dsc00504

Vintage Star Wars knock off vinyl action figure cases.

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

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.

dsc00505

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.

dsc00504

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

spacecasevinyl2

spacecasevinyl

dsc09929

Vintage Luke Skywalker Taiwan COO head variations

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or 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.

dsc09928

dsc09933

12backtaiwancoo

 

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

DVauto

some of my favorite vintage items

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

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.

.

 

The Die cast ships…

swhardees4

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. !!

DSC01528

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

swtrenshpstr

DSC09417 copy

Galaxy Empire Star Wars POTF knockoff Bootlegs

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuffVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

If you were lucky enough to hit  discount dollar stores  in the 90’s , you know the one’s, with lots of cheap China plastic lining the isles- You may have found these.. One of the few Bootlegs Lucasfilm did not catch and got into the US market.

DSC09419

Galaxy Empire toys were knock offs of the POTF sculpt of  figures but about  6″ tall. The packages are dated 1997. The cardbacks are very flimsy

The entire release included 7 total figures, with some paint ops in the series.

heres the list.  of what to look for.

Luke, Han Solo, Chewbacca, Chewbacca as Snoova, Darth Vader, and a Stormtrooper.

DSC09417

DSC07737

Vintage Kenner Droid Factory playset- base color variations

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

The Droid Factory Playset came out in 1978 in a Star Wars box. It was also released later in a ESB box. The ESB box version is much harder to find.

DSC07718

For the most part all things are similar, although there  a distinct variation in the base color can be found.

DSC07737

 

From researh it appears the Dark Brown base came to late in the ESB box, making the brown base much harder to find. The lighter color base has been found in both SW and ESB boxes.

DSC08029DSC00016

Of course the coolest part of the Droid factory set is the 3 lever R2-D2. with its funky 3rd plug in leg.

 

DSC06143

Vintage Kenner Luke Stormtrooper orignal vs repro helmet comparison

by From My collectionNews and other Star Wars collecting stuff
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
Luke Stormtrooper 

The Vintage  POTF and Tri-logo 1984 Luke Stormtrooper is a tough figure to pick up  clean and complete with the original helmet.  The gun is also a tough piece to find and is often not identified correctly.

DSC05897Reproduction helmets are available for this figure and often are not identified correctly here are examples of an original compared to reproduction helmet.

 

The original is always right on the tour panels below.  On first inspection and form from front a neat perfect match.  The reproduction  forth backside has a distinct circle  with a triangle above it. DSC06145DSC06143

From the top  the original has a faint mold EP mark dead center. the repro does not.

DSC06146DSC06147

Heres the repro on a figure compared to s custom made helmet form a vintage stormy head. It was cut off  and drilled out,- Its a great looking fit to a custom Luke Stormy. !

DSC05005DSC05003

Lastly  the original gun, note roundish front and a smooth barrel –  no dents. DSC05897

Screen Shot 2016-03-20 at 9.55.00 AM

Han Solo white molded legs did you know there is more than one ?

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

Screen Shot 2016-03-20 at 9.55.00 AM

If you are a collector or new to collecting Star Wars you need to check your Han Solo figures. The Vintage Kenner Han Solo was first released as a small head figure. And you may have one twice as valuable if you have white molded legs.  Pegged the “pinhead” figure. He can be found with several COO versions. The White molded legs was an early production change to the figure. Legs painted black, molded in white. Take look in his peg holes on the bottom of the feetswfigvars116cover.  He can be found on  two different  COO versions.

From my guide ” Vintage Kenner  Star Wars  Action Figure Variations of North America..

 

Screen Shot 2016-03-20 at 9.47.48 AMScreen Shot 2016-03-20 at 9.48.18 AM

Vintage Kenner Star Wars Boba Fett 21C card back does exist.

by From My collectionVintage Kenner Pix of figures or variations

Vintage Boba Fett 21 back

another carded version – the 21C  card with the secret Star Wars figure offer

Missing in the Kellerman Inventory a  21C Boba Fett Does Exist.

here is one re- taped shut  but authentic.

yes reproduction  cards exist for the 21backs but the differences are obvious,not only in the card finish, but  particularly in the bubble. Some cards do say reproduction in the UPC button area.

 

More on reproduction  carded figures and examples  later.

IMG_0971

IMG_0973

IMG_0975