Kenner Star Wars R2-D2

 

Welcome to my thirteenth year hear at The Toy Box. This year, things are going to be a bit different. While posts will continue to come at you every Monday, they won't always be ones focused on cataloging toy lines. In fact, for the most part, they won't be. Rather, I'll be looking at the items in my personal collection, focusing on one particular item at a time.

The format will stray from that of a straight up review, instead focusing on my own personal perspective on item. If it was something I had as a child, I'll share some personal fond memories. Or if it's something I acquired as an adult, I speak to what drew me to it.

I'd like to incorporate some of my own personal artwork, such as the piece you see to the left of this paragraph. The purpose is for nothing more than the fun of it, and the designs of each piece will be in a way that's a homage of sorts to the actual toy.

Everything launches today with a look at R2-D2 from the vintage Star Wars Kenner line.

I was four years old when I got my first Star Wars figures, and R2-D2 was not among them. Sadly, I don't know when I got my original R2 unit, but I know I had one. In fact, looking back on the entire vintage collection, I actually had all but three figures from the entire 1979 - 1985 line. The only ones I was missing were Luke Skywalker (in Stromtrooper Disguise), R2-D2 with Pop-Up Lightsaber and Yak Face. The latter of which I would have never even known about, since it was never released in the USA. Whenever it came to be in my assortyment of toys, I know that from that point on I played with it a lot.

While I don't have any memories directly about this figure, I will say that one of the things that meant a lot to me then, and still means a lot to me know, is how my mother knew all of the figure's names. 

Even now, I sometimes get into conversations with her, and sit back with smile as she starts prattling off the various names of what she calls, "The Star Wars People." I don't know what it is that makes me so happy about this. I guess it just really means a lot to me that my mom cared enough about what I was interest in as a kid to make sure she knew what I was talking about.

Even my sister, who is seven years older than I am, loves to remind me of what I would do as a kid. I would sit across from her with my Star Wars Darth Vader carrying case, pull out a figure and hold it up, waiting for her to tell me who it was. Though I don't think she necessarily remember who any of them are at this point. Maybe I should load up a case and go over to her place and test her.

As time went by, my original R2-D2 eventually got up sized to the sensor scope version released in The Empire Strikes Back waves. However, by the time I got one, it was well past the time to have a replacement. The dome on my original was chipping, and the sticker all but gone from around its body. Overall, it was in pretty bad shape.

I kept all of my original toys until around 1990 / 1991, when we moved from Oregon to Virginia. It was at this point that I was starting high school, and decided it was time for me to be done with them. Yes, it was one of the stupidest decisions I have ever made in life. But, I suppose many of us did.

It wouldn't be until September of 2016 that I would start collecting toys again. At first, I only wanted to collect a couple of the main characters from various toy lines to display on a shelf above my computer. This started with the vintage Masters of the Universe line, which quickly spiraled out of control. One figure turned into two, turned into six turned into all of them.

However, it wouldn't be until December of 2017 that I would turn my attention back to the original toy line I played with as a kid. R2-D2, as seen in these photos, would become this sixth figure in the original wave of Kenner's Star Wars toys that I would add to my collection. I spent hours pouring over ebay listings, looking for just the right one. Star Wars figures were expensive, and if I was going to do this, I was going to do it right. 100% complete, 100% no repro, and while note necessarily mint, in an affordable condition meeting the first two requirements that I could be happy with. Overall, I did alright for myself.

Despite being the sixth figure in the series that I bought, R2-D2 is displayed as the first Star Wars figure on my shelf, leading off into the entire vintage line in all its displayed glory. I can, and have, lost a lot of time just sitting or standing in front of the various shelves of figures, drifting off into memories, smiling at great times from the past, while yearning for the hear and now to just slow down a bit so that I can enjoy being a kid for one more moment.

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