The Star Wars Playset of the Day Discussion Thread

[Tycho]

Yup. We needed a new on-going thread that everyone could come in and yap on. So I sniffed a Mouse Droid and then invented "The Star Wars Playset of the Day Discussion Thread."

Dating back to vintage era days and including everything up to the modern line we will open the floor to discussion of a new Star Wars playset every day.

I'm going to try a wild approach: alternating between the oldest vintage and the latest modern each day. So we'll see how that goes. It shouldn't get boring!

The first playset we're going to talk about is the 1979 Death Star Battle Station Playset - a true classic.

It featured a working elevator, a trap door that led into a working garbage masher complete with foam garbage and a trash monster, a retractable light bridge, a rope swing figures could traverse the open "pit" with, a turbo laser cannon that rotated, raised and lowered, and "exploded" and 4 levels of play environment.

Now tell us how you really feel about that.

[stillakid]

Now tell us how you really feel about that.

One bit me as a child and I harbor some resentment still. Thanks for bringing it back up. I'm going to go get drunk and jump off a tall building now.

[Rogue II]

Death Star PlaySet Re-Release

Next.

[Tycho]

Today's Playset of the Day to be discussed will be the Mustafar Duel Playset.

This set included an erupting lava volcano, a flip-over lava trap to make figures sink into a pool of lava, break-away mining platform struts, a ledge, a hollow interior without much decor, and the ability to inter-connect with other ROTS battle arena playset pieces.

2 pack in figures (Obi-Wan and Anakin Skywalker) were also included.

Does anyone have anything to say about this?

[figrin bran]

what nobody has said yet.

actually, i've never owned any of the playsets...unless you count the cardboard cantina and jabba's palace backdrops?

[plasticfetish]

Death Star Space Station = a lot of fun. I never had one as a kid, don't have one now either, but would love to find a Death Star Space Station some day when I have somewhere to display it.

Mustafar Duel Playset = boring. Seriously, I already have one dirt colored playset in my house, and didn't want this one after getting a good look at it. The pack-in figures are lame (just not unique in any way) and it doesn't feel as though Hasbro tried very hard with this one... or maybe they tried too hard. The lava ball thing is stupid.

[TheCivilCollector]

Death Star Playset-
Awesome, but I'm sure alot of that is nostalgia. This is one of the first toys I recall getting for Christmas. I was obsessed with the trash compactor part.

Mustafar Duel Playset-
Meh. I like the entrance to the battle room at the bottom, but the catwalks are ridiculously out of scale. Why not one larger one?

I LOVE when you can connect playsets together and enhance play value. Remember the He-Man Talon Fighter where you could connect the top to Castle Grayskull? That's the kind of thing that's cool.

[Tycho]

PlasticFetish - did you once have the vintage Death Star Playset (not when you were a child, like you said, but more recently, though not now?)

What did you think? Did you use it with the modern figures? (I did - makes for great diorama building!)

As far as the lava ball thing - I like it. No - it's not movie accurate, but without some kid-fun-feature, it is hardly different from Pride Displays type of things. The lave ball launcher makes this "a toy" actually, and that adds to the fun.

I think the mining platform scaffolding is done alright - though hardly sturdy. It could have had a tighter connection with a more heavily engineered release for it's crumpling effect.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

Due to how my shelves are set up, I only have one Mustafar scaffolding thing actually connected to the playset, but it keeps falling off and hitting the Anakin and Padmé figures under it. This playset is pretty cool, especially for only $30, but it's nothing really outstanding.

[Tycho]

If the playset is perched on a bookshelf, I assume you have 3 "walls" around it. Back the scaffolding you're using into one of the walls (depending upon what view you choose to display of the playset) and let that help you support the scaffolding.

Hope that helps (and works).

If you've got it completely reversed so the scaffolding is sticking out like Bespin's weather vane, then consider altering the way you display Mustafar.

It sucks that HASBRO's lack of quality here makes us discuss this problem as such. You don't hear of problems with KENNER's Death Star!