Let me take you back to a galaxy not all that long ago and not very far away, and remember a more simplistic toy for a more innocent age…

 

2. The Millennium Falcon

The top two really are in a league of their own. I first spied this superior entry into the Kenner catalogue at a toy shop in Redruth in the summer of 1980 and was immediately counting the days till Christmas (of which there seemed to be a lot more back when I was 9). It could be argued that it suffers from the same scale issues as the AT-AT walker, but that would be mere pedantic accuracy flying in the face of a moulded thing of wonder.

All the details you’d want are there: a ramp that raises & lowers; the cockpit; retractable landing-gear; a gun turret; compartments for hiding smuggled goods and/or Alec Guinness; a hovering ball for light sabre practice (okay, okay, a ball dangling on the end of a string); a circular chess board in the corner to promote peaceful co-existence between droid and Wookie.

A glorious, glorious toy that (in the hands of a practiced toy owner) swooped and twisted and occasionally flipped just like in the film. In the wake of the recent Chapter VII trailer, I can only assume some wily CEO at Kenner is even now dusting down the moulds in anticipation of a third generation of excited Falcon-owning kids.

Given just how good the Falcon is (and remember, this is the ship that made the Kessel run in less than twelve parsecs) there’s only one thing in this whole galaxy that could keep it off the number one slot, and that is of course, the one, the only, the legendary…

 

1. The cardboard Death Star

Two years before the Falcon, and Christmas 1978 was the year of the Death Star. Whatever I’ve said about the Falcon above is just as true if not more so, of this potently-nostalgic, brilliantly-designed, wood-pulp hemisphere. It’s not to scale (but even a small moon is a big thing to try and fit inside a toyshop) except crucially in respect of the action figures, which is all that really matters when you’re 7.

And again, it has all the details you could possibly want: there’s a prison cell for the Princess; there’s a hexagonal corridor just right for gun-fights; there’s a dark control room perfect for blowing up peaceful planets; there’s a garbage chute for diving into the trash compactor… and the compactor itself comes (of course!) with a moving wall; there’s a gun turret on the very top; there’s even a central chasm for swinging across during the middle of a daring escape… not to mention that the chasm’s depth is exaggerated by the inspired addition of a mirror on the base.

There’s a landing bay, there’s a countdown clock, there’s doors and rooms and….. Well, at a time when (if you can just try and get your head around this) there were only twelve Star Wars figures it was the perfect base for their adventures.

 

And in the interests of objectivity (because even in the good old days things weren’t always perfect) one disappointing toy that failed to make the grade…

 

The cardboard ‘n’ plastic Cantina

Christmas 1979, and with Palitoy still on a high from their cardboard Death Star, and me still on a high for the same reason, another card-based toy lumbered onto the market. From the team of visionary geniuses that brought us the Death Star, came their take on the iconic Cantina.

Sadly, even visionary geniuses have their off days and this was one of them. Let’s start with the odd decision to make the playset a bright orange. Then there’s the, admittedly nicely drawn, backdrop of famous Cantina characters. It’s unfortunately printed onto a far inferior, much flimsier (I think the phrase I’m looking for is regrettably tearable) cardboard.

There’s a table, yes, but no shadowy corner for deals of the “no imperial entanglements” variety to be brokered. There’s a Western style double door which bears no relation to the one in the film, and doesn’t even have the steps downwards into the interior…

It was a nice thought, and maybe it suffers from the impossible task of trying to live up to the Death Star, but it’s hard not to think of the Cantina as a bit of a missed opportunity. Ah well, at least it was a good place to use the new figures of Greedo, Hammerhead, Walrus Man, and Snaggletooth – even my imagination struggled to contrive stories for them to keep popping up aboard the Death Star!!

 

What was your favourite Star Wars toy as a kid? Let us know below…