Cantina Adventure Set (Sears Exclusive)

One of the first playsets produced in the Star Wars era was this "Cantina Adventure Set", exclusive to US retailer Sears. The playset itself is pretty basic, but what's of interest to collectors today is the set of four new action figures included with it - Greedo, Walrus Man, Hammerhead, and Snaggle Tooth (sic).

Of course, the first three were all the standard Cantina creatures available on blister cards, but the Snaggle Tooth figure was... different. The story is familiar to most collectors but goes something like this: Kenner received a partial black-and-white photo of the Snaggletooth Cantina alien from Lucasfilm as a reference for the action figure sculpt. However what the photo DIDN'T reveal was the alien's diminutive stature and hairy pawed feet, and the colour of his attire. Kenner guessed that the alien was normal human height and would be wearing boots in the film, and that his costume would be blue... wrong. The blue Snaggle Tooth was produced and included in the first run of this Cantina Adventure Set (exclusive to Sears) and in two-packs of bagged figures, also exclusive to Sears. Some time after the movie came out and Kenner realized that the figure was not at all accurate, the figure was somewhat corrected in its appearance, and the blue Snaggle Tooth never again appeared.

The Cantina Adventure Set box is pretty large, but shallow. 

Original price tag is still on the box - $8.99. Pretty decent deal, as it included four figures that would retail for $2 each more or less... so the consumer pays about a buck extra for the playset itself. Not far off what the production value would have been.

Instruction sheet included, featuring blue Snag in a starring role.

Here's the assembled playset. The cardboard is one piece of cardboard, details are shown in photos below.

Tableau from the box art. I guess the Cantina's "no blasters!" rule didn't apply on the streets of Mos Eisley, as everybody's fully strapped notwithstanding the Stormtrooper in the background.

Copyright notice on the playset cardboard. Interesting to note the "1977" copyright date - as the first twelve action figures weren't even available at retail until 1978! Must've been some legal beagle backdating the image.

Here's the playset card laid out flat. Plastic pegs are slotted into the "floor".

Here's the tab and slot that stand the background upright.

Reverse side of the playset.

I'm glad I was able to add this playset to my collection, but honestly the primary appeal of the item isn't the playset itself, but rather the packaging. The box art is classic Kenner and is just great - while Ron Salvatore (for I'm sure it was he) pronounced the kid on the box front to be the goofiest ever to appear on a Kenner package, at least he's not wearing a turtleneck. I just wish there were more play scenarios illustrated on the box, because I'd love to recreate a few more tableaux with this one.

Aw Hell, here's one more just for fun:

Image courtesy theswca.com

Have fun and stay safe!

"Vintage" Custom Rebel Fleet Trooper

I've got a bit of a soft spot for "custom" vintage figures - you know, those figures that Kenner never made but you would've loved to play with, instead of being stuck with dreck like Prune Face or FX-7. One of the prime examples of this is the iconic Rebel Fleet Trooper (as I call him; he's also known as the Rebel Trooper or Alderaan Consular Guard/Security).

The recipe for this figure is simplicity itself: a vintage Han Trenchcoat body and a POTF2 Rebel Trooper head. That's it! I'll take you through the conversion next, but I have to give props to Trash Compactor Custom Figures who posted this great video.

Anyway, you start with a Han Trenchcoat (left) and Rebel Fleet Trooper (right), Don't worry about the condition of the Han Trench - the beatier the better, as he'll just have his head cut off and be repainted anyway. 

The first thing to do is get a cup of boiling water and immerse the figures. This will soften the plastic and allow you to remove the parts you need to swap.

First of all, gently pull off Han Trench's head, and remove the Rebel Fleet Trooper's helmet. It's held on with glue that softens in the boiling water.

Next, take a sharp X-Acto blade and cut off the Trooper's head. You'll be able to stretch his neck a bit when the plastic is soft. Make sure the bottom of the neck is level by just trimming where necessary. 

The next step is to drill a hole in the bottom of the Trooper's neck to allow it to fit on the peg on the Han Trench body. A pin vice or Dremel will do the trick here.

Once the hole is opened in the Trooper head, just push it onto the peg in the Han Trench body. It might take a bit of tweaking to make sure the hole is the right size - but keep test-fitting, and make sure not to make the hole too big. You should be able to turn the head on the peg. 

At this point, all that's left to do is paint the figure! I use acrylic paints for availability, water-solubility, and ease of cleanup. For the Trooper I mixed a custom blue colour for the shirt, used Games Workshop Mournfang Brown for the belts and Rakarth Flesh for the pants, and painted the buckles with Mithril Silver. The boots and vest were left in their original colour, just touched up where necessary with craft black. Leave the helmet till the painting is done, then push-fit it back on the head.

I bought a reproduction Bespin Blaster for the Trooper, but drilled a hole in the grip just so it won't be mistaken for an original.

Here's my custom lineup - from left to right - Corellian pilot BoShek, Grand Moff Tarkin, Rebel Fleet Trooper, Garindan/Long Snoot, and the easiest of all, Biggs Darklighter. I took the opportunity to get some weapons for the rest of the group too -once again, impossible to mistake for originals as they're the wrong colour :-)

Anyway, that's a bit of fun for an afternoon... I especially have to thank my friend KM who supplied the POTF2 Rebel Fleet Trooper for the swap. Thanks man!

"Battle Damaged" X-Wing Fighter

Continuing the last post's "battle damaged" theme, here is the Battle Damaged X-Wing Fighter. Unfortunately the box is pretty trashed (battle damaged?), but as you'll see, the toy itself is very nice, and the set even includes the cardboard insert. It's a good thing too, as without the insert the box would barely hold itself together without collapsing!

The box side has another nice tableau featuring some of the Hoth rebels, and a picture demonstrating the retractable landing gear.

Another side panel has a cool pic with Bespin Luke, Chewie and the droids.

Demonstration of S-foil deployment and retraction.

As noted above, this toy came with the cardboard insert. I'm always impressed with how cleverly designed these die-cut cardboard pieces were.

Here's how the X-Wing fits into the insert.

Tableau time! Bespin Luke waves a greeting to Chewbacca and the droids. Note the distinct lack of "battle damage" on the ship... I guess the original owner couldn't bring him- or herself to apply those stickers.

Luke popping up the canopy as in the tableau photo. Interesting that all of the tableaux show the X-Wing with S-foils deployed, even though the ship is sitting on the ground.

Here's the "Hoth" tableau, replicated. Nice usage of the Hoth-themed figures that by the Jedi era, had been in general release for awhile.

Close-up of Luke having a wave...

And of the rest seeing him off.

The box front tableau - Luke arrives on Dagobah, greeted by Yoda and the (ghost of?) Ben Kenobi. 

Interesting that while Yoda seems to have a plethora of variations (not only snake colour, but also eye colour, eye shape, etc. etc.), Ben only has three - grey hair, white hair, and double-telescoping saber. I have two out of the three variations in my collection, you can probably guess the one I'm missing :-)

A good look here at the main differences between the Battle Damaged X-Wing and the original - the BD version is cast in grey plastic (as opposed to the white of the original) and its canopy had a noticeable smoke tint, quite different from the clear (or more likely nowadays, yellowed) canopy of the original release ship.

I really enjoyed setting up the tableaux on this one, it seems like some boxed toys featured more "play images" than others and the BD X-Wing certainly does that. I've had this in my collection for awhile but have only just gotten around to featuring it, but despite not owning this toy myself as a child, I think I prefer it to the original, just for the more realistic grey colour and the cool smoked canopy. The battle-damage stickers would just be icing on the cake. An awesome toy all around!

"Battle-Damaged" Imperial TIE Fighter Vehicle

I'm excited to post this vehicle as it just arrived on "Star Wars Day" (4 May) and it's one of the last items needed to complete my run of vintage vehicles and playsets. Also, I love TIE Fighters!

Strange combination of characters here... Vader piloting the TIE Fighter while Lando and Ackbar look on??? Perhaps Vader has defected to the Rebel Alliance along with his ship to collect a reward, like Munir Redfa did in Operation Diamond. We may never know the truth.

Demonstrating the pop-off wings and laser light.

Battle sounds and how to place a figure in the cockpit.

Opening up the box, we remove the cardboard insert housing the three parts of the toy. Note the "slots" on top of the hatch - apart from the blue colour of the ship, this is the only material difference between the battle-damaged TIE Fighter and the first molded-in-white version released in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back packaging. The trademark information molded into the cockpit section is a bit different: "(c) LUCASFILM LTD. 1978 / MADE BY KENNER PROD. / CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202 / CAT. NO. 70990 OR 71392 / PAT. NO. D254,081".

It's really quite clever how this one piece of cardboard securely holds the wings and cockpit section securely in place, as well as keeps the box from collapsing!

The assembled TIE Fighter.

From another angle.

Here are the used sheets from the wing decals. I love that the original owner of the toy hung onto all this stuff!

Original sheet of "battle-damage" stickers. The instruction booklet notes that these are "not removable" once stuck onto the wings so evidently the original owner considered discretion the better part of valour and left them on the sticker sheet.

 

Original instruction booklet and catalog included with the toy.

The best part of the post - recreating the box art. Unfortunately unlike so many other Kenner toys there's only one tableau image on the box of the "Battle-Damaged" TIE Fighter, and it's a bit of a weird one...

The toy was first released in mid-1983 and only in "Return of the Jedi"-branded boxes. It stuck around for about a year before being replaced in the lineup by "Collectors Series" versions of the Darth Vader TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor.

I really like this toy and not just because it's a cool TIE Fighter - it's also one of the most complete examples of vintage Kenner toys in my collection. Everything that came in the box is still here - not just the ship itself, but also the cardboard insert, the used sticker sheets, the instructions, and the unapplied battle damage stickers. A real time capsule!

More Plush! Regal Toy Canada Chewbacca

More plush goodness! This time I'm featuring a rare Regal Toy (Canada) Chewbacca plush toy (at right) in a side-by-side comparison with the Kenner (USA) version (at left).

There's an interesting story about how this Regal Chewie came into my collection. A good friend of mine found a plush Chewbacca she'd been given as a child in the '70s. I wasn't that interested in adding it to my collection as it was missing its bandolier. I advised her to just put it up on Facebook Marketplace. A day or so later a collector friend of mine in Toronto messaged me to say he'd spotted a Regal Toy Chewbacca plush on FB Marketplace right here in Winnipeg - it was my friend's ad! 

Kenner tag at neck

"How do you know it's a Regal?" I asked. He said that the definitive "tell" is that the Kenner version has a tag on the back of the neck, while the Regal version has its tag at the waist. So needless to say, I messaged my friend immediately and picked up this Regal version from her. As noted, it was missing the bandolier but I lucked out and found one on eBay, albeit missing two of the ammo cartridges. I addressed that issue by having a friend 3D-print me some cartridges for display - don't worry, they are a slightly different shade of grey and are marked "Reproduction" on the backs :-)

Regal Toy tag remnant visible at waist

Remnant of Regal Toy waist tag

I love these two guys! The other key differences are that the Regal toy (right) is somewhat taller (1-2") and has a larger, higher forehead. These variations can be tough to judge if you don't see them side by side though - but the one sure sign is the waist tag on the Regal version as opposed to the neck tag on the Kenner.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and stay safe!