‘Star Wars’ Month: Which Power Of The Force Figure Is The Swollest?

As a child who got into Star Wars at a young age (I have distinct memories of watching the movies as early as five years old) but also at a time when the vintage line of action figures was petering out, I missed out on the original heyday of Star Wars action figures. Being born in 1981, my Star Wars passion was building just as the final line of figures from 1985 were starting to warm pegs. I still managed to get more than a few of those initial Power of the Force figures (loved that Jedi Knight Luke with the softgoods cloak) along with some older classics thanks to thrift stores and garage sales, but my collection was far from complete, with most of the big names and classic versions long out of reach.

So when it became known that Kenner was going to relaunch the Power of the Force line of action figures in 1995 with brand new sculpts, I was beyond excited: here was my chance to get in on a Star Wars toyline from the beginning, and finally get a Tatooine Luke or white robed Princess Leia or classic vest Han Solo. Yet with the figures coming a full two years before the Original Trilogy would be re-released in theaters and four years before the next new Star Wars movie, Kenner wanted to make sure the new versions of these characters would appeal to the kids of the day as much as the already-aging collectors with fond memories of the original versions.

As a result, the initial waves of the revamped Power of the Force line quickly acquired a reputation for what can only be described as … excessive swollness. In an effort to make the sculpts more dynamic and action-oriented – and thus theoretically, more attractive to ’90s kids who may not have a deep, personal connection to the Star Wars mythos — the heroes and villains were all bulked up to varying degrees, their movie looks carefully sculpted to highlight their now-rippling musculature, the posing designed to make the figures look ready to leap into action.

Eventually, Kenner would take their new line of Star Wars figures off the metaphoric steroids, as Star Wars began to roar back into the pop culture zeitgeist and it became clear old and new fans had a desire for cinematic fidelity in their action figures. But that first year of the renewed Power of the Force line, composed of 12 figures across two waves, still stands as a monument to both plastic swollness and a second chance for non-Gen X action figure-obsessed Star Wars fans. Here are those initial 12 figures, ranked in order from least swoll to most swoll.

R2-D2

While a bit beefier than the various vintage versions of the figure, Artoo is almost swoll-proof, not being humanoid and locked into a pretty static design.

C-3PO

Similar to Artoo, there’s only so much bulk that can be realistically added to the metallic form of everyone’s favorite chatterbox droid. This version of Threepio (and many subsequent Power of the Force versions which utilized the same mold) does lean into Threepio’s perpetually-bent arms compared to the vintage figure, giving the figure particularly sharp elbows along with an an aggressively-wide stance.

Boba Fett

The most badass bit of Sarlaac nosh in the galaxy, Kenner learned its lesson from the vintage figure by making Boba Fett readily available in the second wave of the relaunched line directly on toy shelves (instead of as a mail away figure). While a little broad-shouldered, on the scale of the line’s swollness, it’s a pretty tame figure.

Stormtrooper

The initial modern Stormtrooper isn’t too ridiculously beefy, but there’s definitely an aggressive physicality to the figure. This is a Stormtrooper who doesn’t care that you think his aim sucks and is ready to throw hands. And if that doesn’t work, he’ll blast you with his comically-large Heavy Infantry Cannon. The 1995 Power of the Force figures: even the guns are swoll!

Princess Leia

Un-affectionally dubbed “Monkey Face Leia” due to an awkward head/face sculpt, the sole female figure of the first two Power of the Face waves isn’t as roided up as her “Big Three” compatriots, but like the Stormtrooper, still has a physicality to the sculpt that suggests she’s ready to enter the ring and knock some smart-ass dudes down.

Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi

In the grand scheme of Power of the Force swollness, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi is hardly the worst offender. Until you remember that he’s meant to represent 62 year old Alec Guinness. You could pop a Ewan McGregor-sculpted head onto this body and it wouldn’t look out of place.

Darth Vader

Vader is one of those figures where the swollness is more excusable; he’s meant to be a big, menacing character. Yet even here, between the sculpted plastic cape (which gives the figure visual bulk) and the wide-leg stance, this is a Vader who looks less like a cybernetic asthmatic burn victim and more like the Terminator.

Luke Skywalker (X-wing Pilot)

One of the things that does these sculpts no favors is the fact that each bulked up plastic figure is carded next to a picture of the normal human being the figure is meant to represent. As a result, something like this X-wing Pilot Luke (which is a notable improvement on the line’s “regular” Luke figure in the swollness department) still leaves us wondering how it could possibly fit into the cockpit of an X-wing with shoulders that broad.

Han Solo

Speaking of broad shoulders, Han here features a relatively normal sculpt, save for the fact that his shoulders are broad enough to land the Millennium Falcon on.

Chewbacca

Like Darth Vader, Chewbacca is a character who can support a little extra bulk in his plastic representation. After all, this is someone known for ripping the arms off his Dejarik opponents when he loses. Yet as with Vader, this figure takes that allowance to the extreme, looking less like a cinematic Wookiee and more like the Jack Links Sasquatch … and he’s all out of jerky.

Lando Calrissian

In The Empire Strikes Back, Lando is a smooth-talking, cape-wearing dandy, capable of wielding a blaster or flying the Falcon out of trouble but just as comfortable enjoying the finer things in life. In action figure form, Lando is a blue silk-clad Incredible Hulk, prepared to rip your clothes off your back so he can wash them on his rippling abs.

Luke Skywalker

Of course, the swollest figure of them all — the one which really gives this run of figures their reputation — is Luke himself, his shorty robes stretched taut across his rippling bicep cleavage, his legs spread wide to help support all that muscle weight. Certainly, Luke has been glammed up before — the Tom Jung poster for the first movie features … a highly embellished interpretations of Luke and Leia that could have been inspirations for these figures — but something about rendering those pecs in plastics along with the page boy haircut really makes it seem like this version of Luke is more likely to say, “by the Power of Grayskull!” than “may the Force be with you.”