It's a real travesty how Hasbro has all but abandoned playsets for their Star Wars modern figures. With today's technology, there's a lot they could do & I think collectors, who are all about displaying their figures, could use a cool playset or two for just that.
I always used this as the rebel base as a kid. The rebel soldiers needed somewhere to hunker down while fighting the AT-AT attack. I need to pick this playset up again. It was a favorite back in the day.
I still have this set from when I was a kid. I (and probably most kids) always used it as an Echo Base defensive position for my Hoth Rebel soldiers. I always thought the sculpting kind of made it look like Krypton or the Fortress of Solitude from the original Superman movie.
this always made so much more sense as a rebel base... I always set it up next to my turret playset and had my at at attack them both with the cardboard at at set near by!!! thanks toy polloi
Pretty sure they would've phrased it differently if that were the case. I think it's more likely this was originally intended to be a part of the Rebel base, but Kenner realized the rebel faction was absolutely loaded toywise in the Hoth theme because the AT-AT wasn't out yet and the Empire had nothing beside a couple of figures, so they decided to even things a bit and gave the other playset to the Empire.
After spending so much time playing with this I always saw it as an area that was taken over and quickly converted to an Imperial command post. The novelised version of ESB had the Falcon's escape scene drawn out with the Imperial soldiers quickly taking over the hanger and setting up their tech and cannons as Han was trying to get the Falcon started. He becomes annoyed at their speed and switches on the auto defense system blasters. And I remember the commercial playing it out that way with the rebel soldiers trying to stop the stormtroopers from setting up which is why the set had so many traps for them.
This would look really cool customised with some ambient LED lights in the nooks. Be interesting painted sand or grey rock colours with some vegetation added to simulate Imperial bases on other planets.
I don't think the cannon is based on the Empire's Tri-Pod Laser Cannon. I think it's based on a particular cannon that the Hoth Rebel forces had in the trenches. This whole playset, with the possible exception of the command bunker, is clearly inspired by the good guys' defense and should have been released as the "Hoth Rebel Trenches" toy.
Great review Dave. Remember getting this from an Antique fair while on Holiday many years ago near Alton Towers would have been about 12. Was our last day and my parents saw it was one so we went for a look and found this on a stall was near the end of the day the guy looked a bit bored had £25 on it. I asked him if he would take 17 said would do it for 18 but told hime its all I had and he agreed was very kind of him. He also mentioned that the roof parts were missing a lot. Ironically had bought the Luke Skywalker MicroMachines play set a couple of days earlier and thats Hoth Themed as well.
Cmon man you kinow that that is actually the rebel basde and Kenner just named it the Imperial Base cos they literally had zero Imperial toys for the ESB toy line ( The AT AT and AT STs didn't release until 6 months after the movie).
That play set is still "snow white", as are the others I've seen on Ebay. It's amazing. I only have a POTF2 Hoth play set from the late 90's and it's already gone a bit yellow.
One of my favorite sets. And like in this video I have mine posed with imperials. I know a lot of people like putting rebels in it and suggest Kennner got it wrong by calling it an Imperial Attack Base but in my scenario the imperials in this base are dug in doing recon work.
Also, watching the part of this video where you demonstrated the collapsing bridge, I noticed a mold variation between yours and the one I had as a kid. On yours, there are three or four extra little snow 'bumps' on the base to help keep the bridge halves positioned until they're knocked over. On mine, those areas were totally flat and the bridge usually fell off by itself. I might have to track down one like yours and see if I can locate my old one and compare them.
I imagine the reason for Kenner making a base for the Empire is that the AT-AT walkers hadn't been released til 82. Otherwise, I'd certainly give the "Imperial Attack base" the Rebels. The Empire can't have both :)
Thanks for this video, I had this playset as a child, around 82-83 I would say, I think I may have swapped some of my figures for it as it was missing all of the removable parts. I always wondered what the missing parts looked like, and now, thanks to the internet I can see! Also, as a child growing up in Ireland in the 70's/80's I can now see the Star Wars merchandise that never made it to our shores. I never knew Kenner made Dewbacks, or plush Ewoks. Thanks for the great memories.
For me this playset was wrongly named back in 1981 and I always populated mine with Hoth rebels. After the imperials destroyed the base I had the snowtrooper man the e web cannon and fire at the Falcon. Always should have been called 'Hoth Echo Base Imperial Attack'. A bit long but more accurate! 😆
It's great to see you're figures go flying in the air.. At At driver gently falls to side And It almost looks star wars... Says while reviewing a Hoth playset Serious though good reveiw
I just got mine today minus the gun. The gun is on its way via ebay! Even as a kid I was amazed at the sculpt of the base. (I never had it when I was young but my friend did!)
Thanks for the video review, Dave! Though I do remember the Imperial Attack Base from old adverts, it's not one of the playsets that I ever had or saw for sale. It seems pretty straight forward and simple, which is in no way a negative for me. Simple and straight forward usually means that it's a toy that will stand the test of time. The more components and pieces that you have, the more likely things will break, or that you'll lose pieces over the years. Take the Death Star playset as a good example. It's the mac daddy of Star Wars playsets, but those structural beam supports necessary to support the levels are always breaking or going amiss. Without them, you don't have a functioning playset. Also the gun is complicated, heavy and there are several pieces, resulting in the guns always wearing out or breaking over time. The trash compactor is a bit better constructed, but it too has issues (namely the door pegs and the deteriating foam pieces). There are just so many small parts on the Death Star playset that things are bound to get lost, broken and soforth. The Imperial Base might be simplistic, but I doubt that it could be boring if a kid had a little imagination. That's the thing that we tend to forget. The fun stuff was never the gimmicks created for the toy, but the things and scenarios that we created in our own heads when playing with the toy. Star Wars toys helped to spark my imagination when I was a child. Today's toys tend to do everything for you, and require very little imagination. What's the fun in that??
These odd sets of things that were never in the movie are just fun! I had a couple when I was a kid, but since then they've been lost in the sands of time. I may go hunting for some again. Great video!
Let’s face it this play set should have been called hoth defence base as it is based on the rebel trenches but because the rebels had tauntauns a turret and probot set a snowspeeder and more hoth figures the empire needed something to balance out the sides
According to Retroblasting video, this was supposed to be a REBEL Attack Base. But because Kenner made so many play sets and vehicles for the Rebels and The Empire had an Hoth stormtrooper and AT-AT driver but no AT-AT for him to drive, the rebel attack base, became the imperial attack base.
I loved this playset!!! had a ton of empire toys!!! always wished they made a cloud city playset.. had cardboard atat, this one, turret playset, dagobah, snowspeeder, cloud city twin flyer???, tauntaun, mill falc, tie fighter, and rebel transport... I never saw a imperial star destroyer until this channel!?! toy polloi you rock!!! watching your channel brings back so many memories!!! it's like I get to play with them all over again!!! genius channel!!! I wish you all the success in the world!!! thank you!!!
I was so confused by this as a child for the reasons you mentioned -- the Imperials never had an attack base. Perhaps this was meant to be a counterpoint to the turret/probot playset? A recent Retoblasting video (hi Mike and Melinda!) gave me permission to turn it into a proper rebel base and it looks AMAZING on my shelf next to the turret and probot playset and other assorted Echo Base accouterments. I can't believe I had this for almost 35 years and never considered letting the rebels use it. And like you, I just love the molded footprints.
I had that playset and absolutely loved it. I did have trouble keeping track of all the pieces (I wasn't the most organized child). Someday I will replace it.
It's a real travesty how Hasbro has all but abandoned playsets for their Star Wars modern figures. With today's technology, there's a lot they could do & I think collectors, who are all about displaying their figures, could use a cool playset or two for just that.
I have the Geonisis set from 2002. The last great Star Wars set in my opinion
I always used this as the rebel base as a kid. The rebel soldiers needed somewhere to hunker down while fighting the AT-AT attack. I need to pick this playset up again. It was a favorite back in the day.
Really do miss playsets. They have almost completely disappeared from modern toy lines. Both the Hoth sets where brilliant toys
Great review.
I still have this set from when I was a kid. I (and probably most kids) always used it as an Echo Base defensive position for my Hoth Rebel soldiers. I always thought the sculpting kind of made it look like Krypton or the Fortress of Solitude from the original Superman movie.
Considering that this was completely fictionalized within fiction, it does look great. We need more bases nowadays!
a lost art...The play set.
this always made so much more sense as a rebel base... I always set it up next to my turret playset and had my at at attack them both with the cardboard at at set near by!!! thanks toy polloi
I always assumed it was a base UNDER Imperial attack.
Pretty sure they would've phrased it differently if that were the case.
I think it's more likely this was originally intended to be a part of the Rebel base, but Kenner realized the rebel faction was absolutely loaded toywise in the Hoth theme because the AT-AT wasn't out yet and the Empire had nothing beside a couple of figures, so they decided to even things a bit and gave the other playset to the Empire.
After spending so much time playing with this I always saw it as an area that was taken over and quickly converted to an Imperial command post. The novelised version of ESB had the Falcon's escape scene drawn out with the Imperial soldiers quickly taking over the hanger and setting up their tech and cannons as Han was trying to get the Falcon started. He becomes annoyed at their speed and switches on the auto defense system blasters. And I remember the commercial playing it out that way with the rebel soldiers trying to stop the stormtroopers from setting up which is why the set had so many traps for them.
This would look really cool customised with some ambient LED lights in the nooks. Be interesting painted sand or grey rock colours with some vegetation added to simulate Imperial bases on other planets.
I don't think the cannon is based on the Empire's Tri-Pod Laser Cannon. I think it's based on a particular cannon that the Hoth Rebel forces had in the trenches. This whole playset, with the possible exception of the command bunker, is clearly inspired by the good guys' defense and should have been released as the "Hoth Rebel Trenches" toy.
Great review Dave. Remember getting this from an Antique fair while on Holiday many years ago near Alton Towers would have been about 12. Was our last day and my parents saw it was one so we went for a look and found this on a stall was near the end of the day the guy looked a bit bored had £25 on it. I asked him if he would take 17 said would do it for 18 but told hime its all I had and he agreed was very kind of him. He also mentioned that the roof parts were missing a lot. Ironically had bought the Luke Skywalker MicroMachines play set a couple of days earlier and thats Hoth Themed as well.
had so much fun with this set.
Cmon man you kinow that that is actually the rebel basde and Kenner just named it the Imperial Base cos they literally had zero Imperial toys for the ESB toy line ( The AT AT and AT STs didn't release until 6 months after the movie).
awesome vid
That's a great piece, I don't remember ever seeing it 😮
Maybe boring, but not for a 7 yo children in 1980!! :-)
That play set is still "snow white", as are the others I've seen on Ebay. It's amazing. I only have a POTF2 Hoth play set from the late 90's and it's already gone a bit yellow.
I always used it as the Rebel base, since it looked like their trenches, anyway.
I had this as a kid, and I remember playing with it quite a bit. I used to turn mine upside down and use it as a second 'bonus' Hoth play-set.
One of my favorite sets. And like in this video I have mine posed with imperials. I know a lot of people like putting rebels in it and suggest Kennner got it wrong by calling it an Imperial Attack Base but in my scenario the imperials in this base are dug in doing recon work.
Also, watching the part of this video where you demonstrated the collapsing bridge, I noticed a mold variation between yours and the one I had as a kid. On yours, there are three or four extra little snow 'bumps' on the base to help keep the bridge halves positioned until they're knocked over. On mine, those areas were totally flat and the bridge usually fell off by itself. I might have to track down one like yours and see if I can locate my old one and compare them.
Thanks for the upload Dave, This and Dagobah was my favourite SW toys.
I imagine the reason for Kenner making a base for the Empire is that the AT-AT walkers hadn't been released til 82.
Otherwise, I'd certainly give the "Imperial Attack base" the Rebels.
The Empire can't have both :)
Thanks for this video, I had this playset as a child, around 82-83 I would say, I think I may have swapped some of my figures for it as it was missing all of the removable parts. I always wondered what the missing parts looked like, and now, thanks to the internet I can see! Also, as a child growing up in Ireland in the 70's/80's I can now see the Star Wars merchandise that never made it to our shores. I never knew Kenner made Dewbacks, or plush Ewoks. Thanks for the great memories.
i miss having mine. i used mine for the rebels base. and my gi joes.
For me this playset was wrongly named back in 1981 and I always populated mine with Hoth rebels. After the imperials destroyed the base I had the snowtrooper man the e web cannon and fire at the Falcon. Always should have been called 'Hoth Echo Base Imperial Attack'. A bit long but more accurate! 😆
It's great to see you're figures go flying in the air..
At At driver gently falls to side
And
It almost looks star wars...
Says while reviewing a Hoth playset
Serious though good reveiw
I just got mine today minus the gun. The gun is on its way via ebay! Even as a kid I was amazed at the sculpt of the base. (I never had it when I was young but my friend did!)
This playset should have been called the Hoth Rebel Trench playset. As you pointed out the Imperials didn't have a base on Hoth.
I loved this thing as a kid! Man did I have some adventures with the one I had. My favorite part was definitely the ice bridge!
Thanks for the video review, Dave! Though I do remember the Imperial Attack Base from old adverts, it's not one of the playsets that I ever had or saw for sale. It seems pretty straight forward and simple, which is in no way a negative for me. Simple and straight forward usually means that it's a toy that will stand the test of time. The more components and pieces that you have, the more likely things will break, or that you'll lose pieces over the years. Take the Death Star playset as a good example. It's the mac daddy of Star Wars playsets, but those structural beam supports necessary to support the levels are always breaking or going amiss. Without them, you don't have a functioning playset. Also the gun is complicated, heavy and there are several pieces, resulting in the guns always wearing out or breaking over time. The trash compactor is a bit better constructed, but it too has issues (namely the door pegs and the deteriating foam pieces). There are just so many small parts on the Death Star playset that things are bound to get lost, broken and soforth. The Imperial Base might be simplistic, but I doubt that it could be boring if a kid had a little imagination. That's the thing that we tend to forget. The fun stuff was never the gimmicks created for the toy, but the things and scenarios that we created in our own heads when playing with the toy. Star Wars toys helped to spark my imagination when I was a child. Today's toys tend to do everything for you, and require very little imagination. What's the fun in that??
These odd sets of things that were never in the movie are just fun! I had a couple when I was a kid, but since then they've been lost in the sands of time. I may go hunting for some again. Great video!
Let’s face it this play set should have been called hoth defence base as it is based on the rebel trenches but because the rebels had tauntauns a turret and probot set a snowspeeder and more hoth figures the empire needed something to balance out the sides
I really like this set, surely however it should actually have been the Rebels Echo Base?
I used to stare down this playset and pretend I was in the ice trenches
I had this as a kid. sold off the bits to a toy dealer as my nephews had lost/knackered it.
Always wanted one of those bases; never got one. Oh well...
I used to own this. Spent many an hour playing with it. It was a dust trap though!
According to Retroblasting video, this was supposed to be a REBEL Attack Base. But because Kenner made so many play sets and vehicles for the Rebels and The Empire had an Hoth stormtrooper and AT-AT driver but no AT-AT for him to drive, the rebel attack base, became the imperial attack base.
Not sure that's true, but it's a good story.
Toy Polloi They said is just a theory.
AT AT driver paint had it rough in this video
that pore at-at driver, what did he ever do to you? lol
Great video dude. Love this play set
Thank you for posting this.
Is the clicking noise meant to resemble the gun firing?
I guess. But it's not convincing.
Had this as a boy it was soooo cool.
I loved this playset!!! had a ton of empire toys!!! always wished they made a cloud city playset.. had cardboard atat, this one, turret playset, dagobah, snowspeeder, cloud city twin flyer???, tauntaun, mill falc, tie fighter, and rebel transport... I never saw a imperial star destroyer until this channel!?! toy polloi you rock!!! watching your channel brings back so many memories!!! it's like I get to play with them all over again!!! genius channel!!! I wish you all the success in the world!!! thank you!!!
I was so confused by this as a child for the reasons you mentioned -- the Imperials never had an attack base. Perhaps this was meant to be a counterpoint to the turret/probot playset?
A recent Retoblasting video (hi Mike and Melinda!) gave me permission to turn it into a proper rebel base and it looks AMAZING on my shelf next to the turret and probot playset and other assorted Echo Base accouterments. I can't believe I had this for almost 35 years and never considered letting the rebels use it. And like you, I just love the molded footprints.
I had that playset and absolutely loved it. I did have trouble keeping track of all the pieces (I wasn't the most organized child). Someday I will replace it.
I have this, a Christmas gift from my sister a few years ago.
Just realized I'm missing the roof panels on the commander center .
I have this set and it has pink marks all over some parts of it. Do you know how to clean it off
Check out video on Ink removal. That should help.
I enjoyed the review. Thanks!
My pleasure!
I still have this set from when I was bought it as a present in 1982. awesome toy
My favorite playset back in the day
i think it's a great set. on display, it looks cool