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Vintage Kenner Star Wars Stormtrooper COO marks

I Thought I would lay out all the COO marks available on Stormtroopers. There are quite a few out there.  Most Common are the 3 line Hong Kong as well as the 2 line Hong Kong, The Raised bar China is from ROTJ era it is legit. I still see people saying this is a fake, not true.

Several years age there were some recast  bootlegs of the 2 line COO Stormtrooper being sold on Ebay, but these were super white, and had some distinct molding distinctions.  I have seen none in the past few years out on the market.

Stormy’s have distinct molding sculpt  differences , take a look at the heads and the back panels for starters.

some heads variation examples:

Stormy’s were molded i a variety of plastics form very transparent soft and rubbery white to a very dense white.

 


More info can be found in my guide :

Vintage Kenner  Star Wars Action Figure Variations of North America

3rd Edition update now available :

check  www.starwarsfigurevariations.com for more info

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Star Wars Kenner Land speeder the most popular Star Wars vehicle

The Land speeder is likely the most popular Vehicle of the Kenner Star Wars Universe-  It is also one of the Few Toys actually made In the USA in the Star Wars Kenner Line. There are variations of the vehicle  from other licensed manufactures.

here are a few box  cover variations included in my  Guide

 

More o the guide go to : www.starwarsfigurevariations.com

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Kenner Obi Wan Kenobi COO figure variations

When you dig a little deeper into this old Jedi, theres a lot of difference between the COO variations.

There are several grey colors to the hair along with the white and distinct mold variations to his head. There are long and short fingers on the hilt of the saber hand. There are several saber and cape variations, as well as two distinct colors to both the brown  plastic of his body, as well as his face.  Some vars. are  much rarer than others

More information on Obi-Wan variations in my Guide. 3rd edition now available for download.

Happy collecting !

www.starwarsfigurevariations.com

 

 

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Rogue One is not the first Star Wars stand alone movie

rogueoneonesheetRogue One hit theaters this weekend. It was pretty good and has so many planets and  hidden easter egg gems its worth watching a few times to catch them all.

Many may not realize this was not the first Stand alone adventure movie in the  Star Wars Universe.

In 1984 and 1985  The Ewok Adventures Battle for Endor and Caravan of Courage hit the theaters. These movie riding on the popularity of the Ewok’s from Return of the Jedi  to the younger star wars fans demanded parents to but more toys, and also bring he kids back to the theaters. Ewok and Droids was also keeping the popularity up with saturday morning TV shows.  Both Films had Warwick Davis, (Wicket)  and also introduced Wilferd Brimley to the Star Wars Universe. (hey where is that action figure.?)

 

dvdewokcaravanIt may be hard to find them to watch, a DVD release in 2004, now out of print is garnering near $50. I recall them being in clearance isles for 5 bucks.  VHF copies and even laser discs can be found, but who is using a VHS anymore?

A synopsis :

When the Towani family crash their Starcruiser onto the planet Endor, the children, Cindel and Mace, are separated from their parents, who have been kidnapped by the evil monster Gorax. Now they must rescue their parents, but first they endeavor to befriend the shy, resourceful Ewoks, whose aid will prove integral to their operation.

After the successful completion of their mission and the recovery of the Towani parents, the group must defend the Ewok ewokadventurechscommunity from the invasion of a foreign enemy. Cindel and the Ewok Wicket escape into the forest, where they meet a couple of people who, like them, have been stranded on the forest moon planet after an accident in their Starcruiser. Together the group does battle with the invaders, and tries to find a way off of Endor.

So Star Wars fans, happy hunting, the universe is  bigger than you thought. !

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Vintage Star Wars knock off vinyl action figure cases.

When Star Wars Came out  in 1977 General Mills and Kenner were  not ready for the onslaught of interest in toys for the movie. In fact it was not until 1978 toys hit the shelves.

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This opened the door for a lot of Manufactures to fill voids in the market place. Here are some fun Vinyl  action figure cases.  Thee were available at Sears, Woolworths among others.  The graphics are great on some of these cases,  most were 12 figure, 24 figure cases can also be found. Its always fun to find one and see what treasure is inside. No matter your flavor if  collected Mego Super heroes, or Star trek, or MASH, Micronauts Lord of the Rings, or Dungeons and Dragons,  Zee Toys Metal masters figures these cases filled the bill.

I will be adding these to my glossary of my e book, Vintage Kenner  Star Wars Action Figure Variations of North America.

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Got any more versions not shown here, please share them with me  would love to see what else can be found.

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Vintage Luke Skywalker Taiwan COO head variations

There is a unique head variation for the Luke Taiwan COO. Notice the elongated chin, compared to the more familiar head similar to the Hong Kong Figures, The elongated chin head appears to be more common than the more traditional molded head. My suspicion is the left two shown are ROTJ era figures, where the far right one is an early SW release 12 back TAIWAN release. The

Figure also has either a bar in the slot int he arm or no slot. And a few other differences which I have updated in the newest revisions of my figure guide.
12 back Taiwan figures are relatively hard to find compared to the Hong Kong figures, Luke, Leia, R2, Darth and Chewy were also released on 12 back Taiwan Cards.

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To answer a question from a collector, No Luke’ s From China are not fakes.

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Darth Vader Double Telescoping DT saber figure original vs repro

It can be hard to authenticate a DT (double telescoping) saber as original.  Reproductions are becoming rampant,  and a fake saber can be had for under $20. I am dedicating a page in my figure guide, Vintage Kenner Star Wars action figure variations,  to the issue of reproduction sabers. Vs originals. etc..

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Here are some pictures of an original saber-  marked N- originals can be found with marks for A to ZZ  and some with just a dot on the hilt also can be found.   They are slightly transparent, and with age they can be come very brittle. dsc09842

Reproduction sabers are becoming very precise-  but there are some things to look for-   Some, but not all Repro’s by Revalvit are marked REV on the hilt, theres are not marked abut have II mark on the hilt. Any saber that is unmarked should be suspect as being a repro.

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reproduction pix of relative saber form eBay
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reproduction saber by revalvit. pix eBay.

Note seam, on the shaft, rounder tip – REV on the hilt.  Ejection point marks on shaft. screen-shot-2016-09-10-at-8-17-41-am screen-shot-2016-09-10-at-8-17-02-am

pix of revalvit sabers- from website.

 

DVauto

some of my favorite vintage items

DVautoI was 13 when I read this book called STAR WARS The  Adventures of Luke Skywalker. It was the spring of 1977, I recall devouring the story after finding  about the book after  reading a blurb in a new magazine I saw called STARLOG.  Of course it changed my life. I was a farm boy, My folks recently purchased a farm in the country, and we had been there 2 years. I moved form the City of Minneapolis, to a small town in Central MN. I could relate to seeing the rest of the universe.

So what are my favorite things? Not surprising some of the earliest items available.  swcardswonderbreadset

My Autographed picture form Darth Vader, he visited the Mall  B Daltons Bookstore.

DSC02547WonderBread Trading cards, and the GM trading card sets and of course the Topp’s cards.

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The Die cast ships…

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Model Kits.. I customized a falcon with black light paint, and lighted interior. – Of course, I wanted to go to hollywood and be a special effects artist, after seeing the models Brian Johnson and Derek Meddings DSC02943did for  space 1999 and other Gerry Anderson productions.

and Lastly the early posters, the Fan Club ,Trench poster, the Soundtrack space battle,poster ,  and finally Marvel Comics, Awesome art, and cheap for a kid to buy. at 35 cents. !!

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