So what did you really think of the Power of the Force 2 action figures years ago?

Years ago when the Power of the Force 2 figures came out along with with the Original trilogy being re-released in theaters as the Special Editions, what did you guys really think of the Power of the Force 2 action figures and this is before the internet forms were available and before everyone was having hissy fits about the so called "monkey face" Leia figure and the Han and Luke figures being too buff like He-Man.

Some of the figures I did like such as Emperor Palptaine, C3-PO, R2-D2 and Ackbar

 

I loved that series. I was younger and it was the first real time for me to collect the whole series. And yes, some of the sculpts were over the top, but they were still better than the previous versions.

 

The humans didn't look that good but I still have my C3PO, R2D2, Vader and Boba Fett carded.

I liked their sculpts and I liked the orange and black card design, better than the green/black design they switched too.

 

I didn't really care for them. The last issue of Star Wars Insider has a good story with Hasbro on why they made them that way though.

 

I missed that. Could someone give me the gist of their reasoning?

 

When they first came out, I bought them, ignoring such things like Luke Skywalker with a bodybuilder's figure and Leia with a rather unpleasant face sculpt, because, hey, new SW toys!

But to be honest, I'm glad they ditched that stuff for movie accuracy as they went along.

 

A lot of people didn't like them. I did. Compare to the 1977-1983 line and c'mon! Just having clear blue lightsabers was super cool! Chewbacca looked a little hokey--more so than the body builder sculpts. And all the old toys being brought back as close as possible to the originals was great! Sure, I missed the floating ball on a string from my original Falcon, and the light bulb in the nose of my X-wing, but the new decorations and sound FX were totally worth it. Then there was the dumb cannons in Vader's TIE... Still, the old, small X-wing is way better than the new one. Esp for kids who actually (gasp) PLAY with their toys.
Yes, newer sculps have are improving, but the PotF2 were frickin' marvelous.

 

To tell you the truth, I thought they were the best. I was born in 1985 and fell in love with Star Wars as a kid. Sadly, I had to wait until the late 90's to get my hands on Star Wars toys so I thought the POTF figures were the greatest.

What's more, I was so taken aback by the "New style" figures released with the prequels, that I didn't buy hardly anything from Ep.I or II (a mistake on my part).

Now, I LOVE that the sculpts are as accurate as they are and I'm constantly geeking out over the added articulation. In fact, I just bought my umpteenth Luke Skywalker figure (Vintage Collection - Bespin Fatigues) JUST because he has ball joints all over the place!

 

I bought them all back then. Every frikken variant. .00, .01, .02, etc. Even bought the uber-rare and ugly monkey faced Leia off ebay for $50. Blech.

Some were good, but I hated the He-Man builds. Yes, the droids, and some others were good. But others were atrociious. But it was SW back on the shelves for the first time since I was a kid. So I bought them. Bought them all until TPM, then I stopped buying for years. I think the collecting everything and only displaying them was what burned me out.

But I much prefer the more realistic ones now. As much as I have nostalgia for the original 80's ones I had as a kid, I enjoy watching my own kids playing with the new ones more. They are more poseable, look better, and I can always buy POTF ones at thrift stores for dirt cheap. And other than the ones my kids play with, I only buy troopers that I'll do the costumes for (or have done). I am much more selctive about them, and it's more fun now being the action figure than just having them on display.

 

I'm still buying those figures. A lot of them loose, so I can complete my collection, and some of them carded, specially the "hard to find" or "exclusives" ones.
POTF2 will always rock!

 

At the time, I was too excited to have Star Wars toys to care about the awkward, bulky sculpts. The only figure I hated from day one was "Monkey Leia". Nowadays though, I have all my POTF2 in storage, except for the Flashback Emperor Palpatine. That one's still my favorite ROTJ interpretation of the character.

 

I have to say that I love those figures! Was really excited when they first came out and still like them a lot.

 

I always thought that the bodybuilder designs were a ten-years-too-late attempt to cash in onthe He-Man craze,
MOTU having partly killed the original star wars toy line.

 

At the time, I sometimes was hanging around a friend's 5-yo, who loved them because they were easy to make stand up (unlike G.I.Joe and some others).
I liked them.
OK, I wondered why the didn't make them closer to the G.I.Joe as far as joints and what-not, but hey, they were back!!! For the first time in 10 years!
So yay. And they did make some major improvements&corrections.

 

Yeah we fans who spent years without any figures after the original Kenner line ended were just excited to get ANYTHING new. They came out after I graduated from college and had my first job - so I actually had money to buy my own stuff!

I'm going through now and getting rid of most of those that I have as extras. I might keep one or two for display purposes but the humans, Vader, and Chewy were just silly looking. And yes, god that Leia was atrocious.

 

Same for me, they came out during college years. Had a few that were bought for me/nephew, but I ended up with them. Kept most in packaging and sent a few others packing because
of the way they looked. But it brought back star wars collecting into my life.