Rebel. Jedi. Action Figure.
Force Visions is an ongoing series of articles celebrating the greatest visual artists to work in the Star Wars universe.
With a brief like that, there’s only ever going to be one place to start. Ladies and gentlemen, I present the Star Wars art of Ralph McQuarrie.
Aah, Lego. The perennial building toy was a staple of Star Wars toy collections for years thanks to all of us GFFA-crazy kids making our own MOC versions of George Lucas’ ships and characters. These creations were a popular hobby among Star Wars fans and often ended up being featured in fan magazines from the time.
But nothing compares to the real thing – which was why the launch of Star Wars Lego in 1999 was such a huge event for both Lego enthusiasts and Star Wars fans.
You wouldn’t have blamed Kenner for sticking with the simple sculpts, wild colours, and telescoping lightsabers that helped make the 1978 Star Wars toy line such a huge success. Yet for 1980’s The Empire Strikes Back, the company instead re-doubled its efforts and focused on creating the best Star Wars action figures possible.
The Retro Collection Luke Skywalker (Bespin) – based on the vintage figure first released in 1980 – is a perfect example of this action figure evolution in action…
Reviewing a figure as classic as the original Kenner Darth Vader (which the Retro Collection Darth Vader basically is) is more or less futile.
After all, this is the action figure equivalent of reviewing A New Hope or The Empire Strikes Back. Many of you out there have at least one vintage Darth Vader in your collection and know exactly how you feel about the figure.
More than any other review, this is just a question of my own subjective view. And to set the scene for that we need to go back to the 1980s, to a time when Star Wars meant… Brierleys.