Walking Wind-Up R2-D2 (Kenner Canada/Takara)

Remember how I wrote a couple years back that my vintage run was complete? Well, I recently had second thoughts on that... of course, this has to do with the figure above - the infamous wind-up R2-D2 by Takara of Japan, sold briefly here by Kenner Canada.

The wind-up R2 is certainly familiar to collectors and was referenced as far back as 1992 in Steve Sansweet's seminal work, Star Wars: From Concept to Screen to Collectible. Sansweet wrote that the Takara R2 was one of George Lucas's favourite toys, and Lucasfilm ordered them by the thousand as gifts for employees and friends of the company. Lucasfilm pressured Kenner to license it or create their own wind-up R2, but Kenner demurred.

However, according to James McCallum in his book Irwin Toys: The Canadian Star Wars Connection, "Kenner Canada had a strong relationship with Takara of Japan" and "frequently took other products from them for Canada" in association with other toy lines. So it was with the wind-up R2. While in Japan it was sold loose, the figure was packaged for Canada on a bilingual blister card (known sometimes as an "18-back") that looked quite unlike any of the other Kenner cards. It retailed at Consumers Distributing (among other places) for $2.99.

The figure has two applied stickers front and back which are often missing. The name of the maker, Takara, is molded into the bottom of the chassis back, below the sticker. The front chrome details are actually quite impressively done, as shown in the first photo.

The COO "Japan" can be seen molded in block capitals underneath the manufacturer ID. The front bottom bit has an embossing of "(c) GMFGI. 1978".

R2's head rotates but doesn't click like the conventional action figure's. But of course, the real attraction of the figure is the wind-up walking action. Check it out in the video above!

Here's a group shot of the entire R2 range. L to R: Takara wind-up, standard R2, R2 Sensorscope, R2 with pop-up lightsaber. [edit: the ever-helpful Mike F. has pointed out that further R2s do exist, including the Droids, Lily Ledy, and Droid Factory three-legged variants. I have a DF R2 that didn't make it to picture day, but to me the Droids R2 is part of the Droids run and the Ledy R2 is a solid-dome variant :-)]

I'm really glad to have a nice example of this Japanese-Canadian figure in my collection, and the way I got him really illustrates the value of friends and community in tracking down rarer pieces like this. In this case, I got to meet some Ontario collectors when I was at Celebration in Chicago earlier this year, and it was in talking to my new buddy Mike F. that I realized that I needed - NEEDED - a wind-up R2 in my collection. Mike had actually brought TWO with him to Chicago but had already sold both, but when he acquired an entire loose run from another collector he suddenly found himself with a spare, which he kindly sold on to me. Cheers Mike!!

Mike also emphasized the importance (and rarity) of the figure being a good walker. Apparently the mechanisms wear out and are prone to damage from overwinding, so make sure to test before you buy. As you can see from the video, this one walks beautifully.

And with that the loose run REALLY IS COMPLETE. I mean it this time! :-)

Die Cast Series I

Die-cast is a great little niche of the vintage Star Wars toy hobby. There's a limited number of production pieces to collect (only 11 ships were released) and prices for loose examples (and even most carded and boxed ships) remain mostly reasonable - with one notable exception of course :-) And for me, die-cast is a direct connection back to my childhood collection, as I still have all of the pieces I collected back then - albeit some were in need of restoration or repair!

Kenner die-cast toys were released in three Series, or waves, starting in 1978 as shown on the cardback image above. And now, with the completion of my loose die-cast run, I can now post some comprehensive pics of the entire ill-starred Kenner series.

We'll start with Series I - let's dive right in!

The Landspeeder is a marvellous scale reproduction of the movie prop, for sure, but I didn't have one as a child and it never really held much perceived play value for me. Threepio and Luke are fixed in the cockpit and are not removable, so the fact that there were no action figures (or ANY figures) in the same scale really limited play value, I think.

This example is practically in pristine mint condition, and I think cost me $5. It was missing its windshield and this is commonly seen in die-cast 'speeders nowadays. Reproductions are available, but they don't come close to original quality - mine is a filler (marked "R" on one of the tabs) until I can find an original.

Bottom view shows the rolling wheels, though the toy wasn't suspended on springs like the larger Landspeeder. "1978" copyright date marks the Landspeeder as part of the first wave of die-cast vehicles.

Now this is more like it - the TIE Fighter. I got this one back in the late '70s and it is a bit of a sad story... living in Canada we have our share of very cold weather and we this can make plastic very brittle! Unfortunately for me I took my TIE Fighter to school one cold winter's day, and fell down with it in my pocket... and of course the wing snapped off... 

Anyway, I've fixed it now - looks good externally but I needed to replace the internal wing root fasteners.

Strangely enough the pilot included was none other than Darth Vader! The small Vader is a push-fit to the white plastic plug.

Both wings are identical, with copyright information inscribed on the inside of the wing surface.

Another one I had as a kid was this Darth Vader TIE Fighter, and just like the regular TIE Fighter, the wing connectors had broken, but worse yet I'd actually lost one of the wings!

Fortunately loose wings are easily procured. Note that there are apparently a very small number of DV TIEs that came with "short wings". Mine wasn't one of them!

The pilot capsule is the same as the regular TIE's, albeit in grey plastic to match the metal pod.

Copyright info on the inside of each wing - both are identical.

Finally in Series I we have the X-Wing Fighter, again a piece from my childhood collection. It's a miracle that it survived intact, really - especially that cockpit canopy.

Like the Landspeeder shown above, the X-Wing's canopy is frequently lost or broken. Even the way it connects to the ship fuselage is prone to breakage. The pilot figure in monochromatic orange plastic is not removable.

Fortunately the wing cannons are rubbery and firmly attached to the plastic wings.

The wings themselves extend and lock into the attack position. Unlike the larger X-Wing, you just pull the wings into position with your hands - the "Artoo head" on the fuselage is non-functional.

Copyright info on inside of lower wing. 

So that's Series I of the diecast series - big props go out to www.vintagestarwarsdiecast.co.uk for the cardback photo, and please visit them for more diecast content and history. Stay tuned for more on Series II and III!