Star Wars - Power of the Jedi 12" Legacy Collection (Hasbro)

Power of the Jedi was the line that attempted to mash the Trilogy and Prequels together in one line. While it had some great items, it somewhat failed to blend the two together while at the same time appease fans who weren't necessarily looking to collect every figure out there.

Much like the prior two lines (Power of the Force 2, and Episode I), Power of the Jedi saw a release of 12 inch dolls. Though unlike the prior two lines, the series was confined to very limited releases.

The series ran from 2000 to 2001, and saw no more than eleven items released under the banner.

The first collection released in 2000 was quickly a fan favorite due to the inclusion of nothing but Bounty Hunters. The "Hunters" in the Star Wars universe have always included characters surrounded by mystery and lore that attracts even the most casual Star Wars fan.


4-LOM, Bossk, IG-88

The 2000 assortment was rounded off with two multipacks which weren't all that popular among collectors. By this point, several fans had taken the stance of not wanting to buy multiple versions of the same characters anymore, leaving only the select few of the "100% Club" willing to buy them.


Sith Lords (with Darth Vader and Darth Maul)
Captain Tarpals and Kaadu

Much like the 2000 multipacks, the 2001 wave of "dolls" failed to impress. The Death Star Droid was probably the most unique character to be produced, and as a result sold the best out of all three.


Death Star Droid, Death Star Trooper, Han Solo (in Stormtrooper Disguise)

The 100th 12 inch doll was released during the Power of the Jedi period, and was rather impressive. Yes, it was just another Luke Skywalker rendering, but the amount of gear, accessories, and clothing packed into the box were both impressive in quality and quantity. It also came with a fantastic checklist, something that prior and future toy lines have seriously been lacking.


100th Figure Luke Skywalker

A vehicle two pack of a Speeder Bike with Luke Skywalker in his Endor Poncho was released in 2001. The bike was no different than the prior released version, and the doll was simply redressed from prior Luke Figures.


Speeder Bike with Luke Skywalker

The final 2001 release was the two pack of Luke Skywalker and Yoda. Unlike the prior released dolls, this particular one was released in a tube packaging, giving it a nice 360 degree visual.


Luke Skywalker and Yoda

12 inch dolls still come and go in the Star Wars world, but very infrequently, and without much notice to collectors who are not plugged directly into any form of Hasbro pipeline (be it direct or indirect connection). Sales appear to be hit or miss with them, so we can understand Hasbro's reluctance to commit much to a line of this nature - Especially after the oversaturation that the Power of the Force 2 line produced.

Join us Friday as we continue our Star Wars 35th anniversary celebration with our look at Droids!

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Star Wars - Super Deformed (Hasbro)

With the Power of the Jedi line up of 3 3/4 action figures running strong, Hasbro was eager to continue branching out into further Star Wars based areas. One of these extensions was the Super Deformed, or Palm Talkers.

The concept was designed to look like over exaggerations of each character, making them almost cartoony, a popular art style of this period thanks to several shows running on Cartoon Network, as well as several monthly comic book titles from independent artists.

Each non-posable character had little metal studs at the bottom which when placed in the palm of ones hand would activate sounds and voices from the films.

A total of six Super Deformed characters were released under the Power of the Jedi line; Boba Fett, C-3PO, Chewbacca, Darth Vader, R2-D2, and a Stormtrooper.


When the Revenge of the Sith line was released, Super Deformed characters made a reappearance, now known simply as Super D.

The majority of the eight characters released were simply repacks of the now first series. The only two new figures produced were Darth Maul and Yoda.

The packaging was redesigned to be a carded bubble as opposed to the first figures which were released in mini window boxes.

Much like the Power of the Jedi wave of deforms, the Revenge of the Sith line found little success in the toy isles. Characters like Boba Fett, Darth Vader, and occasionally the droids and Stormtrooper were picked up, but for the most part the majority of the line eventually made its way to the clearance isles.

In a world where there seems to be an overabundance of Star Wars merchandise, it's difficult to gauge which items will rocket into people's collections, and which will die a stagnant death in stores. Unfortunately Super Deformed figures were the latter.

**********BONUS**********

Tomy released similar deformed characters for the Episode I Palm Talkers. They were essentially the same concept, though contained a much more Japanese look and feel to the packaging in hopes of grabbing the attention of the Otaku crowd. Much like the other retail versions, they didn't impress many.



Still, much like anything, Super Deformed Star Wars "figures" have their homes in certain collections where they remain treasures. Due to their lack of collectability, or rather, the desire for them to be collected by the majority of fans, they also offer a great conversation piece for their uniqueness. They weren't bad item’s, they just weren't the next best thing.

Join us Friday as we continue our Star Wars 35th anniversary celebration with our look at Power of the Force 12" Collector's Series!

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Star Wars - Power Of The Jedi (Hasbro)

We're counting down the last nine days to the Star Wars Saga on Blu-Ray and helping to ease the anxiousness by bringing you a look at another series of Star Wars toys.

Hasbro's Power of the Jedi line is probably one of the strongest and best Star Wars toy lines out there. A great effort was put forward to ensure that several background characters from the film got their chance to shine in plastic form.

The series ran from 2000 to early 2002, and saw a total of fifty-eight new (basic) figures between collections one and two.

BASIC FIGURES


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Anakin Skywalker (Mechanic), Aurra Sing (Bounty Hunter), Battle Droid (Boomer Damage), Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi (Jedi Knight)
Chewbacca (Millennium Falcon Mechanic), Darth Maul (Final Duel), Darth Maul (Sith Apprentice), Darth Vader (Dagobah)

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Darth Vader (Emperor's Wrath), Han Solo (Bespin Capture), Han Solo (Death Star Escape), Leia Organa (Bespin Escape)
Leia Organa (General), Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Cold Weather Gear), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi)


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Qui-Gon Jinn (Jedi Training Gear), Qui-Gon Jinn (Mos Espa Disguise), R2-D2 (Naboo Escape), Sandtrooper (Tatooine Patrol)
Biker Scout (Dirty Version), Biker Scout (Clean Version)

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Battle Droid (Security), Bespin Guard (Cloud City Security), Boss Nass (Gungan Sacred Place), Chewbacca (Dejarik Champion)
Coruscant Guard, Eeth Koth, Ellorrs Madak, Fode and Beed (Pod Race Announcers)

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Jar Jar Binks (Tatooine), Jek Porkins (X-Wing Pilot), K-3PO (Echo Base Protocol Droid), Ketwol

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Lando Calrissian (Bespin Escape), Mas Amedda, Mon Calamari (Officer), Obi-Wan Kenobi (Jedi Training Gear)
Plo Koon (Jedi Master), Queen Amidala (Royal Decoy), Queen Amidala (Theed Invasion), R2-Q5 (Imperial Astromech Droid)

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R4-M9, Rebel Trooper (Tantive IV Defender), Sabé (Queen's Decoy), Saesee Tiin (Jedi Master)
Sebulba (Boonta Eve Challenge), Shmi Skywalker, Tessek, Tusken Raider (Desert Sniper)

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Zutton (Snaggletooth),
Bo Shek, Teebo

DELUXE FIGURES

The Power of the Jedi deluxe figures were a perfect example of how deluxe figures should be. They don't need all sorts of nonsense packed in with them to make them deluxe. Just make them relevant to what the figure is, and in the case of the Luke in Bacta Tank, detail, detail, detail. It all paid off in the end as these are some of the best deluxe figures to date.


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Amanaman with Salacious Crumb, Darth Maul with Sith Attack Droid
Luke Skywalker in Echo Base Bacta Tank, Princess Leia with Sail Barge Cannon

SPECIAL EDITION, MULTI PACK AND EXCLUSIVE FIGURES

To celebrate the world of Star Wars figures, Hasbro produced a special edition 300th figure - Boba Fett. It served as a great iconic moment for collectors, while at the same time showed us what kind of quality detail Hasbro was capable of. If anything, it's a shame that all Star Wars figures can't be given the time and attention that this one figure got.

One multi pack was release, but was fairly unpopular with the exception of die hard collectors who absolutely have to have one of each figure.

Wizards of the Coast packed in an exclusive Wookiee - Rorworr with their Invasion of Theed Adventure Game. It was an interesting ploy to get toy collectors interested in the roleplaying game, and failed all fronts.


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Boba Fett (300th Figure), Rorworr
Masters of the Dark Side

25TH ANNIVERSARY AND SNEAK PREVIEW FIGURES

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of A New Hope, Hasbro produced three awesome two packs - Based on famous scenes, or in the Han Solo/Chewbacca pack, an iconic photograph.

They were a bit expensive for what they were, but man was they hot.

To remind everyone that Attack of the Clones was right around the corner (and that new toys would be coming soon), Hasbro followed suit with four new Sneak Preview figures.


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Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa - Swing to Freedom, Han Solo and Chewbacca - Death Star Escape, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Darth Vader - Final Duel


MEGA ACTION FIGURES

The Mega Action figures were anything but Mega. In fact, they were down right cheap. They were slightly larger figures that basically spazzed out when you pushed the buttons on their back, or in the case of the Destroyer Droid, a simple Transformer. Many collectors and fans were glad to see that Hasbro cancelled this small sub line shortly after its initial release.


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Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, Destroyer Droid


VEHICLES

Vehicles still didn't get the respect that they deserved. Rather than putting forth any effort into coming up with new vehicles, Hasbro once again dusted off the molds from vintage vehicles, slapped a new coat of paint on them, and called it a day. The only exception to this is the TIE Bomber which was never released in the vintage line.

Interesting about this release of the vehicles is that each one was an exclusive to a specific store.


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TIE Interceptor (Toys R' Us), B-Wing Fighter (Target), AT-ST (Toys R' Us)
TIE Bomber (Toys R' Us), Snowspeeder (Walmart)


PLAYSETS

The Carbon-Freezing Chamber Playset which was eventually released as a Star Wars Fan Club exclusive actually dates back to the Power of the Force II line where it was initially slated to be released. For whatever unknown reason, it was pulled from production, and didn't see the light of day until the tail end of the Power of the Jedi line.


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Carbon-Freezing Chamber

***BONUS***BONUS***BONUS***

STAR TOURS

When Disney caught site of Star Wars quickly raking in cash hand over fist, they took the opportunity to dust off the ol' Star Tours ride, and re-launch it at what was called Star Wars Disney Weekend. This of course led to a small line of figures, that while carded on the Power of the Jedi cards (with the logo removed from the card), were a Disney exclusive under the guise of Star Tours. Several other Star Wars lines (which we'll get to on later dates) saw the return of Star Tours specific figures.


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G2-41, RX-24 (REX), R3-D3
DL-X2, R4-M9, WEG-1618

Power of the Jedi may have been a relatively small line when compared to later lines, but it certainly had a lot of satisfaction to it in terms of great figures. To this day it is one of the best Star Wars toy lines ever produced.

Join us September 9, 2011 for an in depth look at the massive collection of Star Wars - Saga toys!

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