Sunday, June 3, 2012

Anakin Skywalker on tri-logo card by Kenner 1983


(credit goes to Wizard of X for this amazing photo)

Power of the Force was the most unique series created by Kenner for the Star Wars figure line. The line was rich with characters that barely had more than 15 seconds of screen time, which was a rarity since Star Wars was a line driven by main characters instead of perifial characters. This line was a fanboy's dream come true because by this point we all had 5 different Lukes, 5 Leias, 4 Hans and (of all characters) 3 Landos! Each figure came with a alluminum collector's coin that corresponded to the character in the package. This was Kenner's attempt to breathe a little life into the license by adding some unqiue figures to the series, unfortunately this line came out in 1985 and it was Kenner's last time out with Star Wars till the mid 90's when they attempted to revive it with bendable rubber figures. Dubbed as the last 17 in many circles, the Power of the Force line was responsible for such great additions Han in Carbonite, Amanaman, Yak Face, Imperial Dignitary, Luke in Storm Trooper disguise, Imperial Gunner, Barada, EV-9D9 and today's topic; Anakin Skywalker.



(today's catch, it may be a little rough but it's seen things man.)


Anakin came to me on a Tri-logo card. Tri-logo cards were released overseas and displayed the title of the line in English, French and Spanish. Most of the time the back of the card was incomplete; either the figure count on the back wasn't consistent with the character that was attached to it or some of the figures were blacked out on the back. Some tri-logo figures did hit US stores near the end of Star Wars' run as the dominant force in the toy aisles, unfortunately a good portion of these figures hit clearance on damaged cards (card cut in half, the non-English phrases blacked out with magic marker or smashed bubbles). The one I picked up wasn't in too bad of condition, the buble is cracked and coming loose on the right side but the card is in perfect condition with no yellowing, wrinkling or warping. The figure inside is totally mint, without a single flaw and I doubt it's ever been touched since 1983.


(acted better than Hayden Christensen in 3 minutes, 'nuff said)


The ghost of Anakin Skywalker was one of my favorite scenes from Return of the Jedi because it made no sense at all. We all knew (before the prequels came out) that Darth Vader was “more machine than man” and probably looked nothing like Sebastian Shaw. But, if you suspended disbelief for a second you could imagine that if Anakin hadn't been corrupted by the Dark Side of the Force, this is what he may have looked like. A smiling old man in grey and white robes who brought balance to the force (which is true if you think about it. It went from 100's of Jedi vs 2 Sith to 2 Jedi vs 2 Sith, whatcha' think about that?). Anakin has the basic Kenner five points of articulation and even though it's a really monotone figure the colors are very rich.

(yub yub indeed!)

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