So awesome to see that piece restored and just incredible to see it fully decked out with original action figures from your childhood. Congratulations Michael!
I miss mail away figures and things like this..it was great waiting for the mailman to deliver something, forgetting about it and being extremely surprised when it arrived lol
I miss those days to. it was more of a treat too. I can do it with eBay, i.e. but it's just not the same. maybe if my mom or dad filled out the order with me and we dropped it in the mailbox?
As someone who was caught up in the Star Wars craze as a child (born 1971), I appreciate seeing some of the vintage sets and figures displayed with such loving care.
Amazing to see the stand back to its former glory, always enjoyable to see retroblasting restoration at work. I kept glancing over at my stand whilst watching this and smiling, thanks for sharing Michael 🙏👍
I love Michael's attention to detail with every task he commits to, but most especially with his restoration projects. Absolutely nothing to dislike about this video, or the incredible restoration work that Michael put into this vintage Star Wars mail away display stand.
My recollection -- I had this as a kid -- was that the sticker looked kind of "distressed" even when new. The letters were a bit off-white, and the matte black area had some granularity from printing artefacts. Something you might experiment with if/when you try to reproduce it. Sometimes modern digital composition and printing looks too crisp for what was actually around in the 1970s. (Granted, my memory could be biased from seeing mine later, after it had aged.) Thanks for the video, the good work, and the burst of nostalgia.
Great tutorial. I sold my Kenner SW off a couple years back and have been recreating everything in Lego as my way of "preserving" my collection. I am inspired to tackle this one.
Another meticulous and respectful restoration brilliantly presented, sir! Well done! My inner child just wishes you’d demonstrated the movement with the figures in place at the end. Keep ‘em coming!
That really is beautiful. I was unaware of the mail away at the time - I was pretty young and didn't understand the concept of special offers and exclusives. It's also why I had no idea about the Blue Snag until years later. So, when I saw this display stand, I literally thought it was a store display. That is really cool.
That was the first restoration video of yours that I’ve seen. Really fascinating because I have one in great shape and to see one heavily used made better.
This was absolutely incredible. The steps you took to restore or, yes, as you said, rejuvenate this set was so thoughtful and endearing. Your eye for details really shows your care, passion, and reverence for not only Star Wars, but toys in general, and all things vintage. I’m not sure why this video struck me as hard as it did, perhaps it was the magic of seeing something many of us grew up with many years ago being brought back to life again, and in such an authentic-feeling way, and by someone who also cares as much as we do. So it’s not just that it was saved and brought back, but saved and brought back by a real fan like you. Thank you, Michael. I love this channel so much.
I'm very lucky to have my childhood survivor of this piece. Lots of memoirs of turning those gears to clash sabers. One of my favorite things in my collection. Happy you have one now. Looks great.
Great video man. I started collecting in 1978 . I would have loved to have that stand. The 1st time I saw it was on the mail away commercial and only other time I have seen it is in this video! My journey is now complete.
Wow, I think it’s amazing. I’m sure your wallet isn’t happy but I’m glad you were able to find an original back drop. Way better than a repro. Thanks for sharing.
Great video, always enjoy seeing vintage toys brought back to life. When I got back into collecting I purchased the first 12 along with the stand, and it’s one of my favorite parts of my collection. I just wish there was a way to de-yellow the sticker without damaging or causing it to lift off the plastic, and give it back a bit of life.
9 year old me crying because I ruined the sticker putting it on the display stand poorly. 52 year old me going back in time to tell 9 year old me, “don’t worry, Michael French can help you fix this in the future.” 9 year old me “ when?” 52 year old me “in 2021.” 9 year old me “why do I still play with SW toys when I’m in my 50’s?”
Excellent work! It’s amazing what a little cleaning and attention can provide for an old plastic piece like this...even still a bit flawed afterward...it looks far better than what you started with! I get the impression the “STAR WARS” logo on the original background image was left off in the reproductions because it cleaned up the scene. However, I agree that the original version should be the one to go on there. I think that was the right choice despite the cost and its condition.
Wow Impeccable timing man! I just purchased one of these on eBay on Thursday. It has one broken peg and I was pondering how to fix the issue. Saw this video and have a vintage replacement disc ordered. Thanks for another useful video!
I so love the mail away stand. There are now repro stickers for this stand. A sad memory I have is that I had ordered this stand and waited for it to arrive in 1978. When I met my uncle to get it, he gave me the sad news that my dog was run over. At least I had my stand to display my figures that some aye-hole later stole from me. I was able to replace them, though.
Fantastic end result! That mail away back is in really great shape. Please do an update when you place it in the collection display space. Would love to see it with the gears moving the figures. Looking forward to your TerrorDrome restoration. I am almost done with mine. Just missing a few gun tips.
I had one of those.....man i wish I had the foresight to keep all that stuff. Now all you need is a telescoping Ben and Luke, and an vinyl caped Jawa ;)
I have the base and I've wanted the backdrop for years. This is one of very few places I have considered getting a reproduction as a restoration of my own. It really is a nice piece.
I have all of my childhood vintage Star Wars figures. I took meticulous care of them as a kid (never played with them outside) so they’re all in excellent condition to this day. I never got the stand display though :(
Awesome restoration. If you decide to experiment with making pegs, Evergreen plastics sells 1/8-in styrene plastic rod that I have used on my custom playsets. I have posted some of my custom playsets on my TH-cam channel. It fits pretty nicely inside most of the figures. It must be the same type of plastic that is used on the action figure cases because removal of the stickers seems to leave the same discoloration.
Counter point and to be fair, you forgot that I don’t have one. So you can hand deliver it to me at my convenience cause in 1991 the family dog got hit by a car. But seriously, the display is something that initially I never cared to own, but over the years and the more I see it, the more it has grown on me. I’d be interested to find out if someone has done an ESB custom version or ROTJ. Well done Michael and very informative!
The Hasbro 40th anniversary 6" Black Series Vader came with a kind of reproduction of this stand (no moving parts). It's a slightly different scale, but that thing was discounted everywhere and might still be available for people who want something like this without breaking the bank. Zac is also my go-to for repro stickers. He does solid stuff.
What a lovely video this was. Have you thought about scanning the backdrop and possibly making your scan available to zacparis? His stickers truly are great so maybe he can work some more magic?
With older toys the nicks, dings, and dents are their personality it shows the love and enjoyment form the child who play with them sometime complete restoration is overkill
Fantastic!!! I never had this stand as a kid and would LOVE to have one someday. Heck, I’d settle for a re-release for the Retro figure line, or even better, a Black Series 6” version and a special line of “retro Original 12” repaints from the Black Series ala the few available on Amazon. Actually can 6” figures fit on that stand? The spacing between figures looks generous enough that they might fit…albeit it’d need new peg discs and such, but I’m sure some enterprising 3D print designer could help there! :-)
So awesome to see that piece restored and just incredible to see it fully decked out with original action figures from your childhood. Congratulations Michael!
Thank you, sir!
Excellent restoration. It looks great.
I can't be the only one who wanted to see those babies rotate at the end!? Great resto!
Super amazing although it would be even more satisfying to see the intended articulation of the levers and gears just once near the end of the vid.
As always, your dedication and attention to detail for restoration is greatly respected in this house.
I miss mail away figures and things like this..it was great waiting for the mailman to deliver something, forgetting about it and being extremely surprised when it arrived lol
You would forget because it would take ages for the mail-away items to be delivered. 6-8 weeks usually ended up being 3-6 months.
I miss those days to. it was more of a treat too. I can do it with eBay, i.e. but it's just not the same. maybe if my mom or dad filled out the order with me and we dropped it in the mailbox?
As someone who was caught up in the Star Wars craze as a child (born 1971), I appreciate seeing some of the vintage sets and figures displayed with such loving care.
Congratulations on such an excellent restoration! Your OCD approach to these things is just perfect, just perfect! 👌
Amazing to see the stand back to its former glory, always enjoyable to see retroblasting restoration at work.
I kept glancing over at my stand whilst watching this and smiling, thanks for sharing Michael 🙏👍
The national archive needs you!!!
"I see you have reconstructed another vintage Star Wars Toy... Indeed you are strong as we all have foreseen."
"Impressive. Most impressive."
"we will watch your career with great interest"
I love Michael's attention to detail with every task he commits to, but most especially with his restoration projects.
Absolutely nothing to dislike about this video, or the incredible restoration work that Michael put into this vintage Star Wars mail away display stand.
Fantastic end result. Great video.
The completed stand w/figures hit me in the feels so hard lol. I need a time machine to go back and rebuy my collection.
Using an worn Original backdrop was the best Choice you Could make. It fits the childhood survivor tone perfectly with it’s Little imperfections.
My recollection -- I had this as a kid -- was that the sticker looked kind of "distressed" even when new. The letters were a bit off-white, and the matte black area had some granularity from printing artefacts. Something you might experiment with if/when you try to reproduce it. Sometimes modern digital composition and printing looks too crisp for what was actually around in the 1970s. (Granted, my memory could be biased from seeing mine later, after it had aged.)
Thanks for the video, the good work, and the burst of nostalgia.
It looks great.
It really is a beautiful piece that is a must have for a collection as extensive as yours. Great job on the restoration!👏👏👏
I'm just happy to see C3PO written as See Threepio, Now that made me nostalgic.
Artoo Detoo.
That helped humanize the droids. Giving them proper names. I still tend to use the full names that way, it just seems right.
Its weird to see original Star Wars merchandise that has See Threepio and Artoo Detoo yet they still put C-3PO and R2-D2 in parentheses....
Great tutorial. I sold my Kenner SW off a couple years back and have been recreating everything in Lego as my way of "preserving" my collection. I am inspired to tackle this one.
Great job. Awesome seeing all the figures displayed with it too.
Another meticulous and respectful restoration brilliantly presented, sir! Well done! My inner child just wishes you’d demonstrated the movement with the figures in place at the end. Keep ‘em coming!
I remember getting mine in the mail and my Mother putting on the front sticker. Loved the backdrop photo.
WOW! I Love to see you work on this kind of stuff Micheal! The whole thing turned out awesome, and looks GREAT on camera!
I like the gear system, it takes a simple display stand and gives it a special touch!
That really is beautiful. I was unaware of the mail away at the time - I was pretty young and didn't understand the concept of special offers and exclusives. It's also why I had no idea about the Blue Snag until years later. So, when I saw this display stand, I literally thought it was a store display. That is really cool.
This was a fantastic video. I loved the fact you gave it a new life, it looks brand new!! Great Video!
Another awesome repair Michael
That was the first restoration video of yours that I’ve seen. Really fascinating because I have one in great shape and to see one heavily used made better.
This was absolutely incredible. The steps you took to restore or, yes, as you said, rejuvenate this set was so thoughtful and endearing. Your eye for details really shows your care, passion, and reverence for not only Star Wars, but toys in general, and all things vintage. I’m not sure why this video struck me as hard as it did, perhaps it was the magic of seeing something many of us grew up with many years ago being brought back to life again, and in such an authentic-feeling way, and by someone who also cares as much as we do. So it’s not just that it was saved and brought back, but saved and brought back by a real fan like you. Thank you, Michael. I love this channel so much.
Love the retroblasting restoration! Great piece of toy history!
That stand looks great , nice restoration video!
Amazing video. I have one of these in pretty much mint condition and it's by far my most favorite star wars possession.
Welp! Took me almost a year to find one, but now putting this restoration to full use! Thanks, Michael!
Good luck!
I'm very lucky to have my childhood survivor of this piece. Lots of memoirs of turning those gears to clash sabers. One of my favorite things in my collection. Happy you have one now. Looks great.
Great video man. I started collecting in 1978 . I would have loved to have that stand. The 1st time I saw it was on the mail away commercial and only other time I have seen it is in this video! My journey is now complete.
Excellent fix 👍👍👍
Wow, I think it’s amazing. I’m sure your wallet isn’t happy but I’m glad you were able to find an original back drop. Way better than a repro. Thanks for sharing.
Great restoration I have never seen one before would have loved to get something similar for action force
Looked like a surge protector in the thumbnail. Lol
Great video! I never had this particular display stand. You did a great job and it looks perfect.
Gave me a genuine smile! Thanks for another great video!
Thanks!
Look's great! Well done.
Great video, always enjoy seeing vintage toys brought back to life. When I got back into collecting I purchased the first 12 along with the stand, and it’s one of my favorite parts of my collection. I just wish there was a way to de-yellow the sticker without damaging or causing it to lift off the plastic, and give it back a bit of life.
9 year old me crying because I ruined the sticker putting it on the display stand poorly. 52 year old me going back in time to tell 9 year old me, “don’t worry, Michael French can help you fix this in the future.” 9 year old me “ when?” 52 year old me “in 2021.” 9 year old me “why do I still play with SW toys when I’m in my 50’s?”
I just did one of these myself. Nice video. I've missed your restoration videos.
Fantastic work!
Thanks, Tom!
That backdrop original is great the way it is, creases and all.
Excellent work! It’s amazing what a little cleaning and attention can provide for an old plastic piece like this...even still a bit flawed afterward...it looks far better than what you started with!
I get the impression the “STAR WARS” logo on the original background image was left off in the reproductions because it cleaned up the scene. However, I agree that the original version should be the one to go on there. I think that was the right choice despite the cost and its condition.
this is why i sub, as much as I like crapping on new star wars etc, its really these videos that make the channel.
Fantastic!!! Great job!! It turned out great.
Looks brilliant so much that I now want one for myself thank you for all your work
Wow Impeccable timing man! I just purchased one of these on eBay on Thursday. It has one broken peg and I was pondering how to fix the issue. Saw this video and have a vintage replacement disc ordered. Thanks for another useful video!
Good luck! Enjoy your project!
that's excellent Brus, love how they spell C3PO and R2D2's names .....
Great restoration! I need one.
Another great video and another phoenix rises from the trash! Please keep up the good work...
You did such a beautiful job on this. It’ll look incredible displayed.
I look forward to seeing you restore item. The attention to detail is on another level. I need to learn photoshop... thanks again!
You "Dead Sea Scrolled" the original sticker... nice!
You are bad ass ... really enjoyed the video.... keep up the great work.
I still have mine, a little worn but intact. Funny to think that held one of every Star Wars figure in existence at that time. 😁
I won't throw the "It belongs in a museum" but I'm really tempted.
I so love the mail away stand. There are now repro stickers for this stand. A sad memory I have is that I had ordered this stand and waited for it to arrive in 1978. When I met my uncle to get it, he gave me the sad news that my dog was run over. At least I had my stand to display my figures that some aye-hole later stole from me. I was able to replace them, though.
Good job Michael.
It looks amazing! I watched the whole thing from beginning to end. 10/10 would watch again! :D
Awesome, love how you put your original stuff in there, like you I never had all original 12. Time can't stop us for doing what is right, Great video!
Very nice work 👍
Fantastic end result! That mail away back is in really great shape. Please do an update when you place it in the collection display space. Would love to see it with the gears moving the figures. Looking forward to your TerrorDrome restoration. I am almost done with mine. Just missing a few gun tips.
I had one of those.....man i wish I had the foresight to keep all that stuff. Now all you need is a telescoping Ben and Luke, and an vinyl caped Jawa ;)
I have the base and I've wanted the backdrop for years. This is one of very few places I have considered getting a reproduction as a restoration of my own. It really is a nice piece.
Looks awesome
Great stuff as always. Very interesting.
Beautiful rejuvenation! Could you please shoot a video of the figures moving around on the display sometime?
Lighter fluid to remove adhesive residue. Never saw that before. (Cue The More You Know theme).
Great Job!
Well done sir !
I have all of my childhood vintage Star Wars figures. I took meticulous care of them as a kid (never played with them outside) so they’re all in excellent condition to this day. I never got the stand display though :(
Awesome restoration. If you decide to experiment with making pegs, Evergreen plastics sells 1/8-in styrene plastic rod that I have used on my custom playsets. I have posted some of my custom playsets on my TH-cam channel. It fits pretty nicely inside most of the figures. It must be the same type of plastic that is used on the action figure cases because removal of the stickers seems to leave the same discoloration.
You do good work.
Great Video! Thanks you!
Great video
I picked one of these up at an estate sale for, I kid you not, $2. The sticker was near perfect, no broken pegs. I nearly lost my sh-t.
No way ??
@@flipjunk1998 Way.
Sticker sources have dried up... Ironic
@@darkestcloister no, but you’d think the *Transfer* would have been smoother
Personally I always thought that the sticker design was kind of tacky
Counter point and to be fair, you forgot that I don’t have one. So you can hand deliver it to me at my convenience cause in 1991 the family dog got hit by a car.
But seriously, the display is something that initially I never cared to own, but over the years and the more I see it, the more it has grown on me. I’d be interested to find out if someone has done an ESB custom version or ROTJ. Well done Michael and very informative!
The Hasbro 40th anniversary 6" Black Series Vader came with a kind of reproduction of this stand (no moving parts). It's a slightly different scale, but that thing was discounted everywhere and might still be available for people who want something like this without breaking the bank.
Zac is also my go-to for repro stickers. He does solid stuff.
From the thumbnail I thought Michael was restoring an electrical power strip.
Cool star wars
What a lovely video this was. Have you thought about scanning the backdrop and possibly making your scan available to zacparis? His stickers truly are great so maybe he can work some more magic?
great video! I've got one of these I want to restore too.
With older toys the nicks, dings, and dents are their personality it shows the love and enjoyment form the child who play with them sometime complete restoration is overkill
WOW IMPERFECT? PERFECT🤔😯👍
I still have my original in excellent shape. And the original 12 action figures for the stand.
Fantastic!!! I never had this stand as a kid and would LOVE to have one someday. Heck, I’d settle for a re-release for the Retro figure line, or even better, a Black Series 6” version and a special line of “retro Original 12” repaints from the Black Series ala the few available on Amazon. Actually can 6” figures fit on that stand? The spacing between figures looks generous enough that they might fit…albeit it’d need new peg discs and such, but I’m sure some enterprising 3D print designer could help there! :-)
Dude! That's totally a Disco ball! ;)
Awesome vid
Looks much better with the original card.
I still have mine. I'm sure it needs a makeover as well lol.
You need one of the home laser scanners to scan the good parts. Then a 3d printer to print it.
I love this channel!
I would come home from school and my Dad would have moved all my figures around to annoy me. Man I miss those days.