Weird oddities in newer Star Wars toys

Funky

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A little background. Back in the 80's many Star Wars toys were made. By the time Jedi ended the toy line lost interest and many of the toys were jammed in dump bins at toy store for ridiculously low prices just to get rid of them. (Ironically these are now considered to be some of the more valuable vintage toys...think KB Toys). Fast forward to the mid 90's with the introduction of the Star Wars special editions. Most of us remember the "muscle" figures :lol Regardless, it is widely known that the vintage molds for toys that were used in the 80's were found and used again for the toys in the 90's. Primarily the bus is were made out of metal so the could be used...forever. Not like silicone molds. (Stick with me)

Last night my good friend Trooper Trent ( @trooper_trent ) came over and brought my six year old about a thousand dollars worth of Star Wars toys that his son had outgrown. Yes, my son had a mini-meltdown! So today we are going through all the toys and we found this on the 90's version of the A-wing:

image.jpgimage.jpg

The original 80's toy had a missile shooting device. The spare missiles were kept on the side. NOW, that device is gone, but they still includes the missiles! Even stranger, the original toy had an electronic device that made sounds. This one does not have that feature but still included the battery compartment that does nothing! I guess it was too expensive for them to add that feature but they never got eliminated the features of the original toy leaving my son to ask, "what does this little door do?" :lol

What at other repurposeing has Hasbro done with the Star Wars toys?
 
Let's not forget the Gommorian guard that was repurposed as the Friar Tuck figure from the Kevin Costner version of Robin Hood.

A lot of ROTJ toys were reused in the Robin Hood toy line. Seems like the Ewoks were a really merry bunch of forest dwellers.
 
If I remember correctly, the Kevin Costner figure, from the Robin Hood movie, used Robin ( as in Batman and Robin), for the body. This was the Justice League Robin figure from the mid 80's. They just changed the head, and painted it different.

edit!

Here it is, they swapped out the legs as well.

2.PNGCapture.PNG
 
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I thought most of the '95 POTF ships were all from the same molds as the originals. On the Tie seemed to make a change with fully molding wing panels instead of stickers.
 
Check out the show on Netflix called "The Toys that Made Us". Pretty cool tidbits of info in there about stuff like this.

SB
 
I thought most of the '95 POTF ships were all from the same molds as the originals. On the Tie seemed to make a change with fully molding wing panels instead of stickers.

I missed the original AT-ST as a kid. You don't believe how excited I got when I saw that they re-released the same mold in the POTF2 line - including the walking gimmick! I immediately grabbed the big box that came with the AT-ST, Paploo and Speeder Bike (another re-issue including the break-apart feature). I still have it today - and love it and will surely never let it go. :)
 
Another "lighter" re-issue was the Imperial Troop Transport. The first issue featured a small record player that played sound bites by pressing a button. The re-release for TESB was stripped off of the feature and had a hollow interior and no buttons.
 
I didn't have it, but didn't the original AT-AT have a buttons on the handle inside that would make the chin guns fire? A friend had one, but I only got to play with a it once. My nephew had the reissued Endor version and it didn't have that. I got him that massive dog sized new one and it was awesome. I've been over helping my dad get his stuff ready to sell and I've had to test it several times to make sure all the sounds work... :)
 
I didn't have it, but didn't the original AT-AT have a buttons on the handle inside that would make the chin guns fire? A friend had one, but I only got to play with a it once. My nephew had the reissued Endor version and it didn't have that. I got him that massive dog sized new one and it was awesome. I've been over helping my dad get his stuff ready to sell and I've had to test it several times to make sure all the sounds work... :)

Yup, it had chin guns that lit up and moved backwards and forwards. Still got mine but lost the guns years ago.

And as for reused star wars toys (better stay on topic) it looks like batman got a loo in too.

gun.jpg
 
The original 80's toy had a missile shooting device. The spare missiles were kept on the side.

I don't remember the original A-wing fighter having any such feature.

Granted, I bought mine second-hand circa 1992, so it might have been altered by the previous owner, but I browsed some online entries and don't see any mention of a missile-firing feature.

http://theswca.com/images-toys/figuretoys/awing.html

As for other instances of Kenner repurposing Star Wars toys, most of the ones that pop to mind have already been covered.

(Gamorrean Guard got a new head and became Friar Tuck; Ewok Village became the leafier Sherwood Forest.)

They even ripped the giant tusked skull off the Ewok Battle Wagon, put an Ewok Catapult in its place, and voila, the Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves Battle Wagon was made from TWO Star Wars toys.


wagon1.jpg + ewokcatapult0306.jpg = robin-hood-prince-thieves-set-toys_1_06e087fde9834df981da85d177c80493.jpg

Here's a good article that collected a lot of these instances, both toys that were repurposed into Star Wars AND Star Wars toys that were repurposed for other lines.

http://theswca.com/images-speci/recycle/

Example from article:

cantina.jpg

I actually only bought the RH:pOT toys because of their affiliation to the Star Wars line. I wound up pressing Friar Tuck into service as a faux Kenner pre-CGI human Jabba (Declan Mulholland) in Docking Bay 94.

kenner_friar_tuck3.jpg sw6bsd1jh03.jpg

Alex
 
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I didn't have it, but didn't the original AT-AT have a button on the handle inside that would make the chin guns fire?

Yes. Yes, it did.

View attachment 841280

From: http://www.12back.com/vehicles/atat.php

The original Kenner AT-AT mold was repurposed at least twice by Hasbro, once for an updated Hoth version, once as an Endor version.

A new electronic part was added to the interior, and the side guns on the head were retooled, I believe with missile-firing features.

potf2ATAT010.jpg

(Image found on a forum, credited to sandtroopers.com)

Eventually they completely resculpted the iconic vehicle in a larger scale.

TVC-454.jpg

Image found in the Rebelscum.com forums. (I know, it's on the watermark. But I like to give proper credit.)

Alex
 
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Another "lighter" re-issue was the Imperial Troop Transport. The first issue featured a small record player that played sound bites by pressing a button. The re-release for TESB was stripped off of the feature and had a hollow interior and no buttons.

Yes, the "Imperial Cruiser" was a simplified version of the Imperial Troop Transport, with no electronics and some new stickers.

It didn't see wide release, it was a Sears exclusive.

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=39621

Which brings to mind another set of Sears exclusives... the two versions of Jabba's Dungeon.

http://www.12back.com/playsets/dungeon.php

If those look familiar, they should... they were a retooled version of the earlier Droid Factory playset.

http://www.12back.com/playsets/droid.php

If I have the story right, I bought the first Jabba's Dungeon because I was mad at myself for missing out on earlier Sears exclusives like the Cantina backdrop with Blue Snaggletooth and the Cloud City fold-up paper set (items which I'd seen in friends' collections).

I did NOT buy the second version of the Dungeon because I already had the first, so I just waited and picked up the three figures that came with it when they were out on single cards later.

When I graduated college in 1992, I began looking into filling in the gaps in my collection. I decided to pick up a second Dungeon via mail order, but *did not realize* it had been issued in two different colors.

It arrived, and at first glance I thought the seller had sold me a Droid Factory. Disappointment! Then I realized that by sheer fluke I'd gotten the correct variant, without even realizing one existed. Elation!

The rollercoaster of emotions continued, as I discovered the crane was missing the black plug to connect the halves. Boo.

Then I remembered the two partial Droid Factories I'd bought to cherry out my own, and cannibalized one of the cranes for the 'cotterpin' or whatever the term was.

Luckily, that piece was not one of the retooled ones, and was molded in black on both toys.

Alex
 
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