In 1982 Kenner released a line of toys called the Micro Collection Action Playsets. Each playset included a piece of plastic terrain and a set of 4 to 8 painted diecast metal figures. Most of these sets represented scenes from The Empire Strikes Back, 4 for Hoth and 3 for Bespin, and only 2 were made for the first Death Star.

Small non-poseable metal figures were an oddity by the 1980s. They could not compete with the established line of poseable action figures and the entire Micro Collection line quickly went out of production. Because of the short production run these playsets are now sought-after collectibles. Complete sets still in their individual bags with a clean box can sell for $40 or more, and some dealers will ask as much as $75.

Now the good news for SWMB players:

• Loose figures can be found at affordable prices, especially figures with more paint wear than a serious toy collector would want to see. A single loose tauntaun figure might sell for as low as $5 depending on its condition, compared to $9.75 for WEG's tauntaun miniature. The complete set shown below, with light paint wear and no packaging, sold for only $15 in 1999.

• The Micro Collection figures are reasonably close in scale to WEG's Star Wars miniatures. The tauntauns in particular are nearly indistinguishable in height from WEG tauntauns on the table. The average Rebel or stormtrooper stands between 1-1/4 to 1-3/8 inch high from the top of the stand compared to about 1-1/8 inch high for the comparable WEG miniatures. The size difference is significant on close inspection (a head taller in many cases) but not too bad seen from above the tabletop, especially if you match the paint jobs and you use the larger variant figures for squad leaders or group them into their own separate squads. A few height differences between the Micro Collection figures are exaggerated, so Leia is nearly identical to her WEG counterparts while Chewbacca is severly oversized (over 1-1/2 inch tall).

• These figures include variant poses of some troop types, particularly the numerous Hoth Rebels and snowtroopers and the two tauntauns, for which WEG produced only one pose of each. For example kneeling and crawling Rebels are shown below. There also is a solid metal Wampa from the Hoth Wampa Cave set, a creature never produced by WEG.

• They are already painted, although to a glossy toy soldier standard and usually with some degree of wear.

• Some of the terrain pieces are perfect for use alongside WEG miniatures.

One disadvantage of these figures is that they are made of a hard metal so poses and weapons cannot easily be converted. They have a substantial weight for their size and feel like steel.

There were some ships and ground vehicles produced for this line. There is an AT-ST in the Hoth Generator Attack set that is a bit undersized, as is the generator itself. The exclusive JCPenny mail away snowspeeder is a relatively uncommon item that sells for $40 or more now. (The snowspeeder pictured in the SWMB Companion is a different one still, from the Kenner diecast vehicles series.)

Hoth Turret Defense Action Playset:


The Hoth Turret Defense set is my favorite for SWMB purposes because it includes two great looking laser turrets and a tauntaun figure. The lasers stand 2.3" high, the top hatches open to fit the commander figure (if he hasn't been rebased) and the turrets turn on top of their towers with a clicking sound. The turrets are meant to sit on the two raised hills on the trench terrain piece. The little levers on the sides of the hills cause the turrets to pop up and fall apart. A little glue could secure the two halves of the turret tower to help it stand on its own. (My apologies to vintage toy collectors for that last blasphemy--did I mention repainting all the figures?)

The terrain piece itself is nicely detailed with cables and footprints across the bottom and rough-hewn sides. The trench has just enough room to accommodate figures mounted on 1" round bases. The tab and notch shapes on the sides of the piece allow the different Hoth sets to fit together like a puzzle to make a larger playset.

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