It's a beautiful thing when I see the EU branching out into different merchandising. And after Shadows of the Empire, I never imagined we'd see anymore. but in the late 90s, we did.
The first Expanded Universe toy line from Hasbro came out of nowhere for me. I'd stop collecting toys at the time due to the high cost of keeping up the hobby so when I first saw these it came as a shock.
If I recall, this was the first figure I remember seeing from the toy line and I did a double take. I knew who this was but couldn't believe what I was reading. Sadly, there weren't any others on the shelves at the time but I would later find more.
Again, this was another win-win for everyone. I mean, who WOULDN'T want an action figure of their favorite character they read about. I never saw a Mara Jade ONCE in the toy aisles back in the day. They were just that popular.
On top of bringing in characters from the Dark Empire comic, they also brought characters in from the video games too. Just to let you know, I've always loved the look of these menacing Dark Troopers.
And who wouldn't want their own action figure of Kyle Katarn!? To be honest, I never saw this one of the shelves either.
So do I own any of these? Sadly, no. As a college kid at the time, I didn't have the money for it but I did appreciate them bringing a few of these characters to life for any young child to appreciate.
I was still in elementary school and I got two of these for Christmas one year. The dark side Luke and the Leia from Dark Empire. I could never find the others. I wished I picked up the comic packs or the force unleashed figures because I remember seeing them in stores in the more recent years Missed opportunity.
Matt, will you take a look at the Dark Horse comics packs? They introduced numerous EU characters!