So. I went ahead and did this. I got a shurnk down version of Kenner's cardboard Sears exclusive cantina backdrop. Then I sourced 3 lead gaming minis that would work for Tatooine and scale to Kenner's Micro Collection. I gave these figures a "toylike" paintjob and display them alongside 3 mint loose Kenner originals.

Rogue One and Jabba's Palace are next. Along with something too secret to divulge right now.

I was close to becoming mad, too. But today all Corona restrictions have been lifted in my state. Next Legion game is already set for tomorrow 🎉

Rogue One mockups:

My first R1 mockup used a bunker picture. Ultimately I don't think a movie photo can capture the feeling of a 1980's toy. So I am experimenting with free jungle and beach clipart from around the web. When I settle on the ones I like best, I will merge them together and maybe potatoshop an AT-AT or something into the backdrop.

I am also considering standalone plastic accessories (akin to Kenner's computer banks in the Hoth Ion Cannon). Star Wars crates for the rebels to sabotage, palm trees, and a comms uplink are all plausible options.

Stay strong. Nute Gunray is coming.

7 hours ago, Memorare said:

Stay strong. Nute Gunray is coming.

Sorry. I'm not into Pokemon.

Those die-cast minis were some of my favorite Star Wars toys -- I had the whole Hoth set.

Sadly, my folks decided to throw out a bunch of my Star Wars stuff when I moved out, and I was only able to rescue about half of the figures, and none of the playsets.

And here I thought you'd admit to painting and preferring Dewbacks!

2 hours ago, DewbackScout said:

And here I thought you'd admit to painting and preferring Dewbacks!

Hmm. I wonder if I can find a Micro Collection scale Dewback to paint in semi-gloss, no shading, like a toy soldier... It would be a good centerpiece to the Mos Eisley backdrop. That or a landspeeder...

2 hours ago, Hawkstrike said:

Those die-cast minis were some of my favorite Star Wars toys -- I had the whole Hoth set.

Sadly, my folks decided to throw out a bunch of my Star Wars stuff when I moved out, and I was only able to rescue about half of the figures, and none of the playsets.

Parents these days... geez.

I was born shortly before the end of the Micro line. By the time I started looking for MC, they were only very occasionally found in clearance bins. I wound up with a weird patchwork of sets. Honesty that "thwarting" in my early childhood is probably why I like minis so much.

More progress on Rogue One. I have a Deathtrooper, Cassian Andor, Jyn Erso, and Rebel Marine.

I suppose I need more Rebel Marines and Deathtroopers. Kenner never put just one of a squad builder fig in the micro sets, after all. The photo makes clear a couple "dings" on Jyn's face that need a quick touch of paint. Sometimes that happens as the paint shrinks a bit during drying. She's an old WestEnd gaming mini that was close enough for the job. The other three are old unpainted Micro figs. Erroneously reported on eBay as "prototypes", but the unpainted figures are mostly just ones that were waiting for paint when the line abruptly ended.

I am moving away from the idea of plastic accessories such as trees. On to some real image editing to make the card backdrop for them. It'll ultimately be in the same vein as Kenner's ones for the 3.75" line.

This is Madness!

@Hawkstrike Here ya go. I did up the mantle with ALL the Hoth sets, including Build Your Armies mail away figs, plus 4 figs from vehicles that Hoth really needed and which I guess one technically coulda gotten via the C-3PO's mail away offer. And yes, we are gonna PLAY with them! I am on the fence about them playing with the Micro Collection Falcon. It's a bit pricey. I think in half a day, I got more happiness from owning these objects than in all the years they've been in my collection boxes, combined. Now THAT'S value in a collection. Course, any figures I have duplicates of, the kids only get to play with the one with the worst surviving paintjob! The Bespin sets I'm letting them use are gonna be "scratch n' dent" ones as well.

Maybe we'll clear the rest of the mantle and flood it with the Bespin sets. Dunno.

Oh, man, I so miss those toys ... good memories.

All hail @TauntaunScout !

A massive thanks, my man! You made me feel like I'm 9 years old again!

The pilot looks like he's relieving himself

13 hours ago, buckero0 said:

The pilot looks like he's relieving himself

The assorted vehicle crew are some of the weirdest little Star Wars figures ever, in any line. They are scale-creeped too, being a tad smaller than the rest of the line. Next up I'll post a picture of all the pilots.