The LAMEST Star Wars Playsets of the 90s!

[@sharkymark]

“I wasted a lot of money in the 90’s”….we all did JM, we all did.

[@dreamlandnightmare]

Not me. I wasted a lot of my mom's money. ;)

[@ChipChippersonsBBF2]

Testify

[@GeneralSantucci1st]

I love the Mos Eisley playset I actually have it set up in my collection room and I put so many figures in it even gijoes , old marvel figures and lots of Star Wars . It’s too cool

[@tikvision]

i used the Death Star escape for kitbashing, now it's next to the shuttle as an arrival gantry for the emperor

[@gustavefrankfurter6462]

The bar playset should have come with a Bea Arthur bartender figure!

[@dreamlandnightmare]

Hasbro is still making lame SW playsets. Only now, they are $100, and you have to buy them twice to get a full playset (ergo, the Carbon Freezing Chamber). I had most of the figures and vehicles, but I never got any of the 90s SW playsets. Even as a kid, I recognized how lame they were.

[@Mark-pr7ug]

I used to take old shoe boxes etc, and refashion them into playset & vehicles. All you needed was sellotape, felt tip pens, scissors and the possibilities were endless & didn't cost a penny.

[@tperson8347]

I had both 3D dioramas and the Daeth Star Escape playset. I actually liked the dioramas, but I was a annoyed that the figures wouldn't fit in the table booths. I assembled the cantina once, left it on my shelf for a few days, then put it back in the box, and never got it out again. The Han out of carbonite figure is one of my favorite POTF2 figures and thought it was well done. For those who like the Power of the Jedi line, this figure hammocks perfectly between POTF and POTJ having that post Kenner look just getting out of the musclular aesthetic in the late 90s. The Death Star Escape playset wasn't very good. I like it better as a sealed box. I wouldn't mind having the shield bunker, but I'd rather have it from my vintage figures. I never got into the Phantom Menace playsets, thankfully. :) Thanks for the video

[@ddewittfulton]

I wonder why the "Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru Death Farm" playset ("now with carbonized Jawas!") didn't sell so well.

[@williamthompson5504]

That Endor attack was rereleased again via the Gi Joe collectors club. Yeah, 3 times the price.... "oh $h*t, I really wasted my money". Just the building too..

[@mlcash9]

As a 90s kid i cant buy any playset without a cannon

[@Sith_dude]

The Han Solo in the cardboard Jabbas palace set looks like John Cena. 😂😂

[@haydentcem]

The playset part of the Carryall thing was actually the corridor of the Saak’ak, the droid control ship from the start of the film

[@woncarlos7494]

I loved the detention block . I think it’s the best pay set in all of Star Wars. It’s a jail cell!!!! Played with ray for countless hours!!! Loved it!!!

[@ThatJunkman]

No. It’s a door of a jail cell

[@jamespeters2859]

Yeah, I thought that looked cool as fuk.

[@woncarlos7494]

@@ThatJunkman jails are fun to play with as a kid

[@Chris-lg9dn]

It's a diorama piece which they do today like the carbon freeze chamber

[@woncarlos7494]

@@Chris-lg9dn it had several play features

[@Barada73]

Those cardboard “playsets” were nothing more than display shelf dressing and not even good ones. If you lived in an area with any level of humidity, that flimsy cardboard would curl so bad you couldn’t even display your figures on them. The best Star Wars playset of the 90s wasn’t even released in the Star Wars line. It was the Robin Hood Sherwood Forest playset. Sure it was just the Ewok Village with missing features, but those green plastic “leaf” attachments improved the look of the playset significantly and it was an inexpensive alternative for those of us who couldn’t get the original Ewok Village as kids. Especially when it went on clearance.

[@Guernicaman]

Even the cardboard Mines of Kessel Playset from Solo : A Star Wars Story was a better playset than those last two.

[@RetroActionUK]

Haha! That’s right it’s not even in Star Wars by that point!

[@LaurenceQuint]

Those cardboard sets were fantastic.

[@Guernicaman]

@@LaurenceQuint - Still own both & they suck. The only good cardoard sets were the Alien Cantina, Land of the Jawas, the Hoth playsets &the Death Star from Palitoy.

[@joeymanson2222]

Remember to keep those cardboard playsets out of the Sun. Lol. 😊

[@wopjohn]

" its not a purse! Its European!" Seinfeld

[@ThatJunkman]

someone got the joke :)

[@equinegirl369]

Thank you so much for uploading this video! I loved it!

[@madmax8620]

When the box itself is more entertaining.

[@seanahmed9079]

Sorry Junkman...but I will buy ANYTHING from the POTF line. Including the Imperial Cruise Missle Trooper LOL

[@micolash3196]

The Han Solo has he same expression I had when my local Taco Bell closed down

[@MrCAcompora]

I picked up the Jabba cardboard cut out for 10 bucks a couple years ago. Daughter made it a small display for figures for a little while, ready needed to be taped down good and gently played with (like don’t move anything at all)!

[@theequalizer9154]

What is interesting is that some of these play sets and toys that nobody liked to buy, down the road, they turn out to be rare Collectibles more expensive than the popular stuff.

[@Allison_Troy]

I still have all of those in a box somewhere. The cell block playset was probably the only one that had any play value. The rest of it was just Kenner/Hasbro admitted that only adults were buying their toys to display them. And while the bar of that cantina was flimsy.. they hadn't even given us a bartender at that point. So all of my figures had to serve their own damn self.

[@marcusdarkallius1194BC]

I do have the detention escape play set and the bunker play set I use them to display my figures. I think they look pretty cool tho I am going to repaint the catapult and the tree to look better. As far as the death star escape play set,I still want one for my collection. The Hoth battle st looks really cool too!

[@MrAvenger1975]

Hell, if I can find mine, you can have it. Never been opened. It's in storage right now. Bad thing is I haven't a clue which box.

[@007smstutsman]

I had the Hoth, Endor, and two death star playsets. I don't know about anyone else but I always wish they would have made a Star Destroyer command center for my Darth Vader figure

[@RetroActionUK]

Which is better than the 1980 one? Because that weren’t that great at all. Same here, I wish we would get a Star Destroyer playset that actually looks like the ship.

[@RetroActionUK]

Kenner (1990s): There’s NO Big cannon!” We can’t sell this! Hasbro: We’ll close you down otherwise. Kenner: Alright then, we will.

[@robertdanker6193]

I agree the cardboard diaroma were not sold as playsets, I had both back in the day and displayed my figures in them and I thought it was fine.

[@RetroActionUK]

@@robertdanker6193 I have The Power Of The Force II Jabba’s Palace 3D Diorama boxed and was thinking of selling it but I haven’t come to the point of dong so, so I left it. I do like it though; it’s much better than the Cantina which was also a mail-away by Kenner, in 1997. A bit rubbish how they resold it as a playset. But to be honest there isn’t much play value to them so they are more display pieces.

[@robertdanker6193]

@@RetroActionUK Yeah you are 100% right, I was only using it to display my figures, so that it is ok.

[@RetroActionUK]

Definitely agree with those picks, though I did like The Power Of The Force II Endor and Hoth sets. Though some of them are quite terrible, looking at you Hasbro. Playsets in the 1990s certainly had a thing for giant cannons at the top. The Endor Bunker does look good for what it is.

[@THENEVERDEADIV]

Whats funny Junkman is that the micromachines and action fleet versions of these playsets sold well and had a LOT of play value to them.. i had a whole world of the action fleet and micromachines in the corner of my bedroom as a child and never got bored..

[@stevegallo8483]

Anyone who bought the figures, etc., from the POTF 2 line wasted a lot of money in the 90s. It was cool then for what it was, but you would be hard pressed to find any that are worth anything these days.

[@BlackbyrdPictures]

They don’t have to be worth a ton of Money to give something value. It wasn’t a waste it was what they liked at the time

[@CoconutDaddy]

The Nineties was tough on the Star Wars Fandom

[@MrLourie]

Lighting, the angle, and even the surface on which the playset was displayed, apparently made a difference even for these crappy toys. The images on the boxes were more impressive than the toy itself.

[@RetroActionUK]

Very true.

[@dustybragg4011]

You should do a video on those lame micromachine playset. It look like the characters heads, that open up to show a scene from the movie. I still have the Vader head, that opens up to the freezing chamber. It even came with a breakaway circular window. Lol

[@lothean2099]

I had none of these. My greatest and by your standards the lamest was a homemade play set. It was just a box with and orange stripe going around it and a cut out logo of star wars on the side. But this box was my sand crawler, my rebel base, my ship, my figures house, and toy box. Oh, I think ill recreate just for the memories. Thanks for the walk down memory lane junk man.

[@shoplift6362]

Dude I had that r2 that opens up. Now, I have a bb8 that opens up into a big playset. It's snokes throne room not sure the official name of it. But I have it set up with figures and have made it the emperor's throne room. Yeah those cardboard playsets should've been cheaper than the figures.

[@MoparMcNeer]

"I wasted a lot of money in the '90s".... Couldn't have said it better myself. I feel this way all the time when I look at my 90s Star Wars purchases. Lol

[@jaywoodley6014]

9x outta 10, I agree with you. But I was 9 when these came out and they were awesome. I felt probably the same way you felt playing with the original stuff. Besides, the death star escape teamed with my uncles death star play set totally made up for that blue hand cuff thing. You should do a debate series with guys that grew up with potf2 and you

[@jayvan4353]

Those sets could actually be cool, just need like 10 or more put together. Minus the cardboard ones.

[@johnbockelie3899]

C3PO walking out of the OIL change room.

[@thepadawancollectorofficial]

I’m kind of glad I didn’t collect the 90s figures but I’m kicking myself for not collecting the 77-85 figures back then!!! Thanks for the vid Junkman

[@kyleolson8977]

Hasbro sure loved those skinny platform playsets. When you add the cardboard, it's like they couldn't sell anything that wouldn't ship in flat pieces.

[@RxneIsHxre1010]

I like that your videos are straight to the point and entertaining

[@TrayChester01]

Oh, you mean those horrible things that I called The Dust Collectors.

[@Rawsolo]

Only thing I still have from the 90’s is the mail away cereal Han in storm trooper armor and the electric water gun blaster.

[@richieismyhero]

I have the R2 case, the detention cell, the death Star escape, jabba's palace, the cantina, the falcon cannons set and Vader plus obiwan with light up sabers. Cool video

[@jennercustomtoys]

I still have the cantina playset full of figures. You're right though, it's very flimsy and ready to tear. Mines in good shape because I only use it for display. If I had played with it, it probably would be all broken up by now.

[@adamn.4615]

I got the two cardboard "playsets" mainly for the included figures--I may still have them somewhere. I only unfolded them once right after I got them, then put them back in the box. They are no match for the actual plastic counterparts from the vintage line. I didn't have any of the plastic playsets in this video, but I think some of them look alright.

[@Straight0uttaCrofton]

that's IT?! man i sure do feel bad for those '90s kids.

[@RetroActionUK]

Kenner ‘loves’ Death Star Escape. …and BIG Death Star Cannons on their later playsets.

[@ClockWithoutNumbers]

I wonder how many other licensed products in the 90s had kids avoid them because they weren't fun.

[@kenhill8272]

I had the Cantina and Jabba’s Palace dioramas, but I got them off Amazon a few years ago since I skipped them back in the nineties. Not bad display pieces with the right figures

[@lucasoheyze4597]

I'm glad the Sarlaac Pit with the wheel in the base to make the tentacles move around wasn't there, that was way cool.

[@antoniodelgado1516]

"Monkey Face Princess leah" 😂😂😂😂

[@opuscrap4322]

LOL. I still have the Endor attack playset.

[@thomasmeyers2565]

I have almost all of these junkman , the only ones on this list I don't have are the prequel ones.

[@smileydog5941]

They may have been lame, but I have warm fuzzy memories of some of these. The R2 case and paper dioramas in particular. The Endor bunker however, the doors wouldn’t work on mine.

[@popculturehero]

I bought the detention block rescue at a toy show a few years ago. I kind of like it. But my sister thought I was crazy to spend $20 on a hallway. Its a better playset than modern day hasbro will offer. I got it to display animated rebels characters on it like Ezra and Kanan like when they similarly escape on the show.

[@DCFCfanatic]

I had both the cantina and jabba playset. yeah the cardboard was flimsy as hell. I remember putting it together. it reminded me of those pop up books. I got them when they had gone on clearance. I later sold them to a vintage toy store for more then I had paid for them. Which was good at least.

[@TheSickNeeds]

The Lamest part of the sets with the cannon on top! That the tips of the canons were all a different colour from the black cannons. They were copying toy guns that had that same "different colour tip" which was designed as a safety feature so people wouldn't be fooled into thinking toy guns were real guns..... ummm yeah so were people going to think the cannons on these toys were real? Lets go use our detention block rescue playset to hold up a convenience store!

[@Taffer-bx7uc]

Does it have play value? Yes it does. Does it still suck? Yes it does.

[@philipatkinson843]

They could have spent a little extra and made all the cardboard backdrops out of the same material they make game boards like monopoly. That way it would be more durable and they maybe even could have made a game on the other side of it to give it even more play value with very little extra money spent. Have the backdrop for the Mos Eisley cantina on one side and repackage the escape from the Death Star game on the other side.

[@edfivedownunderplasticplanet]

You never want to see Darth Maul reveiled!! Do you think, that he really is tattooed all over?🤔 Cheers👍🏻🍻

[@keithdipippa200]

I had several of these, I actually got the death star corridor one at Star Tours in Disney World in the summer of 1997

[@bromide01]

I make all my playsets out of Amazon boxes while streaming Disney+.

[@thomasmeyers2565]

Extremely interesting junkman thanks for doing this one

[@alluvialedaempfer962]

I can't believe they wasted so much plastic on the R2 case but where too stupid (no other way to say it) to produce proper playlets. I loved what the 90s had to offer especially as a kid that was born in the mid 80s, so I missed out on the OG Star Wars line, but the 90s was also the age of "sighhh why are they doing XY? Can't they just?" I think

[@eabcool]

those playsets look like Mini sets as if they fit together with a larger set

[@solo9378]

i had the DS playsets, one is just a Cardboard and the other one is a small entrance to a cell... Jabbas Throne room was really nice, or the three packs.

[@NERDYGAMETURDY]

Dood!!! Not every playset can be as cool as the vintage stuff !! Damn Junkster!!!

[@ANIMUS97]

...and if you can believe it, they remade that shield generator bunker door playset quite recently for The Vintage Collection series. No logs or catapult accessories this time though. The 90s had more value XD jeez Louise

[@imperialpresence1173]

i have an idea for an action figure playset...a book of stickers so that kids can use materials at home...to create their own playset..it could be scale adjusted and made for multiple genres......maybe also include the occasional small spru kit to make a chair or table...maybe some weapons or such..combine multiple sets and create your own playset as big as you want it to be

[@tombowling8646]

I never had the room for playsets and still don't so I never bought them. I have a bad feeling that shipping problems are going to bring lame playsets back.

[@ryanengelstad6073]

Had the ot ones, not bad, not great, they need to bring back sandcrawler and droid factory sets from the early days, i wore those ones out playing with them so much

[@ddewittfulton]

I think they recycled the Fred MacMurray action figure from The Caine Mutiny to use as Han Solo in that Jabba's Palace playset.

[@kaioken654]

I had a blast with the detention block playset

[@stren6587]

Junk room is looking extra junky these days. looks good 👍🏼

[@tomlevier3615]

I don't remember the R2-D2 "carryall." I wasn't a playset collector when Episode 1 came out. I know I have the Mos Eisley Cantina playset. I probably bought that because of the sand trooper. I guess if you are into Star Wars diorama building some of these sets would be great to customize for displaying your figures..

[@alfredoolague267]

I played with all of this as a kid and for me they where awesome. I guess thats was the intention

[@HollywoodH4T3R]

As somone who had to use cardboard boxes for playsets, I can say I would've enjoyed these sets

[@nigelcarren]

"C3-PO coming out!" I see what you did there. 🇬🇧😉

[@brocklee1996]

I bought any playset thar came with an exclusive action figure. Still stored in boxes and never opened.

[@Chris-lg9dn]

All these playsets would be expensive if released today

[@randomguyfromgermany]

Well, to be honest: Jabba`s Palace wasn`t advertised, or sold as an "playset", it actually says on the box "Display Diorama". I had it back in the day, abd it was good, for what is was supposed to be. A great way to display Jabba-related figures. As for the Endor-playset: Well, even in the movies, there wasn`t much interior to it. Just the control/engine-room for a couple of seconds. Since the we spend more time, trying to get into the bunker in the movie, it makes sense, that the playset is the way it is. I didn`t had the DS-Escape, but even I thought, it was lame. It should have had the tractorbeam-generator as an extra part to put on the removable bridge, to use this set for two scenes. The detention block on the other hand was kinda cool. Yeah, the "cell" was just a small plastic box attached to the side But the possibility to capture rebels, and lock them up was quite nice. Overall, it would have been nice, if we got more of these sets, with the ability to attach them to each other. e.g. an imperial command center, which could be used either for the detention block, or the Endor bunker... or make the detention block a part of the bunker (using it as an generic imperial cell).

[@badape3620]

My question is why did the Star Wars figures of the 90's look like they where abusing "performance enhancing " drugs? Also that princess leha did look like a character from planet of the apes

[@marcacosta7594]

Hey Junkman, I wanna suggest a topic for you to do: Movies that did NOT deserve to have ANY toylines.

[@marcacosta7594]

I can start you off with few ideas. "Conga", "Robin Hood, Prince of Thieves" and Tim Burtons "Planet of the Apes"...

[@ThatJunkman]

good idea

[@marcacosta7594]

@@ThatJunkman I can't wait man. I know you'll destroy it. "Last Action Hero" too. That line was just crummy. Thanks man, keep up great research that you do👍.

[@shawnrogers4076]

Don't eat the yellow snow!

[@Satori079]

I had the theed hanger and the detention block Id buy them thinking they'd be cool and take them home and realize it sucked and take it back lmao

[@Guernicaman]

You wonder why Hasbro stopped making playsets? This is why...

[@dvdviolencevideo1725]

I have the cantina set and it somehow is still standing well haha

[@LaurenceQuint]

The bunker is "Just the plastic shell of the front door?" Dude, that's all that was in the movie! Some of these sets are pretty weak, but the Endor Bunk is/was pretty great. Very screen accurate, makes an excellent display and fun play value for kids.

[@enterprisingcaptian875]

I totally agree the ROTJ bunker is incredible! The only thing that is a bit of a head scratcher is the goofy tree part. However since its not connected it's easily removed from the set if one so chooses. As for me I recently acquired this playset and it serves as a diorama display. I even display the tree part

[@nevaehstarrojas3918]

You're right, what's with all the BIG cannons

[@vicrules6666]

Funny, hasbro is releasing just the door of the Endor base again for $60. Lol

[@Instantphojo]

Is it me, or does that Jabbas palace Hans Solo looks like the professor in Gilligan’s Island??

[@ddewittfulton]

A cantina in any galaxy is unlikely to be a good inspiration for a playset. Although, swap out for some Casablanca action figures and that could be Rick's Bar from the movie!

[@bamabigfoot]

Cardboard is the worst thing for a play set.

[@superdaveman5000]

I think a lot of these play sets were better for collectors who wanted to display their action figures in a movie scene. Play value was limited.

[@genesanford9412]

Yepper , pretty , pretty weak . LOL with that "carry-all"...worth 3 fist - points at school...

[@fredmeyer1044]

you forgot that one that's literally just a bridge with Luke and Vader on the box

[@SuperMtheory]

Great video! I bought some of these items, back in the day.

[@Pemechan76]

I believe the two card board playsets are not really lame, but of a poor quality. The endor bunker was actually quite ok, maybe could have a little “reactor” control area inside, but it was somehow cooler than the ewok village, which kids in the 80’s used real wood to build an ewok village, not the plastic one...but the bunker was not easy to build...the Hoth Attack looks quite fun to me! You got the Defense turret and the shield generator, two things that were quite difficult to get in the 80s, and you can separate them and build an echo base Defense line...not that bad compared to a card board of Bespin that was released in the 80s and was done very badly...I am not interested in episode one and those playsets, didn’t even know they existed;) interesting video

[@ia5662]

hey - at least they were making playsets in the 90s! I think they were pretty cool (the plastic ones anyhow). My brother and I always wanted the Endor Bunker. All the plastic ones were better quality and at least made a place for figures to go, but the cardboard stuff is junk - Agreed!

[@kek23k]

Ahh Jabba's playset from that one time John Cena played Han Solo!

[@jamespeters2859]

Sure Junkman’s Junkroom, is gradually filling up with more junk. Still not posted the Junky present I’ve for him. But it is now at least bubble wrapped in its box and will at some point be mailed.