth Vader (VC-93)

For me and my collecting, I really just don’t need a ton of any one character. It really depends; certain characters like Luke, Leia and Han wore a bunch of interesting costumes, so that’s different. But characters like Darth Vader who for most of the films looked practically the same, I really only need one good version of.

Naturally, this isn’t the best Darth Vader that will ever be made, nor is it the worst. It’s a good toy that fits my needs as far as Darth Vader goes. His cape is a little on the simple side, and he doesn’t feature an unlit light-saber, but that kind of stuff can easily be overlooked for other reasons. The ball-jointed hips he features adds so much more, and on a figure that needs those dynamic, dueling poses it goes a long way. The sculpt and details are also really good on this one, and that coupled with the articulation is really what made this figure worth getting.

Still though, at the end of the day it’s just another Darth Vader figure among so many. The new Black Series figure looks pretty good from what I’ve seen of it, but with this figure I definitely don’t need it. They’re both good in their own ways, so are some of the older Vaders, but again, one good Darth Vader is all I need. It’s not got anything to do with Darth Vader himself, it’s just that collecting as a hobby gets very dull once you’re in the cycle of buying the same thing over and over again.