Star Wars Follies: Return of the Jedi STICKS
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
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RetroBlasting looks back at Kenner's vintage Return of the Jedi toy series, and it seems the venerable Star Wars line traded excitement for accuracy this time around...
#RetroBlasting #ReturnoftheJedi #sticks
![SNES Longplay [152] Super Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back](/img/n.gif)
Back in the day you could write to Kenner and tell them you lost your weapons and they would send a handful of weapons, not specific ones but a blaster is a blaster.
Really I did not know that
Honestly I love that ROTJ included background figures and to be fair a lot of Jabba's Denizens wielded vibro weapons (axes, force pikes, etc)
True, although the only Jabba denizen figures that actually used staffs in the film were Weequay, Barada and Skiff Klatu. I find it weird that Kenner never decided to give any other Jabba denizens the Palace Blaster, unlike many of the staffs, I can recall several times where the denizens use the Palace Blaster. Figures like Nikto, Klatu, Yak face and/or even Bib Fortuna should’ve had the Palace Blaster.
@@jacksprofessionalproductio9403 I have to wonder if there was some kind of actual "no guns" memo going around at the time. Those types of moral panics tend to surface periodically.
thankyou for mentioning the Sherwood forest, as my brother had one!
Toothpicks. Green, red or blue markers. Boom, replacement lightsabers.
Mike Sadowski we always used the colored tooth picks.they fit right in
i favored the those colored swords that delis put in club sandwiches.
whart about yellow?
Q-tips used to have transparent blue plastic handles. Those were my favorite
@@pathevermore3683 yep, the cocktail swords!
See I remember how magical it was when the ROTJ line came out(I was 7). I loved all my Kenner toys, those were special times...
I think your videos are very entertaining
As a child of the 80s now 40, I’m sure we had many of the same experiences! You guys seem to really enjoy making these videos...Thanks for the entertainment and time travel 👍🏻😉
I am Swedish and born -73. We had your experiences too and other. God damn! In the 90s I wanted to purchase VHS copies of White House Ronald Reagan. This of course was before youtube.
I too love these throwbacks :-)
General Madine carried a Star Wars version of a traditional military "swagger stick" A symbol of authority originating in the British Army.
hanscombe72 we know that as adults, but as kids, it was a little weak.
Goes back to the Romans, they called it a fasces lictoriae.
Adm. Ackbar also carried one. In other shows, Cmdr. Caine in the 1978 Battlestar Galactica, and Capt. Styles of the USS Excelsior in Star Trek III had their own versions of the swagger stick, ditto G. I. Joe's Sgt. Slaughter.
Currently have one coming on the way 😁
Selfie stick...
There's always that question "Which was your favorite Star Wars figure?" And maybe my al-time favorite was Darth Vader or Bespin Han, but probably the one I admired the most as a kid based on design and sculpting was Squidhead. He had a cool cape, a belt, and why not, what the hell....a skirt! AND....A GUN! Squidhead may not be the greatest character ever in the movies but Kenner really put a lot into that guy for just being a background character.
C-3PO with 1978-79 artwork is my favourite one. The most beautiful of them all. Warm, soft, red and yellow. Bspin Luke comes second but it has to be that attacking posture on it.
Greedo. My mom only got my Star Wars figures when they went on sale. Greedo was my guy.
I would say luke stormtrooper, i had the Palitoy death star and with Luke Stormtrooper the play value was awesome. Oh and R2D2 love that figure
When have you ever seen a royal guard use anything other than a staff?
The guards at Buckingham Palace are armed with SA-80 assault rifles.
@@white-dragon4424 They're not loaded, though.
@zombislayer876 He said "a royal guard". He didn't say anything about them having to be fictional. And they will be loaded, only their safety switches will be on, because those troops aren't just for show. They serve the same function as the Marines who protect the president of the US, who's arms will also be loaded and on safety.
Rancor Keeper should have came with a lunchbox too, or maybe a cheeseburger
or a tissue to catch all those tears 😂
Ugnaught box has a use now!
So, this is something that I recall VERY clearly.
In 1982, my family and I were in Germany, military bases didn't get everything -- or nearly enough of everything -- kids wanted at the PX. So, if a neighbor got the Millenium Falcon, it was likely there weren't too many more on the shelves waiting for us. But Star Wars toys were the far and away king of toys - until GI Joe. It was a battle for our attention. We didn't have the cartoon, but we got these ultra-poseable, realistic (for the time) figures -- but I stayed true to Star Wars.
Flash forward to 1985, my family returns to the states. Satanic Panic is getting into full swing - moms are forming groups against music, television, and busybodies in general are making things suck for kids.
The reason, I think for the reduction in tiny guns with the figures was the parents groups pushing petitions for toy gun legislation, and Kenner was trying to ESRB their way out of potential fracas with moms' groups.
colored toothpicks inserted into light saber figures' hands, or with tin foil on the end to simulate a hilt always worked for me. Or, cocktail swords, worked too. As for guns, GI Joe and SGT Rock to the rescue.
The Ewok Village has a special place in my heart as my first ever Star Wars toy, but now I'm going to have to look for that Sherwood Forest set!
That playset was awesome in play value.
Still awesome! Re-watching all of the SW Follies. Seen them at least x5 times each!!! Keep up the great work M&M!
At least you can populate the 77' cantina...
Hmmmmm.....a second release of the Death Star playset mold would have been a clever reuse for the ROTJ line. Using the same elevator for both, the top could still have been a canon platform. The light bridge chasm level and bridge level could have been revised to create the throne room with the gantry above. Instead of the sliding bridge, it could have been turned into a collapsing catwalk for when Vader threw his saber at Luke and collapsed the structure. One of the computer consoles could be removed from the mold for a hole to mount a new throne for the Emperor. For the trash compactor level, it probably should have had the two supports remolded to form a small docking bay entrance so the ISP-6 could be flown in and landed for a mini reception for Vader. Then the ROTJ set could be set up next to the original Death Star with elevators side by side to create a larger playset.
Another great video! And yes, the "stick" accessories for the figures were very easy to lose. I lost Wicket the Ewok's spear, and had to replace it with a TOOTHPICK, ha ha!
I was ten years old when ROTJ came out and I didn't mind the axes, staves and other medieval weapons. It just meant that I could play with the toys outside of the confines of the Star Wars universe.
The addition of the opening and closing parts with Cobra Commander is great!
Jedi is the bomb!!!
i can't argue with that!
my fav star wars movie
It's fantastic.
Speaking as someone born a bit over ten years after you: I can totally see why the prevalence of stick-accessory-only action figures in the original RotJ toy line would have been really disappointing. I was always disappointed when I got POTF2-line figures that only had a polearm of some sort, but at least a lot of the ones that came with sticks also came with blasters. The balance of stick-only versus stick-and-blaster seems to have shifted even further in the past two decades. I honestly can't think of any that didn't come with both or with just a blaster.
I really liked Amanaman's staff to be honest. Very unique.
With all of the skulls on it, it looks like something he borrowed from the PREDATOR.
the toys are awesome from return of the jedi
Hahaha. HAHAHA.
They look it.
I never noticed at the time. Biker Scout and Jedi Luke had movie accurate guns. All the others were sticks.
Sure, if you ignore the AT-ST driver, B-Wing pilot, Endor Rebel soldier, Han Solo in trench coat, Nien Nunb, Leia in poncho, A-Wing pilot, General Calrissian, Luke in poncho...
All the others would have had nothing if they were movie accurate. Sticks are okay.
I wish I never grew up. . .
This special edition rocks! Always a pleasure clicking into one of your videos RB.
When I was a kid, I shifted my investment portfolio to lean heavier into G.I. Joe than Star Wars in the 80s, but I enjoyed incorporating some of the Star Wars playsets into the Joe universe. Like the Hoth set for use in a Cobra vs. Joe arctic battle. The Ewok village got the most use as the swamp hideout for Zartan and the Dreadnoks. Even after I lost one of the trees in a move, I would just use my cat's scratching post as the third tree for stabilization, and so the base of that post became dry land in the swamp and somewhere for Copperhead to dock the Water Moccasin. Good times.
Speaking of lost weapons I remember GI Joe released a weapons crate that had one of every gun plus some bonus missiles and stuff and they all fit into a weapons crate. They also made those battle stands so you could stand them up without holding them on the carpet. Way to think ahead Hasbro.
If I was ganna keep a Rancor - I would like something more then a stick ....
And yet Luke used a stick to escape its jaws.
Ahhhh, classic SW Follies! Love this episode!
Yeah well the emperor’s royal guards only used spears. They never used guns
I liked cutting down all of Jabba's stick wielders with Luke's light saber.
"...a book about the worst films ever made..."
Remember those innocent, carefree days when the prequel trilogy was only the worst Star Wars we'd seen but the worst Star Wars we could imagine? I miss those days.
Mack Bonham Rey is bae.
@Andrew Kearney story wise, they’re objectively worse. The prequels have a great story, and if you watch them without dialogue they’re pretty darn good. The sequels story destroys the character of original trilogy heroes and is blatantly unoriginal and messy. The only thing the sequels have over the prequels is dialogue
@Andrew Kearney when Han Solo is a failure deadbeat dad who runs out on his family and somehow looses the millennium falcon. All that character progression from the original trilogy, from smuggler to captain in the rebellion to finally a general in ROTJ, completely gone. When Luke Skywalker is a failed Jedi who completely gives up, is unwilling to train Rey, and just wants to die, as opposed to that farm boy who became a rebel alliance commander and a Jedi that helped destroy the Sith and Empire in ROTJ. He thought about killing Ben after he spent all of ROTJ trying to turn Vader back to the light side, even after Ben, Yoda, and Vader all told him it was impossible. I’d understand if he failed, but he didn’t: Vader turned back to the light. If a mass murderer and horrendous Sith Lord could change, then why would Luke think of killing a teenage kid, his nephew no less? That is a glaring change in Luke’s character, and like Mark Hamill said, it is fundamentally flawed, because the whole point of being a Jedi is that you don’t give up. The sequels turned two of the three great icons of the Original trilogy into failures. Leia was the one exception, as they didn’t really do much to her. The sequels also completely destroyed the impactful ending of Return of the Jedi, as the Jedi did not return, the empire was not destroyed, Han and Leia did not live happily ever after, and basically everything the rebellion did was pointless. The whole point of the story was good vs evil and good winning, and then the sequels come and Disney basically says April Fools, the rebellion didn’t really win or destroy the empire. The story was messy since the Force Awakens when they built a third Death Star and made Kylo Ren follow Vader’s path despite the fact Vader turned from the dark side. Why the heck didn’t Anakin’s force ghost appear to him? I’m not saying the Prequels are perfect, but they don’t destroy original trilogy characters, they complete them and the story more fully. Learning about Anakin being the chosen one makes ROTJ more impactful, as you see that he does destroy the Sith when he destroys Palpatine. Knowing how Palpatine got power, how the Jedi were destroyed, and so much more were great ideas, they filled in the lore of Star Wars, and they don’t contradict anything on the level the sequels do, and I disagree that a story is good regardless if it has continuity or not. Continuity is what makes the Marvel MCU superior to the X men cinematic universe. Continuity is what makes the story believable, and the Sequels destroy it. Aside from destroying ROTJ’s ending, they say the Sith are not destroyed. Suddenly you can track people through hyperspace, use hyperspace to go through ships (why not just do that through the Death Stars), force users can literally appear wherever they want and communicate and fight in visions, force ghosts can interact with matter (Yoda destroying the tree), and the list goes on. The rules of the Force, light speed, and everything else are completely and utterly disrespected. Also, Rey’s journey as a Jedi makes zero sense. Luke is powerful. Luke also gets his butt handed to him and looses a hand. Anakin is the most powerful Jedi of all. He also looses a hand facing a Sith with the help of his master. Both of them had training before this. Rey has no training and somehow manages to beat Kylo Ren, a trained Sith, not once, but twice without a scratch. I’m not saying she had to loose a hand, but she should have at least struggled. I’m not saying the Prequels are beautifully directed or that the characters are the best, but they at least preserve continuity and present a believable story, not a rehash of the original trilogy with a poor stand in for Luke Skywalker.
@Andrew Kearney firstly, it doesn’t matter why Luke did it, he still did it, and it was extremely out of character. The point of being a Jedi is that you learn not to do things out of fear. And why would he be that afraid when Vader literally proved that no one was that far gone? It is so out of character for Luke to act in such a way. Sure, he’s acted out of fear of loosing people, like Han and Leia in ESB, but he’s never tried to harm someone out of fear. He spends the whole ROTJ avoiding Darth Vader because he doesn’t want to kill him. The idea that Luke does that to Ben out of fear is a horrendous attempt to make Ben relatable.
Secondly, the Old Republic was decaying from within and the Jedi Order was decaying, that is true, but it fell because a Sith Lord orchestrated a civil war to take it over. In the sequels, the movies never explained where the first order came from, and how they became so powerful. In the original trilogy we know the Empire is the Empire, and that’s enough because it’s the first set of movies and we don’t need to know everything, and in the prequels, it explains the separatist faction and the republic, and we see how the republic became the empire. There is no explanation for the first order, and this is a problem because the empire fell in ROTJ, so where did it come from? And why is it the Resistance fighting and not the whole New Republic?
Thirdly, while I understand the people in the new republic could be just as stupid as people in the old republic, would they really be stupid enough to let the first order grow unnoticed? After destroying an empire, are they literally not going to notice a new one forming under their nose? And for the record, I’m not opposed to there being a first order, they just need to explain this stuff in the movies and explain how the first order rose to power. The clone wars are well explained in the prequels. The first order and resistance are not.
Fourthly, Kylo Ren was able to take Finn down quite easily in the Force Awakens, so why not Rey? Rey and Finn had equal amounts of skill with a lightsaber, at exactly 0%, and don’t say the Force, cause she hasn’t had any training at that point. She does beat Kyle in the Last Jedi, as after their duel with Snoke’s guards, she somehow manages to take half the lightsaber from him when they break it over fighting over it. Somehow Kylo is unconscious and she is not. She has more control over her Force abilities than a Sith Apprentice/Lord. I don’t count TROS because she had training by then.
Fourthly, you’re right, Marvel does have plot holes, but the rules of the universe are always respected, and that’s what matters most. The sequel trilogy not only has narrative plot holes, but plot holes in it’s logic. I really don’t know how to process what you said about how the made up science isn’t what Star Wars is about, because it is. Star Wars is Jedi and Sith and the Force and light speed and all this stuff. It’s what makes Star Wars unique from other science fantasy movies. Sure, it’s about the characters as well, but the characters aren’t everything, the world they inhabit is a good portion as well. So while I agree sometimes narrative plot holes are not too distracting, plot holes in the rules and logic of the world certainly are. If you’re watching a movie that’s supposed to be realistic, or non-science fiction/fantasy, and people start floating for no reason, wii ok update you be bothered by that? I’d hope so, because those are not the rules of our universe. When I watch TLJ, and ships can blast through others with light speed, ships can be tracked through light speed, force users can project and battle through projections only, and Force ghosts can interact with the universe, then that bothers me, because that’s not how Star Wars physics and rules work. These plot holes are distracting because they do not make sense and comprise major parts of the story.
Fifthly, Rey is a stand in for Luke, because this trilogy, at least the first two movies, do closely mirror the first two OT movies. You’re telling me they couldn’t come up with something better than a third Death Star? Rey is the same idea. Both lonely teens living a pretty boring life, dreaming of the stars, until they find a droid with information vital to the destruction of the Empire/First Order, both meet close mentor/father figures (Ben/Han) who try to show them the ropes,m and who sacrifice themselves to a Sith Lord to save them, and both travel to find a long lost Jedi master to rekindle the Jedi. Honestly, most of that doesn’t bother me, it’s just the fact that Luke was the last of the Jedi and the only one who could destroy the Sith, and he does, but then the sequel trilogy basically says,”yeah, actually Luke failed, he didn’t redound the Jedi, so now Rey is gonna do the same thing.” In 10 years they’ll probably make another set of movies where Rey fails at recounting the Jedi and someone else is the last of the Jedi. It’s not that they’re both Jedi that makes them the same: it’s that they both are supposedly the last Jedi that has to bring the Jedi back. The empire is in control, the rebels are rebelling, and the Jedi have to return. Same thing.
Sixthly, I don’t care what the EU has to say about force projections. I shouldn’t have to read a book or play a game or something to understand the movie. If a movie doesn’t explain itself then it’s a poor movie.
Seventhly, I think it’s safe to assume considering Kylo Ren seems unaware that Anakin turned good again at the end. Obi Wan didn’t appear to Vader because he thought Vader to be a lost cause. He told Luke Vader was to far gone to turn back. I find it hard to believe that this teenage boy is running away trying to emulate Darth Vader and Anakin, Obi-Wan, and Yoda do nothing.
Eithtly, Han did run out, because instead of trying to reach Ben after all this goes down, he just leaves. TFA was not his first chance, he could have gone to Ben anytime, long before Ben ever reached Snoke or the First Order. Han and Luke both just gave up, making the whole sequel trilogy their fault. I’m sorry, I just think Han and Luke both had plenty of opportunities before TFA to do something, but they didn’t, which brings us to our last point.
Point nine, I agree characters need to have flaws to be interesting, hence why I don’t like Rey. However, Han and Luke were flawed. Han is a depressed, lonely guy whose life is a smuggler, who lives dangerously without much concern for stability or building a good life. He just cares about his debt, himself, and money (and Chewie/falcon). He meets an old Jedi and a young farm boy, and gradually he changes. He starts caring about more than just himself and money. He comes back to blow up the Death Star when the odds are against him living through it. He becomes a captain in the alliance and sticks around with them until he’s put in carbonite, even going so far as to protect the leader of the alliance who thinks he’s a scoundrel. Then, after he’s rescued, instead of retiring, like he could have, he becomes a general and leads the strike on the shield generator. This selfish, shell of a man goes from a smuggler to a decorated general and from a selfish idiot to a caring man. Luke starts off as a naive farm boy, always dreaming of adventure and excitement, full of fear and anger, and gets to be part of the alliance. He blows up the first Death Star. Then he becomes a rebel commander and trains with Yoda, until he faces Darth Vader: and loses. Miserably. That’s where that naive farm boy starts to understand the dark side and confront the darkness. Then he keeps training and becomes a Jedi master, culminating when he defeats Darth Vader and resists Darth Sidious. Even then he’s not perfect: he only wins cause Vader saves him. These characters were always flawed, but the story was about ten overcoming their flaws, but the sequel trilogy just takes them and acts like all that character development never happened and that Han is still just a selfish smuggler and Luke a naive idiot who is not a true Jedi. The Han and Luke at the end of ROTJ would not have given up because Luke had a nightmare about Ben killing people. The sequel trilogy didn’t give these characters flaws, it made them flawed characters by stripping away all their character growth and making them failures.
Lastly, you are free to like whatever you want obviously. But what you like can be bad, and the sequels are bad. They seem like good movies, but once you know about Star Wars, you realize that they completely and utterly disrespect the rules of the Star Wars universe and the characters that inhabit it. The sequel trilogy is a poor imitation of what the original trilogy is. You can like it, and I obviously do not care, but the sequels can in no way be as good movies as the originals because of how problematic they are, and at least the prequels didn’t disrespect rules or characters.
Every Star Wars Follies is so rewatchable.
My Ewok Village parts were almost all lost during a move from IL to PA. All I had leave was a tree trunk.
I love RB--your love has reignited my love for toy/comic book collecting…thank you :)
And the irony is that Jedi was made with toys more in mind than the other two films!
lol General Madine. Sadly when I moved to PA in late 85, he was the only one left most of the times other than Weequay or the Rancor Keeper, at most stores down here. I call that time the General Madine Famine.
When I was 6, back in 82’. Got my Death Star at a yard sale from some teenage girls in my neighbourhood in Chicago suburbs.
Do you still have it?
Empire was and is my favourite as well. I remember seeing Jedi at the movies when it was released in 83, but Empire always fascinated me!
As a kid I was GLAD they shook things up with the accessories of the ROTJ toys. I never saw them as "sticks". I just liked that they were different. And the variety alone set them apart from the weapons of the first two movie toylines. No complaints here, but then, I was 8 when ROTJ came out, not 5.
Sword fights can be lots of fun too.
Of the many mail-ins they did where you would send 5 proofs of purchase and get a free figure or whatnot, one of the more useful ones was in the ESB era you could get an assortment of accessories. It came with a bunch of different blasters, pistols and rifles, so my figures always had a nice choice of weapons. Not only that, the assortment came with gas masks and backpacks. Those backpacks made the rebel Hoth figures look a lot more complete.
A Death Star II play set would have been awesome! Now the Emperor has more play value!
The Retro Pepsi for good measure no less.
I was 7 when jedi came out and I started collecting figures,all the empire figures were out of stores,so I had to find them at flea markets.when I lost the lightsaber I would color a toothpick with marker.I even made a toy millennium falcon out of cardboard
The smallpox blankets, I’m dying!
what fun, I saw them in the same order as you and in the same way
As awesome as the Death Star (both the original and the second one) are, I have to say I think Cloud City is the most fascinating construct locale in the original trilogy. It’s beautiful and seems at first to be full of life and wondrous vistas, but the moment that the Empire shows up, the red, orange, and yellow colors of the carbon freezing chamber show off this impressive dark side, and the belly of the facility shows off this harsh, industrial nature that is cold, sterile, and just as creepy as any Imperial installation. The Death Star is dark and scary, but Cloud City is devious as hell.
Man I first seen Star Wars in the theater back in 77. I still remember how people booed and hissed when Vader first came on screen. And I had the Ewok village, wish I'd taken better care of it and my other stuff. Ewok village lost/broke pieces and I ended up setting it on fire.
Yep, the ROTJ figures mostly had sticks which were lost within the first 5 minuets after getting the figure out of the package and to add a bit of salt to the wound, in '83 there was this new action figure line from Hasbro about this elite cadre of US army troops and they had guns! Lots of guns and bazookas!
For what it's worth, I would always give General Madine a gun whenever my brother & I played w/him.
Kudos for properly pronouncing AT-AT
@Hayden Peterman You must be a millennial. Those of us who actually saw Empire in the theaters in the '80s know how to properly pronounce it. We don't just pull f****** s*** out of our asses.
Dude, Melinda is hot
Checking out some of your older content. Great stuff!
Finn: Why doesn't anyone have a blaster?
Me: You summed up the attitude towards the Return of the Jedi toys.
That's true with handing down The Ewoks smallpox-infected blankets like the Europeans did to the Native-Americans but Lucas said The Battle of Endor was mirroring the Vietnam War.
Most of the new Disney movie-based figures have sticks too. And ride vehicles that look like bricks. Sticks and bricks.
The B wing fighter was amazing.
Your channel is the best thing since AVGN made his first video
A couple of points for your consideration: The figures with "sticks" for the most, appeared that way in the movie. Characters who appeared with guns in the movie appeared that way as figures: Jedi Luke, Endor Han and Leia, Biker Scout.
My Ewok village was pallet boards in a backyard tree. I loved the figures but the playsets were always too small. Multi level tables were my spaceship interiors, with lots of styrofoam panels and hallways. :)
Wow, I've watched this a couple of times and I've never read the comments...now that is some vitriol aimed at one dude for his opinion on toy accessories...wow.
Julius Maloney, Wow, are you hyper sensitive or something? I read through these comments to, and everyone seems fine. Perhaps you need thicker skin??
Jamie Braswell
Dude, your comment was 2 years after his, of course in that time the negative comments would be drowned in recent comments, don’t be a dick when you can’t even see the specific comments
Superb, love your sense of humour...you should be on the stage!
Thanks!
There is a Klatoo, a Baradda, and a Nikto?
I resorted to using colored toothpicks to replace the lost lightsabers
Hey keep up the awesome work, your videos helped me get through tough time!
Been watching for a while, and i just got my first 2 Kenner figures today! Bib Fortuna and Jedi Luke in a lot together. Luke doesn't have any accessories and Bib only has his coat, but I've always loved these two characters and i couldn't pass it up for 18.99! I feel like I've finally taken my first step into a larger world 😁 love RB, watch all the time!
Congratulations!
I always loved the Ewoks.
We used cocktail swords as lightsabers
Well, I think this was about the time of the first *huge* backlash against "guns" and "violence" in TV and toys... There was some MAJOR backlash against guns and violence on TV, in cartoons, and in toys, which actually ended up ruining some shows like "The A-Team" in their later seasons, among others. Things perceived to be aimed at kids (like the A-Team and toys) were the first to feel the pressure to "de-gun and de-violence" their products, even when it didn't really make much sense. I think it kinda coincided with what you were talking about in a previous video, about the lazer-tag and Photon type toys drawing the ire of parents and law enforcement or whatever, about the time that video games started supplanting all of it and turning kids into couch potatoes... until ultra-realistic first-person shooter games came along and, thanks to the de-sensitization those games provide, and the isolation and alienation of kids thanks to social media taking the place of interpersonal contact and "real life", turned them into school shooters and such.
SO, it's no wonder that, in that atmosphere, Kenner decided to replace all the blasters and guns with "sticks". The other issue was, "child safety"-- I'm sure there were more than a few of those tiny blasters and guns that ended up being swallowed, or pulled out of noses and ears in doctors offices, and such... SO, I bet there was pressure to go with "larger" objects that were less likely to be swallowed to be difficult to insert into body orifices, and were easier to remove by parents if they WERE...
Later! OL J R :)
Return of the Jedi is the best Star Wars Movie!
The emperors royal guards weapons are pretty cool now knowing how dangerous they really are, but I can agree that as a kid they didn’t look like cool weapons to have for them
7.8/10
I can't believe the director would change that! And the new part is Awful! They wouldn't do that!
Not sure if you're serious or not... the accessories they came with reflected what they had in the movie.
PrincessOzaline But that doesn't make for a reflection of the *film.* Do you recall amazing staff duels and stick fights in Return of the Jedi? No. When Jabba's men had to fight, they mounted machine blasters on railings and used sidearm blasters. We saw Luke deflecting all of these shots both on the smaller skiff and the main sail barge. Watch the scenes and you'll see this as well. "Star" Wars is about fantasy sci-fi action, not sticks and wooden catapults.
Vibro blades! They vibrate!.. And a few of the Jabba's goons do take swings at Luke with their pole arms and I'm sure the Emperor wouldn't give his personal guard pole-arms if they were useless. Oh well just wasn't sure if you were joking or not... cause like the General guy basically was there to do a powerpoint presentation. I've had fun watching your vids anyhow.
There was no such thing as "vibro blades" in 1983. You're drawing from your 1990s expanded universe knowledge to justify what you're seeing. Try unlearning that and pretend you're a kid in 1983. Those poles had no effects applied to them and we could not rationalize how they could be suitable weapons in the Star Wars saga.
*****
Well the Sand People used Pole Arms in the first movie even though they were also shown carrying rifles... It's clear that in the Star Wars Universe as far back as the first film there were groups other than the Jedi that favored melee weapons. Gamoreans are basically space Orks before Warhmammer 40K came along axes suit them, I am a little younger (born in 84) but I was never disappointed by Star Wars characters having melee weapons.
***** Actually the Vibroblade was first mentioned in "Han Solo at Star's End" written in 1979 and being the Second EU work after the 1978 "splinter of the Mind's Eye" The Han solo books (3 in all) were to explain how Han met Chewie, and what led them to taking a loan from jabba (though remaining in the novel, was a deleted scene in the movie) while "splinter of the mind's eye" was written to be the sequel if Star wars flopped. which is great it didn't because jedi would make less sense with the whole luke leia bit.
but ya less rambling and to the point, Vibroblade first used in 1979 EU not 1990's EU
Taking off the ends of a q-tip and just using the blue stick work good for a temporary lightsaber
Lamest figures?!
Heck no!
Those are some of the best.
We were so excited when my friend got the Anakin in mail order. We were like 9 and six?
I loved my village
I'll agree with a lot of that, but that Gamorrean Guard battle axe deserves more love. When Han Solo's blaster is getting lost between carpet threads, and that little extension on lightsaber blades is bending so much you just get sick of it and break it off to get it out of the way... Dat Axe Yo... It's sturdy and easy to find in the pile of everything that didn't get sucked up by the vacuum.
6:57 I have this playset. Its awesome. The only gripe I have about it is that it could use more pegs to display more figures.
Why would The Emperor need a gun when he can shot lightning from his fingertips
Why would The Emperor need a cane when he could come with LIGHTNING! :)
PrimusVsUnicron
The emperor didn’t have a cane. He should’ve come with lightning bolt things.
I lucked out and got the Sherwood Forest play-set. Sadly I lost every single accessory. But while I had it it worked well for my Ewok village.
Great job on the come back! I love this video.
hor douvre "swords" with the hand guard removed replaced all my original light sabers, even the 77 ones, you just had to get dad to trim it to fit in the saber hilt.
I loved this play set. I also had the Death Star. But I also had some kinda Ewok battle tank. Haha. Who’s idea was that? It had a battering ram though... that was cool. I disagree with almost everything in this video, but it was still a cool throw back. Cheers.
You are referring to Ewok Battle Wagon. Nice!
I remember this as a kid and you are totally right about the lame stone age weapons. My guess is that they were taking heat from the PMRC about "violence" and "guns" and wanted to cast their nets to the largest possible market. We had neighbors whose kids were not allowed to play with toy guns due to religious beliefs but they were allowed to have Ewoks and other figures that had the sticks!
You do know that the characters with the "sticks" and "axes" actually do use those weapons in the movie so it is accurate but it would be cool if they maybe included blasters too like the clone wars series of figures had
Biker scout, Luke Jedi, Han Solo trench coat, rebel commando ,poncho Leia and Luke all had blasters, maybe some others but I know what you mean....a lot of sticks in there.
EVEN BETTER THAN THE ORIGINAL
Great job again you guys
The Return Of The Jedi Imperial Royal Guard is cool though
Definitely. My second favorite ROTJ figure after the Gammorean Guard
OMGGG do you have any idea how funny you are... Your very dry and funny... I love it... Your videos are awesome buddy...
Yea. How deceitful of Luke to do what he did to the poor ewoks. More noble to sacrifice yourself. I suppose.
Now Bib Fortuna showed up with the staff his Kenner toy came with.
to be fair that's what the royal guard had
There is a gun on the front of the Speeder Bikes as well as the trooper having a gun.
That’s what bugged my about Jedi figures as a kid, most came with sticks! I remember the Biker Scout had a sweet blaster though !
Great vid, especially loved the Hall of Justice segment.
I don't ever recall having a hard time finding Empire figures during the release of or upcoming release of Return of the Jedi. Now Star Wars carded were a b@itch to find when Empire was released.
I don't mind the accessories at all w/ the Jedi line. As a kid I recreated Luke mowing down Jabba's henchmen in the Sarlacc battle. I even included denizens of Jabba's court in the battle. Sorry Ree Yees, you're a skiff guard now. What sucks are the the damn skiffs from the POTF line were released way late and no barge - blah!
What was cool about the first figures for the Jedi line (for me) was my local Kmart released the figures before the movie hit the theater. I believe I picked up Bib Fortuna, Ree Yees and Squid Head that day. Going off the carded profiles - thought it was another cantina sequence in the movie. And remember the brushed out Ewoks on the cardback???
Good times!
So freakin educational!
The Friar Tuck figure from Robin Hood also used the Gamorrean Guard body from Jedi. Anakin Skywalker had to be the worst figure from the original line.
magnumrex He was more for the adult collector oddly
Nick Manzo
Really odd since back in the day, toy companies didn’t cater to collectors.
Oh man. You are into Vintage Star wars stuff AND you have a Delorean??? Ok, you are officially the coolest nerd on UA-cam. I wish you lived next door to me...