From Apply Now,
Your Guide to Action Figures.
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With Hasbro’s current Star Wars line, collectors have been enjoying figures being released at a steady pace since 1995. The new line has had the benefit of the special editions of the original trilogy, the prequel trilogy, the first steps from big to small screen, and a legion of devoted fans. But by 1985, with nothing new on the horizon for the Star Wars franchise, interest in the original Star Wars toys had waned. Kids had moved onto other lines that were flourishing and had the support of television and comics, like G.I. Joe, Masters of the Universe, and Transformers.

But Star Wars had revolutionized action figures forever, and it was not a license that Kenner was about to give up on. And there was still plenty of material to draw from as far as action figures were concerned. So in 1985, Kenner made one last ditch effort to try and draw kids and collectors into the line. Instead of having the figures promoting the latest movie (especially since no new movies were planned at that point), the Star Wars line was renamed The Power of the Force.

Seventeen new figures were made, and every Power of the Force figure (POTF for short) came with a special coin depicting the character it came with. Several older figures were re-released on Power of the Force cards, a marketing ploy to get kids and collectors to buy figures they already had to get the coin. But the seventeen new figures featured improved paint and sculpting, a sign that Kenner would improve the quality of the figures if kids continued to buy them.

Unfortunately, the Power of the Force line was the end of the original Star Wars line, and it wouldn’t be revisited for another ten years. But an interesting thing has happened over the years in the collector scene. The figures that no one wanted in 1985 have now become the most desirable figures to have in the entire line. As collectors have tried to complete the series they owned when they were kids, they all realized that the final seventeen figures were available in far fewer quantities than the rest of the figures. When collector interest in Star Wars began to resurge in the early 1990’s, the POTF figures became collector’s items and started to command a lot of money from dealers. That trend continues today, with the POTF figures remaining among the most desirable of all action figures ever made.

With one extremely notable exception, the final seventeen figures depicted characters (or versions of characters) from Return of the Jedi. Even though versions of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Lando Calrissian and R2-D2 had been made in the past, the versions included in the final series of figures included outfits and features only seen in Return of the Jedi. In addition to main characters, Kenner continued to use Ewoks (Warok, Romba, Paploo, and Lumat) and characters from Jabba’s Palace (EV-9D9, Barada, Amanaman, Yak Face) as source material, something they had done with their Return of the Jedi series. Rebels (A-Wing Pilot) and Imperials (Imperial Dignitary, Imperial Gunner) also had their ranks expanded.

The aforementioned notable exception is Luke Skywalker in Stormtrooper Disguise. This version of Luke depicts him in an outfit seen in the first Star Wars film. Kenner used Luke as a Stormtrooper to gauge the response to revisiting the first two films for source material. This figure ended up being the most popular from the line, and had Star Wars figures continued to sell, we might have seen figures of characters like Grand Moff Tarkin, Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, or Wedge Antilles immortalized in plastic a lot sooner than the late 1990’s.

But Luke Stormtrooper is not the most desirable figure in the Star Wars line. If you have heard people say, “Star Wars? Oh yeah, I had every single figure when I was a kid,” you can pretty much tell them they had to be wrong, especially if they lived in the United States. The seventeenth figure in the line was Yak Face, a background alien from Jabba’s Palace. There are rumors that Yak Face was originally intended to be a mail-away promotional figure, but for whatever reason, he was not available in the United States. But he was released very late in the line in two places: Canada and Europe.

The European version of Yak Face is easier to come by. He is on a Tri-Logo card (a card that has the Return of the Jedi title logo in English, Spanish, and French) and comes with no accessories and no coin. The Canadian version is truly unique. Not only did Yak Face come with a staff, but his Power of the Force card (with a coin) was printed in English and in French (a requirement for all products for sale in Canada). Yak Face is the only POTF figure whose card was available this way.

One final figure of note is Anakin Skywalker. Truly signifying the end of the line, the figure of Anakin depicted the father of Luke as seen at the very end of Return of the Jedi and thus the end of the original trilogy. Anakin was initially available as a mail-away figure and is actually the easiest of all the POTF figures to find. He was also available on a Tri-Logo card in Europe, which is also readily available (though finding one in great condition can be tough). But finding Anakin on a POTF coin card is truly a challenge. He is the least expensive loose POTF figure to own but the most expensive one to own carded.

Today, the Power of the Force figures, both loose and carded, are still in high demand. Always make sure to buy them in the best condition you can afford, and be sure to memorize the figures and what they look like. It’s not uncommon to find a couple of Power of the Force figures lying in a box alongside much easier to find figures. Putting the set of all seventeen together can be a challenge, especially with Yak Face. But as with action figure collecting, it’s all about the hunt, and the Power of the Force figures are a hunt worthy of Boba Fett himself!