Star Wars (the film, the toys, the trading cards, the comic books, the novels, all of it) was a phenomenon, and I was smack in the middle of it in 1977, at 5 years old. It was . . . glorious! Star Wars was probably my second major collection -- after Matchbox cars, which my grandfather started me on -- and it was likely the first one I chose consciously. And the major part of that Star Wars collection has to be the toys.
The smaller scale of the figures -- 3.75" compared with the previously standard 11.5" inch size of figures such as Barbie or G.I. Joe (original with kung fu grip, natch) -- meant they were less expensive, so children like me could buy more. Since we could only see the movies when they were in the theater during the late 1970s and into the early 80s, these were the best thing to keep us interested in the pending sequels. A handful of figures and a backyard, and my friends and I were set, crafting myriad adventures in that galaxy far, far away.
Of course, there were also some great ships that could be used to enhance our play. These ranged from Tattooine's favorite mode of transport, the landspeeder, to many of the ships we saw our heroes, and villains, pilot during the space battles. In keeping with the smaller scale and subsequent economic feasibility of the figures, these ships were built so the figures could readily fit inside. Thus, they too were less expensive than what might have been. It was, as stated above, glorious!
The attention to detail, particularly when dealing with the ships was top-notch. (The figures were great as well, but with the smaller size it was challenging to get a good likeness in the face, and don't get me started on the cantina aliens, which looked like their filmic counterparts but were oddly attired in a wholly different manner, which didn't really matter to us, as kids, because they were still the bomb, yo!) These were the ships we had seen in the darkened theater, and now they were in our sweaty palms soaring through the sky -- at roughly 3-4 feet off the ground rather than through the vacuum of space, but we didn't quibble, we had the nation of imagi- (get it?). Heady times, those, especially since, despite the relative affordability it was still a challenge to fully outfit the rebel and Imperial crews, since my family was staunchly middle class. But with your group of friends, you might be able to pull together a full complement of Star Wars vehicles and playsets and figures. If you were lucky.
Anyway, the detail was amazing on these things . . . with one glaring exception. The Star Destroyer. I don't know what was going on with this thing. Maybe -- likely -- it was the fact that it was a ridiculously huge starship in the films and would have been impossible to produce to the scale of the figures. I really don't know. What we got, though, was worthy of a side-eye.
But what're you gonna do? All the rest were phenomenal toys that afforded me and my friends hours and days and months of play. And everyone is allowed a mulligan now and then. Maybe one day we will get a great Star Destroyer toy (though it would probably have to be large enough to fill a room or two in my house). Until then, let's not forget that one of the toys that was made solely for the toy market and never seen in the films is now canon, thanks to the Mandalorian. I give you, the Troop Transport.
