50 Greatest Star Wars Toys

The Toy: Yes, you saw it right. That's George Lucas, in the guise of a Rebel pilot.

Coolest Detail: The fact it was made at all, as an exclusive to attendees of the 2002 Celebration II convention.

Collectability: That exclusivity channels directly into an estimated price tag of over $500, although given most fans' regard for Lucas we don't know anybody who'd pay that.

The Toy: One of the earliest action figures to highlight just how many creative designs were lurking in the background, just itching to be turned into toys.

Coolest Detail: The satisfying click of its legs as you waddle-walk the droid along the floor.

Collectability: Depends if the owner realises it's a toy and not a television set for ants.

The Toy: The only Star Wars vehicle that looks like a frozen loaf of bread, this was the Rebels' prime method of getting its personnel away from Hoth.

Coolest Detail: The vehicle doubles as a tidy storage cupboard for the action figures. Once you had it, your parents had no choice but to buy you enough figures to fill it.

Collectability: Not so much sought after as still considered quite useful for storing figures, so it is priced for function.

The Toy: It was only a matter of time - and in 2007, thirty years after being cut out of Star Wars, Luke Skywalker's best mate finally got his own toy.

Coolest Detail: Authentic 1970s porn star 'tache.

Collectability: A bit niche for most Star Wars fans, so supply easily outstrips demand.

The Toy: Scarcely a moment of Star Wars narrative goes untouched, so the climax of Return Of The Jedi is immortalised in ghoulish toy form.

Coolest Detail: The mask breaks off into two pieces, for an extra degree of fan-pleasing realism.

Collectability: Limited play value - how many times would a kid want to give dying Anakin a starring role? - translates into a relatively cheap price.

The Toy: aka the Captivator, a single-occupant walker used by bounty hunters to hunt down fugitives.

Coolest Detail: You can keep your prisoner close via vice-like claws on the back of the machine.

Collectability: Part of the Minirig line made exclusively for the toy range (ie it never appears in the films) its real curio value doesn't translate into a high price.

The Toy: The gateway drug of Star Wars toys: hook 'em when they're young, they're yours for life.

Coolest Detail: An optional talking variation allows pre-schoolers to learn bad grammar habits from Yoda.

Collectability: Negligible, but any young kids you know will love 'em.

The Toy: Cylindrical medical droid with an array of octopus-style probe arms.

Coolest Detail: One of the most intricate, albeit flimsy, of the original toys thanks to those arms, which could be opened out or stored in the body to suit the occasion.

Collectability: About average for the range, but worth snapping up: it's a great desktop distraction toy.

The Toy: The vintage Kenner line seldom released a named Imperial officer. Hasbro was quick to atone in the 1990s, including the guy most famous for suffering Vader's Force-choke for being sarcastic.

Coolest Detail: That pose, which severely limits the toy's playability to comedic punching-bag. "Oh dear, Motti, you haven't pissed off Lord Vader again ?"

Collectability: As a classic character unavailable first time around, this fetches a solid enough price.

The Toy: Practice your mastery of the Force by making a ball rise up a tube using only brainwaves.

Coolest Detail: It's all possible due to a headset, whose computer chip measures your level of concentration and causes a fan to blow. Either that, or it's midchlorians.

Collectability: A popular but pricey investment at gadget stores.

The Toy: Use the Force. Literally - with this all-action model.

Coolest Detail: That slashing action is achieved by...wait for it...squeezing Kenobi's legs together. Confirming that the Force is located in the bladder.

Collectability: Still a decent seller for kids who want to have a slash (so to speak) but probably too gimmicky to be worth much to the connoisseurs.

The Toy: Given that Hasbro makes Transformers (and indeed has made crossover toys), this one was inevitable.

Coolest Detail: Remove Anakin's robes, slap on the armour and helmet. Hey presto, Vader!

Collectability: Inevitably, the compromises involved in making a figure that looked vaguely like both characters means it doesn't exactly look like either. Collectors are hard to please.

The Toy: A long time ago in a galaxy based on puns, Luke Pondwater and Princess Layer fought Duck Fadar.

Coolest Detail: They float.

Collectability: More of a stocking filler than a collectable... but hey, it's a Star Wars toy you can play with in the bath.

The Toy: Finally, an opportunity to persuade your folks to buy you more Stormtroopers.

Coolest Detail: Mask off - recreate the events of A New Hope . Mask on - you've doubled your Imperial Army.

Collectability: One of the last vintage figures to be released when interest in the range was waning, this one's surprisingly valuable.

The Toy: The must-have toy of the early 1980s looked, to all intents, like a giant plastic turd.

Coolest Detail: Practice levitation by 'moving' Luke's equipment - in reality, by pushing a secret lever hidden in a rock.

Collectability: Unloved plastic turds litter eBay - but as ever, any unopened collector-graded alternatives fetch big bucks.

The Toy: All of the regulars got released in their various costumes. You’d think Threepio couldn’t get the same treatment. Maybe that’s why George Lucas had them blown apart in The Empire Strikes Back .

Coolest Detail: Not only can you rip its limbs off, you get a plastic net so that Chewie can carry the pieces around.

Collectability: With many unboxed figures missing an arm or a leg, a mint boxed figure can fetch hundreds on eBay.

The Toy: Size matters not. When it comes to action figures, a pint-sized droid trader costs as much as a towering Wookiee.

Coolest Detail: Kenner realised that it needed to add value to convince kids to part with their cash. Their solution: swap the original vinyl cape for a cloth one, because…er… kids love cloth, right?

Collectability: The rare vinyl cape Jawa has fetched as much as $2000. The cloth version: not so much. Go figure.

The Toy: A droid with the mobility of a car and the military heft of a tank, this is a deadly opponent in battle.

Coolest Detail: With 32 missiles to fire, you have enough ammo to bring down your entire Star Wars toy collection.

Collectability: Caught in the gap between figure and vehicle, this remains a bargain.

The Toy: One of three Maul figures released to coincide with the release of The Phantom Menace , but clearly the best because he's on fighting form.

Coolest Detail: Inevitably, that double-ended lightsaber, which looks pleasingly robust in toy form.

Collectability: Slightly higher than average, if only to differentiate it from the less cool alternatives.

The Toy: Amazing to think that, when Kenner was first producing the action figures, the reference photos from Lucasfilm were so vague and blurry that a toy could be made in the wrong colour. Ah, innocent times.

Coolest Detail: He's blue. Even though the character is on screen for seconds, these things matter.

Collectability: The hype is out. Owners have heard about the blue Snaggletooth's scarcity so often that, actually, you could probably pick one up for a hundred dollars or so.

The Toy: Nearly every classic toy you can think of has been given the Star Wars stamp: this is one of the most enviable.

Coolest Detail: The paper flames at the back are a neat touch.

Collectability: Still available Stateside, but once they stop making it, its value will soar above the Death Star.

The Toy: Move over Leia. Clothing strategically ripped to reveal midriff + a massive gun = new geek lust object.

Coolest Detail: This one is notable for the leering anatomical exaggeration. Natalie Portman's parents must be so proud.

Collectability: Can be bought boxed for less than a tenner. Perhaps the fanboys felt embarrassed trying to buy this one.

The Toy: So you, too, can sound like you've got a really bad cold without having to repair your throat with Tunes afterwards.

Coolest Detail: Got stage fright? It also plays classic Vader dialogue in case you're unable to improv your own lines.

Collectability: Hardcore fanboys have probably built their own Vader suit with fully-functioning life support, so this toy has yet to amass any collectability.

The Toy: Why would Anakin want to turn to the Dark Side when he has this beauty?

Coolest Detail: The satisfying spring-open action of the wings when the ship is ready for action.

Collectability: Still recent enough to be bought as new, so who knows?

The Toy: Some like it Hoth, with good reason - the snow brought out the best in both Rebel and Imperial designers.

Coolest Detail: Forget about the dodgy (and often lost) harpoon, the front guns both lit up!

Collectability: This is how anal Star Wars collectors are: an original Snowspeeder in a box with a blue background is worth more than one with a pink background.

The Toy: 24-inch-tall collectable, with roller wheels on his feet so you can move him around.

Coolest Detail: A spring-loaded rocket punch firing fist. No idea why, but pretty cool.

Collectability: A limited edition from Super 7 , it’s long sold out but they’ve promised a Boba Fett version in the future.

The Toy: An early piece of interactivity, this Jawa playset came with lots of parts for budding droid engineers to go crazy.

Coolest Detail: The accompanying R2-D2 came with his third leg, famously missing from the regular toy.

Collectability: If you've hung onto all of the pieces, you'll make a mint... but don't mistake this for the redecorated Jabba's Dungeon playset.

The Toy: The 2003 'animated series' range did away with (the always suspect) attempts at realism to mimic the cartoonish lines of Genndy Tartakovsky.

Coolest Detail: The uncanny caricature of Christopher Lee's face.

Collectability: With the current CGI series dominating the shelves, you'd have to sell your third nipple to get the short-lived 2003 version.

The Toy: Hoth creature, on which you could sit a rider through a ‘trap door’ on its back.

Coolest Detail: Between original launch and re-release, somebody had the bright idea of slicing open the toy’s belly, allowing you to hide Han in its innards as in the film.

Collectability: Ironically, although the belly version is considered definitive, the original unsliced edition is rarer and therefore more valuable.

The Toy: An action figure is the natural habitat for a character who always looked like he should be a toy.

Coolest Detail: Four poseable arms, with two lightsabers, makes play-fighting with the other toys more fun than usual.

Collectability: Recently released as part of the vintage range - a prequel toy in old-school packaging! Sacrilege! - so it's too early to tell.

The Toy: An oft-overlooked design classic whose swan-like grace and simplicity remains a triumph of pre-CGI modelwork.

Coolest Detail: Figures can be stored within the side panel. Handy for smuggling Rebels onto Endor.

Collectability: Oft-overlooked? Not at all. The collectors have the good taste to make this one a costly purchase.

The Toy: Boba Fett's camouflaged, flotsam-shaped ship, ideal for hunting fugitives, was one of the few original trilogy vehicles to appear in the prequels, giving it real longevity as a toy.

Coolest Detail: A handle in the undercarriage enabling you to pilot the ship by its unusual vertical flying style.

Collectability: Often re-released by Hasbro, but such is Boba-mania that a vintage ship will likely cost you a three-figure sum.

The Toy: Say what you like about the Ewoks, they put on a good toy. The largest and most robust of Kenner's playsets offers plenty of forest-moon fun.

Coolest Detail: The village was positioned high enough in the "trees" to warrant a working pulley-operated lift.

Collectability: Surprisingly sought-after even out of its box, perhaps because Hasbro has never updated the Kenner original.

The Toy: The Clone Army's tank of choice was a precursor to the AT-AT, making it the coolest vehicle in Clone Wars by default.

Coolest Detail: What does a "tactical enforcer" need to get the job done? Lots of firing options.

Collectability: As expensive as the prequels' version of the AT-AT can be...which is to say: still expensive.

The Toy: A vehicle bafflingly unmade by Kenner, but LEGO knows a good design when it sees one.

Coolest Detail: The inevitable accessory: a LEGO Sarlaac mouth, which somehow makes its likeness to a vagina with teeth even more pronounced.

Collectability: Expensive. There are websites offering this for £500.

The Toy: One of the perks of being a dictator - you're allowed to commission the best uniforms, including these majestic, blood-red samurai-style warriors.

Coolest Detail: Unusually for an action figure, the head was detachable, making the Royal Guard the recipient of many beheadings.

Collectability: Much-loved and therefore a mint condition Kenner toy with the cloth cape intact can fetch triple figures.

The Toy: Never included in the original range, the “geek’s lust object” edition came out in 1997 by which time the original fans were old enough to... oh, you know.

Coolest Detail: It comes with its own chain. Say no more.

Collectability: You'd think these would be rarer than a Stormtrooper who could shoot straight but (perhaps because parents found them too pervy) they're surprisingly available. Oo-er.

The Toy: For kids on a budget, this was cheaper than the Falcons and AT-ATs of the world, but still pretty cool.

Coolest Detail: Make chases more interactive by blowing up a speeder bike, thanks to a handy detonation button.

Collectability: A classic, and therefore often relaunched with little changes, so you can buy this without blowing up.

The Toy: For the discerning bad-boy who doesn't fancy a lightsaber, here's Han's weapon of choice helpfully branded with the Star Wars logo.

Coolest Detail: The "secret button" which produced a 2-speed laser sound. This was the cutting edge in 1978.

Collectability: Even when faced with competition from custom replicas, nostalgia has maintained a decent price for the high street variant.

The Toy: The Imperials had thousands of ’em. Your mum let you buy: one. No Star Wars toy was ever so overworked.

Coolest Detail: The Hasbro update (1995 onwards) out-cools the original by allowing you to turn its head and giving it a fighting pose.

Collectability: Presumably because no kid was allowed to have more than one, they're easy enough to pick up for less than a tenner.

The Toy: When the Jedi go into battle, they need a cool ship - and this beauty delivers.

Coolest Detail: Alongside firing missiles, a deployable troop platform enables you to mimic the ship's on-screen functionality.

Collectability: Now nearly a decade old (practically an antique) this can command a tidy sum for a prequel toy.

The Toy: The toy without which no living room space battle would be complete.

Coolest Detail: Later models came with "battle damage" stickers, although most kids probably battered the crap out of the toy anyway.

Collectability: The Force must be strong with you if you can find one that isn't home-battle damaged without paying through the roof.

The Toy: The biggest character became appropriately super-sized, available only in a playset with his throne and a Salacious Crumb figure.

Coolest Detail: Hinged trap door through which figures could be thrown to the Rancor. Sadly, the toy wasn’t deep enough to fit the Rancor action figure in.

Collectability: A premier gangster like Jabba doesn't come cheap... but avoid getting ripped off with an incomplete set.

The Toy: One of the very first Kenner action figures produced, with a unique lightsaber function.

Coolest Detail: The weapon extends outwards, with a thin tip that nearly doubles the lightsaber size.

Collectability: The design was changed early in production, making this rarer than a well-groomed Nerfherder.

The Toy: One-third of the holy trinity of iconic Star Wars ships and, because it was cheaper than the Millennium Falcon and not a villain's vehicle like the TIE Fighter, arguably the most widely-owned of them all.

Coolest Detail: That R2-D2 in the navigator's seat: a fake. He's the secret button to control the wings with.

Collectability: Despite its childhood ubiquity, this one's still very much in demand.

The Toy: Famously released two years before The Empire Strikes Back , the cult of Fett starts here.

Coolest Detail: The prototype featured a firing rocket but it was shelved before the toy hit the shops for fear of taking kids’ eyes out.

Collectability: Your chances of beating Anakin in a pod-race are better than finding an original rocket-firing model. Helpfully, Hasbro's just released a retro-style version; presumably today's kids are more eye-conscious.

The Toy: That's no moon... It's the most astounding of the LEGO sets, featuring 24 figures and loads of rooms.

Coolest Detail: If you only build half of it, you get the Return of the Jedi Death Star for free.

Collectability: LEGO know when they're onto a good thing. This is still commercially available, but it's so collectible already a new set will set you back a whopping £400-plus from Amazon .

The Toy: Go on, you know you want one.

Coolest Detail: Motion sensor-controlled sound effects: hit something, and it’ll clash, crackle or make battle impact noise.

Collectability: It's a fairly new release, this one, so no need to chop the arms off rival collectors just yet. Get it for just £24.99 from Jedi Robe .

The Toy: The only Kenner vehicle to rival the Millennium Falcon for ‘must-have’ Christmas morning joy – but at twenty inches tall, it remains the range’s most expensive toy.

Coolest Detail: The latest version from Hasbro includes massive internal space to house your Imperial troops, plus an actual pull line under its belly for Luke to shinny up.

Collectability: Worth snapping up, but already hugely expensive. Amazon currently lists it at £174.

The Toy: The must-have childhood toy of anybody under the age of forty. If your parents didn’t buy it for you, chances are you’ve never forgiven them.

Coolest Detail: Where to start – the swivelling gun-seat, the battle alert sounds, the smuggling compartment. But mainly the joy of owning it.

Collectability: The current model is relatively unchanged from the 1970s vintage but you'd rather the original, right?