Happy 20th Anniversary Star Wars POTF2.

[Werewolf]

It's had to believe it's been 20 years now since those muscle bound figures first hit the toy shelves back in 95. When I heard Kenner was going to release new SW figures I was beyond excited.

They get a lot of well deserved criticism for their super hero proportions. But to be totally fair to them, everything was EXTREME in mid 90s and they really didn't look out of place hanging on the pegs with the other figures available at the time. They were also so much better then the Just Toys Bendy figures I had been collecting. Other than Leia, which is inexcusably bad, the rest reminded me of how the characters looked in the early Marvel SW Comics. They did start to tone down the proportions fairly quickly and by 98 we were getting totally non steroid figures like Blast shield Luke and the new likeness Leia .

Before the scalping and hoarding hit, the toys were also a blast to collect. New sculpts of popular characters like Luke, Obi Wan, Chewie, Darth, R2, etc. in classic 3 3/4 inch Kenner scale. Plus classic vehicles based on original Kenner tooling with updated paint and decals. Toy departments filled with Classic trilogy as far as the eye could see. Kenner SW had returned. There were some obvious miss steps like the hideous first Leia and not being able to fit both the bulky Han and Chewie in the Falcon cockpit. But I still have a lot of affection and nostalgia for the POTF2 era and had a good time collecting them.

[rche]

I recall having a great time picking these up at my local grocery store. Good times, and I enjoyed rekindling my Star Wars passions up until it became impossible to find certain green cards. I was also super excited to see the 12" figures and finally have a Kenner Tuskin Raider in that scale.

I recently unearthed all of my early red cards as we had a water leak in my storage area and I had to salvage some boxes. I was surprised at how much fun I had going through these figures again. They also brought back the excitement of the mail-away offer fr me with the Fruit Loops Han and Fritos Kenobi.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Wow, if that don't make you feel old, nothing will!!!

Chris

[ovenmitt]

Hard to believe it's been 20 years! I was excited, too but letdown by muscular Luke and monkey face bow-legged Leia! The rest were ok. Vader and Chewbacca were a little too muscular and Han was preposed. Thing got better. POTF2 figures were also $5 eack a lot for 3.75" figure in 1995! That's why 1999 Episode 1 figures did not sell for $7 with the Comtech chips!

Smaller Star Wars figures have never looked like the actors, a problem SW Black 6" figures are having! Sideshow and Hot Toys 12" SW are WAY TOO EXPENSIVE!

Now Hasbro 3.75" SW are $10 each and Black 6" $20! How much will Episode 7 figures cost?

[acrovader]

I remember all the scalpers that were in full force back then. You could almost never find these on the store shelves.

[Hedji]

Anyone feeling nostalgic my want to check my 12" figure For Sale thread . /Shameless plug

[huedell]

re: This thread. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

[Nostalgiabuff]

yeah, it was great having SW figures on shelves again and trying to track them down. I remember I used to hit the toys stores on Tuesdays on my way home from work because that was when the shelves were restocked, at least at Caldors, LOL, how is that for a blast from the past? I got rid of most of that stuff, mostly to my son when he was little, but I still have all of the original red carded figures, including the grossly oversized light sabers

[cjefferys]

20 years?? Just what I need, yet another reason to feel old. I remember seeing them in stores, never bought any though, I thankfully stayed away from all the hype and scalping on what are now basically worthless toys.

[huedell]

I remember seeing them in stores, never bought any though, I thankfully stayed away from all the hype and scalping on what are now basically worthless toys.

It wasn't "the hype & scalping" that got me back then---it was the nostalgia of being able to buy Star Wars figures new in the store again. I stopped collecting the toys in 1999 because... I guess... Phantom Menace rubbed me the wrong way...

And, now that the 6-inch scale Black Series is out, and now that I even got into the Kenner-style jumbos by Gentle Giant, I can actually thank the Phantom Menace's release for stopping me from collecting about 12 more years of toys that I would've seen as "worthless"---not "worthless" in the marketplace (altho that may be a coincidental truism), but "worthless" to me, just as a collector.

As, with the 6-inch scale Black Series thriving the way it is, I am more than happy to finally abandon the 4-inch scale for the more striking, exciting (IMHO) 6-inch scale---and with the 12-inch GG's and all the great Kenner vintage stuff still available on Ebay, my thirst for that vintage nostalgia can still be quenched too.

That said, POTF2 and modern action figure SW collecting in the 4-inch scale was integral to my SW fandom at one point (from 1995-1999), and sometimes I find it ironic that the sculpts of the characters got so much better from the 1990's into the 2000's up til now, yet the only figures I purchased in a 12 year span might've been limited to Jango Fett, Obi-Wan (to display with Fett), and Yarna.

Cheers to POTF2!

[Werewolf]

I bought one of each and opened everything. I was never of the mindset that the toys would ever be worth anything. I was just enjoying having new SW toys to collect and I don't regret a bit of it. The vehicles are still amazing.

I did get frustrated by how heavily scalped the figures became as the line progressed. Like, people were hoarding Princess Leia as Jabba's Prisoner by the case. It was ridiculous.

I did get burned out for a bit by the Phantom Menace glut of 99. It's kinda weird to think PM nearly killed SW at retail twice now.

[Werewolf]

The POTF era also had great toy commercials. Like this one narrated by Mark Hamill.

[dumbldor]

There was scalping and hoarding from the onset.

[jwyblejr]

I remember all of the variation madness from the line.

[enyawd72]

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.