Star Wars Follies: Snow Blind - Vintage Kenner Hoth ESB Toys

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RetroBlasting's latest installment of Star Wars Follies is a look into the blizzard of vintage Hoth-themed toys from The Empire Strikes Back line from Kenner in 1980-1982!
#RetroBlasting #StarWarsFollies #EmpireStrikesBack #Kenner

[@asphaltmemories4597]

That John Ratzenberger impression put a huge grin on my face, obscure reference to the fact that he WAS in ESB albeit very briefly.

[@univex21]

I got that right off the bat!! Nice Easter egg.

[@cineman73]

growing up a poor kid, I'll disagree with most that say the cardboard AT-AT playset was lame. I'd say I was lucky to have it and wish I still did.

[@retroblasting]

It's just a joke. No need to take it too seriously.

[@cineman73]

RetroBlasting Oh I know it was a joke. I was just remembering back to how glad I was to have it. Believe me it was one of the greatest presents I ever received.

[@DaveMire]

I had the cardboard AT-AT too. The real AT-AT was much too expensive for the time.

[@nickmanzo8459]

cineman73 I was poor as hell too, I never got any cool playsets. I got one Swamp Thing playset from the short lived cartoon series, and I think that was it.

[@KennyRider137]

Poor kid here, too. Hollowed out tree stumps and dollar store action figures completed my one Star Wars gift each year. I loved cardboard art pieces to add to the scene.

[@mikegonsalves3450]

I remember getting the Imperial Base and being bummed because it wasn’t in the movie and I wanted the Probot set..... on the plus side, I remember my grandmother screaming very early one morning after Christmas when she caught a glimpse of my new AT-AT and thought a dog got in the house.... lmao... good times!!!

[@WCBs]

Well worth the wait!

[@everetth-top4760]

Many were the days when my Hoth Wampa battled my He-Man figure. Being able to lift He-Man over his head and slamming him to the ground led to many victories for the aforementioned Wampa. Good times...good times indeed.

[@timvogel68]

Ah, the memories! There was something special about the toys of the original trilogy. Although I did later fill in my collection with figures that should have been in the original series starting with Tarkin. Another great video! Thanks!

[@calumryan6328]

Great John Ratzenberger impression

[@AvengerII]

You do realize the irony of this (and the reason MOST people can't identify Ratzenberger in the film despite him having his mustache back then) is that they overdubbed his voice with another actor's? They did that with many of the supporting casts' characters including Rogue Two (who was NOT Wedge in the film; there was a misidentification at one point but it was clearly meant to be another character, Zev Senesca).

[@RansomeStoddard]

His Harrison Ford is pretty good as well.

[@AvengerII]

@Projekt Kobra I honestly don't know. I recognized Ratzenberger in Superman 1 and 2. He was living in England and married to an English wife at the time they made Superman 1, 2, and The Empire Strikes Back. He just happened to get cast. They used his voice for Superman 1 and 2. I think all the ADR for Star Wars was done in the States unless they made arrangements and did work for that in the UK as well. All the major Imperial voices were the voices of those actors as far as I know and not replacements. For the Rebels, you can tell they used American actors if the British actors couldn't do American accents. It's that whole thing of identifying Imperialism with the British. It's a trope of science fiction films in the 1970s and 1980s. Note that the bad guys in the American films of that period speak with British accents. Yeah, I'd get annoyed if my nationality were getting constantly slammed, too, but Hollywood had the money!

[@trans8010]

I believe Hoth got bigger attention over Bespin because of playability. These toys were introduced in the summer sure, but the big idea was to pump out things for the Christmas holiday and most of the northern states like Ohio see snow in December. They would also know that Kids love playing outside with their toys, I know I did and by taking your probot and attack base outside, in the snow, you now transformed your winter wonderland into the icy planet of Hoth. Designers also probably looked at Bespin as being too cold and sterile to really come up with fun ideas. Or perhaps because the Death Star set couldn't be sold overseas, the cardboard set was the only alternative to creating a new playset as expansive and cheaply as Hoth.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

I grew up in Alaska... all the Hoth sets seemed redundant.

[@retroblasting]

I can imagine!

[@christophergrant3596]

If I actually got snow here in New Mexico I'd be playing with Arctic/Hoth themed toys all the time. Instead all the Tattooine toys look best here.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

RetroBlasting... every spring there was a blaster/Easter egg hunt after the snow melt.

[@warpartyattheoutpost4987]

Christopher Grant, I lived in Vegas until I was 5! It was weird I was in the desert when Star Wars came out (saw it inna drive-in!) in then intha snow when Empire came out... in then in Oregon(Endor) when Jedi came out... I always hadtha natural playsets.

[@deadaccountlol9189]

Same couldn't be said for California.

[@chrisw6164]

As far as I know, there were no snow-based toys prior to the ESB Hoth toys. There were sleds and hollow snow-brick makers (make your own igloo or fort), but few actual toys that you would play with in the snow. Once these toys came out, any kid could not wait to get outside and try them out in the snow. So maybe that’s one reason why Kenner gambled on so many Hoth based items.

[@AhhSwells]

I like watching this video over and over because i like to see what my dad played with when he was my age he had every empire strikes back playset and vechile and figure but we no longer own any off them and I really wish I could have played with these toys

[@legoVasa]

Im a 20 year old from Serbia, i have nothong to do with 80-90s toys, but your channel is my favorite. Its a window into a different world. Thank you for everything you do

[@retroblasting]

Thanks for watching!!!

[@DavidT-cz1by]

I am 42 been a starwars fan my whole life found your channel a year and a half a go subscribed then and I have learned so much about starwars toys since then and I had a lot of the original Kenner line great channel brings back a lot of good childhood memories

[@caymanshen459]

It wasn't until I went back to collect the figures in the 90s that I realized there even was a Hoth Luke. I thought the generic soldier was Luke my whole childhood. To this day, the real Luke seems wrong.

[@caymanshen459]

Robd collector there WAS a vintage Hoth Luke...I just didn't know it existed when I was little. I used my Hoth Rebel Soldier as my "Luke."

[@mikeplummer5681]

I had the Imperial Attack Base as a kid. I always assumed it was from the scene in Empire where Han gets Leia to the Falcon and she says “this bucket of bolts is never going to get us past that blockade.” As Han says “This baby’s got a few surprises left in her sweetheart” the scene cuts to a few Snow Stormtroopers setting up a big gun while a little gun emerges from underneath the Falcon and takes out the Stormtroopers before they can get the big gun activated. I always thought that this play set was from that scene in the movie and was not meant to be part of the trenches the rebels fought the AT-AT’s from. Just my theory 🤷🏻‍♂️

[@Forest_Giant]

That's how I took it too.

[@BigAL68xyz]

same here.

[@mikeplummer5681]

I had the set and assumed it was from the scene you described.

[@arctrooper999]

That scrambled my memories! I thought I had all the Hoth stuff in 1980, I didnt realize I waited another year for the AT-AT.

[@Transfixed]

If it makes you feel any better, Hoth Rebel Soldier, my Hoth Luke's leg snapped off in the cold when i dropped him. Don't let Major Cliff Claven boss you around.

[@classicalvintagecollector]

3:40-3:55 - you had me laughing hysterically!!! I have this playset as a child and thought exactly the same thing! I totally agree about the ice planet Hoth playset, too. I remember purchasing that with my own money and Yakima, Washington when we were visiting my uncle. It was the only store I had ever seen it in and I was pretty disappointed in the playset because it was almost identical to the Land of the Jawas, which was the first place that that I ever had. Then again, I was 12 years old and starting to see the light and marketing.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

HOTH - my ultimate childhood stop and influence of Xmas and snow in general

[@batangbatugan]

It seems troop transport vehicles always get a bad rap, like the GI Joe APC, now the Rebel Transport. I think the big transition from the sand dunes of Tatooine in the 1st movie to the harsh snowy mountains in Empire was such a refreshing change Kenner couldn't help but focus on it. Bespin must've felt like the Death Star too much, but that's just my theory. Great video, Michael! Your content is always well worth the wait. =)

[@jamiebraswell5520]

The Hoth playset were great! I had them as a kid. The Imperial Attack Base, well, there were early Ralph McQuarrie production art that showed a ground invasion by Imperial troops. This was before the Imperial Walker attack was written. Those may have influenced the naming of said toy as well.

[@kylecartwright1609]

Thank you RetroBlasting for another wicked addition to the Star Wars Follies series.

[@oddeagle1968]

Love the Cliff Clavin voice for Rebel Commander! Ratzenberger!

[@oliwan666]

David T1000 Same here! I am 44 now and I learned so much about the Kenner toys. I even were able to repair some old vehicles from my childhood.

[@SamuraiXGray]

Loved the John Ratzenberger reference lol

[@everythingstarwars1889]

Love the opening of this video! Probably my favorite retroblasting video besides build your armies vid and last 17 vid.

[@Shockwave-ob2tx]

Great review, in addition to the slit belly Taun Taun, there was also the solid belly version

[@lamondjack4349]

This production was brilliant! Thumbs up x 10 on this one Michael! I loved it.

[@justinreilly6619]

Great post as always, interesting and plausible thoughts on why there was an Empire Imperial base. I can completely understand why they gravitated to the Hoth battlescene: watching this at the cinema as a ten-year old, just how awesome was the entire Hoth chapter taken as a whole? From the tautans to wampa's to the Rebel base, they were visually and mentally stunning. And when you bring in the Imperial Walkers facing off against a rag-tag underdog, it's not wonder Kenner gravitated to Hoth. I totally agree however with your comments that they should of done more toys for the different scenes: Clould City was criminally underused.

[@maxvideoentertainment8706]

Just in case you didn't realise yet Michael. I discovered that the ROBO-FORCE playset 'Fortress of steele' acts as a fantastic Echo base!

[@lazerwolfdiecast]

I found this channel because of my obsession of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors and slowly i have become a Star wars fan lol!

[@rekingcrew3245]

Nobody respects my flying pickle in my display. Just makes me like it more.

[@thetrap1983]

Always well produced, fun, and entertaining. Love all of the follies series of videos!

[@Geek_Chorus]

First an epic crossover with WCB and now a new Follies vid?!? It must be my birthday!!! Thank you!!!!!!!

[@thedeathreaperofficial8079]

One of my favorite follies yet.

[@madmonkey823]

Intro was perfect. Brought me right back to watching empire. 💟💟

[@Valentyne90]

I dropped everything to watch this the second I saw this!

[@raymondz7152]

I really enjoyed this video. 👍👍 There was some really cool info in it. I'm a subscriber now thanks

[@madhat2k]

See I like how you had an entire themed battle available in this line. I wish Hasbro had done something similar with G.I. Joe.

[@steveganschow9451]

Would you mind loading these backpacks in that large pickle hahaha, great line

[@mrbosh0115]

Rebel Soldier was My Hoth Luke,Even had him stand guard xmas eve . :)

[@warface4881]

My eyes are blind but I can see The snowflakes glisten on the tree The sun no longer sets me free I feel there's no place freezing me

[@skabcat242]

I always felt the rebel transport was a cool vehicle.

[@Tinytraveler]

I come back to watch some of your older content, just when I want a pick me up. You in your full costume, playing Star Wars always makes me laugh. It's older content, but its great content.

[@PalJorgensen]

Hahaha........Commander Cliff Clavin! Thats priceless❤️ Nice video, as always!

[@biggiantcollectibles1158]

*sees retro blasting pop up in my subs* I broke my finger clicking that button.

[@varevulf6523]

Might be your best one yet. Nicely done.

[@HGates-hl4eq]

You Sir make me a 45 year old so freaking jealous with your collections and costumes.

[@andrewtaylor940]

Great video. I rather suspect that the shear amount of Hoth toys was related to the fact that Hoth, being the most elaborate and FX laden part of the movie, was the part that had all the production designs locked down first. So Kenner had more final production art to work with, earlier in the process. We see similar things quite a lot in more recent movies. Strange incongruities in toys because they were based on early art. Toy’s from The Hobbit burned a number of vendors very badly because Peter Jackson changed major things just weeks from release, including cutting his 2 movies into three. They ended up with millions of dollars of first wave merchandise like the female elf and giant spiders, that never got introduced in the first movie.

[@kirbymarchbarcena]

Nice setting in the intro, wish I've done that when I was a kid and collected all the Kenner sets.

[@theoneandonly6431]

What a wonderful time to be a kid it was back then. Could never get all the figures and playsets, but you couldn't wait to see what was going to come out next and hope your parents would buy it for you.

[@JosephProductions]

Thank you for making another Star Wars follies!

[@pfoxworth7]

You generated some great memories. I felt like a 10 year old again.

[@DutchZippy]

A new Follies! Yes! Top stuff. And for the record I love the Rebel Transport.

[@No1.OriginalTrilogyStarWarsFan]

Ace video as always Mike. Great to see another Star Wars Follies on my birthday.

[@No1.OriginalTrilogyStarWarsFan]

Thanks Tim

[@alexrodriguez9441]

My folks got me a "Land of the Jawas" playset.... the best part of it was the escape pod, which I cherished for years. Then the Hoth playlet came out, and I was amazed by my mother's ingenuity when she went into the basement toy department of the Sears on Santa Monica boulevard, with it's miasma of burnt popcorn, it's yellowed "Ming the Merciless" standee, it's row after row of Mork and Mindy eggships with the dead, eyeless action figures, and produced a razor blade from her purse. She slit the box open on the Hoth playset, ripped out the instruction sheet, and left everything else intact. She meticulously checked off everything on the "Kenner really cares" missing parts checklist, and then shook up a can of Navajo white Krylon spray paint and painted the tattooine firmament from my old LOTJ playset. By the time the paint had had fully dried and cured, our mailman dropped off a large manilla envelope and a small box from Kenner, containing the die cut cardboard backdrop of an underscaled AT-AT, various butterfly footpegs in white, and the parts to build the radar cannon. My mother was a sort of lunatic, and this story of her elaborate fleecing of a toy company is the most wholesome and pleasant anecdote I can recall about her.

[@timh9834]

How Kenner interpreted ESB pre-release art made me think of the recent Wonder Woman movie. A Mattel build-a-figure Ares was released based on production art that was later redesigned completely (from a man with a goat-skull helmet and ancient Egyptian-looking armor with exposed legs and arms to what we actually saw). I wonder if this has happened with Star Wars, in which designs changed and toys reflected an earlier pre-release design.

[@clone_trop_ben6445]

I love Kenner Star Wars!!!

[@mathijsdijkgraaf8081]

Yes!!!! Finally! Thx retroblasting, your the best!

[@daschyt2225]

Thanks RB. #1 channel on YTube showcasing the #1 SW toys of all time!!!

[@BenRai2k]

it really makes you wonder how they 'planned' what to release. It is so crazy there was so much rebel hot stuff yet no imperial stuff really.

[@sammylane21]

These toys... I WANT THEM!

[@chrisbrewer9942]

Sunday Retroblasting content. I’m so down for this. Great as always 👍🏻

[@davecormier518]

New Star Wars Follies!! My Sunday just got so much better!!!

[@uphilliceskater]

The snow and ice themed toys were perfect for Christmas.

[@oele]

hoth luke blew my mind when he came out. amazing sculpt

[@comandercool22]

That opening skit was adorable.

[@jpmzo]

Growing up in New England, I could easily re-enact some Hoth scenes. Those "re-enactments" usually consisted of me just throwing my vintage snow speeder through the air, into the snow! One winter, tragedy struck when I lost my Hoth Han Solo in my back yard! That figure was special since it came with Luke's lightsaber, and my father "found" it next spring with the lawn mower. :(

[@joe4155]

Ur videos are so creative

[@retroblasting]

Thanks Joe

[@josemontano7767]

😆 this episode was so awesome 🤣

[@KJulian21]

Great content as always from Retroblasting. Also cool Hoth costume.

[@brycevo]

So much Hoth. So much Snow

[@davedropd1]

Best toy review video I have ever seen on YT....WELL DONE......

[@sharkMac]

Got my play set few months ago. I don’t have many Star Wars figures. But my Joes. Especially snow joes. Love it. Talking about the Empire play set. Lol.

[@shipped_my_pants_3000]

I love Mike and his channel 10 times more after hearing him on the World Class Bullshitters podcast

[@investigator76]

The fact you used a "Norm" voice to characterize the rebel commander is sheer gold! Now, add the rest of the production being well polished, super entertaining, and thoughtfully informative make this another priceless addition to the great Retro blasting library. Thanks for the great vid!

[@retroblasting]

Thanks so much!

[@investigator76]

meant Cliff voice.....forgive the faux pas......literally fell asleep within 5 minutes of writing this, so I could have called him Megatron, or Jack Tripper, and not picked up on it right away.

[@MrMayDX08]

Well of course, the joke is, John Ratzenberger portrayed Major Derlin in TESB, as well as Cliff, so that is why it works.

[@dariusq8894]

8:24 LOVE the Cliff Clavin impersonation. ;)

[@soundlemonade]

YES! 8:25 with Cliff! "Everyone in the Swiss Army owns a Swiss Army knife."

[@henrydouberly3950]

I used to watch your videos about a year ago. Then I forgot. But thank goodness I refound you

[@jatin7361]

I always thought it was funny that the vehicle named a SNOWspeeder had trouble being adapted for the cold. You had one job!

[@ivonnecohen1113]

Thank you so much for the amazing content you make!

[@retroblasting]

You're welcome.

[@BlackieNuff]

As a kid, I suppose I also first interpreted "Imperial Attack Base" as being something ominous belonging to the Empire and its Imperial forces... but then I realized it's really just a lingusitics thing ; it depends what word you put the emphasis on. If you call it the IMPERIAL Attack Base, then yeah, that sounds like some kind of Imperial stronghold or fort which the Empire might launch attacks from (which makes no sense as a set of snowy trenches and doorways fixed on a frozen planet - especially when they already had such means of a mobilized attack base in the first film, and called it a DEATH STAR). But if you call it the IMPERIAL ATTACK Base, running those first two words a little closer together (just short of hyphenating them), then you get more of the impression that this is the (Rebel) BASE on Hoth which succumbed to an IMPERIAL ATTACK. They probably would have been more clear in the name, but to do so would probably have meant more words to get the point across. I know for myself, I found it too much of a mouthful to say "(Bespin) Twin Pod Cloud Car", and I just called it the "Cloud Car", so had thtey called the Imperial Attack Base something like "Hoth Rebel Base Imperial Attack", I, and possibly most other kids, would be prone to just leave it off their Christmas Wish list to Santa cos it involved too many "big" words and more writing, let alone the aformentioned "mouthful" name that probably would have made asking for it from "Mall Santa" just as much of a child-equivalent pain in the ass as well. And a name that long probably would have left less space on the carton for photos of the actual toy once all the text and fonts were in place. I'm exaggerating of course for the sake of a few chuckles. But my point is that the name was really not that misleading or complicated... it just depended on, as Obi-Wan put it, "a certain point of view"... :-)

[@kurtisneveau2295]

I got the imperial attack base myself. I loved it! I never even realized it wasn’t in the movie. That was the same x mas I got the 12 inch Boba Fett.

[@camcordernonsense5264]

I remember my dad scanning store fliers. Got up immediately and took us to our malls kaybee. There was a large fresh stack of new open belly taun tauns.

[@mikeplummer5681]

I got Hoth Han, Hoth Leia, Rebel Soldier (who I always assumed was Like), Rebel Commander, the Imperial Attack Base, the Rebel Battle Set (Gun turret with Probe Droid) along with Bespin Han, Bespin Leia, Bespin Luke, Lando and Slave 1 all for Xmas 1980. Best Xmas ever! I never did get a tauntaun which I desperately wanted or a Snowspeeder. I lived in Maryland at the time and snow was everywhere. I moved to Florida in the summer of 1981 and got the AT-AT that Xmas but all of that Hoth swag didn’t play as well in the heat and humidity of Daytona Beach 😆

[@brinee2473]

Awesome! I loved every minute of it!

[@shengyi1701]

I have the scout and Imperial AT-AT walkers. When I bought the AT AT back in 1981 at a store, some curious on-lookers looked on in glee. One of the few lucky kids in Singapore back then ...

[@c.a.k.comedy692]

Yay more Star Wars Follies! That intro was awesome btw

[@belahajnal]

Love this! Brilliant!

[@Ltschane]

Great video, my dad was an 80’s kid and had all the vintage Star Wars figures and most of the empire and Jedi vehicles and play sets and we love watching your vids. You are my favorite youtube and we love your videos thanks for all the Star Wars videos and keep up the good work. Sometimes I wish I could get a tour of your studio.

[@retroblasting]

Thanks so much!!!

[@ActionRobotPunch]

Really interesting stuff but as a kid I didn't really notice much of the problems. I would play with all my SW guys in the sand. We'd dig trenches and use the plastic ones to supplement or as the main base with the turret nearby. I also had a scout walker and found I never really wanted for a full size AT-AT. And then there was the speeder which was also one of my favorites. Great size and it fit two figures and it came with the cable as you mention. We'd hang troops from that cable for rescues or air assaults. I don't know how many times I plowed that ship into the sand and had luke escape the crash site. Great info and great memories!

[@theronmitchell3073]

Another excellent video

[@SINCHIROCA07]

Oh crap! Is this channel my childhood heaven?

[@autoneurotic]

Another great video. Thank you!

[@marcrichardson2814]

One of the best Follies yet!

[@sickofitall1253]

That was amazingly informative and entertaining thank you. I learned some new things about some old toys I have

[@FrankieDeCellio05]

The Greatest Series Is Back!!

[@georgelea4297]

Yay another star wars follies

[@carsonwashere2392]

The John ratzenburger rebel commander impression was on point

[@skylx0812]

Read the novelised version of ESB (ordered it from Weekly Reader) before seeing the film. When I got the Imperial base for x-mas I was beside myself with joy. I loved the detail and the boot prints in the snow. I eventualy turned the little blue power boxes into a mini model shuttlecraft like the one from Battlestar Galactica by putting them together and kitbashing. The set had an order form u could use to order free replacement parts and I got extra boxes and another cannon.