September 4, 2015 is now known as Force Friday – the day that the line of toys for STAR WARS: THE FORCE AWAKENS will be unleashed. In preparation for a day that will bring generations together, my friends at Hasbro have provided several sites (including my own) with a countdown calendar that looks back at nearly four decades of Kenner and Hasbro STAR WARS history. Though my calendar just arrived today, it actually started on May 4th – International STAR WARS Day – presenting a featured toy every day, and as such, I’m going to share my thoughts on them through my site, and my social networks (keep an eye on Instagram). Let’s take a look at May 4-11 right now…
May 4 – 1977 Kenner Early Bird Kit (123 Days): One of those “holy grail” items, this was a first in the toy world as it was selling families an empty box. No one knew if it would work to meet the demand for STAR WARS products, but it did – and we’re here talking about STAR WARS action figures because of it.
May 5 – 2014 The Black Series Yoda (122 Days): We haven’t really gotten into The Black Series here at Rock Father HQ, if only because they’re on the higher-end side of price points – geared toward collector display. Right now, I’ve opened up the majority of my collection for play by The Rock Daughters.
May 6 – 1979 Kenner STAR WARS Land of the Jawas Playset (121 Days): A legendary playset among many that had a plastic base and a cardboard backdrop, I never had this one, but knew some kids that did. It was always a treat to play with.
May 7 – Kenner Imperial Troop Transporter 1979/STAR WARS REBELS Imperial Troop Transport 2015 (120 Days): It didn’t even appear in any of the movies, but I so wanted this one and never got it the first time around. Now, the vehicle has been revamped to appear in STAR WARS REBELS, and eventually I hope to get one for the girls and I to play with. The new version is smaller, and loses the electronics, but that’s totally fine. I’d just like to finally have a Troop Transport in our Imperial Fleet!
May 8 – 2008 The Legacy Collection General Grievous (119 Days): Never had this one. I sold off much of my collection (including nearly all Prequel items) around 2005 or so, and went on hiatus with the toys until REBELS came out and my little ones were so into it. Now, I think we have a Grievous in a “Digital Collection” box we recently received!
May 9 – 1996 Collector Fleet Electronic Star Destroyer (118 Days): I had this one, and another one or two vehicles from the same collection. This one was a cool display piece with sounds, and a stand that made it look really cool in an office. Not a ton of play value, but I liked owning a Star Destroyer for the very first time.
May 10 – 2012 Movie Heroes Padme Amidala (117 Days): See May 8th above.
May 11 – 1982 Kenner STAR WARS Turret & Probot Playset (116 Days): This was a valued piece of my Hoth collection as a kid. The Empire would attack this with AT-AT, and would go after another, larger Hoth playset I once had. This one is really cool.
Stay tuned for more of the #ForceFridayCountdown!
