Kenner’s Micro Cloud City Strikes Back, Lego Style




As someone who grew up with interlocking brick toys, I stand in awe of Lego hobbyists who understand this product so well that they can build whatever vehicles, buildings and playsets they imagine. In particular, I’m a big fan of BaronSat (a.k.a. Eric Duron), a master builder who has used his talents to re-create many vintage Kenner Star Wars toys—both those that were released and those that never made it past the prototype stage—so that they match the features of the original toys while staying in scale with Lego minifigs.

One of BaronSat’s latest Lego creations is a set of Cloud City locations as they were seen in Empire Strikes Back (1980). According to BaronSat’s site, this set is a “custom tribute model to the “Bespin” models of Kenner's Micro Collection line. Three playsets were sold at the time: Freeze Chamber, Control Room and Gantry. … The last playset “Torture Chamber” was never produced and is only visible as a prototype”.

I was obsessed with all things Star Wars when I was a kid, so I naturally had to have everything Kenner produced for its Star Wars toy line. Yet of the three major locations that appeared in Empire, Kenner didn’t do much for its 3.75-inch action figure line regarding Cloud City on Bespin. Kenner produced four Hoth playsets and one Dagobah playset, but all Cloud City got was a Sears exclusive that was nothing more than a glossy cardboard cutout with a few foot peg inserts to keep the action figures from falling. For a playset that was supposed to represent the climatic finale of Empire, it was a huge let down.



The Cloud City playset for Kenner's Star Wars action figures,
both in the box (above) and out of the box without action figures (below).



Kenner more than made up for this oversight in its Micro Collection series, which included a modular, three-part Cloud City playset. In general, the Micro Collection’s playsets and vehicles featured more details and features than the ones for the main action figure line. Unfortunately, the Micro Collection didn’t sell well and was discontinued shortly before Return of the Jedi hit the theaters in 1983.




Click here to order a copy of building instructions for the complete four-part Cloud City set. Below are the pictures that I pulled from BaronSat’s site, pictures that include a size comparison between the original Micro Collection playset and its Lego replica.








































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