Nomadscout’s Favorite Accessories (Probably)

I was going to do a new feature called "Accessories That Make Me Happy", but I decided to just do a Top 5. And these are my Top 5 as I published this article. I reserve the right to change my mind at any time.

Accessories are awesome in general. They are what brings a figure to life, inspires poses, spurs interactivity with other figures, and sets the foundation for world-building. Occasionally we get figures that have no accessories in the package. These are soul-less plastic blobs that are a blight upon humanity - like the Dallas Cowboys. Nah, they can be cool too (accessory-less figures, not the Cowboys), but they often have to offer something extra to make up for the lack of items. The vast majority of figures are packed with at least one accessory. Sometimes it's just a weapon. But sometimes it can be more imaginative, like a tool, a small animal, or some environmental piece.

There were periods of time (notably 2005-2008) when the accessories were gigantic, often dwarfing the figure itself, and sometimes stealing the show and seizing the spotlight as the star of the package. Accessories can look cool, elevate the figure, offer alternative poses, or provide a piece of equipment or furniture that can help create a setting for a diorama.

For the list below, I've only focused on accessories that come with figures (there's also a pair of 2-packs listed). I've bypassed other larger formats or "expressions." Also, I've sort of merged the concept of accessories and environmental pieces, even thought for tracking purposes, I prefer to keep them in separate categories (FACED!).

So here are my top 5 favorite figure accessories as of today.

1. Moisture Vaporator:

TAC 30-18 Luke Skywalker
(also available with TLC [Blue] Disturbance at Lars Homestead)

This is my favorite figure accessory. It's really an environmental piece, as it's not really meant to be "handled" by the figure - unless that floats your boat. It was packed with a rather unremarkable Luke Skywalker figure (with incorrectly colored leg wraps) that otherwise came with a lightsaber and a hilt. The figure isn't great. It wasn't awful at the time, but lacked lower body articulation. I assume that this was one of those cost balancing things, because included was a 7-piece moisture vaporator, that when fully assembled, is almost 2.5 times taller than Luke. It's painted well, with some nice dirt and sand sprayed on. It was a tremendous accessory, and was a favorite of collectors. I feel like I should have bought more of these at the time, but only picked up two. It was later re-released (with limited paint) in the Disturbance at the Lars Homestead. For the record, the figures that came with that set were horrendous, but the homestead dome, the vaporator, and the womprat were excellent. So the vaporator stole the show both times it was released. You can even remove some of the parts to add some variety to your vaporators - not all of them look the same on screen. I use it all the time in our gallery photography, and it fits in great with almost any Tatooine diorama, and even other places like Nevarro or Jedha. It goes perfectly with the Streets of Mos Eisley.

2. Imperial Scanning Equipment:

TVC Imperial Scanning Crew (part of complete accessory)
TVC Death Star Scanning Crew (part of complete accessory)

When I purchased these K-mart sets back in the day, I was kind of drifting a bit in my collecting interest everything was in storage. I still dutifully purchased at least one of everything, but I often didn't even open the package and just packed it straight into a box and then off to storage as soon as I made my next trip to the facility. These 2 sets fell into that category. It wasn't until several years later, after I was long settled into my house in NJ, that I stumbled upon Chris's original images in our older galleries (since replaced with newer photography) of these sets, but I had no idea how awesome they were. I opened them up for the first time, and was stunned. The figures were hit or miss (the stormtrooper mold was downright infuriating by that time), but I was blown away by the accessories. One set came with the rolling base, which was previously released in the TLC line. The other set came with the actual crate which fit on top to make the complete scanning equipment seen in the film. I remember thinking this was cool when I first purchased the set and saw it on the box imagery. What I never noticed was that the top comes off, revealing detailed and interactive contents. Sure, it's just a blow dryer with a hose, but totally unexpected. The attention to detail was tremendous, and was instantly one of my favorite things in the line.

3. Ladder:

TLC [Red] Luke Skywalker X-Wing (SDC 2009) - review not available
TLC [Red] Wedge Antilles' X-Wing Starfighter - review not available

Ladder! Hard to find a more mundane accessory in the line that translates into so much excitement. Maybe "Log" that came with the Endor Battle Pack (Everyone Loves Log!). This ladder came with the very silly "smiling" Luke Skywalker figure. While I did enjoy the figure, the ladder stole the show. It instantly elevated an X-Wing diorama, and gave a completeness to the intended scene where the Rebels celebrate Luke's return from blowing up the Death Star. This ladder was available as a relatively large accessory with the Luke figure, but was shortly thereafter re-released, along with a smaller, straight ladder, in the Wedge's X-Wing set. Seriously, it doesn't take much to make collectors happy. Ladders are great!

4. Torture Rack:

TAC 30-38 Han Solo with Torture Rack

I was always amazed this was made in the line. Aside from the fact that it's a torture device (for the kids!), it dominates the included Han Solo figure (which any torture device worth its salt should do). While the figure was terrible, ceding stardom to the rack, I have no doubt that even with a great figure it would still take the spotlight. The item has 3 large pieces that move to offer various positions, notably lowering Han above the, uh, torture thingies. It includes multiple separately sculpted hoses and lots of greeblies and sculpted details. There are 2 straps (one single and one crossbody) that are used to secure the figure into the rack. I'm very glad this item exists.

5. Cantina Table:

TLC [Blue] BD35 Pons Limbic

This was both bittersweet and awesome. Almost as mundane as the aforementioned ladder, the cantina table is a simple but instantly recognizable fixture. It was great that it was included with Pons Limbic in TLC. But it should have been offered multiple times, if not with other basic figures, at least in some kind of "battle pack" with cantina denizens. It also lacked any kind of chair, which was disappointing. Fortunately this will all be remedied shortly with the arrival of the Cantina. But back in the day, this was a tremendous world-building item. I just wish I had like 5 of them.

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