These puppies were the beginning of my toy collecting fetish, all those 21 years ago. And now, despite the fact that I am allegedly an adult, they still sit proudly on a display shelf in my home.

By default, they're also the best-known and researched line of toys in history, with the possible exceptions of Barbie and Hot Wheels, so I'm not going to waste space repeating the facts everyone knows so well.

Obviously, Ben Kenobi, Leia, the Jawas, and the Tusken Raider are missing their colorful vinyl capes in the picture below, and Ben and Luke are missing their extendable lightsabers. Darth Vader, however, still has his cape and his lightsaber blade...but is the least visible in this photo. I will try to get a picture of that one by itself before too long.

Star Wars action figures (1978)
Left to right: Death Squad Commander, Chewbacca, Han Solo, Stormtrooper, Ben Kenobi, R2-D2, Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, C-3PO, Jawa, Princess Leia, Tusken Raider.

Less well-documented were the 12-inch dolls, of which I only had a couple, R2-D2 (with its "hidden" rear storage compartment for honking huge plastic "data tapes," seen open at right) and Boba Fett (photo forthcoming). Obviously, the R2-D2 toy wasn't a foot tall, but more like half a foot.

Kenner also manufactured a teriffic line of small-scale die-cast metal vehicles, which included the Millennium Falcon, Luke's land speeder, standard and Darth Vader TIE fighters, an X-Wing, a Y-Wing, and an Imperial Star Destroyer. (The Falcon and the land speeder are shown at the bottom of this page.)

There will be several more Star Wars items added to the ToyBox in the future.