The Toy Box: Return of the Jedi

Showing posts with label Return of the Jedi. Show all posts

American Star Wars One-Sheet Movie Posters

American Star Wars One-Sheet Movie Posters
Lucasfilm Limited
1977 - 2012

I did a post like this a long time ago (no pun intended) for my original blog which is long since defunct and gone. Since then, I've wanted to put it back together, and today just so happened to be the day that this finally occurred. The title pretty much says it all. This is a series devoted to showcasing all of the one sheet movie posters for Star Wars over the years. However, the caveat is that this is limited to the George Lucas era.

Beyond that, there's not much to say, so (hopefully), enjoy!

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Wicket The Ewok (Kenner Preschool)

Wicket The Ewok
Kenner Preschool
1984

One of the relatively unknown Star Wars toys produced by Kenner was their short lived 1984 preschool series based on the Ewoks cartoon series. I can't believe my parents bought the Ewok Family Hut for me as a kid in 1984. I was seven years old, and this is clearly a babies toy! Not that I knew that at the time. Nor did it hinder me from getting hours of play out of it.

To compliment the playset, Kenner released two additional smaller sets. The first was the Ewok Woodland Wagon, and these second the Ewok Fire Cart. Like the playset, each one included a handful of minifigures to round out the series.

From there, Kenner branched out into a realm of real world themed products in the form of a toothbrush, alarm clock, telephone and radio. Don't get too excited. With exception of the toothbrush, these were all just toys that didn't function beyond a handful of sound effects.

In terms of Star Wars toys, these are certainly some of the more unique ones. I've said it before, it's amazing that it took Kenner until 1984 to start releasing Star Wars toys geared towards younger kids. Toddlers, if you will. In hindsight, it seems like a really large missed opportunity.

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Return of the Jedi Widevision (Topps)

Return of the Jedi Widevision
Topps
1996

Alright, let's do this. I think at this point you readers knew this was coming. I hit A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back so let's wrap it up with Topps Star Wars Widevision Return of the Jedi.

Taking a page from the prior two series, the set once again got advertised via promotional cards. However, one stood out of the bunch in this lot of seven cards. If you look at the photo below, the top right card doesn't state, "Coming this winter," as the others do. Instead, it is the regular card from the series with the only difference being the "P" number on the back and the back itself which advertises the series. It's so unique in terms of the other promo cards that it is often times missed by collectors who mistake it for a random loose base card.

Promo Cards

This time around, Topps produced a promotional poster as well. Much like the promo cards, there are several collectors out there who "need" this item in order to consider their collection to be complete.

Promo Poster

Once again there are 144 cards to collect in the base series and each of them fits together meticulously to tell the full story of the film.

Base Set

The chromium chase cards return with more of that wonderful art from Ralph McQuarrie.

Chrome Chase Cards

Topps once again encourages collectors to buy multiple boxes and / or cases in order to get a complete set of box topper mini posters. However, considering it's going to take you a few boxes to pull all those beautiful chromium cards, it may be well worth it.

Box Topper Mini Posters

For me, this was it for the Widevision series of cards. For starters, I never expected it to become as popular as it did that it would spawn sets not only for all the Prequel films, but also the Special Edition Trilogy. It blossomed into too much. Especially when they began making hobby and retail sets. It was difficult enough to track down the Original Trilogy sets with all chases, promos and posters.

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