I think you successfully packed as much into this Follies as Kenner attempted yet failed to do with the playset. The "48 Hours" nod was especially hilarious to me. Bravo!
Even as a kid at the time, I always thought the Star Destroyer toy was absolute rubbish. But I didn't know about the escape hatch, tanning booth light, or the hallucinogenic red filter that's supposed to be a hologram. Whoever it was at Kenner who designed this thing must have done it at five to five on a Friday. Maybe on a bank holiday weekend. Of all the many brilliant translations of scenes, vehicles and characters Kenner turned into toy form, this was their first real dud. And the video was hilarious.
Nope, they were already getting cheap and greedy by ESB with their cardboad backed recycled playsets from ANH. It was excusable to do cantina and sand crawler in cardboard because they didn't know how successful the line would be in the beginning but by ESB they were raking in billions and the playsets should have reflected that but they never did.
"And just DON'T do it with the Leia Joke!" Bahaha! I felt so guilty. This video was so worth the wait. Bravo! Thank you for all the quality work you always do. It's so much appreciated.
Rebel transport had removable cannons & worked double duty to carry your figures. I asked for a milinium falcon that Christmas & got the transport. @ first I was disappointed but loved it after play8ng with it.
I made the mistake of requesting this POS as a birthday present from my parents. It was brand new at the time, and the inclusion of Vader's meditation chamber in the commercial lured me in. The fact that it needed two huge C or D batteries just to power that dinky light was especially strange. What a waste of a birthday present!
Oh my God I forgot about those big bitch batteries! Yeah what was the point in that, I mean a single AAA would've sufficed? Maybe Kenner had a deal with Duracell.
Yeah, I have no idea why I asked for this hunk of crap either. I think I was deceived by the box art, like a Lego space base plate from the same time. I remember being horrified when I opened the box and it was just a hunk of plastic with none of the figures included. Sad times.
It makes me wonder how many D and C batteries our generation went through to power all of our old toys. I remember needing batteries for my Kenner Tie Fighter and Snow Speeder too so their lasers would light up and make the firing sounds from the movie.
@@mikecuntala9675 I always thought it odd that the X-wing and TIE fighter needed two AAs to power its lights and sound, but the Millennium Falcon needed two whopping Cs to power only sound, no lights.
As I looked at it just now, great video by the way, I realized they needed to make it multiple pieces and sets that can be put together. Star Destroyer Bridge playset hooks to Darth Vader's inner sanctum playset which connects to the... well you could put anything there. There needs to be places for stormtroopers to guard and maybe a landing platform and places for heroes to run around in as they escape Vader's clutches. Two or three combined playsets would have saved this.
This has "Bridge to Nowhere" vibes. Those "entry ports" are suicide jumps. Overall it looks kinda neat, if it were anything else besides a "Star Destroyer". Like a fun playset if they gutted the Vader Chamber, made it like "Star Destroyer Weapons Control Station" but as it is....yeah it's hard to defend. I really love the quarter turning platform just so Vader can yell SQUIRREL!
My reaction to this… thing… was identical to Luke’s reaction when seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time: “What a piece of junk!” But what’s not a piece of junk, is this video! Nice Work! Hysterical, insightful, and we even got a cat cameo! Can’t wait for the next one!
I remember getting it for Christmas from my aunt and it was mostly used as a Cobra control room. The chamber was used as a special throne for either Destro or Cobra Commander. I never used it as a vehicle.
Ugh I can't wait to see this episodes - saw the tease in the 10 year Anniversary video. I always look forward to these Star Wars Follies - the best series to watch when it comes to Vintage Star Wars!
Fantastic work on this episode. I never had this as a kid and don't even remember seeing it in the stores. I maybe glossed over it as being all open like it is, wouldn't have been appealing as opposed to having removable panels that you could have closed it up with. Masses of effort was clearly put into this production and it's truly appreciated.
This was hilarious! Thank you again, RetroBlasting crew for a job well done. Hilarious, but informative is what you folks do best. My son and I both cracked up on the part where someone tried to use Darth Vader's meditation chamber as a restroom. Nice job, folks!👍👏👏👏
About three times bigger with three separate rooms - the Bridge, Vader's Chamber and either a crew quarters, brig or a combination of a few things for the 3rd room. The top would resemble the top of a Super Star Destroyer and rather than just being open, it would have panels you could remove to get inside.
I imagine the budget is what kept the playset from being more than what it was. They could've made it more epic but it probably would've been too cost prohibitive for both producer and consumer.
I remember seeing this toy and thinking it was the first part of some Build-a-ship gimmick they were going for. Like each part was supposed to represent a different deck and if you got them all you had a USS Flagg sized playset or something
I remember getting this for christmas 1980. One night, the moon shone through my window, and for some odd reason, it made me think of the Cygnus from the Black Hole, of all things! From that point, it became my de facto "Cygnus" for playtime scenarios.
as an adult collector ihave never even considered it, as an extremely poor child i would have been thrilled to have had it. i had an amazing time as a child using rocks and sticks and boxes to make bases and so on, mt imagination was easy to fire up back then.
Funny that you mention the toy could be an Imperial outpost. I had this toy as a child and that is exactly how we used it; it became a fixed defensive position on the ground, like a glorified machinegun nest, and Vader's meditation room was just the commander's station. And yeah, I'll admit it, I was gonna make the Princess Leia joke before you stopped me. :)
"Have you ever tried balancing a cat on your forearm?" That is the absolute last thing I ever thought I'd hear in a toy review. Man, that made laugh till my guts ached. I didn't have this play set as a kid and distinctly remember never wanting it. I guess it was because I had both the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star play set, so I was set for environments. If I had gotten the Star Destroyer as a gift, it would have been a great disappointment.
Fun fact of my life - as a kid, this was the first time I had ever encountered the word hologram. No one in my family knew what it meant as it wasn't a frequently used term at the time.
That "Grand Vizier" hologram thing is so fascinating! Was it a precursor to the Emperor, or someone else entirely? I'm pretty sure Lucas always had an "Emperor of the universe" in his drafts tho...
I used to have one of those, i got it one Christmas… i could never figure out what it was until many many years later but I was just happy to have something Star Wars. In retrospective, I appreciate my mom buying me something star wars because she knew I loved it. She made the effort at least.
Man, waited for this for yrs! And it didn’t disappoint! And the humour was absolutely fantastic, the way this was put together was brilliant. I remember trading my slave one for this in the street with my friend in 1983 ish. Instant regret! Still bothers me!
Excellent video Michael. This is my favorite of all the Star Wars follies. And they are all works of art for sure. Also an inspiration for us content creators to achive such an edit.
Michael, this was fantastic! I loved that the TIE pilot was given a Mark Wahlberg voice, and that one of the Imperials used the word “codswallop” before biting the dust. Thank you for so many laughs!
This toy sure looks silly...and yet it has stuck with me for 40 years. I never had it but would dream about having it back in the 80s. Looking forward to this one.
I would have loved that as a kid. I had a lot of Star Wars sets but not that one. What I didn't have I made. Like the Millennium Falcon cockpit out of a pair of disguarded 70s headphones for the basic shape. Don't think I would have had the confidence to cut the angles for Vader's meditation chamber because I was a perfectionist and I would have probably thrown my first attempts at a wall. No, I would have loved that because I would have just added on to it and built around it...
I remember fishing this out of a childhood friend's garbage as a kid. When said friend found out what I had done, they immediately wanted it back in spite. Kids can be weird sometimes.
If HasLab were ever to make a USS Flagg sized Star Destroyer Executor I maybe tempted to back it. One for myself and one for Michael :-) A real missed opportunity they could of given us a better Star Destroyer playset ship. One of many missed opportunities from Kenner like not getting the Bantha, a Cloud City playset, a Death Star II playset or Imperial Endor bunker playset.
You mean the company that's crowdfunding a lightsaber for a modern character only now having a significant role in a streaming show as of two days ago? Hasbro simply doesn't know its audience and when that thing fails just like the BS Rancor did, maybe they'll finally wise up. I'm at Celebration and the groan at the Reva lightsaber Haslab from the fans in the room was palpable.
I don’t know if you read these comments or not. But i can’t tell you how much I laughed watching this video. I’m a collector, but my wife could care less. Unless I told her you put out a new video. Her only question… oh my god is his darth Vader figure talking in the video??? She’s obsessed. Priceless.
The weather is pretty cruddy where I live today. This video helped brighten my day. Thank you! As for the Star Destroyer, it really feels like it was intended to be much larger than it ended up. Some of the features aren't that terrible, but they lack space to breathe. Even being at least the same size as the Falcon would've been a step in the right direction.
I had one of these from the Thrift Store when I was a kid - I had no idea it was a star destroyer, or death star... or whatever it was. It was already pretty trashed by the time I got to it, and I don't remember having it for very long.
I had, still have actually, both the Star Destroyer and the Rebel Transporter. Thinking back, of the two I played with the Star Destroyer more but not as much as any of the other vehicles or play sets. Great video 👍
I've been back at your channel, enjoying stuff I hadn't seen. I'm just now catching up on most of your new content. Over the years I've been following, I've come to love your productions, editing and content. Glad to leave a comment here and there and with this one, I only want to encourage you to keep at it. These videos are fun to watch and I really wish you the best.
Great review! I had one of these back in the day. Unfortunately, the little tabs holding the orange "force light" filter broke, and it was the only thing holding the bulb in place. My Mom sent away to Kenner for a replacement part, which promptly did the same thing. The weight of those D or C cell batteries was constantly bearing down on the tabs, and the pressure only increased when the light button was pushed down. After the replacement part broke, Kenner had us send it to them for a replacement playset, but all that came back to us was a dang KOOPIN for other stuff since they didn't have any more Star Destroyers. I would have kept it, functional bulb or not had I known this would be the result. NEVER let your parents send a toy back for replacement. The same thing happened with my vintage Cylon Raider, only instead of a KOOPIN, Mattel sent us a sadly neutered Raider with glued-in missiles.
I remember owning this playset and not knowing what it exactly was when playing with it. It was later in life, after my toy playing phase, that I realized what it was supposed to be. That's probably it's biggest shortfall. I can stretch my imagination but if I didn't even realize what the toy reference was to the movie vehicles, that's a fail for Kenner.
Excellent video Michael!!! I love broken DV. Lol!! Very funny scenes. Great review of the toy. I am a couple years older and had the Deathstar. I had a friend I'd visit that had the SSD, I only saw it useful for the bounty hunter scene or DV in his tanning booth. LOL! You are spot on with your description of it. I love Follies!!! Great content!!!! Also, thanks for explaining the weird clamp decals on the back. Always wondered about those.
On a positive side, there's so many other uses for this set: - A stage for light entertainment, with orchestra pit(s). - A catwalk for galactic fashion shows. - A bird-watching hideaway (add some camo patterned cloth to the sides). - A laboratory with a nuclear reactor where superpowers can be gained. - An armoured tank that's been stripped and sitting on cinder blocks. - A playset that examines the inevitable budget cuts in a space-faring military's ongoing campaigns. And so much more!
Great as always, Michael. Love the cat cameo. I imagine Kenner was just trying to capture scenes from the movie like some of the other playsets, but it just didn't work as well this time... I agree that calling this a vehicle is beyond silly. I never had this, but made my own meditation chamber with some washed out plastic butter containers cut out like a jack-o-lantern smile. :-D
Starting off my summer with Star Wars Follies, awesome! To me Star Wars Follies is something I associate with Summer As Star Wars Follies were my first introduction to the channel several years ago 😄
This playset. Oh man this was so hilarious. Thank you. Considering the coolness of the Deathstar playset, you would have thought more time and well, real estate could have found it's way to a real toy.
I got this for Xmas back when it was released (I already had Millennium Falcon and the Rebel Transport) and thought it looked kind of goofy. I was a pretty inventive kid having taken my Falcon apart, bending the cardboard wall next to the access ramp to get a passage to the cockpit, and putting in little dolls house lights (which ran off a separate battery) inside the cockpit and cabin. With the Star Destroyer, I draw a picture with a black marker pen of the Emperor on the flat backside of the "hologram", then made two detailed light grey cardboard hull panels for the sides, which I silver duct-taped (so they could swing open "gull-wing"-style), and put in doors for the openings at the rear. Then at least it looked a little bit more like a spaceship. But I'll admit that apart from having Vader meet all the bounty hunter figures (which I had) I can't remember playing that much with it...? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Absolutely brilliant! And your poor (but glorious) cat! The fact I can relate to the analogy scares me. They really could not pull this off even approximately without approaching something closer to at least the Palitoy Death Star size and settled for the Star Destroyer bridge plus a couple of annexes (Vader's private chamber and communications, for example). Thank you for the insightful look and the laughs. Someone else probably pointed them out already, or perhaps you already knew anyway, but (1) Kenner seems to have gotten a hold of an early script for Empire, in which Vader communicates with the Emperor's Grand Vizier instead of the Emperor himself, and was not told otherwise before production, and (2) the naval guard (Kenner's Death Squad/Death Star commander/trooper) is technically accurate to a single individual seen in the original Star Wars movie, atop the raised control station in the Death Star control room (behind Tarkin, Vader, Leia, etc.). Apparently he was supposed to have a slightly larger role in the original film, but the footage was cut. Once again, Kenner was apparently mislead by what turned out to be outdated information. He was wearing the gray (actually olive) tunic (we can't see the pants), the glossy black samurai helmet, and a headset with a mic and coiled cord. In fact, he was pictured on the card, based on footage not used in the final version of the film, although on the card photograph, the colors are so dark as to make it difficult to distinguish the tunic's color. Kenner confounded this presumably high ranking commanding officer (in communications or navigation or whatever) with the regular naval guards who did not wear the same uniform. Everyone else wearing this helmet, wore either a black tunic and pants or a black jumpsuit with imperial crests at the shoulders. The hideous second Power of the Force line and more modern lines tend to portray the black tunic appearance, although they usually mess up by putting the crests (or a single crest) on the tunic (they go only on the jumpsuit).
Sith tanning booth!! Ha ha. The Star Destroyer Playset is perhaps the only vintage Kenner toy I used to own but don't regret selling. Great video Michael
Michael's reaction to the size reminds me of how I feel about getting ripped off on pizza. The pizza is here. Yes!!! It's smaller than the box. Awwwww...
finally, 7 years after Michael exclaimed "That's a cheesy toy, we'll DEFINITELY be getting to that one soon", the retroblasting channel has indeed got to it. how exciting!
i had one of these for Christmas when i was 8/9 and loved it,had loads of fun with it and still have it to this day(in reasonably good condition),guess i must be an idiot
I think you successfully packed as much into this Follies as Kenner attempted yet failed to do with the playset. The "48 Hours" nod was especially hilarious to me. Bravo!
Even as a kid at the time, I always thought the Star Destroyer toy was absolute rubbish. But I didn't know about the escape hatch, tanning booth light, or the hallucinogenic red filter that's supposed to be a hologram. Whoever it was at Kenner who designed this thing must have done it at five to five on a Friday. Maybe on a bank holiday weekend. Of all the many brilliant translations of scenes, vehicles and characters Kenner turned into toy form, this was their first real dud. And the video was hilarious.
Nope, they were already getting cheap and greedy by ESB with their cardboad backed recycled playsets from ANH. It was excusable to do cantina and sand crawler in cardboard because they didn't know how successful the line would be in the beginning but by ESB they were raking in billions and the playsets should have reflected that but they never did.
"And just DON'T do it with the Leia Joke!" Bahaha! I felt so guilty. This video was so worth the wait. Bravo! Thank you for all the quality work you always do. It's so much appreciated.
Okay I'm missing something cause I don't get the Leia joke? Fraid I need an explanation.
@@Cavillier1970 Last Jedi joke
@@chasethespongeking395 Oh okay- haven't seen it yet, thanks
Rebel transport had removable cannons & worked double duty to carry your figures. I asked for a milinium falcon that Christmas & got the transport. @ first I was disappointed but loved it after play8ng with it.
I made the mistake of requesting this POS as a birthday present from my parents. It was brand new at the time, and the inclusion of Vader's meditation chamber in the commercial lured me in. The fact that it needed two huge C or D batteries just to power that dinky light was especially strange. What a waste of a birthday present!
Oh my God I forgot about those big bitch batteries! Yeah what was the point in that, I mean a single AAA would've sufficed? Maybe Kenner had a deal with Duracell.
I feel like Kenner in the late 70s and early 80s were keeping the C and D cell battery industry afloat
Yeah, I have no idea why I asked for this hunk of crap either. I think I was deceived by the box art, like a Lego space base plate from the same time. I remember being horrified when I opened the box and it was just a hunk of plastic with none of the figures included. Sad times.
It makes me wonder how many D and C batteries our generation went through to power all of our old toys. I remember needing batteries for my Kenner Tie Fighter and Snow Speeder too so their lasers would light up and make the firing sounds from the movie.
@@mikecuntala9675 I always thought it odd that the X-wing and TIE fighter needed two AAs to power its lights and sound, but the Millennium Falcon needed two whopping Cs to power only sound, no lights.
I remember seeing this displayed in a shop in London when I was about 5 and thinking it looked like the best thing ever.
As I looked at it just now, great video by the way, I realized they needed to make it multiple pieces and sets that can be put together. Star Destroyer Bridge playset hooks to Darth Vader's inner sanctum playset which connects to the... well you could put anything there. There needs to be places for stormtroopers to guard and maybe a landing platform and places for heroes to run around in as they escape Vader's clutches. Two or three combined playsets would have saved this.
This has "Bridge to Nowhere" vibes. Those "entry ports" are suicide jumps.
Overall it looks kinda neat, if it were anything else besides a "Star Destroyer". Like a fun playset if they gutted the Vader Chamber, made it like "Star Destroyer Weapons Control Station" but as it is....yeah it's hard to defend. I really love the quarter turning platform just so Vader can yell SQUIRREL!
My reaction to this… thing… was identical to Luke’s reaction when seeing the Millennium Falcon for the first time: “What a piece of junk!”
But what’s not a piece of junk, is this video! Nice Work! Hysterical, insightful, and we even got a cat cameo! Can’t wait for the next one!
I remember getting it for Christmas from my aunt and it was mostly used as a Cobra control room. The chamber was used as a special throne for either Destro or Cobra Commander.
I never used it as a vehicle.
Ugh I can't wait to see this episodes - saw the tease in the 10 year Anniversary video. I always look forward to these Star Wars Follies - the best series to watch when it comes to Vintage Star Wars!
Fantastic work on this episode. I never had this as a kid and don't even remember seeing it in the stores. I maybe glossed over it as being all open like it is, wouldn't have been appealing as opposed to having removable panels that you could have closed it up with. Masses of effort was clearly put into this production and it's truly appreciated.
This was hilarious! Thank you again, RetroBlasting crew for a job well done.
Hilarious, but informative is what you folks do best. My son and I both cracked up on the part where someone tried to use Darth Vader's meditation chamber as a restroom.
Nice job, folks!👍👏👏👏
About three times bigger with three separate rooms - the Bridge, Vader's Chamber and either a crew quarters, brig or a combination of a few things for the 3rd room. The top would resemble the top of a Super Star Destroyer and rather than just being open, it would have panels you could remove to get inside.
I imagine the budget is what kept the playset from being more than what it was. They could've made it more epic but it probably would've been too cost prohibitive for both producer and consumer.
I remember seeing this toy and thinking it was the first part of some Build-a-ship gimmick they were going for. Like each part was supposed to represent a different deck and if you got them all you had a USS Flagg sized playset or something
I remember getting this for christmas 1980. One night, the moon shone through my window, and for some odd reason, it made me think of the Cygnus from the Black Hole, of all things! From that point, it became my de facto "Cygnus" for playtime scenarios.
It seems so much more plausible as that Samantha! “Its Rhinehardt’s Torcher Chamber playset!” 😆
as an adult collector ihave never even considered it, as an extremely poor child i would have been thrilled to have had it. i had an amazing time as a child using rocks and sticks and boxes to make bases and so on, mt imagination was easy to fire up back then.
This set is a waste of plastic. I now it was a product of its time but its just so congested and looks out of place.
"They're the same picture." 🤣
SUPERB Follies!! You had me effin' giggling the whole vid! Thanks Michael n Melinda!
Funny that you mention the toy could be an Imperial outpost. I had this toy as a child and that is exactly how we used it; it became a fixed defensive position on the ground, like a glorified machinegun nest, and Vader's meditation room was just the commander's station.
And yeah, I'll admit it, I was gonna make the Princess Leia joke before you stopped me. :)
"Have you ever tried balancing a cat on your forearm?"
That is the absolute last thing I ever thought I'd hear in a toy review. Man, that made laugh till my guts ached. I didn't have this play set as a kid and distinctly remember never wanting it. I guess it was because I had both the Millennium Falcon and the Death Star play set, so I was set for environments. If I had gotten the Star Destroyer as a gift, it would have been a great disappointment.
Fun fact of my life - as a kid, this was the first time I had ever encountered the word hologram. No one in my family knew what it meant as it wasn't a frequently used term at the time.
That "Grand Vizier" hologram thing is so fascinating! Was it a precursor to the Emperor, or someone else entirely? I'm pretty sure Lucas always had an "Emperor of the universe" in his drafts tho...
We all know the Emperor was so enraged at the loss of the Death Star that he refused to speak to Vader for six months
That hologram strip was just dumb.
Thank you for taking the time to do the skits they were really funny!
Despite it's limitations I wanted this SO BAD as a kid and I never got it, lol. I'm still pining away for it.
Truthfully, I have very fond memories of this playset because ESB was a cool enough movie to overlook it's shortcomings. Also, I was 4yrs old.
Like most kids of the era you likely came equipped with an imagination too, which was critical for any toy line.
I haven't seen Andor yet, but apparently, in episode 7, Mon Mothma says that the Grand Vizier has infiltrated her Separatist coalition meetings.
I used to have one of those, i got it one Christmas… i could never figure out what it was until many many years later but I was just happy to have something Star Wars. In retrospective, I appreciate my mom buying me something star wars because she knew I loved it. She made the effort at least.
Yeah man same here. Limited means meant limited toys, and I was thankful for all of them.
I thought this set was awesome back in the day, still puts a childish smile on my face at 50yrs old.
Exactly man. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but imagination (and batteries) was supplied by the kid.
@@michaelwills1926 that chamber tho, I loved it to bits! My mum made me a black cloth cape for my spare Vader so he could sit in it perfectly!
My guilty pleasure playset. Every point you make is... spot on. Dammit. A fantastic follies! Dammit... thanks for that Michael.
Man, waited for this for yrs! And it didn’t disappoint!
And the humour was absolutely fantastic, the way this was put together was brilliant.
I remember trading my slave one for this in the street with my friend in 1983 ish.
Instant regret! Still bothers me!
I bet it’s a cool story though. “The trade”. Especially trading a slave one for it.
Excellent video Michael. This is my favorite of all the Star Wars follies. And they are all works of art for sure. Also an inspiration for us content creators to achive such an edit.
All Star Wars Follies deserve multiple thumbs ups!!!
I just love the Kylie Minogue t-shirt! She can be my Jedi Queen anytime! Loved the video!
9:53. “Sorry sir I was just trying to find the will to live”
😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Michael, this was fantastic! I loved that the TIE pilot was given a Mark Wahlberg voice, and that one of the Imperials used the word “codswallop” before biting the dust. Thank you for so many laughs!
Another continuity problem is that the Millenium Falcon never attached itself to the Executor, but rather the Star Destroyer Avenger.
This toy sure looks silly...and yet it has stuck with me for 40 years. I never had it but would dream about having it back in the 80s. Looking forward to this one.
Kenner did the best they could for the price point. Michael seems to have had some unrealistic expectations at times.
I would have loved that as a kid. I had a lot of Star Wars sets but not that one. What I didn't have I made. Like the Millennium Falcon cockpit out of a pair of disguarded 70s headphones for the basic shape. Don't think I would have had the confidence to cut the angles for Vader's meditation chamber because I was a perfectionist and I would have probably thrown my first attempts at a wall. No, I would have loved that because I would have just added on to it and built around it...
I LOVE this channel so much. Thank you Michael!
Lol......this cracked me up as well as informed me about this particular star wars toy's history.
I love retroblasting!
I remember fishing this out of a childhood friend's garbage as a kid. When said friend found out what I had done, they immediately wanted it back in spite. Kids can be weird sometimes.
That’s hilarious, man! Thank you so much. I needed that!
I loved my Star Destroyer playset. Lol
It’s better than my star destroyer that I made out of stacked up books and Lincoln logs
Topps football cards became many a rebel base or starship bulkhead for me. Ya had to work with what was around.
"They're the same picture." Fantastic.
Fantastic Star Wars Follies video! All the humor was spot on. I lost it at "Next time take me with you."
Dude that cat is huge and quite tolerant. Thanks for this one.
If HasLab were ever to make a USS Flagg sized Star Destroyer Executor I maybe tempted to back it. One for myself and one for Michael :-) A real missed opportunity they could of given us a better Star Destroyer playset ship. One of many missed opportunities from Kenner like not getting the Bantha, a Cloud City playset, a Death Star II playset or Imperial Endor bunker playset.
You mean the company that's crowdfunding a lightsaber for a modern character only now having a significant role in a streaming show as of two days ago? Hasbro simply doesn't know its audience and when that thing fails just like the BS Rancor did, maybe they'll finally wise up. I'm at Celebration and the groan at the Reva lightsaber Haslab from the fans in the room was palpable.
I don’t know if you read these comments or not. But i can’t tell you how much I laughed watching this video. I’m a collector, but my wife could care less. Unless I told her you put out a new video. Her only question… oh my god is his darth Vader figure talking in the video??? She’s obsessed. Priceless.
The weather is pretty cruddy where I live today. This video helped brighten my day. Thank you! As for the Star Destroyer, it really feels like it was intended to be much larger than it ended up. Some of the features aren't that terrible, but they lack space to breathe. Even being at least the same size as the Falcon would've been a step in the right direction.
I never had one, but I absolutely adore this set.
10/10 video… and t-shirt
I used to use the upside-down figure feature for Luke in the Wampa's cave.
I had one of these from the Thrift Store when I was a kid - I had no idea it was a star destroyer, or death star... or whatever it was. It was already pretty trashed by the time I got to it, and I don't remember having it for very long.
I had, still have actually, both the Star Destroyer and the Rebel Transporter. Thinking back, of the two I played with the Star Destroyer more but not as much as any of the other vehicles or play sets. Great video 👍
I've been back at your channel, enjoying stuff I hadn't seen. I'm just now catching up on most of your new content. Over the years I've been following, I've come to love your productions, editing and content. Glad to leave a comment here and there and with this one, I only want to encourage you to keep at it. These videos are fun to watch and I really wish you the best.
I actually loved this play set as a kid 😬
I was busting a guy when you were trying to hold the cat! Lol awesome follies!!
This is excellent to watch on a Sunday morning. BV is truly the MVP once again.
Great review! I had one of these back in the day. Unfortunately, the little tabs holding the orange "force light" filter broke, and it was the only thing holding the bulb in place. My Mom sent away to Kenner for a replacement part, which promptly did the same thing. The weight of those D or C cell batteries was constantly bearing down on the tabs, and the pressure only increased when the light button was pushed down. After the replacement part broke, Kenner had us send it to them for a replacement playset, but all that came back to us was a dang KOOPIN for other stuff since they didn't have any more Star Destroyers. I would have kept it, functional bulb or not had I known this would be the result. NEVER let your parents send a toy back for replacement. The same thing happened with my vintage Cylon Raider, only instead of a KOOPIN, Mattel sent us a sadly neutered Raider with glued-in missiles.
“Please allow 6 to 8 weeks for delivery”
I remember owning this playset and not knowing what it exactly was when playing with it. It was later in life, after my toy playing phase, that I realized what it was supposed to be. That's probably it's biggest shortfall. I can stretch my imagination but if I didn't even realize what the toy reference was to the movie vehicles, that's a fail for Kenner.
I always wanted this as a kid. It was where the bounty hunters hung out. It was one of the few ones i never had.😊
Epic! Epic video!!!! My fav was Luke's Yellow light saber!!!!
I quite liked it!
“Luke and Leia died..........DIED!” That part had crackin up! So true so true!
Excellent video Michael!!! I love broken DV. Lol!! Very funny scenes. Great review of the toy. I am a couple years older and had the Deathstar. I had a friend I'd visit that had the SSD, I only saw it useful for the bounty hunter scene or DV in his tanning booth. LOL! You are spot on with your description of it. I love Follies!!! Great content!!!! Also, thanks for explaining the weird clamp decals on the back. Always wondered about those.
On a positive side, there's so many other uses for this set:
- A stage for light entertainment, with orchestra pit(s).
- A catwalk for galactic fashion shows.
- A bird-watching hideaway (add some camo patterned cloth to the sides).
- A laboratory with a nuclear reactor where superpowers can be gained.
- An armoured tank that's been stripped and sitting on cinder blocks.
- A playset that examines the inevitable budget cuts in a space-faring military's ongoing campaigns.
And so much more!
Great as always, Michael. Love the cat cameo.
I imagine Kenner was just trying to capture scenes from the movie like some of the other playsets, but it just didn't work as well this time... I agree that calling this a vehicle is beyond silly. I never had this, but made my own meditation chamber with some washed out plastic butter containers cut out like a jack-o-lantern smile. :-D
This was pretty funny Michael. The escape hatch bit... You definitely read my mind. I love it. Another great Follies entry. It was worth the wait!
You managed to make me feel happy for not having that akward piece of nothingburger. And I appreciate that. It saves space and money.
Broken Vader and a kitty! Plus Sal from Two Cents Toys. It's like you tailor made this video for me. 😀
I just got out my Ewolk village from my parents attic and played with it with Final Faction figures on it with my 3 year old daughter, she loved it!
Starting off my summer with Star Wars Follies, awesome! To me Star Wars Follies is something I associate with Summer
As Star Wars Follies were my first introduction to the channel several years ago 😄
okay Kenner defininitilly drop the ball one this playset
This playset. Oh man this was so hilarious. Thank you. Considering the coolness of the Deathstar playset, you would have thought more time and well, real estate could have found it's way to a real toy.
This is a stan solo product waiting to happen .
Love the cat😀
Do... do we still drink if Michael walks off camera on a prerecorded video?
Superb work, really enjoyed this thank you!
The "STARFISH" is staring you right in the face. Bravo Sir! Chef's kiss on the writing.
This is peak Retroblasting. The perfect blend of informative and funny 🙌
Thanks for the upload Mike.
just wanted to say respect for the Jedi Knight Select Sound Effect. Well placed.
I like this playset.
I got this for Xmas back when it was released (I already had Millennium Falcon and the Rebel Transport) and thought it looked kind of goofy. I was a pretty inventive kid having taken my Falcon apart, bending the cardboard wall next to the access ramp to get a passage to the cockpit, and putting in little dolls house lights (which ran off a separate battery) inside the cockpit and cabin. With the Star Destroyer, I draw a picture with a black marker pen of the Emperor on the flat backside of the "hologram", then made two detailed light grey cardboard hull panels for the sides, which I silver duct-taped (so they could swing open "gull-wing"-style), and put in doors for the openings at the rear. Then at least it looked a little bit more like a spaceship. But I'll admit that apart from having Vader meet all the bounty hunter figures (which I had) I can't remember playing that much with it...? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I loved it this toy I still have the gun I use it and Warhammer 40K
Star Wars follies is some of your best content….!!!!!! Can you do more of these???
Love that cameo of 2 cent toys!
Absolutely brilliant! And your poor (but glorious) cat! The fact I can relate to the analogy scares me. They really could not pull this off even approximately without approaching something closer to at least the Palitoy Death Star size and settled for the Star Destroyer bridge plus a couple of annexes (Vader's private chamber and communications, for example). Thank you for the insightful look and the laughs. Someone else probably pointed them out already, or perhaps you already knew anyway, but
(1) Kenner seems to have gotten a hold of an early script for Empire, in which Vader communicates with the Emperor's Grand Vizier instead of the Emperor himself, and was not told otherwise before production, and
(2) the naval guard (Kenner's Death Squad/Death Star commander/trooper) is technically accurate to a single individual seen in the original Star Wars movie, atop the raised control station in the Death Star control room (behind Tarkin, Vader, Leia, etc.). Apparently he was supposed to have a slightly larger role in the original film, but the footage was cut. Once again, Kenner was apparently mislead by what turned out to be outdated information. He was wearing the gray (actually olive) tunic (we can't see the pants), the glossy black samurai helmet, and a headset with a mic and coiled cord. In fact, he was pictured on the card, based on footage not used in the final version of the film, although on the card photograph, the colors are so dark as to make it difficult to distinguish the tunic's color. Kenner confounded this presumably high ranking commanding officer (in communications or navigation or whatever) with the regular naval guards who did not wear the same uniform. Everyone else wearing this helmet, wore either a black tunic and pants or a black jumpsuit with imperial crests at the shoulders. The hideous second Power of the Force line and more modern lines tend to portray the black tunic appearance, although they usually mess up by putting the crests (or a single crest) on the tunic (they go only on the jumpsuit).
Sith tanning booth!! Ha ha. The Star Destroyer Playset is perhaps the only vintage Kenner toy I used to own but don't regret selling. Great video Michael
Michael's reaction to the size reminds me of how I feel about getting ripped off on pizza.
The pizza is here.
Yes!!!
It's smaller than the box.
Awwwww...
Your Cat 🐈 is so cute and beautiful. Another great video keep up the great work. Tom
This is just a time stamp for my own reasons please ignore.
7:07 well done me.
thanks.. you always manage to make it entertaining.. 🙂
oh my god you had so much fun doing this one XD
finally, 7 years after Michael exclaimed "That's a cheesy toy, we'll DEFINITELY be getting to that one soon", the retroblasting channel has indeed got to it. how exciting!
An older cousin of mine had this. It wasn't until several years later that I learned what it was even supposed to be.
Excellent video Retroblasting as always I loved it
It was pretty cool. You could carry a lot of figures around in it. Got it used a few years after ROTJ.
i had one of these for Christmas when i was 8/9 and loved it,had loads of fun with it and still have it to this day(in reasonably good condition),guess i must be an idiot
Not an idiot just a kid with the ability to imagine the rest of the ship, as was intended.
For a doorstop, that play set has a lot of features. 😮 Great video Retroblasting 👍