Top 10 BEST Vintage Star Wars Figures 1978 to 1985
In 1978, first wave of 12 Star Wars figures were distributed by Kenner and they instantly became the hottest toys in the stores. From 1978 through 1985, Kenner released around 100 different figures and sold millions of them, making a fortune for Kenner and George Lucas. Although they weren't the first 3 3/4 inch action figures on the market, they certainly helped to make that the standard scale well into the next decade. Kids, including me, loved these toys! Here is my list of THE TOP 10 Vintage Star Wars figures:
#10: Lando Calrissian in his Skiff Guard Disguise from Return of the Jedi. He came with a weird, intriguing weapon and an awesome helmet. Then when you took the helmet off, the guy underneath still looked cool. This figure has kind of a Samari vibe to me. It didn't make the list because of anything Lando Calrissian did in the movie Return of the Jedi. It made the list solely based on how the cool figure looked.
#09: R2-D2 With Sensorscope from The Empire Strikes Back. R2-D2 was already great, but adding the sensorscope made him even better! He played more of a supporting role as an action figure, so he's not higher up on the list, but he's still great!
#08: The Emperor's Royal Guard from Return of the Jedi. These guys showed up in the movie basically as set decoration. They didn't really do much of anything. However, they looked AWESOME and they made great action figures! Plus, they came with a very cool spear-like weapon. They probably had amazing ninja skills...all the cool guys in the 80s had amazing ninja skills.
#07: Darth Vader. Vader should have been a lot closer to the top of this list if we're just talking about the character. However, since we're talking about the action figures, he's lower on the list because I didn't think the figure was as cool as it could have been. I still love the figure, but he seems kind of scrawny. Once you lost the vinyl cape, his arms and legs were just too thin. Plus, he had that telescoping light saber gimmick that prevented him from using his right had for anything else. It was still a good figure of a great character, but if the figure had been better, this one would have come a lot closer to topping the list.
#06: Chewbacca! This lovable Wookie has to be on the list. He was kind of like a cross between Han Solo's best friend and an overprotective dog. How can you not want an action figure of that guy? He was the only rebel action figure to remain unchanged for all three movies, so you basically only had to buy one Chewbacca and you were set! Plus, he may have had the best gun of any Star Wars figure...despite the fact that it was completely missing the crossbow part from the movie. Unfortunately, I lost mine pretty early on, so my Chewbacca didn't have a gun for most of the years that I was playing with these figures.
#05: Biker Scout from Return of the Jedi. By the time Return of the Jedi came out, I was still into Star Wars figures, but not as obsessively as I had been in earlier years. However, the Biker Scout was definitely an exception. This was probably my favorite figure from the third movie. I loved the speeder bike scene in the movie, I loved the speeder bikes themselves, and I thought the outfit for the Biker Scouts was amazingly cool. I also thought the unique design of their guns was intriguing. I still have the little catalog that came with one of the vehicles. I had circled the Biker Scout and the speeder bike and written "LOTS" next to them. I guess I'd given that booklet to my parents shortly before a birthday or Christmas in hopes that they would help me build my Biker Scout gang! Unfortunately, I've only ever had one of these figures, but I distinctly remember as a kid wanting to army build yet another Imperial Troop! It may be a surprise to some people that a character like this is as high as #5 on my list, but what can I say, I think this design rad!
#04: Han Solo Bespin Outfit from The Empire Strikes Back. Han Solo was the cool guy in Star Wars. Everyone knew that. He may not have been your favorite, but you still knew he was the cool guy. He was one of the main characters that you needed to have in action figure form and Kenner knew this. Between 1978 and 1984, Kenner released several different versions of Han Solo. My favorite was the one in the Bespin Outfit. I liked it better than the original version because the original Han that weird bent arm. I loved the Hoth version, but it didn't really have the edginess of Han Solo to me. An argument could be made for the Trench Coat version from Return of the Jedi. That was a cool figure too. But I didn't like the head sculpt as much as Bespin Han, plus I had several more years of play with the Empire version. The Return of the Jedi came out a few years too late to be around for the years when I was most into Star Wars figures. The Bespin version just looked the most like the cool guy from the movies and went on the most adventures with me, so it comes in at #4.
#03: The Stormtroopers from Star Wars. I remember even as a kid, I thought these guys looked awesome! I wanted an army of them (I had 4 of them, but that was close enough!) I thought they looked cool in the movie and I thought they looked cool as action figures. To this day, I still love the standard issue Storm Troopers! As cool as the Biker Scout, Hoth Stormtroopers, and AT-AT Drivers were, none of them were as iconic as the basic Stormtrooper. Also, if you were a kid and could only have one, the basic Stormtrooper could take the place of any of the others if needed. They didn't need a back story; they didn't need to develop as characters. I just thought having an army of these guys to go up against the rebels was the best adventure ever!
Also, this figure's relatively generic looks makes him a decent stand in for the first movie Luke or the Dagobah Luke in addition to the Bespin Luke, so if you're only going to have one Luke (and you've got to have at least one Luke), for me, this would be the best choice. In terms of standing up to the rigors of play, the majority of this figure is unpainted because a large percentage of his outfit was the color of the plastic. Even when the paint becomes worn away from playing with the figure, he still looks good.
Lastly, this version of Luke came with both a gun AND a light saber, so he was well armed. And unlike the telescoping lightstaber on the first figure, any of the other figures can use THIS lightsaber. Luke was one of the main characters of the Star Wars franchise and this for me, this was the best and most versatile Luke figure from the original line. How can you top this guy?
With #01: Boba Fett! It probably doesn't come as any surprise to anyone that Boba Fett is at the top
of this list. Growing up, all the kids I knew thought he was the coolest bad guy in the Star Wars universe. I know that his first appearance was in the Holiday Special, and yeah, that thing was terrible. However, the cartoon part of the Holiday Special (The part that included Boba Fett) was actually pretty cool. Regardless, my first memories of Boba Fett were from the Kenner Mail Away offer and the figure itself. Even knowing nothing about this guy, he just looks awesome! You didn't have to see the movie to come to a few conclusions about Boba Fett. For example, we know just from inspecting the figure that he has a wrist rocket on his left arm and a missile launcher on his back. His clothes aren't as tailored as the other Imperial forces and his armor is mismatched colors. All of this gives him kind of a disheveled, rogue look. The figure seems to have an "I don't care what you think" kind of attitude. Even before seeing Empire Strikes Back, I thought this guy was awesome. After seeing the movie and watching Darth Vader make a special note to tell Boba Fett not to disintegrate Han Solo, (I mean, you have to tell this guy not to disintegrate someone or that's exactly what he'll do), I thought he was even COOLER! Even though he was kind of bumbling in Return of the Jedi, he did get to use that jet pack, so that was awesome! Boba Fett: Still #1!There you have it: My TOP 10 list of Vintage Star Wars figures! How does my Top 10 list compare with yours? What did I leave out? What SHOULD I have left out? Tell us in the comments!
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