Action Figure Overview: Star Wars - Dengar (Kenner, 1981)
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| Star Wars Dengar action figure (Kenner, 1981) |
Star Wars figures were easily some of my favorite toys as a kid. When The Empire Strikes Back came out, more figures arrived and that meant new characters for my many Star Wars adventures! Looking back, it seems like Kenner may have planned ahead with their Empire Strikes Back action figure releases. They released about eleven figures in 1980, another nine in 1981 and nine more in 1982. Each release had some of the main characters and a few figures for characters who had smaller parts in the movie. Some of those smaller characters made great action figures, others weren't as exciting to me, but the fact that each year included a mix of main and background characters does make me wonder if Kenner had more of a plan this time around.
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| My childhood Dengar from 1981 is still in my collection! |
Even though most of them were only on the screen for a few seconds, the bounty hunters were some of the coolest and most interesting figures to arrive with the new movie. The most famous bounty hunter from the Star Wars Galaxy was obviously Boba Fett. He had been available through a mail-away offer in 1979. The first wave of Empire Strikes Back figures in 1980 included more bounty hunters with IG-88 and Bossk. In the second wave, we only got one new bounty hunter and that was Dengar.
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| My vintage Dengar had many adventures |
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| Just like mine, many Dengar figures' faces have turned a pale yellowish color while others remain more pink |
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| Views of Dengar from all sides |
In addition to brief scene in The Empire Strikes Back, Dengar also appeared in a few of the Marvel Star Wars comic books. He was even featured with Boba Fett and Bossk on the cover of Star Wars issue #42! Even though he was never an A-List figure for me, he's developed his own fan-base and there are some collectors who chase after all of the different packaging variations of this character. I guess when you have a franchise as popular as Star Wars, there's going to be someone out there interested in even the smallest characters and just by nature of being one of the bounty hunters in The Empire Strikes Back, Dengar was bound to have some fans!
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| Dengar appeared in a few Marvel Star Wars comic books |
Did you have a Dengar action figure as a kid? If so, what did you think of him? Tell me in the comments below!
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Heya!
ReplyDeleteI have always Loved My Dengar! Like the other Bounty Hunters, he’s mysterious, he’s intriguing! Not to mention that this Figure for the time is exceptionally detailed and as you mentioned he also has a Hoth Troopers Rifle. I think that Dengar is a Cool Stand Alone Figure because if these elements, but he’s even cooler when he became a part of my Bounty Hunter Collection within my Collection as a whole. This is the one aspect that I don’t think that as some children that we appreciated. Collecting Star Wars Figures was a very modular affair as there are individual Figures that Belong to Groups within the group?
This was richly expanded upon with each new wave or release of a new film. Each Star Wars Figure for me personally, has a singular beauty to them and the associated memories are countless!
Looking at the figures as an adult, I can still remember their tremendous value to me when I was a kid. Even though I had my favorites and some that I didn't play with as much, each one had its place in my adventures and I'm sure that on some days, each one was one of the stars of the day's events!
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