Most Star Wars fans who where around in 1977 know the story of Kenner’s “Early Bird Kit”. Basically, nobody, including the toy company Kenner, expected Star Wars to be a success. Kenner was totally unprepared and could not produce action figures before the 1977 Christmas season. To placate young Star Wars fans, the sold what they called the “Early Bird Kit”. Among other things this kit had a certificate that you would mail in and receive the first four figures; Luke, Leia, Chewie and R2 in the mail 6 to 8 weeks later. The set also came with a flimsy cardboard stand to display the original 12 figures. Click here for more details.
Unfortunately, I do not have much of the original kit left. I do still have the original four figures. They came in a white tray inside a little unmarked white box…more than 8 weeks later. We are talking about an eight month gap between seeing the movie and having the first figures to play with. To a nine year old eight months is an eternity.
Finally we had something to play with but we still had to wait for the remaining 8 figures. A friend of mine, David, had found a new figure at the LA Farmer’s Market while he was up with his family at the King Tut exhibit. Needless to say we were all extremely jealous! One day I was in a small neighborhood shopping center called Clairemont Square. I spotted a toy store across the mall. I am far sighted and had the amazing ability to see toy stores from miles away. The store was called Toy World. We went in and to my surprise there were new Star Wars Figures!
The figures cost $2.27 and I was lucky enough that my mom bought me the three figures available that I did not have; C-3PO, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi and Darth Vader.
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| Being nine, I was a little over zealous ripping it open to get to the figure. |
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| Notice the price tag at the top. Also, the cut out circle at the bottom corner. More on that latter. |
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| I can’t believe I wrote on the card, but I was nine. What did I know? |
The back of the card is worth mentioning. It listed the original 12 and the same drawing (not a picture) as the Early Bird Set. There were descriptions of each figure. It also had a glimpse of the first vehicles- but only drawings. The instructions for using the light saber were always amusing- even to a nine year old.
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| Original Card Back |
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| Original 12 list. Notice the height of each figure is listed. Before Star Wars most action figures were 8 to 12 inches tall. Thing small figure format was new at this time. |
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| How to work Light Saber 🙂 |
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| The first vehicles |
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| What is interesting to note is that this was the first actual picture of the figures. It was the first chance to see what the figures you didn’t have yet looked like. Notice that three figures are not shown. |
I had to have the Collector’s Action Stand so I immediately cut of the proof-of-purchase seals (thus the missing circle at the bottom of the cards, gathered my two dollars and sent it to Kenner. A little more than 10 weeks later it arrived.
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| My original 12 on the Collector’s Action Stand. Despite being heavily played with they are all in good shape. Only Leia’s cape and Luke’s lightsaber are missing. |
Shortly after returning from the first trip to Toy World the quest to find remaining five was on.
I was able to find Han Solo at the Toy World in Mission Valley and the Stormtrooper at the Mini-City on Convoy. Yet, the final three eluded me. Interesting enough, they were the three figures missing from the Collector’s Stand photo; Death Squad Command, Sand People and the Jawa.
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| Stormtrooper from Mini-City. Notice the $2.49 price tag. |
In the following weeks I was able to pick up the Death Squad Command and then the Sand People but the Jawa still eluded me.
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| Sand People from Mini City- Notice the $2.99 price tag. A 50 cent jump from just a few weeks before. |
Finally, on my 10th birthday in late September 1978, my friend got me the Jawa. He had found it at FedMart. The collection was complete… at least for a couple of months. The Jawa came in a cloth robe, not the vinyl cape advertised. It was a mystery that haunted us for years….
“You’ve taken your first step into a larger world” -Obi-Wan Kenobi, Episode IV
