Takara rocket firing die cast toys
The notoriety of the rocket firing Boba Fett spreads far beyond the vintage Star Wars community. Scheduled for release as part of the 1979 Kenner Star Wars line, the rocket firing Boba Fett was redesigned shortly before release, rumoured due to safety concerns after a child choked on a rocket fired from a Battle Star Galactica toy. In actuality, Boba’s cancellation may owe as much to being a poorly designed and expensive toy to produce as to any risk of death.
What many collectors do not know is that Takara had already beaten Kenner to the punch, releasing a line of non-fatal rocket firing die cast Star Wars toys in 1978. Throughout the vintage Star Wars era, licensees across the globe released much of Kenner’s Star Wars product, with paint applications or Country of Origin (COO) stamps often being the only distinguishing tell as to which country a toy originated.
Star Wars toys sold in Japan were different. Alongside releasing Kenner’s product under licence, Takara had scope to design Star Wars toys not seen in western world. Takara Co limited was founded in 1955, with their motto being playing is culture. Takara’s range of rocket-firing diecast toys epitomise Japanese toy culture and are unparalleled in the Kenner line. It’s worth noting that all the toys did come with the following disclaimers:
Be careful not to accidentally swallow small parts.
Keep out of reach of infants.
Do not fire missiles at faces as it is dangerous.
Takara produced five rocket firing Star Wars toys in 1978; two R2D2s, C3PO, Darth Vader and the X Wing. All the toys were clearly meant for display as well as play, and were each packaged with a plastic display base. A flier contained within their packaging advertised four of the toys together, whilst a smaller rocket-firing R2D2 was advertised alongside later released toys.
Our first rocket firing R2D2’s main selling point was as a movie scene viewer. Opening a panel at the back of R2 illuminated a chest-mounted lens, through which eight movie frames could be viewed. The images change every time R2’s head is rotated. The hatch at the back of R2 did more than just let in light, it also contained two rocket launchers from which the four rockets packaged with the toy could be fired. The rockets were a feature we never saw in the film but we can imagine a Prequel-era R2D2 having those rockets behind him.
R2D2 is 4.5 inches high, has a die cast body and plastic legs and the back of the box contains some good display advice:
The legs extend and contract vertically, and the joints move freely. When standing it on the stand, please adjust it well to maintain balance.
You couldn’t have a rocket firing R2D2 without a rocket firing C3PO, and there was no ambiguity over what was C3PO’s main play feature. C3PO himself is 6 inches high, all die cast, has a lever at the top of his back which rotates his head, and a button below that lever that fires out one of two black rockets from his stomach. The other interesting feature is his red eyes, which possibly makes him the inspiration for the dark side C3PO in the Rise of Skywalker.
Darth Vader is also 6 inches high, has a lever to rotate his head and is all die cast other than his removable fabric cape. Darth Vader differs from the rest of the line as he is not strictly rocket-firing, rather he has a rocket firing weapon. He was packaged with a glow-in-the-dark lightsaber and Chewbacca’s bowcaster. The bowcaster has an elastic band and fires a glow-in-the-dark rocket.
The rocket firing X wing differs from the rest of the line having a two-piece display stand. The toy is a mixture of die cast metal and plastic, has four guns that slot into the wings, and an R2D2 that can be put into the droid voidTM behind the cockpit; is this the smallest R2D2 in the entire vintage Star Wars line? The cockpit opens and each wing has a button at the end to fire off the guns like rockets. Like the larger Kenner toy, pressing a switch opens the wings into an X shape, but unlike the larger ship it has front and rear wheels that can be folded and stored in the body.
Takara issued a second rocket firing R2D2, which is only 3.5 inches high but packaged with four large silver rockets. The rockets launch from a hole in R2D2’s body by means of a button on his back. The first issue packaging is closer aligned with the standard Kenner packaging than the rest of the rocket firing line. The second issue packaging had a style of its own, with R2D2 released in a blue window box that outlasted much of the rest of the line.
Takara’s range of die cast rocket firing toys is a fun and relatively affordable vintage Star Wars line, and these Japanese oddities would grace any Star Wars collection.