EMPIRE ESSENTIALS

KENNER INSPIRED

During Toy Fair in February, while everyone was going crazy over the Baby Yoda reveals, the most exciting Star Wars reveal I saw was the 40th Anniversary Star Wars Black Series figures in retro Kenner-style packaging.

The initial wave of nine consists of some rereleased figures (Han, Lando, and Luke) utilizing their new photo-real face painting. The new faces are nothing short of stunning. Han and Leia have never looked better in figure form. I’m hoping they utilize this technology on some of their older releases. (Jyn Erso is desparately in need of a revamp.)

The standout of the line has to be the generic Hoth Rebel Trooper. He comes with a ton of accessories (goggles, face mask, scarf, rifles, etc.) and a different face in his backpack letting you have multiple figure combinations from one singular figure. This figure is an army builder’s dream.

Similar to the retro New Hope figures which were released in 2017, I fully expect these figures to be huge hits and sell out quickly. —LV

BIG-TIME STAR WARS FAN JASE GIVES US HIS TOP 5 FIGURES FROM THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

BESPIN HAN SOLO One of my all-time favorite Star Wars action figures, Han was the original good guy with a chip on his shoulder and he always got shit done. Pew Pew!

BOBA FETT One of the baddest bounty hunters in the galaxy who only showed up in ESB for about 6 and a half minutes. Not only was his armor the coolest, but he was actually working with Vader.

YODA Such a great little green figure: the robe, cane, and orange snake. Grandmaster Yoda was the OG Jedi pimp. It even has the little lamp he pilfered from R2 on his utility belt. There were two versions of him: bright green and dark green with a bright orange snake and brown snake. I had the former. If you were lucky, you had the Dagobah set and Luke’s X-Wing to recreate the classic “Training of a Jedi” scenes.

2-1B I really liked the color and “see-through” body of this guy. He wasn’t a pivotal character but regardeless he was pretty cool in the Kenner action figure universe. However, we could really use him and FX-7 right now during this pandemic.

CLOUD CAR PILOT 5-year-old me really liked this guy for some reason and if you blinked while watching ESB, you might have missed him. It was 1981 and day-glo was coming into its own, and I must have liked those bright accent colors of orange and yellow on his helmet, gloves, and boots.