World-Building:  Return of the Jedi

Next up in our series on 3.75" world-building, is Return of the Jedi.

In case you missed it, here are links to our previous articles. For scoring of each scene, we judge the currently available 3.75" world-building assets against the potential for future world-building (max of 10) if Hasbro were to fill the gaps - tempered by "awesomeness." For example, a score of 3/4 would indicate that a display of the scene is nearly complete, but has a relatively low potential for "wow" factor, even if fully completed. A score of 6/10 indicates that Hasbro has some work to do to fill the gaps, but if completed the scene could serve as a centerpiece of any collector's display.

World Building:
A New Hope
The Empire Strikes Back

ROTJ is often at the top of many fans' lists of Star Wars films, and unlike ESB, it has loads of "toyetic" content. Along with the cantina in ANH, Jabba's palace and the Sail Barge are among the most popular for world-building, given the diverse array of awesome characters, beasts, accessories, and vehicles that are not only not shown in the film, but are available to collect. There are large gatherings of aliens, an iconic military briefing, a huge battle that occurs on land and in space, and a memorable climactic scene aboard the Death Star II. All of this leads to great opportunities for incredible displays world-building goodness.



Death Star II Hangar

The film opens with what seems like an impressive scene of an Imperial shuttle landing on a new work-in-progress Death Star docking bay. Darth Vader's arrival commands the ceremony of a contingent of troops and officers to stand by at attention while Moff Jerjerrod greets the Sith Lord. However, that scene is far outmatched by the Emperor's arrival, with a huge array of soldiers, officers, guards and droids, not to mention the Emperor himself. These dual ceremonial moments serve as bookends for the Tatooine set piece.

We have almost everything we need to recreate this scene, although an updated officer figure would be welcome. It's not likely we'd get random generic officers, but we have an existing array of mostly named gray and black clad officers if you were so inclined to use them here. Some folks would prefer an unlikely new shuttle, but perhaps someday in the not too distant future, Hasbro will compromise with a repack in TVC packaging. Otherwise, the only thing we're missing here is the Death Star itself. We discussed this in detail during our previous article focusing on A New Hope. A dream HasLab Death Star would likely need to accommodate scenes from ROTJ as well. Fortunately, a hangar location (or something that approximates it) could do double duty fo both films.

World Building Score: 6/10

Other than some possible upgrading to existing figures, we've got what we need here, other than the environment. While not quite as wild and fun as a full Cantina or Palace setup, a Death Star hangar bay with all the troops is certainly a favorite display for many collectors. A proper environment would help do justice to both ANH and ROTJ. Our score of 6/10 is consistent with what we gave the ANH Death Star, although obviously some specific scenes are more easily recreated than others when considered separately.

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Jabba's Palace

Like the ANH Cantina, the Palace is full of scum and villainy. We get a good look at several areas of the palace, and each has it's own contingent of characters to fill out the specific scene. In general, Hasbro has done an amazing job of providing us with an expansive array of figures (heroes, droids, aliens), some environments, creatures, and Jabba himself. We've got Jabba's throne, an adventure set for the carbonite trophy display, and even a droid branding iron and console for the torture chamber. With the upcoming Bib Fortuna, we are getting much needed upgraded to a major domo player in the scene. We do keep a running list of missing figures which Hasbro would need to make to fill out all the scenes.

World Building Score: 8/10

What we have is pretty awesome. We've got almost all of the characters that get more than 3 frames of screen time, with a handful of exceptions. Most of these figures work well enough in a modern display. Even Tessek is a decent looking figure that dates back 20 years (an upgrade would be welcome, however). In the days of POTF2, Hasbro released a cardboard diorama of Jabba's Palace. This has served us well for 2 decades, but expectations and standards have gone way up, and it's time for a proper modern palace environment. To the glee of many 3.75" collectors, Hasbro released a terrific playset for the trophy backdrop in 2019. The success of this item has seemingly led to a continuous lineup of similarly priced/sized sets (Carbon Freezing Chamber, Tantive IV, Navarro Cantina...). While Hasbro did a lot for our Jabba-related displays that year, many of us would like a continuation so we can fill out other parts of the palace. Perhaps an entrance hall with the front gate and TT-8L/Y7 gatekeeper droid, or a droid torture chamber / prison block, or a full main hall (compatible with our existing dais/throne) along with the BBQ and dance floor. A rancor pit would seem less reasonable, though a rancor keeper den and taunting door/gate would be pretty nifty. Even without these things, our palace setups are great right now. More environments would push this score to a centerpiece-level 10.

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Battle of the Great Pit of Carkoon

The introduction of the Khetanna via Haslab was truly the definition of a dream item for so many collectors. It's one of the best pieces Hasbro has ever produced, and it was an exciting and nail-biting run through the campaign to get funded. It is capable of holding 30+ figures, and serves as a grand display, especially when partnered with a pair of modern skiffs and the sarlaac. A handful of figures could use an upgrade, and we are missing a few important ones but we definitely have an incredible array of pieces for an eye-popping display.

World Building Score: 9/10

If you have the space, this is a great focal point for your collection on display. It ranks at the top of our list for world-building possibilities along with the Palace, Cantina, and Death Star. Hasbro need only provide us with about a few more figures. Tops on my personal list is Velken Tezeri, which would allow us to finally complete that prisoner skiff. Four more figures would complete the second skiff. And maybe a handful of others like Taym Dren Garen. Our list of missing combatants is here. It's down to a total of 9 for this scene. Not much to do for Hasbro to give us that 10/10.

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Dagobah

Already covered in our ESB article, the only thing that is really much different here is that Luke visits in his Jedi Knight outfit, which we have available. The appearance of Yoda's hut in two films makes it that much more desirable.

World Building Score: 5/7

Let's get 'er done, Hasbro!

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Home One

Another nifty set piece, it's similar in concept to the Rebel Briefing on Yavin, except that it has some aliens and more soldiers. Hasbro has released quite a large contingent of figures from this scene, including all the heroes, some droids, a slew of pilot, a variety of soldiers, a few aliens, and the members of the Alliance leadership. Setting everything up looks pretty great as is, but we're missing a proper environment.

World Building Score: 7/9

We could probably use a few more characters, but it's probably a lot to ask unless we have more opportunities for deep backgrounders. Our displays of existing figures would rocket up the list with the potential that a Home One bridge environment would provide. A semicircular room with seating, a mezzanine, and part of the holographic projector would make perfect sense. Two would complete the scene. This display would benefit greatly from a proper collector-grade environment.

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Executor Bridge

Again, this was covered in our ESB breakdown, and as with Dagobah, the importance of this location is increased with its appearance in a second OT film. It further exacerbates the need for a new TVC Imperial Officer body, so we can get a replacement for the horrific Piett figure. Gotta have a bridge playset!

World Building Score: 5/8

Let's get 'er done, Hasbro!

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Ewok Village

Another fan favorite is the Kenner Ewok Village. I had one from my childhood that was nearly complete, but recently sold it because I thought it was too toy-ish and simple for my displays. I made a rare third-party purchase a few years ago when I bought a Kickstarter set of Space Trees. It's pretty neat, and much better looking than the Kenner set. In any case, this is another opportunity for Hasbro to fill an environmental need with a modern Ewok Village. As for figures, we have all the heroes (several were recently released in the 50th LFL packaging) and thousands of Ewoks, by my count. Giving them a proper environment is the next step to creating an awesome display.

World Building Score: 5/8

Like the Rebel Transport and Dagobah set, Hasbro has still not given us a modern equivalent to the Ewok Village. Without it, our Ewoks are homeless and depressed.

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Death Star II (Throne Room)

Again, as mentioned before, a HasLab Death Star with display options for both ANH and ROTJ would be the way to go. In the meantime, Hasbro is about to release a nifty throne room environment, complete Emperor Palpatine figure (with exclusive head sculpt). It's not much more than a large window behind a throne, so of course it makes people want the rest of the room (consoles, stairs, elevator, etc.). HasLab would be the most likely source for completing this setup. As for figures, we have what we need, with several different Lukes (need a flap-down tunic!), Vaders, and guards to share display space with the Emperor.

World Building Score: 8/10

The potential of "10" is based on a full Death Star, but we wanted to note the specific offerings of figures and the new playset if you just wanted to set up this scene alone, and not contingent on a much more massive display piece. As previously stated, the score of 6/10 is consistent with what we gave the ANH Death Star, although obviously some specific scenes are more easily recreated than others when considered separately.

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Endor Bunker / Forest / Space Battle

The final battle makes for an impressive display. Whether you are recreating the Forest Battle at the bunker, or if you are putting together some kind of space battle display with all of your ships, you have a lot of material to work with here. We've got A-, B-, X-, and Y-Wings, standard TIE's and Interceptors, and of course the Falcon, along with a bunch of pilots and crew. For the ground battle, we have the heroes, lots of Rebel soldiers, tons of Ewoks, and imperial stormtroopers, scouts, and officers. We also have speeder bikes and AT-ST's (if you can get them to stand), and even a muddy AT-AT for good measure. We've got the bunker, though an upgrade from the toy-ish POTF2 version would be nice for many collectors.

World Building Score: 8/9

Perhaps a few upgrades to existing figures might be nice, but we've got almost everything we need. A jump-suited Rebel soldier could help, and maybe even an Old Man Rex (take that, you OT fundamentalists!). While the forest holds more interest than previously discussed deserts or arctic scenery, it still seems unlikely that Hasbro will provide us with much more as far as a background is concerned. But a trip to a craft store, hobby shop, pet store, or even your backyard might prove successful for some Endor-looking stuff. Other than that, there isn't much for Hasbro to give us that we don't already have to make an awesome battle scene.

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So ROTJ is pretty nicely fleshed out. We definitely need more background aliens for the Tatooine scenes, and a some playset environments (Palace, Home One, Death Star) would pretty much complete our ROTJ collecting experience. There's much left in the grand scheme of things, but those remaining items are going to be hard to come by without HasLab unless TVC grows sufficiently to support deep backgrounders.

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