They are among the most iconic and best-loved toys ever produced.

And now, to coincide with the release of the new Star Wars film, the plastic figurines of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia will go on display for three months in Canterbury.

They will be exhibited at the Beaney museum in the High Street from early December to March, marking the box office opening of The Force Awakens - the 7th installment of the Star Wars story.

As well as the figures, the exhibition will also feature the spacecrafts the characters flew, life-size light sabres and the movie posters.

Ben Tophill, who lives at Great Stour Mews in the Tannery, played with the figures when he was a pupil at St Stephen’s Primary School in the 1980s.

The 38-year-old manager said: “I didn’t have all that many of them, but they were brilliant toys.

“There was one boy at my school who had loads of them and used to bring them in.

“We loved the toys mainly because we loved the films. I’m looking forward to seeing the new one, but don’t know that I’ll get to see it straight away.”

The Beaney’s show is called May The Toys Be With You and opens two weeks before the film’s release on December 18.

Organisers promises: “A stunning exhibition celebrating the highly collectible vintage toys and iconic poster art which accompanied the original Star Wars movies.

“From X-Wing Fighters to light sabres, these fantastical designs have fired our imaginations and stamped their place on our cultural landscape.”

More than 100 different figures were produced and sold from 1978 to 1985, with more than 300 million sold worldwide.

As collectors items, some of the figures sell for thousands of pounds. An original Darth Vader figure still in its box is on sale on eBay for £11,000.

As well as the exhibition, there will be a Star Wars mask making and puppet and badge making sessions.

May The Toys Be With You opens on Saturday, December 5, and runs until Sunday, March 6.

Log on to www.canterbury.co.uk/beaney for more information.

Have you got a Star Wars collection worth shouting about? Email multimedianews@thekmgroup.co.uk.