Leia’s dressed for winter

Leia (Hoth Outfit) was from the second line of Empire Strikes Back action figures.  I had waited through the first line of figures, hoping the would come out with a Hoth version of Luke, and was disapointed when he wasn’t in the second line.  I wasn’t crazy over spending my hard earned allowance on a Leia figure and there was never a shortage of her on the shelf.  Sometimes I’d manage to find a stash of figures hidden at the back of a store, and they would all turn out to be the Leia figures no one wanted to buy.

I did like the smart outfit on this Leia.  I mean, who doesn’t like a peach vest over a snowsuit, with your hair up in a tight bun.  Very stylish.

The price tag had YDC on it, and a price of $2.99.  It looks like I bought this at the same place I bought the Imperial Commander. Made in Hong Kong.

Pompous Imperial Commander

This action figure reminds me of the dismay I would feel as a kid when I had a couple bucks to burn in my pocket and went to the store, only to find all the action figures I really wanted weren’t in stock.  Imperial Commander was never on the top of my want list, but I thought it would be neat to have him boss around stormtroopers and stuff.  I don’t remember buying him.  I usually made him run and hide when epic action figure battles were raging.  He’d poke his head out every once in awhile to issue a condescending order, then duck back under cover.

I paid $2.99 for him.  The price tag has YDC on it.  I’m not sure what that meant.  With this wave of figures, they dropped the description of the toys, and went with this tagline instead: Look for these exciting action playsets to recreate actual events from the movie. Action Figures & Playsets sold separately.  This one has the same back and YDC price sticker as Leia (Hoth Outfit) figure.

Toys advertised on the back of the card were the Snowspeeder, Mini Rigs, Tauntaun, Turrent & Probot Playset, AT-AT and Imperial Attack Base.

Yoda had a pet snake

Yoda was my all time favorite action figure from my childhood.  He could do anything he put his mind to and always came out on top in any action figure battles.  I remember buying this figure in a store next to the bowling alley in Easton.  I also bought a Star Wars Colorforms (plastic stickers kind of thing) from that same store, but I don’t think it was on the same trip.

Yoda came with an orange snake, a walking kane, a little robe made out of cloth and a utility belt, that had, what I imagined, a small silver lightsaber on it.  This figure was just so darn cute!  Who wouldn’t love it.  It’s how I like to rememeber Yoda: light and funny.  Not all grim and serious, like in Return of the Jedi.  I mean, he had Fozzy the Bear’s voice for crying out loud.

The back of his card is the same as the Bossk card I have.  It doesn’t hav a price sticker on it.  “Meets or exceeds all safety requirements of Product Standard 72-76” is on front, under the Kenner logo.

No droids allowed

Here’s the Creature Catina set all put together.  I remember taking this out of the box and being like: Is that it? I think I got it for my birthday, I don’t remember it under the Christmas tree.  I just had a flashback to a store in Easton MD that was in the strip mall where the bowling ally was.  I might have bought it there with my allowance now that I think of it.  This might not have been a Sear’s exclusive after all.  But somehow I got the tall, blue Snaggletooth.

It came with several stickers that go on top of the plastic tables and some that go on the sides of the doors.  I remember I had to get them just right, so they matched the picture on the box.  It came with this tiny rubber band that you put on the top of the doors.  When you closed the doors, there was a little lever the action figures could step on that would send the doors swinging open.  I remember putting C-3P0 and R2-D2 outside the door, because they weren’t allowed in the bar.

The base had pegs all over it.  The Star Wars figures had small holes on the bottom of their feet.  You could plug them into the pegs.  This playset had two “action” features that used these pegs, setting on top of a plastic circle that could swivel by pushing or pulling a lever.  There was one in the bar and one at the smaller table.    These levers were attached to a small notch that came up from under the floor.  The notch would go underneath the floor when you moved the lever halfway.  You were supposed to put an action figure on top of the notch when it was recessed.  When the lever was moved all the way, it would release the notch, making the action figure fall down.  If you put Obi-Wan on the lever and Walrus Man on the notch, you could reenact the scene where Obi-Wan cuts his arm off.  Yeah, I know, it was lame then too.  There was another lever/notch system behind the table.

So I looked this up on e-bay.  Even with the box, the last one that sold went for $20.00.  In the trash this goes.  Why the heck did I hang onto this for thirty years? 

Good-bye Creature Cantina.