Star Wars Bend-Ems | Ashens

hello hello I like all right Stuart two words that strike fear into the hearts of any Star Wars toy collector Bendel's is that really two words if is that one word half been dense end Bend M's but Ben but Benjamin Dems Ben's then that doesn't have the same it doesn't really does it so if at home you don't know what Ben damn is you're bloody lucky so what year did these come out 1993 so Ben Dems were ubiquitous in the toy aisles of everywhere for the late 80s to the early 90s and basically what they are is like molded rubber over a wire frame there's a really cheap way to make action figures and they had them for literally every franchise you can think of from popular things like Power Rangers and The Simpsons and Disney movies through to bloody obscure things like Free Willy and the Flintstones movie the five seen ones from the French splint stones movie they are terrifying as a child I had a complete set because I was obsessed for about a bump I had two t-shirts and like the second wave that nobody could find anywhere I had I had all of them but they in 1993 just before Star Wars re-release mania hit mmm Ben Dems released a line of Star Wars pendants they certainly did and we've tracked down quite a few of them for you and I'll tell you what they're all bloody awful yes they are let us begin with mr. Luke Skywalker farm lad himself I'd like to point out that as a rarity none of our Ben dams have the wire broken yes this was always a problem with them is that after about two minutes of play the wires that are in the arms you can see they Bend here - scratching use of a light or cricket bat bloody toothbrush what oh god yeah wiring that wobb wobb wobb wobb need new batteries for me lots gone old funny that's a Poundland sex toy right yeah so normally the wires break in these and they end up in permanently crucified pose nice the play possibilities of that that's our barely beginning so just to show people at home it's literally soft rubber with a lot of crap written on its ass even says luke skywalker's you probably never guess so he didn't say and Bendel's of course and yeah they they kind of the face it's so pallid their lips have gone blue or something this is Luke Skywalker's corpse so these were these were super cheap and they were was barely painted on that's why the the eyes are you know not even in the same time zone face but that's all that's slightly sticky well they don't age well these they weren't particularly pleasant out of the packet but they don't age well either this is how he sits in his x-wing so yeah the play options on these were fairly limited but they were also very briefly popular because at a time when Star Wars was really picking up again there was about a year where these were the only Star Wars toys on the market are you telling me Alec that these were the only Star Wars toys you had as a child but until the proper ones go yes and then these all ended up in pound shops because all of the real ones from Hasbro came out actual articulated Star Wars figures and nobody wanted these any of them I don't think anybody wanted him in the first place there's pure desperation people but grudgingly bought these this is definitely at somebody's corpse isn't it probably not Luke Skywalker's it looks nothing like it it's disturbing also his white top has got a really horrible beige it's just of the proportions of the nose can he have a lightsaber fight with death no we cannot because this sad spaniel does not come with but he comes with his hands outstretched hoping for more gruel that's a please sir can I have some more what is this cape or not that's a [ __ ] right there weird what you can't see on the camera is that little bits of this of flaking off as you were doing that onto the sofa oh oh yes oh tremendous and lovely pose this Vader in a battle position just get ready I'm gonna fight you yes literal literal minutes of play posture oh my god in that face we need a close-up of this is that the poke poke Vader pocket hidden right next up oh it's good old Han Solo from the was still carded look at that Wow is he what is he doing is he trying to dab or something this is how they came packaged everybody in card of Han Solo's face just to show you how little like heretic its mr. Rogers is slightly bloated Tim Allen that's what I'm going with bloated Tim Allen you know is that is gonna work for me yeah that's astonishing that is astonishing and on the back here are some photos of the characters because the bender marceau embarrassing we don't want to show them to you that that's bloody awful and the thing is bendable collectible posle is that to one be I don't know what that I should also point out everything on this card back is really off model but I do like that they stuck with the Vader pug for this illustration year so you knew what you were getting what's shape of those Tie Fighters wings apart from the wrong chef yeah God and they're about there much too short and the Millennium Falcon looks weird though really this was at a time when I think nobody was being that particular about the Star was licensed and you know good old just toys but I happen to know that this is actually a fixed version of the original one they released was much much worse take it away Alec areas mm-hmm it's not gonna fit the camera refuses to look I mean who is that what is that it's got we got an waiver is look at those sensuous lips my god kissing let's get as close as we can on this one that is really astonishing yeah it's like they haven't even seen Harrison Ford there's not trying in the slightest so I had this figure as a child not this exact one but I had it when it first came out and of course the arms broke within about five minutes so he's probably crucified but on top of that all of the paint flaked off of his eyes so he was just yeah he had no eyes crucifix like it was just crucified man in action he's weirdly proportioned he's got a bit of a paunch going on his arms penguins hips don't lie [Music] Princess Leia is like I already know what I'm trying to banish it from my mind lovely just getting ready to sing in the Star Wars Holiday Special Carrie Fisher in the flesh I also like that she's just got trousers on because she's wearing a trouser suit early 70s trouser suit she steps straight out of an Olivia newton-john music video still gonna howls we can see where they put the wire in all the classics yet so let's have a look at the yeah beautiful that that's so exactly Carrie Fisher yeah that I mean it couldn't possibly be anybody else who's ever lived something horribly wrong with the way the paintings in one of her eyes as well so recurring theme it really is she's doing aerobics do you do you do Xanadu right next oh my god I'm wondering if you might have bought this in the gift shop of a Catholic Church because there's a [ __ ] statue of Christ that are a dealer in Rio de Janiero that's that's really quite an astonishment I find it weird that Luke Skywalker is the only figure that comes with a lightsaber when these characters used obi-wan Kenobi and Darth Vader used lightsabers a lot more than Luke Skywalker of the first film yes and I find that very strange that they didn't go down that road he just dance the robot well though just like in the movie and this is just a solid lump of rubber there's nothing like a dog toy or something let's show the face it's weird how the camcorder really hates these faces actually it's not so weird it's kind of understandable yeah is there something that this is one of the better likenesses this line it's just a generic old man yeah or indeed a massive statue of Jesus of Nazareth on a big hill somewhere oh yeah if you ever need a model of Jesus Christ for whatever purpose then you could get this I guess I would alternatively say don't and any circumstances is equally valid I'm glad we've covered both possibilities Oh r2 r2 is literally just a lump of rubber fixie barrel himself r2d2 you see deal wait this is a figure rescue what really doesn't lend itself to being made in rubber given the ISA blip in robot I mean this is it kind of looks really on model I will say apart from the massive bendy legs and this job pretty much too small and squashed it yeah that is true also looks like this three really distinct lines rather yeah two you normally see but compared to the others this is pretty good we you have to spend the rest of your life trying to straighten these weird rubber legs to the rescue oh my god oh this may be my absolute favorite this really may be originally this color this color over did not see this face until I picked it up because in my head I was like this is one of the better ones but oh no good lord kill it was he originally this weird bronze color is that something that no this was the color they painted him in [ __ ] Brown vaguely metallic [ __ ] Brown now this is what I really like is that a he's got massive gorillas go for the silver leg is completely different scale to all of the other and figures literally all of them yep absolutely tiny livewell c-3po well off but how is that happened how are they old one scale except c-3po yeah this this is it was a really sticky one yeah because the metallic paint deck quite unpleasant ah generally this one has not aged well from a stickiness perspective that's so [ __ ] weird man good grief oh no we're talking empires finest the Emperor's hand so they've sort of based this around the vintage action figure haven't they yeah if they've they've done a weird thing with this one again people in armour doctrines like well to being maybe most people don't get limited play value though none of these this blue that is very good there are many questions I have about this this particular stormtrooper model oh man's got massive creepy arms they have real problems with the scale yes of course no the play value without having a blaster is so limited on this as well what can you do only Luke has a weapon yep bizarre none of them can hold anything yeah Oh indeed have anything to hold I was just so he's really gangly and weird yeah oh why don't any Daniel's really upset them or so I just don't understand don't understand Oh back to another massive lump of rubber opposite of Christ the Redeemer Satan the II Redeemer I feel we've got a before and after thing going in the river when they pulled him out he looked like this yeah oh oh my god just a little joy of the face there the face in which he realizes that he is the bad guy lord Vader are we the bad guys so be it like your host pets do that voice my bad is your overconfidence in your friends was a strength make him look sorry yeah he does look like he's trying to apologize for something yeah it's reversible Palpatine was a figure I'd ever expected to see remorseful Palpatine there's a name for a band if ever there was one oh and finally and finally yeah it's the alien likenesses in this line world was okay because that you just need a lot less detail to convey a and face compared to a bar Cabell face sculpt is better and like the proportions are much better I think these ones also came out later in the line I think this was the second wave because there was a Royal Guard and sand person as well that were much better than the other ones but I would like to see a Royal Guard alright that's interesting yeah that's interesting it's weird how much better they is I mean compare that to thigh gap Luke here yeah under yeah there's not really any comparison as there no I mean if you want a little rubber model of Admiral Ackbar to see on the Shelf and perform the YMCA what more could you ask I haven't got here a rather nice thing from the back of a slightly different car this is an earlier one he's showing ones we haven't got like Chewbacca and Baba fit good morning girl that's quite good yeah c-3po is still too small tiny Yoda wicket the Ewok Luke Skywalker x-wing Luke's coke an onyx ring blah blah blah and Lando Calrissian looper that's exactly the same as the old Hasbro carry case isn't they scaled it up oh these ones when it's actually a new mold it's no yeah they just they remade it for the purposes of this but yeah I'd quite like one of those would you though yeah I wouldn't have to keep many of these figures in it there's beep for isn't it yeah I get the feeling they intended for this to continue but really by the time the Hasbro figures came out in 95 that just killed the line pretty much in one fell swoop but it's fascinating to see what happened in an era where no one cared about the Star Wars license and they really put this lack of care into the design we need to end it on this image if there's any image of Han Solo that you should see you've got is David Cameron didn't realise I'll Hot Lips Cameron himself oh my god I call that into this video

Channel: ashens

Views: 261,947

Keywords: star wars, action figures, darth vader, luke skywalker, star wars (film series), star wars figures, action figure, a new hope, han solo, just toys, star wars toys, bend ems, bendems, bend-ems, awful, ugly, bad, poor, weird, ashens, review, funy, alec

Id: e1HnQosg3f0

Length: 17min 54sec (1074 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 16 2019