As I am in my early 40s, it is not surprising that I grew up loving Star Wars. Not only did I grow up loving Star Wars, I never grew out of it! I had tons of the figures as a kid and would continue to collect them over the years, ranging from the 90s Power of the Force stuff to the amazingly detailed Star Wars Vintage Collection that Hasbro has now.
While I love the Star Wars Vintage Collection and how detailed these small 3 ¾ inch figures are, it was the retro, Kenner style packaging that got me hooked on collecting and if you ask my wife, hoarding these figures. Then just a few years ago, Hasbro did something crazy, they introduced the Star Wars Retro Collection!
The Vintage Collection are on retro packaging, but are 100 percent modern action figures. The Star Wars Retro Collection are based on the iconic designs of the figures in the 70s and 80s! The first series was based on the original Star Wars figures that you would expect such as Luke, Han, Chewie, and Darth Vader. However, Hasbro did something really cool and made a retro style Grand Moff Tarkin figure, that you had to buy with a board game, but the fact they did this was awesome!
Hasbro would eventually release an Empire Strikes Back series of Star Wars Retro Collection figures that I went all in with and then I was patiently awaiting the Return of the Jedi series, but they never came. Ok, they did come eventually and were part of the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi, but Hasbro threw a real curveball at us with the Retro Collection.
Series 3 would be based around The Mandalorian! Now, The Mandalorian is amazing, but it had no action figures back in 1977 so how can they use old molds to make these figures? Well, they made all brand new ones! They made these figures to look like they would have looked had they been released in the late 70s and early 80s. I know some people are not keen on this, but I thought it was so cool. After The Mandalorian, we still did not get Return of the Jedi right away as the series after this was based around the Obi-Wan Kenobi TV show.
As much as I love the Start Wars Retro Collection, for me, these figures have one big flaw and that flaw is the giant ugly “RETRO” sticker that is on the packaging. I am an in package/box collector and they stick out like a sore thumb. You can remove the sticker (my method is always lighter fluid) however, it is very tricky to do and if you mess it up like I did with my Luke from A New Hope, you will destroy the card! I really wish that Hasbro would ditch this sticker, but I do not think they will. The reason for this is that there are some Star Wars collectors who hate the Retro Collection! Some people feel like it devalues the old figures, which to me is crazy, there is no way you can pass off a Retro Collection figure as an original 70s or 80s one!
My top three figures so far in the Star Wars Retro Collection are,
Boba Fett
Biker Scout
Grand Moff Tarkin
I would love to read what your favorite figures are and your thoughts on the line.