About This Book

About this Guide:  

UPDATE: Fourth 2022  edition  now here!!

New price updates  for 2022 and now 480 pages!

It all began in 2005, on a quest to inventory my own vintage Kenner Star Wars figure collection.  I have been collecting since I was 14 in 1977.  With thousands of figures to sort through, and as many have also discovered,  many differences or variations   within the Kenner figure line begin to surface. This made the 92 original figures a variant collection of over 1200. Some Figures such as Luke and Darth Vader have well over a dozen different COO  and or paint variations:

Early on some obvious variants came to light , tusken raider w hollow cheeks, or Han small head, large head. or vinyl cape an plastic cape Jawa. etc.. But when you begin to really dig or  in the case of variants grab the camera and take out the magnifying glass- more and more difference come to light.

For many collectors having just one or maybe 2 versions of a figure is perfect.  But when you really get in to the variants and versions of a figure  there can be a lot of variants.  My focus was to attempt to asses the rarity of a particular figure.  Which I refer to as the Vx factor throughout the book.

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an example of Paint colors and styles of Obi Wan heads:

In an effort to limit the data, I have mostly concentrated on what can be commonly found in the North American-  U.S. market. Because of discount retailers, globalization, travel, and the Internet many of the odder and rarer international variations have found their way to North American shores through the years.  This includes  Lili Ledy Figures.- But there are more comprehensive guides available out there  if Ledy is your area of interest. 

The European market is filled with oddities as well mixed coo’s on numerous cards. This is because there were numerous countries and numerous copyright restrictions for each country making unique COO marks and figure variations more commonplace throughout Europe.

To say many are unique is debatable. Terms such as a “Palitoy Darth Vader”, or “Clipper Darth Vader” are somewhat a generalization of what is most commonly found upon that card, or in that country. Other variations of the figure have been found on some US Kenner cards.

There are 70 Tri-logo card figures and some hybrid cards as well. Many saw retail distribution in the US market, many with the same figure as the US release, but some vary having no coo, or a combination of other head, paint, or mold variants.

Never produced on the Tri-logo cards were 4-LOM, Bespin Guards, Cloud Car Pilot, Greedo, Hammerhead, Power Droid and the Red Snaggletooth.

Tri-logo cards as well as other brand  cards found their way in to distribution in to the US market through discount toy stores. Some found  with US discount store stickers Include Top Toys, Takara  and Glasslite. Examples of these are evidence by the KB-Toys retail tags on figures in my own collection.

Several  ROTJ U.S. released cards have Lili-Ledy figures on them. The Made in Mexico “MIM” ROTJ figures, these, for the purpose of this Guide are considered Kenner/Ledy.

For this reason numerous – but not all foreign variations- From Ledy, POCH, PBP etc.  have been included. Only because it is important to discern form a rarer  and a slightly similar US variant, which is more common.  Sometimes it can merely be the color of the eyes, or mold of the head.

It is important to note that this may not be a 100%  complete dataset more variations are being found every day. Future updates will fill out holes and add more clarification to uniqueness and scarcity.

It is also important to note, that unscrupulous sellers are attempting to create variations, and sell them for high prices. It is always  good to confirm the existence of something odd. With a little paint, or a finely honed blade many can be altered.

My advice before paying high costs for something rare- always get a second opinion as well know how knowledgeable your seller is.

Please see the glossary at the end of the book. It includes terminology used by the collecting market, as well as terms used in the text.

I have included a valuation scale bases upon found rarity. This “Vx” value is based off the most common US Kenner market release of the figure and  valuation for the current time.  Valuations are always fluctuating. with over 10 years of accumulating data, I feel I am pretty on base with the current market. If desirability for variants accelerates, some of the variant values may increase with rarer accelerating in value faster than commonly found figures. The scale was determined by assessing rarity or a particular COO or variant of that COO. So of example a Luke with black eyes on with a HK  coo may be more common than the same Luke with brown eyes. : Perhaps both have been found on the same card. or released  in the U.S. on the card. But in fact there are eye color variations, and this variation can be what make the figure harder to find.

For example the most common version of a figure is marked as a Vx1-  variations of that figure, if any or other figures with different coo’s or vars, may have a higher Vx factor.  This was assed by going thru  and sorting my collection of thousands of  figures. Logically this can change as demand for a particular figure or in the case of the  Euro. vars or other global figures waxes  and wanes.

A  better example The Obi Wan Kenobo is  shown above  . note  hair color – THE #  indicates the COO mark.

Note the different head styles or hair color styles with eh same #  the same COO but different paint, or head detail.  Some may be  confirmed as a Ledy or another company,company,  but may be found here in this market for some  reason.

The guide, for all intensive purposes, was created by sorting through thousands and thousands of figures from well over a hundred major collections bought from the original owners who have kept

(Pictures of recent purchase a perfect example original owner- original hardbacks- all perfect shape  and kept all together- so let the sorting begin! ( Also got a bunch of baggies and  mailer  boxes. )

their original cardbacks, or the figures were on the original cards. I preferred to purchase these collections  in an attempt to determine  what figure Coo version, var  went with that corresponding cardback. It should be pointed out that the same figure can be found on numerous cards. Through this research a few patterns have developed, which I will point out within the guide.

Another focus is  assessing what bagged coo version of the figure  is in the Kenner baggies.  I have found some interesting surprises along they way and sorting through collections have come across many unique variations thought and at time only being thought to be or being sold online as a Euro company variant.

I have  enclosed many bootlegs customs and repro’s for 2 reasons:

1: Because I love them: They’re Cool . IMO thats good enough

2: To point out to new collectors:  they are there.

It is not the purpose to highlight all , particularly when there are new things popping up all the time, from Mexico and new polish Boots that are boots of boots. : Just to point out some.

If you have something unusual, something to share, or contribute I would greatly appreciate it.

I have a list of figures  I could use better pictures of – and the list can be found on this site

I will gladly credit your photos, list you as a creditor and link any data where applicable.

Because I doubt it will ever be finished, refining continually happens, so anyone who purchases the guide will be able  receive a free  download of any updates. up to 3 years in the future.

The Guide works best on a Tablet- The format of the Guide is a PDF, which can be downloeaded and placed  in to your I book or E book reader  folder. I have found it a valuable asset, when out in the field I can easily open the tablet and verify the COO and figure details. It has been particularly  helpful at flea markets or yard, garage, boot sales when looking over collections for rarer versions.

thanks best to all-

Robert Johnson

Some of the comments so far by users !

“Awesome ”

“Amazing”

“So much information”

“I’ve just skimmed through some of the pages very quickly. There is a tonne of information in the book. Robert, You’ve done a great job.
I’ll be looking forward to seeing the update.”

“great Job”