Happy 20th Anniversary Star Wars POTF2.

[Werewolf]

I remember all of the variation madness from the line.

When the short sabers were released I upgraded to those. But that was the extent of my interest in variations. I had zero interest in hunting down green cards over orange or every little typo and barcode change.

[Hedji]

I remember how excited I was when Shadows of the Empire came out. It was like a new movie before TPM.
There was a novel, and even a soundtrack.

Best thing about Shadows was the Topps cards set. 100 fully painted cards by the Brothers Hildebrandt. They were bursting with color and style.

The soundtrack by Joel McNeely... meh.

[msenger76]

To this day i can't stand to even smell Fruit Loops thanks to that Han Solo and the ridiculous amount of serial i went through!

I also loved the shadows of the empire n64 game

[draconianguard]

They may be 20 years old, but I'll always refer to them as the new crap

[ovenmitt]

I passed on Shadows of the Empire. I would have liked to have known more of what happened between ESB and ROTJ but I read that Luke acted like a kid again like ANH when you could hear maturity in Luke's voice at end of ESB when he tells Chewnbacca and Lando "May the Force Be With You." Luke had grown from his failure with Vader. Then in Shadows Leia appoints a Han Solo-like BODYGUARD Dash Rendar (?) to protect Luke?!

In ESB Storybook it said Luke KNEW he would have to return to Yoda and complete his Jedi training before even attempting to rescue Han! But in ROTJ Luke returned to Yoda AFTER the rescue! That's how movie had to go I guess resolve one ESB cliffhanger 1st (fate of Han) then other next (Is Vader Luke's father?)

[Vinny0026]

I loved this line when it first came out - I guess it was just great to see them on the pegs again.

and yes right off the bat the scalping began!
I think I paid 50 bucks for a tan vested luke - (can get him now for 5 bucks on e bay)

the endless variations on this series was crazy - and collectors were even more nuts! with the .00 or .01 or .02 on the back of the cards. Oragne cards, green cards, hologram cards - kenner really bent us all over!! and we just kept buying them! at least I did.

I recall getting the rare .00 Tarken, Panda babba and weekquay straight from kenner (Ordered them over the phone)

after leaving them in the bins in the basement as their value just continue to drop - I finally gave them to my son and daughter to rip open and play with them - few hundred figures in 1 shot - they were so happy. They even still play with them.

[acrovader]

You are right about them being worthless. I look back at all what I bought from scalpers and cringe.

[Nostalgiabuff]

I gave most of it to my son when he was younger and he loved them for what they were, toys. I sold a lot more on ebay for pennies on the dollar. even gave some to toys for tots just this past Christmas as I was trying to clear some space in my closet. still have about 2 long comic boxes full of the figures that I wanted to keep for one reason or another

[Werewolf]

I finally gave them to my son and daughter to rip open and play with them - few hundred figures in 1 shot - they were so happy. They even still play with them.

That's awesome. The POTF2 figures are sturdy and well engineered. They make perfect toys for young SW fans.

[ovenmitt]

Yeah, that's the 90s for you like comic books GIMMICKS to get you to buy more! At least POTF2 figures were not individually numbered like Playmates Star Trek! PM Star Trek figures did look like actors, though. Back in '95 I heard Playmates made a bid for Star Wars license and even proposed 9" SW figures which made me sick at first before Kenner went on to make 160+ 12" Star Wars figures!

[ovenmitt]

Just curious- HOW MANY DIFFERENT 3.75" Star Wars action figures have been made since 1995 POTF2? ALL SERIES ALL MOVIES, etc?

[Werewolf]

Just curious- HOW MANY DIFFERENT 3.75" Star Wars action figures have been made since 1995 POTF2? ALL SERIES ALL MOVIES, etc?

Good question. No, Idea. Easily several thousand I would imagine by now. Last time I tried to even remotely "collect them all" was from 95 to 99. After Phantom Menace I started to really pick and choose which figures I'd get and would go for years not getting single figure because of the prequel merchandise glut pushing the original trilogy out of stores.

[Boshek]

I first saw a picture of them in the great Star Wars Galaxy magazine. I was blown away. I hadn't collected much toys then, I was 17 at the time, but this line lead me back to the dark side of collecting.

I remember going to Hills or Ames Department store and seeing the vehicles first-the TIE fighter and Landspeeder. It seemed to take forever for them to come out. I got Obi-Wan at a fair in the fall and finally C-3PO for Christmas.

[ovenmitt]

Hasbro REHASHED 3.75" Star Wars figures SO MUCH- "improved" sculpts, new packaging that I am surprised it took Hasbro until 2013 to start 6" Black Star Wars figures! 3.75" well was dry long before that and Star Wars fans wanted 6" SW since 2002 6" Marvel Legends which Hasbro took over in 2007!

[Werewolf]

Not a big fan of the 6 inch scale personally. I have a few but much prefer the classic 3 3/4 inch scale.

I'm enjoying the Saga Legends and Mission series stuff the most right now. The only figure I picked up out of the recent 3 3/4 inch Black Series assortment is Chewbacca. They finally got the head sculpt and coloring right. Finally a worthy homage to the original Kenner figure in the modern SW line. Would have been perfect on a vintage style card. I really like the Saga Legend/Mission Series but they really dropped the ball on Chewie in that line. Terrible sickly brown plastic color and paint choices. Hopefully they will make a better one.