Il Imperatore.

The sculpt of the vintage ‘The Emperor’ action figure kind of gives me the creeps. Compared to most other vintage Kenner action figures, it’s remarkably detailed. Under normal light and with the naked eye, you don’t really notice it. But turn out the lights and get up in his grill with a magnifying camera lens? […]



a.k.a. Little Big Gun.

The AT-ST. Is it heavy artillery or just a lightweight little bro to the AT-AT? Difficult to say!


The Speeder Has Landed

Buying Notes on the Vintage Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot Check out the current vintage Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot listings here. Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot was a toy sold by Kenner from 1978 to about 1985. So there were (and still are) great numbers in circulation, and a fair number of these are still in excellent […]



Dark Side of the Vader.

I normally don’t do grainy and obscure for these action figure shots, I’m more of the crisp and shimmering guy. But who’s more deserving of this treatment than Darth Vader? Casting him in this light helps to underscore what’s been at stake from the very beginning: Darth Vader is not a Saturday morning, fall-on-his-ass-for-a-gag type […]


Vehicle of Choice.

You know, a lot of ink gets spilled about the significance of the first 12 (or 12-back) Star Wars action figures that hit toy store shelves in the Spring of 1978. But rarely given the same respect are the vehicles that were available at the same time. If you consult the back of a 12-back […]



Paint it Brown.

I seem to recall back in 1980 that the vintage Dengar action figures suffered lengthy stays lingering in retail toy aisles. Alongside his brothers the Lobots and the Bespin Security Guards, Dengar was a peg warmer. First off, nobody knew of him. With his screen time totaling about .08 seconds, one could forgive even an […]


The End.

The End of the Line for those pesky Rebels that is! And, sad is it may be, it’s also the End of this six-part AT-AT exposé. I said at the onset that taking on the whole toy in one shot wasn’t really feasible but of course that only made me feel the challenge that much […]