Hot Toys DX24 & DX25 Bespin Luke Skywalker (Regular and Exclusive versions)

[asgardianboy]

This alone is worth inventing time travel for. There were still a few ROTJ figures knocking around when I was a kid, but Star Wars had mostly been replaced with Turtles and WWF figures at that point. I envy those that got to live through this period and experience the joy of seeing the shelves stacked with Kenner SW figures.

I was too small for ANH/ESB, but by ROTJ's time I could already go to toy stores & understand what was there & I never saw anything remotely like that on those pics. Looks like pics taken by some supervisor right after taking all the goods off the bulk shippers..... That's why I asked about provenance....

Never had much of what I ever asked for in terms of toys, & man.... the moment I saw those pics, my heart rate went through the roof. A parsec later, I am like "geee.... all that plastic..... WHERE THE HELL IS IT NOW??".

And there has to be something about that damned Kenner packaging style..... it still screams ADVENTURE & ELEGANCE, doesn't it?

 

[asgardianboy]

It was really something standing in front of those massive inventories of Kenner Star Wars as a kid. It was so cool to stare but also frustrating because I literally and desperately wanted all of it. Probably explains my free spending now that a have decent income as an adult.

Yeap. It must be some post-traumatic thing. Same here.

 

[asgardianboy]

My experience was very similar to yours, I always really looked forward to Christmas and Birthdays because I knew I would get at least some of the Star Wars stuff I wanted. And I also remember religiously and very thoroughly going through the Sears and JCPenny Christmas catalogs.

Unfortunately almost none of my childhood Kenner stuff survived. Me and my friends played heavily with most of it and eventually we abused it when I got older and stopped caring. I think my Mom gave away most of what survived to one of her friend's children.

When I got back into collecting Star Wars again as an adult I thought about trying to re-collect the old Kenner stuff but decided the prospect was too daunting. I did manage to find and buy back an unused and perfect condition ROTJ lunch box from ebay that I had in elementary school.

View attachment 573318

Man.... those Christmas catalogs...... drooling over them for weeks.....

 

[jedijim3002]

My experience was very similar to yours, I always really looked forward to Christmas and Birthdays because I knew I would get at least some of the Star Wars stuff I wanted. And I also remember religiously and very thoroughly going through the Sears and JCPenny Christmas catalogs.

Unfortunately almost none of my childhood Kenner stuff survived. Me and my friends played heavily with most of it and eventually we abused it when I got older and stopped caring. I think my Mom gave away most of what survived to one of her friend's children.

When I got back into collecting Star Wars again as an adult I thought about trying to re-collect the old Kenner stuff but decided the prospect was too daunting. I did manage to find and buy back an unused and perfect condition ROTJ lunch box from ebay that I had in elementary school.

View attachment 573318

I had this exact same lunch box in 4th grade. Wow. The memories rushing back now. I also had an E.T. lunch box as well.

 

[dukefett]

My experience was very similar to yours, I always really looked forward to Christmas and Birthdays because I knew I would get at least some of the Star Wars stuff I wanted. And I also remember religiously and very thoroughly going through the Sears and JCPenny Christmas catalogs.

Unfortunately almost none of my childhood Kenner stuff survived. Me and my friends played heavily with most of it and eventually we abused it when I got older and stopped caring. I think my Mom gave away most of what survived to one of her friend's children.

When I got back into collecting Star Wars again as an adult I thought about trying to re-collect the old Kenner stuff but decided the prospect was too daunting. I did manage to find and buy back an unused and perfect condition ROTJ lunch box from ebay that I had in elementary school.

View attachment 573318

Man.... those Christmas catalogs...... drooling over them for weeks.....

https://christmas.musetechnical.com/
Someone showed this site to me, it has Sears, JC Penny, and Montgomery Ward catalogs going back to the 40's! Great stuff and fun to look through everything.

 

[choombaz]

What in the what now

 

[Dave_W]

I would stare at these pages for hours. Nostalgia really is a strong SOB.

 

[choombaz]

I’ve never seen such impressive catalogs. The Australian ones are pathetic in comparison.

I spent a lot of time drooling over these ones looking at all the things I couldn’t get at the time anyway …

 

[TaliBane]

Yeah, I have every one of those mini-catalogs, plus I have a computer files folder titled "Kenner" with my (pretty large) collection of toy store images, Kenner catalog pages, product photography etc. I love that stuff. I do think it's fascinating people went into toy stores and took photos of the SW aisle back in the day.

I recall my local toy store owner was setting aside carded examples of Kenner SW saying they'd be worth big money one day - I thought he was nuts (to be fair, I was a kid and just played with those figs.) He was a cool guy who liked SW figs as much as we did - the previous owner yelled at me for trying to bring back for exchange my Kenner 3PO fig because the gold plating was almost non-existent on the back side of the fig.

 

[choombaz]

This talk reminds me of an altercation around grade 3 (age 8) where a teacher had to mediate who owned a Boba Fett action figure in the playground, I think I got ownership in the end lol.

 

[DakRen]

They made the Hoth transport back then!? Wow I never realized they went that deep.

 

[Dave_W]

They made the Hoth transport back then!? Wow I never realized they went that deep.

Yeah, I had that back in the day. Used it to keep all my figures in. I never had Slave I, but I had Boba Fett so I used to take it to my cousins house and play with his Slave I all the time. Looking at that page the SW stuff looks so grey and lifeless compared to the TMNT and Ghostbusters stuff.

 

[Prime Clone]

Curious this isn't up for preorder on Popcultcha yet, but the more recently announced Episode II figs are.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

Curious this isn't up for preorder on Popcultcha yet, but the more recently announced Episode II figs are.

Yes.
noticed the same.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

I’ve never seen such impressive catalogs. The Australian ones are pathetic in comparison.

I spent a lot of time drooling over these ones looking at all the things I couldn’t get at the time anyway …

View attachment 573388

The Toyworld catalogues back in the day were pretty awesome,as were the Walton's ones.
I used to help Dad deliver pamphlets as a kid to earn pocket money.
All types of Franchises etc.
Toyworld was one of them.
Pocket money went straight back to Toy World to buy Kenner figures.
I remember the last time I went there,99c for ROTJ figures!!!

 

[choombaz]

The Toyworld catalogues back in the day were pretty awesome,as were the Walton's ones.
I used to help Dad deliver pamphlets as a kid to earn pocket money.
All types of Franchises etc.
Toyworld was one of them.
Pocket money went straight back to Toy World to buy Kenner figures.
I remember the last time I went there,99c for ROTJ figures!!!

God you’ve reminded me I used to ride my bike 5km just to get figures from the local Toyworld.

 

[Darth_Z]

Aussie collectors - are you waiting for this to appear on Popcultcha - or are you ordering elsewhere? If so, where?

 

[choombaz]

Aussie collectors - are you waiting for this to appear on Popcultcha - or are you ordering elsewhere? If so, where?

I don’t preorder anymore but if I did …

https://www.toysbuyingagent.com/pro...strikes-back-1-6-luke-skywalker-bespin-deluxe

 

[Lordscum]

I'm old enough to remember Kenner Power Droid as the ultimate pre-ESB peg warmer (in an era that didn't have many peg warmers, though Lobot was too) and yet here I am currently building a 1/6 screen accurate version of... the sandcrawler gonk that's in the Kenner Power droid artwork. How times change... but not.

Starlog (whose main columnist Gerrold was a bit anti-SW by the way), Fantastic Films, Famous Monsters, Cinefantasique... I re-bought most of my favorite issues and they are brilliant, so much fun to read the conjecture.

I remember walking into my local JC Penny Back in 81 and they had something like 50 Hoth Han Solos peg warming.

 

[ObiGlennKenobi]

Aussie collectors - are you waiting for this to appear on Popcultcha - or are you ordering elsewhere? If so, where?

I've stopped.preordering also.
Toysbuyingagent is the best!!!