Star Wars Follies: Lost City In the Clouds - Vintage Kenner
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- Опубліковано 23 сер 2024
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RetroBlasting's latest installment of Star Wars Follies examines Kenner's strange decision to ignore making a playset for Bespin and Cloud City from The Empire Strikes Back. In this vintage Star Wars toy review, we look at what was made in place of Lando Calrissian's Bespin city.
#RetroBlasting #Bespin #CloudCity
"To take something magical and make it tangible" -- Perhaps the best description of toys I've ever heard.
That should be the golden rule of toy making (design/production).
How did Kenner drop the ball on this?! You're right, all they had to do is scale up the Bespin mini figure set and they would have knocked it out of the ball park and my childhood have been even better while my parents' checkbook took more beatings! Talk about a missed opportunity!
Max Brandt They had morons working back then!
No they didn’t. Kenner usually did an awesome job... far better in playability and consistency than what passes for toy lines today.
Yeah, just think about how Kenner could have taken the same concept as the Death Star Playset and apply it to Cloud City... would've been fantastic!
@@RetroActionUK
Well it didn’t need to stand up on a spire it just had to be a set that could help reenact ever action set from the film. They could’ve at least done the carbon freeze chamber and gantry. Then you could’ve parked your Slave 1 next to the set and then let your imagination run wild. Also Michael already made a Cloud City play set possible by basically scaling up the micro play set which was made by Kenner.
You know something there's talented people out there that do a good job when making a video in this genre, and then there's you Guys. You have set the bar so magnificently high, well done! Cheers, Fuzz.
thanks so much, fuzz!!!
LaughItupFuzzball70 I can only agree!
RetroBlasting any more Star Wars follies?
Not Worth Your Time they need to do potf and do the early bird set for Star Wars follies
wow. just get over yourself. there was one bad-ass lightsabre in rouge one.
The timing of the video is perfect...My son and I got back from Celebration a couple of weeks ago...and one of the things we did one day was go to a diorama workshop...and we helped build a cloud city that bigger than my garage...it was a blast...
Looking forward to the star destroyer review....I had that one as a kid and even my 8 year old brain knew it was crap hahah
haha! send us photos of that cloud city!!!
***** i was waiting for a reaction video for starwars #2 video from you
Reaction to Star Wars #2 video? I'm sorry. I don't know what this is?
***** STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS EPISODE VII OFFICIAL TEASER TRAILER #2 REACTION...you know,how you react in that m8,i know you are a big fan
Nothing important happened on Bespin...priceless.
Another vastly entertaining and informative piece from the retroblasting collection! It's always a pleasure to see work from you guys! Thanks for your dedication, we appreciate it!
anytime! :)
I'm just happy we got a Willrow Hood.
Heck, that's like having a bottle of *horse shampoo* and no horse!!
+RetroBlasting can you talk about tannen101 toy moc related to voltron and subscribe and comment to him
I'm sorry, I don't understand the full request. You want me to subscribe and comment on a channel, and you also want me to make a video about that channel and voltron? Sounds like a request for advertising...
I hate how hasbro stopped making playsets
+True Savage Agreed
+RetroBlasting well I've seen new Star Wars play set for $50-100$
True Savage The red otaku I know I wished they didn't do it! I miss Kenner!
JosephProductions I was never around during kenner but still.
True Savage The red otaku me ether but Kenner made Playsets.
Lol, I remember seeing this in the Sears Wishbook back in the day.
You have a good point and I'd suggest perhaps it might have been difficult to model such a complex city. However, you could have sold component parts of Cloud City and the lucky kid who had them all could assemble the entire city. You could have the Luke-Darth segment, the carbonite freeze component and the interior corridors alongside a planning room where the the stormtroopers trick the rebels.
Kids could use their mom's stove as a pretend Bespin Cloud City scene, but I wouldn't recommend it.
Michael Stethem A furnace room (If you have one) also makes a good Bespin.
The “make something tangible” part made me think of how I used to use my dad’s globe as the Death Star. I grew up in the early 2000s, so no playsets. I used his old GI Joe planes and tanks as my Star Wars fighters and assault walkers. Good times.
The Micro Collection was awesome...beautifully designed. I loved it as a kid and as an adult!
It's a testament to how crappy work has been that I was giddy with excitement when I saw this video in the cue!
Thanks for making something worthwhile today!
MORE BROKEN VADER!!
awesomefanger HAHA! You're welcome!
WIsh we had a big Rebel HQ on Hoth playset too.
I'm sure the Imperial Attack Base was really supposed to be the Rebel base. The name is misleading, seeing that the Empire never built a base of their own on Hoth.
tlaloc92, A hoth echo base play set would've been great to have alongside with an upscaled wampa cave too since in the deleted scenes of Empire strikes back there were wampa's everywhere around the base coming out of walls, smashing wires and kicking and knocking out hoth rebels. It's crazy to see all of that since it never made the cut to the final production that is. If Kenner upscaled the wampa cave from the micro collection or made a new mold for both the cave, and the base that would've been a stock marketing sell for the Empire line. In the early 80's.
I had the complete Micro Collection as a kid and I LOVED it! I’d put on the ESB soundtrack record and recreate my favorite scenes. The carbon freeze chamber set from the ‘90s was pretty rad and I still have that one.
That Carbon freeze chamber play set came out in the Y2K one year after "The Phantom Menace" came out.
I think you're right, cuz didn't it come out in the POTJ line?
I am thirteen and I still wish there was a good cloud city play set
Another great video. Man, you guys really have the best opening tune of all youtube.
Hugh Sammy Thanks so much, Hugh!
GOD,I COULDNT AGREE MORE!U R ALWAYS CORRECT ON YOUR VIEWS OF THE MISSED OPPERTUNITIES BY KENNER
I agree with you. A bespen cloud city would have been awesome. Kenner missed the boat on that one.
Broken vader cracks me up lol.
Kevin Turner Me too.
You know this is one of my favorite series ' on this channel, which is weird because I never grew up with Kenner Star Wars, my parents did, I had the Hasbro ones. You guys consider doing a video on the Hasbro toys in detail?
I dreamed of a Bespin playset as well, but I DID love my Degobah. My favourite part was being able to have an inside section.
I had this playset as a kid and I never understood why they didn't make bigger versions of the micro-playset of Bespin either. Great video!
That exclusive cardboard Bespin set was one of my favorites though- mostly because I liked the Han it came with so much. But even so, the cardboard part became a centerpiece to build my entire Cloud City around (using styrofoam from appliances/ televisions/ etc. that I scrounged wandering the neighborhood and parts from Dad's leftover repair work). Say what you want, but Kenner couldn't match the imagination of the four foot tall corner city I built in my room, going about three feet in each direction- and it probably bothered my Mom enough that my siblings got REAL playsets (which were smaller) after that!
With the benefit of hindsight, that Death Star playset wouldn't have been hard to rework into a Cloud City with multiple levels. It's a shame they didn't try it (it's possible the cost/benefit and risk assessment caused ulcerative colitis for the brand managers).
Gentle Giants should make a scaled up version.
YAY! a new star wars follies. I love how you guys go so in depth in this sereies
I get to learn about the toys before the ones nowadays.
Gz M.O.R. Productions Thanks Gz!
Wow as a fairly new Star Wars toy collector. This is the best toy collecting video ever. Agreed on all points made. Great stuff you guys.
hey, so are you going to do the Star Destroyer playset??
Yes? No?? Maybe??? Do I need to get Vadar to visit you and put you back on schedule?!
Even as a kid 40 years ago, I was old enough to be disappointed at playsets made out of cardboard. It just seemed cheap to me, even then. 🤨
I absolutely love this channel. You guys do such a great job, especially on the play sets I never had.
Took a vacation to Cloud City a couple weeks ago.. Lovely place I might add..
Did you remember your ice cream machine?
nah, but I remembered the H...
As I am 12, the lack of Hasbro's playsets have REALLY bugged me, at the age of 7 I started collected vintage, before then I had just collected modern, but the first vintage figures a bought was Bespin Han and My first Boba Fett, and a couple of years later when my collection had become bigger full of super 7 figures, LEGO, vintage figures, Modern figures and I dare say it, but a few funko figures too (Although you can calm down, I don't collect them any longer) I got my first vintage vehicle, a Boxed snowspeeder, before that I got the odd speeder bike and a galactic heroes Falcon I received when I was 6, I adored it, and still to this day, and my dad has just found an old geonosis playset in my step-mum's attic, and when we're out of lockdown, I can't wait to play with it, Why you may ask, Because Hasbro has not been able to put out playsets, I only have the Jabba's palace currently, but I can say, you were lucky having great playsets because complete, they go up in the ££, keep up the great work 👍👌👌
I had never thought about this until today.
2021 and finally got what he was looking for
Actually the cloud city set you mentioned was released in the POTJ line which ran between 2000 and 2002
Awesome vid, once again!
I love the music at 1:34!
Lt. Ripley Grimes Thanks Ripley! The music is from the original NES game for ESB.
3:02 its been 5 years and counting all we have now is"Hope"-Princess Leia.
@@timothyward8695 lol only if I had the money but a man can dream
I've been watching a lot of your "Retroblasting" videos recently. And y'know what...I LIKE 'EM! I still have ALL of the Star Wars Micro Collection sets, and seeing them here in action makes for some really great memories! Only ONE minor quibble, please...the video intro is a tad long. That aside, keep up the good work!
The Ralph McQuarrie Bespin art is so freakin' cool too. Maybe I'll go play with my figures in front of his art book now. It really is a shame...
Another great video guys!
Thank you Retroblasting.
Jason Shannon You're welcome!
Stoked to see the mini fig playsets getting some love. I would go to these toys specifically to act out the bespin lightsaber duel. The fact that all the sets could connect together blew my mind as a kid.
Jim Kettner Yes - many cool things about the Micro Collection. RetroBlasting plans to do a full Star Wars Follies on the Micro Collection in the near future. (HINT: The "folly" isn't in the toys themselves - they were amazing. The folly is...elsewhere.)
Jim Kettner Ah, I see I wasn't the only one who enjoyed and liked the Micro sets way back when. And, considering the fact that the li'l metal figures were roughly more or less the size of army men - give or take a few millimeters, and roughly the same functionality, as it were - I oddly enjoyed them on that merit, even if you couldn't pose them. And being able to connect the sets all together in a variety of ways made them all the more exciting.
Heck, I actually lamented that they never made some for RotJ - they could have added an Emperor's throne room to the Death Star sets! Ah ... the daydreams from 1983 ...
Happy Star Wars Day!!!!!!
i think i might have had that Sears Cloud City set as a kid..
Steve Mabee My next-door neighbor had it. It was weird to see it.
Fantastic video!! I so wish they had made the bespin world! My Death Star was a fill in for cloud city when I was a kid. May the 4th be with you!
Jedi Council That's an interesting idea! A custom Bespin conversion of the Death Star playset...
I can't wait to see Retroblasting review all of the Kenner Star Wars Hoth sets
Spot on, I had the mini metal sets..never understood why they even existed when all the kids played with the full size figures
I’ll have to see if RB has done a review of the LEGO Cloud City Master Builders Series set. At least LEGO showed Cloud City some love .
Great video guys! And you know, I never thought about this, but you're absolutely right. A Bespin play set would have been KILLER and it definitely would have sold well.
BanthaPooDOOM Oh how I still wish it had been so...
As a kid, we had white carpet in our living room; that was my Hoth. Our staircase had brown carpet; that was my Dagobah. I loved those damn microplaysets, but a full Bespin playset would've been most welcome.
Wow! Thumbs up for the vintage Fisher Price Adventure commercial! How about a review of that awesome toy line from the late 70s?
As soon as I can gather up a respectable collection, I'd certainly do that!
excellent observations as usual michael , look froward to more star wars follies cheers dude
Darren Haines Thanks Darren!
Nice to give some notice and attention to the Adventure People line, they had some really cool elements and vehicles, etc. They were diverse in body type and race as well.
1980Triumph I'm poised to start collecting them...but Melinda might go mad if I do...
i always love the Green color choice for the box.
Awesome video!!! I got the Cloud City Playset for Christmas in 1980. I wish I still had it!!! :-(
May the Fourth be with you ***** ! :-)
SciFi Fan71 Thanks Sci-fI!!!
Same with the Shield Generator that would have made a nice play set for the Jedi line with the Ewok village
I enjoyed the mini figure play-sets as a kid almost as much as the regular size kenner. The detail of the environment was great in the mini sets.
has anybody seen the guy thats called star wars plastic playsets all custom built playsets
no, but i would be interested in that as i've considered doing something like that for years, but just never got around to it.
The 90's Power of the Jedi Carbon Freezing Chamber playset is pretty cool and worth it. I liked that it had a Carbonite block with a stetch spandex front so when you "froze" a figure, it would form fit to the figure's shape. It was a pretty cool concept. And there was a prison cell on the back to lock up random character. And for some strange reason there was a missile cannon on the back. That didn't make sense to me but it was optional. It's a shame they didn't make any bigger scale Bespin stuff.
0:36 This is the look of I just might file those papers first thing Monday.
I wrote to Kenner in Cincinnati when I was about 10, getting the address from my y-wing toy, requesting any unsold stuff they may have had (I was a naive kid). They replied! Saying they had none nor were there plans to make more. A year or two later? All the new Star Wars line exploded into shops. The rather 'muscular' ones? Maybe a lot of kids were writing to them at the time, and the special editions were coming up, but still; got a lot of THOSE figures!
Maybe, the fans can create scaled up versions of the miniature Cloud City playsets. They look cool!
I think Kenner did that to sell the micro toyline. Leave a mayor playset out was a marketing strategy to sell more toys and toylines.
I love this channel 😬. Awesome 👍🏼
THIS WAS FUN AND NOSTALGIC, Thank you for the experience :)
I had the hoth playset but mine was for the micromachines line with the painted image on the outside of the box, i really liked that image, that is what told me to get it mroe then anything... ive always enjoyed the big overall view of the battlefield so i surprisingly enough was pulled more towards micromachines then the giant playsets, dont mistake me, if we had been rich i would have given into the full size playsets, but even as a kid sometimes i tried to remain aware of our limited budget and keep myself properly scaled to expectations and hopes, and life was good, its all about understanding and reason-ability. Dont ask more then people can realistically give or do or take, and life can be amazing.
I too, will never understand why they didn’t make more Bespin stuff. I remember an advert in a Star Wars Insider magazine from the late 90’s/early 00’s that was the carbon freezing chamber and I was awestruck!
Wow I must have had this.... I had that Han and lobot! This channel is like half forgotten memories (I mean I was 3 when it came out 😂
Re-watching this video cause it's so good. Total mystery. Has to be a story at Kenner behind this question but who knows.
hasbro's carbon freezing chamber playset was pretty good and makes a great display for vintage kenner bespin figs 👍
This review is so we'll done! Thanks
I always wondered the same thing about a Bespin playset. It makes me wonder what the profit margin was on the manufacture of the Death Star playset? Was it bad enough to scare them away from doing a proper Bespin?
Kenner could've reworked the Death Star Station playset from 78/79 and just recolored it maroon and grey and made it a Cloud City station. The bottom where the trash compactor was could've been reworked into the carbon freezing chamber. The mid level could've been the dining hall where Vader says the famous line "I'd be honored if you would join us". The top level where the battle gun was could've been either a landing pad or a reworking of the suite where Han and Leia stayed or the torture rack chamber for Han Solo.
I totally agree with this video. Bespin was my favorite tar Wars world as a kid and still is today. I could not understand Kenner's decision to make one for the micro-line but not for the regular figures and still to this day no Bespin playset.
BCibroski So angering, right?!
Hey great video dude. Have this play set imported from the USA a few years ago got the modern one from one of my best buds about 5 years ago only changed me £25 thats true friendship. KC man.
It's ok Michael, I'm sure haslab will give us a bespin playset...
5:25: I totally agree. I would have also wanted a full on play set from Kenner on Bespin. Saying that we were lucky to have waited only 2 years for the Micro Collection Bespin World. But if only if they made it for the 3.75 action figures and made it the scale of the Death Star!
One could argue over and over that connective playset pieces that form a larger world could have made these toys more affordable to market and produce, but no one thought like that then. I think there might have been an attempt at doing this with the micro collection but again they didn't sell well and were quickly discontinued. sales like these would prevent any company from moving forward on a larger scale. As for the Death Star the playset wasn't sold anywhere but the US and Canada the European and Asian territories all had the cardboard one. it's my guess that larger playsets were simply not made often because of the limited profit margins of them. the thing sold for 18.99 in 1978 which was 50-70 today when adjusted for inflation so not many people bought one. it's one thing to complain about qc issues of released toys and the Death Star had plenty, but to complain about something that didn't exist, because of obvious cost issues, is absurd. My older cousin used household objects to simulate and recreate cloud city. he even told me of a time he put Solo in a glass of water like the commercial but froze him using the freezer.
I wish playsets would make a come back
dont get me wrong i would absolutely love detailed expansive plastic playsets of many things, but i sort of loved this simple cheap cardboard playsets of the 70s and 80s and i kind of appreciated how simple they were and didnt take my focus away from the figures. and all these decades later i miss those kind of playsets and have a very warm nostalgia for them and i dont just mean the star wars sets there are other lines i loved a well. i would prefer they didnt print people on the backdrops but otherwise i love them, and mostly dont have to worry about missing pieces.
This is baffling. I hope Sears payed a pretty penny for this exclusive
Great video! I agree it's nuts that Bespin has been ignored by Kenner / Hasbro
Sometimes it's like you guys just pluck thoughts from my head! I remember my first seeing the micro sized Bespin play set on display at a local department store one Saturday with my mum, and thinking, why wasn't it bigger! ESB was the original trilogy film that made the most impact on me because it ends on this sad, but hopeful note. So much happens in Bespin - Han drops the immortal ' I know "line, Luke loses his right hand, and Vader delivers the most ominous four words in the whole film. No playset for this was such a crime.
FADE_FROM_VIEW In complete agreement!
Countertops and such were my cloud city.
U gotta do a hole show with u Melinda and DV!!! Love the intros with u 3 so funny !
Hmm would be great like a Siskel & Ebert kinda vibe. LOL
I love this video and this channel.
Yet another informative and entertaining video. I think Kenner may have held off on making any proper Bespin playsets in the 3.75" scale so they can debut it in their microcollection playsets line. They probably thought that kids who want their Bespin adventures finally realized will add more demand for their new smaller scale figure line. I also think the smaller scale allowed for more intricate gimmicks and action features and would also probably have been cheaper to produce. Kind of reminds me of their similar decision to go for a smaller scale with their M.A.S.K. line a couple of years later.
Wilson Tortosa The key difference being that M.A.S.K. began and ended in one scale, whereas Star Wars had a firmly established and popular scale that they should not have forayed from for a major playset setting.
That would have been a cool playset for sure. I remember looking at the pics of the mini version and thinking it was cool, but small. I tried to duplicate scenes from Bespin as best I could with the braces/legs underneith our patio table that somewhat resembled the structure that Luke and Vader were on but always wanted something more...yet they never made it...at least not for the regular size figures
When I was younger I built my own carbon play set, unfortunately lost it when I moved
I used to get in trouble for freezing my Han Solo figure in his card bubble in our kitchen freezer with water and food coloring. As for a Bespin playset, to do it on the cheap they could have just refit the Death Star Space Station into a Cloud City playset. Or they could have released 3-4 Bespin sections that would connect to make a version of Cloud City. Certainly a missed opportunity. But somehow I feel like someone at Disney will watch this video, get dollar signs in their eyes, and our dreams will come true.
A lot of people froze their Hans in cups of water, but you took things to a completely different level!
Bespin was the best reason to still play the first battlefront game after part II came out (the mid-2000s version). 2 great maps
I had that playset. Ordered from Sears, just wanted Han Solo Bespin figure.
This guy is absolutely correct.
Nice job! I wish I would've bought the Lego Cloud City playset when it came out. I hope Lego does it again. :) I'm enjoying your videos. Keep up the great work. :) Sam.
It would have been pretty cool if they retooled the Death Star, or made something like it for Bespin. The Freeze Chamber, Torture Rooms, and Gantry all could have been their own levels.
SEO Toy Review Exactly
The Vader bit was epic
I can't wait to see the Vader restoration! I actually have Vader, but the cape is torn and the head is missing :P
I feel sorry guys for not getting actual bespin playset, at least micro machines did not do the same mistake kenner did, they had darth vader head which transforms into the carbonite freezing chamber and bit of the duel, bobba fett turns into part of the city where chewy finds the pieces of 3po and the area where that line takes place
even lego had an early cloud city set
3:40
Great bit there michael, ah well just aswell nothing important happens in Bespin Cloud City,
Cue some of the most Legendary scenes in the original Star Wars Trilogy, probably in all of Pop Culture!!!
lolz Kenner you got jokes XD
Great stuff Michael, great editing!
Wasnt there also a cardboard Hoth playset that was just a remake of the Jawa sandcrawler? I remember having both at one point.
Dengar wasn't even seen on Bespin! We only barely saw him in two places; Executor and Jabba's Palace.
Great video guys! Bespin should have been the next big play set after the Death Star.
Count Stankus Agreed!
Count Stankus Would be cool if they made a full blown Bespin or Carbon chamber that lights up. Even Jabbas sail barge would be a dream!