Review: Star Wars Retro Collection A New Hope box-set including Ceremony Luke, Stormtrooper Han, Dr. Evazan, Sandtrooper, Rebel Fleet Trooper, and Pondo Baba
- Mephitsu
- 1 minute ago
- 8 min read
When Hasbro launched the Star Wars Retro Collection, it was initially distributed in the traditional manner with cases of carded figures sent to retailers and online stores. This worked relatively well for the early waves that recreated the original Kenner figures from The Original Trilogy. When the line branched into creating Kenner inspired content for the newer properties, then the distribution began to see peg-warming issues and significant retail reductions to clear stock.
The other issue with any collector carded line is shelf wear, and the Retro cards were taking some level of damage when shipped and sold in physical stores in particular. The answer, as implemented in 2023, was a new outer box distribution with six carded figures within. This was first used to re-issue the original 12 figures from A New Hope across two boxed releases, and more recently adopted for sets for The Acolyte, the Prequel movies, and the set we are looking at here from A New Hope with a number of brand new characters brought into the Kenner-style line.
The 2025 Retro Collection A New Hope box set was made up of six figures, five of which were entirely new in terms of never being released in the original Kenner run or in the Retro Collection to date. They are packed into an outer box that replicates the card design to a degree, with the Kenner Star Wars logo heading up the box front and fake box wear around the sides. The figures are depicted against a blue checklist, reminiscent of a Kenner card back, with the Retro Collection roundel now printed and not a sticker, and a small call out in the bottom left corner that confirms all six of the figures come on their own card. The box front and reverse are almost identical, save for some warnings and legal text, and also carry the Kenner logo as opposed to Hasbro. The box sides are plain with the 1977 Star Wars logo, while the top of the box also includes character pictures from A New Hope of the included characters.
The box opens via either side panel, with the cards within stacked interlocking with blisters overlapping each other to minimise the space needed and also to prevent any movement that would then damage the card. There is no packing piece, so some parts of the card are unsupported in transit, which can lead to some very minor card warping. Because these are designed to be sold from a shelf at retail, the cards are unpunched, which is a nice touch.
All of the cardbacks follow the same design principles of the Retro Collection to date, which itself pays homage to the original Kenner figures. This includes the use of the original logo, the tramline border, fake card wear, and the use of an original character still from the movie which in this case are all new apart from Walrusman, whose art depicts his original carded release. This imagery is all overlaid with the Retro Collection sticker; this can be removed with care if you want to display the figures carded and without the Retro logo. The figures are also given a colour for the panel behind the blister, and on their character name plate.
Around the back of the card, the homage to Kenner dies off a little bit, and while there is room for some form of checklist of old, we simply have a four-language overview of the Retro Collection, followed by a text list of the other figures in the wave. The rest of the cardback is turned over to legal and safety warning text. As it was back in the 70s and 80s, if you want to play with or display your figures, the cards will be damaged as you rip off the blister.
Our new figures from A New Hope start with a new version of Luke Skywalker, as seen at the end of the film, receiving his medal. This newly designed look mirrors the general aesthetic of the original Kenner figures in terms of its basic design, simple colour choices, and rudimentary decor limited to the belt buckle and yellow piping up the legs. The head is not the same as that of Farmboy Luke, but a new look that is in keeping with the simplistic nature of the Kenner facial likenesses as per the technology of the time, while not perhaps immediately recogniseable as Mark Hammil, but that is possibly born more out of my own personal memory and this figure having no context from the original line as such.
Articulation is the basic five points, and this works with the included accessories of a blaster and a medal. The Blaster is the slimline Leia Blaster seen on the Kenner releases of ANH, Bespin, and Hoth Leia. This is cast in black and fits into either of Luke’s hands. The medal is new and made of a softer plastic that sits over Luke’s head.
Also seen in the medal ceremony scenes, and of course at the start of A New Hope, are the Rebel Fleet Troopers. This figure mimics much of the Luke design with a waistcoat, pants, and boots - although they are not the same sculpt. The Fleet Trooper paint decor is again on the belt buckle, and also on the blue shirt front, overpainting the black plastic and creating an ever so slight colour variance vs the arms - but again you could argue that is evocative of the Kenner figures themselves. The head is sculpted with the helmet plugged in as an individual piece. The helmet is gloss white with a painted black visor, but the choice has been made not to include a chin strap, which is in keeping with the same principle applied back in 1977 for the Death Squad Trooper.
Again, we have five points of basic articulation, and this time a single blaster. The blaster is again based on the original Kenner line and the Bespin Blaster with a blue colour cast. I found this incredibly difficult to put into either of the Fleet Trooper’s hands, and when it is wedged into position, it is not quite in a firing position.
Our next two figures take us to the Mos Eisley Cantina, and we start with a new figure of Doctor Evazan. The Doctor features another waistcoat, shirt, trousers, and boots design but with a messy, low slung shirt collar and a gun belt around the trousers, which are painted in browns with a silver bukcle. Evazan’s deformed face is replicated quite brilliantly into a 70s Kenner style, complete with mismatched eyes both in position and colour.
Evazan uses the same five points of articulation to wield two weapons, neither of which are based on any of the original Kenner blasters. The first is a black cast snub blaster, similar but not the same as the Rebel blaster. The other is a grey cast wide barrel piece. These fit more comfortably into Evazan’s right hand rather than the left, but there is a dual-wield option if you can coax the left hand to hold one of the blasters.
Evazan was, of course, a large gap in the original Kenner run due to the release of his partner, Pondo Baba, as Walrus Man. It is well established that Kenner was working on still images of 'cool' aliens with no costume design, so there was an option here to bring us an updated Pondo Baba with his correct costume. Instead, Hasbro has chosen to stay true to the Kenner blue and orange jumpsuit with green skin, bulging eyes, and mouth. Walrus Man also features the webbed feet of the original and the same Imperial blaster in blac,k which he can hold with his right hand.
The final two figures have an Imperial theme, starting with an Imperial Sandtrooper as seen on Tatooine during much of the first half of the movie. Of course, an Imperial Stormtrooper was part of Kenner’s earliest releases in 1977/78, and this new take on the Trooper pays homage to that in terms of styling of the helmet and armour, but is its own figure in terms of tweaking the key elements of difference of a Sandtrooper, such as the knee armour. The armour itself is bright white, the connections black, and with the same principles used on the helmet for the visors, breathing apparatus, and the upper forehead trim.
Our Sandtrooper has been given a Pauldron and backpack, and these are part of the wider sculpt rather than add-on parts. The Pauldron is split across the shoulder and torso of the body, and painted in orange with black trim. On the left arm, the other part of the Pauldron, the pouch, sits as part of the left arm sculpt. The backpack is part of the torso and is coloured in black. The Sandtrooper has been given a new, long, repeating blaster that we never saw in the Kenner series. It is cast in black and fits in either hand, with the left arm bent at the elbow to accommodate the longer weapon in standing poses.
Our final figure also uses Stormtrooper armour and is another figure who’s counterpart was released back in the 80s and who we’ve had to wait over 40 years to pair up on display. Han Solo, in Stormtrooper Armour, follows the same principles applied to POTF Luke in Stormtrooper Armour back int he 80s without being a direct copy. Like the Sandtrooper, the armour is gloss white, while the connecting parts are painted in black.
Han’s head sculpt is new, and not a replication of any of the early Han Solo releases, either from Kenner or from Hasbro’s retro series. Again, the likeness is not initially recogniseable or memorable as Han. The helmet, another close match to the original Luke figure but less elongated and therefore better proportioned, is wearable and sits neatly over the head to complete the disguise.
With his five points of articulation, Han can wield two different blasters, the first of which is a black cast standard Imperial Blaster whose design dates back to the first Kenner figures. The second is another newer piece, the longer blaster rifle used by some Stormtroopers. Both weapons fit into either of Han’s hands, and unlike Evaza,n he can gear up with both blasters at the same time.
The A New Hope Retro Collection boxset is priced at circa £56-£61, depending on your retailer of choice, which equates to around £10 per figure and is in line with the RRP of the original single carded releases for the Retro Collection. While this is a larger outlay initially, the cards will arrive in great condition and unpunched. The contents are well chosen to a point and expand on the original Kenner line some 40-odd years after it concluded, although without the memories we older folk have from the 70s and 80s, and their modern digital design, they come close to filling gaps Kenner missed but not quite. The Walrusman inclusion is a no-win situation with purists leaning towards a direct Kenner recreation as we got, while collectors wanting more variety were perhaps hoping for either a different figure entirely, or one with a costume update.
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About Me : As a child of the '70s and '80s I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force), and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licenses - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who, and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK-focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...