Atha Prime: How a 1980s Star Wars Kenner Concept Became a Canonical Character Forty Years Later

 David writes:

 On October 18, 2024, Lucasfilm Publishing announced a new Star Wars comic series from Marvel. Titled Star Wars: Jedi Knights, the comic takes place before the events of the 1999 prequel film Episode I: The Phantom Menace, with the Jedi serving as the peacekeepers of the galaxy. Each issue focuses on a different pair of heroes leading a specific mission, as they work together to stop a new and dangerous villain targeting Qui-Gon Jinn. And that dark force is a shadowy figure named Atha Prime.

Does the name sound familiar?

Although Atha Prime made his canonical debut in the Star Wars universe in the March 2025 Jedi Knights series, the character has existed in some form for decades. According to a 1995 article by Steve Sansweet for Star Wars Galaxy Magazine, designer Mark Boudreaux and the Kenner team began working on new action figures and a new story concept in 1984, in the hopes of continuing the Star Wars toy line after the original trilogy concluded. And the designers titled it "The Epic Continues."

The proposed idea centered around heroes Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, taking place in the years after the events of 1983's Return of the Jedi. But the deaths of Darth Vader and the Emperor left a villain-sized hole in the galaxy. So the team created Atha Prime (pronounced Ay-tha), whom they described as “a genetics master, ruler of the dark worlds and architect of the Clone Wars.”

A Lucasfilm concept sketch from the original trilogy became the starting point for the new villain. While working on Return of the Jedi, artist Nilo Rodis-Jamero attempted a few takes for the Emperor’s Royal Guard before landing on the elegant red-robed sentry.

The early Royal Guard design featured above became the groundwork for the Kenner team’s new villain, one whose forces aimed to destroy Luke, Han, Princess Leia and the rest of the Rebellion in the years after the destruction of the second Death Star. The toy designers established Prime as someone who aimed to conquer his enemy through intellect and cunning rather than by brute force. And in this way, Prime was the precursor to the legendary Imperial strategist Grand Admiral Thrawn.

But how did Atha Prime get his name?  

And why is Atha pronounced “Ay-tha” instead of “Aa-tha?”

According to an excerpt from a forthcoming book by Tim Effler, Kenner's Director of Product Concepts in 1984: 

For The Epic Continues, Kenner's vision for Star Wars in a post-movie era, we needed a villain to replace the Emperor. I re-drew (with slight modifications) a sketch of an unused Emperor’s Royal Guard design by Nilo Rodis-Jamero, and named the character Atha Prime. Atha was an abbreviation of atheist, a word that conveyed evil, at the time. Combined with Prime, the name Atha Prime translates to number one evil.

Atha Prime concept art, courtesy of Tim Effler

Unlike Vader’s army of Imperial stormtroopers, Atha Prime’s soldiers were the manufactured Clone Warriors he created. As Ron Salvatore noted in the original entry for the Clone Warrior concept art, the elite shock trooper resembled characters from the worlds of GI Joe and Masters of the Universe, which had begun to dominate the boys-targeted retail aisles in the mid-1980s.  

Concept art for the Clone Warrior

Blue-Four, a hollow-torso droid, served as Atha Prime’s “personal attendant and confidant,” according to Sansweet’s Star Wars Galaxy Magazine article. The droid’s design was clearly inspired by two other hot properties of the era: Transformers and Gobots.

 Atha Prime's droid, Blue-Four

Blue-Four also piloted Prime’s personal ship, the Apex Invader.  

Side view of the Apex Invader

Front view of the Apex Invader

The Apex Invader would mount on top of another proposed vehicle, a massive Star Destroyer called the Annihilator.  

The Annihilator

After fleshing out "The Epic Continues" line, the Kenner team filled presentation binders with more than forty pages of concept art and descriptions for the action figures, playsets and vehicles and pitched the idea to Lucasfilm. You can view the contents of the binder in this Special Feature entry on the Archive from the collection of Lisa Stevens and Vic Wertz.

However, Star Wars creator George Lucas soon put an end to future Star Wars stories after the release of 1983’s Return of the Jedi and 1984’s Caravan of Courage: An Ewok Adventure, citing burnout from working on the franchise for close to a decade. Kenner pitched the line to Lucasfilm, but the studio respectfully declined the idea while praising the team for its on-brand attempt to capture the spirit of the franchise. And with interest in the property waning, Kenner’s live-action Star Wars toy line ended in 1985 with the Power of the Force action figure series.  

*****

Dark Empire's Imperial Sentinel

But Atha Prime’s design didn’t die with Kenner’s unsuccessful pitch. In 1992, Tom Veitch and Cam Kennedy used the character’s concept art to produce the Imperial Sentinel for the Dark Empire comic miniseries. Like the Clone Warriors, the Sentinels were clones themselves, gargantuan guards created to serve the Emperor’s Dark Side Adepts, those who wielded the Force for evil. 

In the late 1990s, Kenner adapted the characters from the Dark Empire comic into its Power of the Force action figure line. The figures were part of the newly-introduced Expanded Universe series in 1998, offering an array of characters from Star Wars novels, comic books and video games to the line. In addition to the Imperial Sentinel, the Expanded Universe featured other notable Dark Empire figures: a younger clone Emperor, a Dark Jedi Luke Skywalker, and a Jedi version of Leia Organa -- the first to feature the princess with a lightsaber. 

Imperial Sentinel first shot prototype and carded sample, from the collection of James Sawyer

In 2009, the Imperial Sentinel also made an appearance as a miniature figurine for the Wizards of the Coast Star Wars role-playing game Jedi Academy.

*****

After purchasing Lucasfilm in 2012, Disney brought order to the vast archive of decades of Star Wars content across all forms of media, categorizing the films and a small grouping of side stories like the Darth Maul: Son of Dathomir comic and the animated series The Clone Wars within the franchise’s official canon. As a result, the company relegated Atha Prime, the Imperial Sentinels and the stories in which they featured to the non-canonical “Legends” status.

Thirteen years after the Disney deal, and forty years after being pitched as a Kenner concept, Atha Prime was recruited from the Legends lore to become both a villain and a recognized figure within Star Wars’ current comic run.

In February of 2025, ahead of the Star Wars: Jedi Knights premiere, Marvel teased Prime’s entry into the Star Wars universe with a special variant cover for the first issue of Legacy of Vader, another new comic series.

Prime officially debuted in the Star Wars: Jedi Knights comic series in March, as a single image among a pastiche of Force visions that may unfold in future issues.  

According to the comic’s editor Mark Paniccia, the idea to establish Prime as the villain was the result of stumbling upon Kenner’s failed figure pitch.

Paniccia said:

While developing the series, writer Marc Guggenheim discovered this deep cut—the antagonist from Kenner’s unrealized The Epic Continues toy line. We saw the original design and were immediately sold. What a cool character to bring into canon and what a perfect book to do it in!

While little is currently known about Prime, a Marvel press release describes the villain as “a mysterious planet’s tyrannical ruler who boldly opposes the Republic and the Jedi Order.” The first issue of Star Wars: Jedi Knights arrived on March 5, 2025, with an Atha Prime action figure variant cover by John Tyler Christopher and a Foil Variant cover by Ramon Rosanas.

A special thank you to Tim Effler and Rich Alot for providing additional info on Atha Prime, as well as the figure's concept art image. 

You can hear more about the Atha Prime story, as well as other relevant and exciting news from the world of Star Wars in episode #212 of the Star Wars: Prototypes and Production podcast, titled "The Galactic Newsdesk: A Season Of Change For Star Wars, Lucasfilm, Hasbro And Disney's Parks!"

“Teal” Empire Strikes Back 1982 Poster Deep Dive

Danny writes:

 The “teal” Empire Strikes Back re-release poster from 1982 (ESB R82) has always been a mystery. This variant has a light blue background instead of the normal dark blue color. It has a 10 star rating in Sansweet and Vilmur’s The Star Wars Poster Book denoting it as both extremely rare and highly desirable to collectors.

Informal polling of fellow collectors and perusing auction house history, I estimate that there are about 25 examples floating around the collecting community. By comparison, Star Wars theatrical posters sent to theaters number in the hundreds or even thousands.

Comparisons of both versions of the ESB R82

No one knows why these posters were created or where they came from. Over the years, I’ve heard several theories tossed around including “a printing press contractor for the National Screen Service (NSS) in Texas accidentally punched the wrong color code for the blue background” or that this was a test print that was rejected “after studio people (including likely George Lucas) saw this poster, they did not like the color at all, and immediately changed it to a dark blue.”

In conversations with long time Star Wars poster collectors, I’ve heard their first hand accounts how they purchased their examples. I’ve heard that many of these posters were purchased from Jerry Ohlinger's Movie Memorabilia Store in New York City. A legendary collector claims that circa 1989, Mr. Ohlinger “had a roll of about 10 to 15” of these posters. Another told me that he bought two copies from REMEMBER WHEN in Dallas and that Mr. Ohlinger was one of that store’s suppliers. This probably explains why so many were found in Texas. 

How are Vintage Star Wars Posters Printed

Before I start, here is a quick primer on offset printing techniques used to make vintage theatrical Star Wars posters.

Most vintage Star Wars posters were printed using four different printing plates; one for each of these colors: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and blacK which we often abbreviate CMYK. Additionally, these plates are printed using a process called halftone. Instead of printing the ink in a continuous span, the colors are printed as series of small dots with spaces in between. These spaces are small enough that from normal viewing distance our eyes blend the dots together in an optical illusion as if it were continuous. The spaces between the dots allow for room for the other color plates to put their ink dots in and our eyes blend the different inks together to make all the colors of the rainbow. Printing all these different color dots in a checkerboard like pattern can cause weird optical illusions as the overlapping grids produce interference called a moiré pattern. By printing the different plates at different angles the moiré pattern is reduced and when looking under magnification, you can see these differently angled dot patterns clump the dots together into what looks like little bouquets of roses which are referred to as rosettes.

Finally, on the edges of the poster, there are guide marks to help the printer line up the plates correctly and there is often a color bar on at least one side showing the plates that were printed running all along the poster. The printers use these guide marks and color bars to make sure that all the plates are aligned correctly and that the colors are consistently printed across the whole poster. These color bars are cut off before the poster is sent to theaters so only a few, if any, uncut posters escape from the printing facility.  

As a catch-all term, we use the term “test print” to refer to these snuck out posters that never made it to the theaters. They could be left over posters from a proof run/press check, or they could be a test printing to see how the posters look at various sizes and colors. Since these test prints were never meant to be seen outside the printing facility, sometimes, to save paper, some test prints have a different poster on the back.

Sadly, there are currently no ESB R82 test prints with the color bars still attached known to exist.

Recently, I acquired one of these “teal” posters and discovered several new things that either have never been noticed before or have never been publicly revealed.

Union Logo Reveals Printing Location

Each NSS printing facility uses a slightly different Graphic Arts Union (GAU) logo. While the GAU logos on these “teal” posters are a bit blurry, it has the logo for the Cleveland location and not Dallas. Therefore, contrary to popular belief, these posters did not originate from the Dallas NSS facility.

The Actual “Light Blue” Color

When I examined this “teal” poster, I immediately realized why this poster is light blue. I think the answer is so obvious that perhaps to increase the mystique or try to obfuscate the origin, these posters are referred to as “teal.” But this blue background isn’t teal, which has a greenish blue color; this poster’s color is actually aqua. What’s another name for the color aqua? Cyan!

Yes my friends, this is just plain cyan.  Examining the light blue color with a jeweler's loupe you will see it’s just printed half tones of pure cyan without any other color printed there.

Light blue area only shows cyan halftone ink dots

Full-tone Versus Halftone

That’s not the only other difference. The production version has a deep red border around the artwork. In the “teal” version, this border is white. I own several dark blue R82 posters and one of them has an interesting feature where several spots of this red border’s ink are missing. Furthermore, on the back are also red splotches of ink in the same red color. I realized this meant the posters were stacked while this red ink was still wet and some of the ink transferred onto the poster next on the stack. This is why mine has ink on the back (from the poster that was originally stacked underneath) and missing some of its red border which must have been transferred to the back of the poster on top. 

I didn’t think much of it at the time but it was strange that only the border was wet. I also didn’t consider that this ink was red but there is no red plate, the closest color on a regular poster printing plate is magenta.

Example with lifted ink from dark red borderReverse of same poster showing dark red ink staining from other poster with same issues

When I look at the normal dark blue version of this poster, the center artwork has rosette dot patterns of the four CMYK plates as expected, however both the dark blue AND the red border do not have rosette patterns. Instead, these colors are printed in a full-tone completely covering the area spread like cream cheese schmeared on a bagel.

Several other Star Wars posters, including the ESB Advance (floating Vader head), the ESB R81 and the ROTJ Style B posters, used an extra color for their titles to make the posters pop. The R81 uses a yellow color for the title, while the ESB Advance and the ROTJ use a silver color. We have test print examples of each of these posters with and without this extra title color.  On the test prints for the ROTJ Style B poster for example, there is an extra silver bar adjacent to the normal CMYK bar. Since the titles would be filled in with only this extra color, there are two interesting features to note:    

1) Since the title areas are not colored by the normal four plates, they don’t waste ink filling in that area beforehand. Therefore, on test prints that are missing this extra title color, the title areas only show the plain white paper stock. These are what we call the “white title” versions.

R81 test print with "white title" and production versions from the collection of Tony van Dam

ROTJ test print with "white title" and production version

2) This is a special extra color that won’t be mixed with the other color plates; this extra color is printed in full-tone. For example, when you look at the silver ink of a ROTJ Style B under magnification, you also get a full tone schmear.

Comparison of ROTJ Style B test prints with and without Silver color bars. Silver version from the collection of Tony van Dam

ROTJ Style B Silver color is full tone while artwork shows rosette pattern

Peek-a-boo

Finally, the clincher. I also happen to own a normal dark R82 poster that has a slight mis-registration of the plates and in the top corner you can see some cyan peeking out underneath the full dark blue ink.

Mis-registered dark blue full tone on top of cyan

This leads me to conclude that the “teal” R82 ESB poster is actually a “white title.” It is missing two extra ink colors: a dark blue and a dark red for the art border. I imagine these extra colors are expensive and so not all the posters printed had this extra step.  

Many of these “teal” posters have a darker cyan streak in the middle. Sometimes it is noticeable enough to be seen in normal viewing angles, but others are more subtle. Perhaps the teal copies have various QC issues that made them get pulled before the expensive step?

Example with center streak. From the collection of Omar Jon Raouf

TL;DR

So here is what I think happened. The Cleveland NSS facility printed the ESB R82 posters. Hundreds of posters were printed and a QC step was performed before the expensive extra colors were added in order to save money and triage the good from the poorly printed examples. A stack of these posters that are technically QC failures yet still looked good enough were saved from the trash and snuck out and eventually ended up with poster dealers such as Mr. Ohlinger in New York. Mr. Ohlinger sold some of these posters in his store directly to collectors but many eventually make their way to other poster shops including REMEMBER WHEN in Texas.

There are still unanswered questions like why would they print cyan all over the poster in the first place? Nearly half of this poster is cyan; why print it if it would just be painted over later? Perhaps this way it was easier to see that the cyan plate was run and to notice QC errors such as the streak patterns. It’s also possible that the extra dark blue and red steps reused the cyan plate? That might work if the actual art in the center was carefully masked off. While preparing this article I noticed the ROTJ Style B test print, which includes the extra silver color, marks it as “cyan” in the color bar. So perhaps reusing the cyan plate has precedent.

We may never fully know the whole story. It still amazes me that even after all this time, there are still new things to discover in the world of Vintage Star Wars Collecting and I’m proud to be able to do my part and share what I learn so that we can all grow.

Celebration Japan 2025 Collecting Track Panel Breakdown

Steve writes:

 For those attending Celebration Japan (and for future posterity!), here's a handy summary of the always incredible Collecting Track panels and giveaways (more details on those here).

GIVEAWAYS

SCHEDULE

FRIDAY APRIL 18

9:30am - 10:30am
Collectors Social

11:00am - 12:00pm
The PBP First Shots Find
Jordi Gasull
When The Empire Strikes Back was released in Spanish movie theaters on October 3, 1980, kids still weren’t able to get their hands on action figures from their favorite saga. They had to wait a few more months until May 1981 when the Spanish firm PBP began distributing the first figures in Spain. Luckily for collectors, one of the technicians involved in the toy line saved “first shots” and final product samples that were given to him by PBP in recognition for his work. We will review the history of the PBP Star Wars toys and this amazing find, covering previously unknown figures and the transition process in the manufacturing of these toys.

12:30pm - 1:30pm
Star Wars Coins & Medallions
Mark Salotti, Will Grief, Gus Lopez
As a global phenomenon, Star Wars has been immortalized in coins and medallions all around the world - from the familiar Power Of The Force Coins that accompanied Kenner's Vintage Action Figures, through to the lesser-known Japanese Toho medallions and Kotobukiya ArtFX coins. Mark, Will & Gus will present a showcase of Star Wars coins from around the world through the last four decades.

2:00pm - 3:00pm
Very origin of Japanese Collectibles 1978
Eimei Takeda, Takeo Yuda (STARCOTT), MC GEE Dylan Patrick
Focused on the 1978 Japanese merchandising with truly rare collectibles.

3:30pm - 4:30pm
How the Star Wars Collecting Age Began
James Swearingen, Kevin Liell
While still in production of Star Wars - A New Hope George Lucas and Twentieth Century-Fox were seeking a toy partner for their licensing efforts. After being turned away by many of the larger toy manufacturers they pitched the movie to Kenner Toys, a middle tier company at Toy Fair in February 1977. Rather than rejecting the license because it was a science fiction 'movie' opening in just a few months the representatives from Kenner agreed to take a look. Waiting in Cincinnati was a designer that was primed to receive the license. Jim Swearingen was that designer. He was the first person at Kenner to read the screenplay and look through the accompanying book of photos from the completed live shooting.

5:00pm - 6:00pm
Japanese Vintage Toy Oddities
Shuichi Kimura
This is an interesting dig into the history of Star Wars toys & the origins of secretly produced Japanese vintage bootlegs.

SATURDAY APRIL 19

9:30am - 10:30am
Collectors Trading Event

11:00am - 12:00pm
Homemade Star Wars Crafts: Tips and Tricks
Matthew Mulinaro, Amber Mulinaro, Elaine Grief, Earl Bergquist, Amy Sjoberg, Anne Jenkins
Among the overwhelming choices of factory-made Star Wars collectibles, the hand crafted gift stands out. Small batches of items can be made, customized to a specific event, group, or individual. Not only do these items show a level of craftsmanship not often seen among mass-produced items, but they can be produced at a fraction of the cost. This panel will demonstrate the types of items that are possible to produce at home and on a budget, as well as how to create some of them. You don’t have to be an accomplished artist or professional designer. All that you need is a little time, a few common materials, and the desire to create something unique.

12:30pm - 1:30pm
The Colorful World of Vintage Keshi Gomu (Rubber Erasers)
John Hallam, Andy Takara, Duncan Jenkins, Andy Loney
When Star Wars came out in Japan in 1978, one of the core toy types was keshi gomu (rubber erasers). Because of their low cost, every family could afford them. And, their small size made them uniquely suited for Japan’s small homes. Keshi were made by well known toy companies including Takara and Maruka. They also appeared in Morinaga’s candy premium line. And, keshi were made in a spectacular variety of sculpts and colors by a range of bootleg operations. Despite their popularity, keshi remain one of the least documented areas of vintage Star Wars collecting. Over the decades, our panel of experts has painstakingly pieced together much of this collecting puzzle. We are ready to share our knowledge with the Star Wars collecting community for the first time. Panelists will provide photos that break down every vintage Japanese keshi line, both licensed and unlicensed. We will finish with a brief look at modern keshi, showing how keshi collecting carries on after nearly half a century.

2:00pm - 3:00pm
GET!! Star Wars Bottle Caps
Paipu (Takaya Yoshino)
I would like to look back on that "hot" summer when I drank cola with you again. Introducing STAR WARS × PEPSI's amazing campaign in Japan.

3:30pm - 4:30pm
Galactic Toy Story
Yuji Ueda, David Santana
The panel explores why Stormtroopers are loved in Japan, featuring passionate fans and rare merchandise. It highlights a local cafe with the country's only permanent Stormtrooper exhibit, with monthly cosplay events, and a Stormtrooper-themed Barbie outfit. Additionally, it includes two exclusive trailers, one featuring Brian Muir.

5:00pm - 6:00pm
Vintage Japanese Diecast Delights
Andrew Norton, Peter Davis, Jason Smith
Join us for a retrospective look at all things Japanese and diecast. Andy, Jason and Pete take a look at the wonderful world of Japanese diecast Star Wars toys from the 1970s and 1980s. We explore Kenner’s licensing of the Star Wars brand to Takara, and their Japanese range of diecast ships and key packaging changes; find out which toy advert changed colour just for the Japanese market and which US Kenner exclusive could be found as a Japanese bootleg. We also review Takara’s exclusive range of diecast and plastic rocket firing toys, and whether The Rise of Skywalker really was just an excuse to pay homage to Takara’s diecast C3PO. We discuss Takara’s Zetca range of finely detailed Space Alloy models, which would not look out of place in a 21st Century toy shop, and also take a look at Takara’s line of diecast pin badges and packaging. Takara weren’t the only player in town and we’ll also take a look through Tsukuda’s finely detailed metal model kits.

SUNDAY APRIL 20

10:30am - 11:30am
I'm your father - Vintage Star Wars toys vs. Lego Star Wars
Mattias Rendahl, Elliot Rendahl
Join long-time Swedish collector and collectible book author Mattias Rendahl, along with his son Elliot, as they discuss their journey of collecting Star Wars toys together. Hear how it all began and what it’s like to share a hobby and passion across generations. Most importantly, they’ll dive into an epic battle, comparing vintage Star Wars toys with LEGO Star Wars items, including some rare Japanese pieces from both categories. Which line had the best ship, figure, gift-with-purchase, exclusive, and more? It’s the old vs. the new generation of Star Wars collectors!

11:45am - 12:45pm
From Collecting to Visual Storytelling – Star Wars Toy Photography
Raymond Montemayor, Susan Damon, Richee Chang, Jax Navarro, Trevor Williams
Toy photography is a rapidly growing hobby and is becoming an art form in its own right. Some collectors get into it initially to share their latest haul, but soon find themselves drawn to the work of accomplished toy photographers and start down a path to taking the hobby more seriously. Panelists include popular toy photographers Trevor Williams (@onesix_shooter), Jax Navarro (@plasticaction), and Richee Chang (@noserain). Moderated by Susan Damon (@bloosusan), the panel will discuss the hobby itself and some of the forms it takes, and then delve into how to take your smartphone 'snapshots' to a higher level with the equipment, techniques, and tricks involved in the art. The panel will close with an audience Q&A.

1:00pm - 2:00pm
Star Wars Around the House
Jonathan McElwain, Duncan Jenkins
It seems that Star Wars really is forever...and it is everywhere! Many fans fill their homes and kitchens with products from a galaxy far far away. In this panel presented by Jonathan McElwain and Duncan Jenkins, you’ll learn about everyday products with a Star Wars twist. This is a fascinating area to collect, with many obscure items. Did you know that there was a Star Wars promotion on bottles of Pine Sol household cleaner? How about Star Wars toilet paper from Germany? Is your collection of vintage Dixie Cups complete? This panel will cover these and many other household and kitchen products.

2:15pm - 3:15pm
Star Wars Fragile Items, Especially Ceramics
senoboo
Of all the Star Wars products, the figures, including Kenner, are the most famous and popular. There are also many things around us that are related to Star Wars. This time, we will focus on pottery that has a connection with Japan.

A Makeover for Luke Skywalker

Jonathan writes:

I’ve previously written about the Coca-Cola campaign of 1978, which coincided with the release of the original Star Wars in Japan. You can find that post here. I’ve made some running changes to the post since it was published to make a few minor corrections and add information about a few aspects of the campaign, so check it out if you are so inclined.

There’s quite a bit of material from this promotion that I am still actively collecting, especially advertising material. As part of that pursuit, I recently picked up a publication called Refreshing Wife, Summer Edition (No. 3), published on 20 June 1978. 

The back cover of this publication features a very early advertisement for the Japanese Star Wars Coca-Cola campaign.

The Refreshing Wife advert predates this one from the pages of the 1978 Weekly Shōnen Magazine issue 27, published on 2 July 1978, by nearly 2 weeks.

The advertisement is similar in composition to the so-called “Blowdry Luke” poster and the tri-fold flyer published by the Kinki bottler. But, there are some notable differences.

The poster and flyer are similar to one another, but the information presented at the bottom differs. The larger scale of the poster allowed for the inclusion of detailed information about the available prizes that wasn’t possible on the smaller flyer.

The composition of the advert is different from that of the poster and the flyer. Rather than showing images of 13 bottle caps, the advert shows only 9 bottle caps, with the Luke Skywalker bottle cap in the 12 o’clock position, rather than the Princess Leia bottle cap. Most of the bottle caps (or crowns) shown on the advert are a subset of those from the poster and the flyer, however there are some differences. The advert includes the Stormtrooper and Star Destroyer bottle caps, which are not included on the poster or the flyer. Additionally, the C-3PO bottle cap on the advert is the alternate pose C-3PO bottle cap, not the one that is featured on the poster and the flyer.

The information included at the bottom of the advert is not bottler-specific, which suggests that this publication may have been intended for more widespread (national), rather than regional, distribution. The bottom of the advert is stamped with identifying information for the retailer that presumably distributed this particular copy. The information in the lower left corner of the advert notes that there are “lots of chances to win.” The R2-D2 AM Radio lottery is featured in the lower right corner, without specifics about available quantities that were included on the various bottler-specific versions of the posters.

I can’t blame you if you don’t find the minutiae of these differences all that interesting. But, take a good look at Luke in the comparison below. What I didn’t realize, until I had the advert in hand and was able to examine it in detail, is that the advert features an earlier version of Luke. The artwork was apparently reworked between the printing of the advert and the printing of the poster and flyer, with Luke receiving a complete makeover!

It’s debatable whether or not the reworking of Luke’s face and hair in the poster is an artistic improvement. But, without the reworking, we wouldn’t have the infamous “Blowdry Luke” poster that we all know and love.

The pose and composition of Luke’s body seems to be consistent between the renditions, however, it appears that the poster image was reworked to enhance shadows. There are some differences between the poster and the flyer image, but I chalk those up to differences in printing methods/quality.

While staring at this image of Luke, it dawned on me that, although Luke is obviously holding a lightsaber above his head, he also has a lightsaber strapped to his belt. Long before the Revenge of the Jedi Teaser Poster, the lightsaber that Luke is wielding is red! I suppose his father’s blue lightsaber is the one that is strapped to his belt.

To round out this discussion, here is an image from the Hokkaido Coca-Cola Bottling Co., Ltd. - 25 Year History retrospective book, which was published in 1988:

This image features the early rendition of Luke from the Refreshing Wife advert, but in a composition that is consistent with the poster and the flyer. The retrospective book was published by the Hokkaido bottler long after that fact. It is possible that this image was taken from an archival image that shows an early composition that wasn’t actually produced. So far, I haven’t found or seen images of the poster or other paperwork from the Hokkaido bottler. But, I am intrigued to find out. So, if you’ve got a poster or other paperwork from the Hokkaido bottler, please let us know!

Crazy Rare Star Wars Food Packaging

Gus writes:

 Over the past couple of years, I've been seeking out rare, and in some cases, previously unknown, Star Wars food packaging from the vintage years. It is hard to believe that after so many years we are still discovering new food items from the early years of Star Wars, but some of these promotions were so limited and very few were saved, that this area is ripe for new discoveries. In some cases, I've consulted food collectors and experts in other countries to get information and confirm instances of early food packaging. In other cases, we were able to reasonably conjecture the existence of packaging examples based on a Star Wars premium known from that time, since people generally save the premiums, but not the packaging. 

Here are some examples of these discoveries from the past few years, starting with Allen's Grape Drink from Canada. This is a fruit drink that existed in Canada in the late 70s and is still available today. The labels on the cans promoted a Star Wars "fighter contest" in English and French with prizes such as t-shirts and other Star Wars memorabilia. Allen's also came in other flavors of fruit juices at the time, but it is unknown whether this promotion extended to those flavors in addition to the grape drink.

Star Wars wasn't released in the United Kingdom until late 1977, but was heavily promoted leading up to and following the December 27, 1977 release. One of the early promotions was on cans of Heinz baked beans. Labels on the 220g and 447g cans featured a mail away offer for Star Wars Helix school sets. The Helix school sets were also sold at retail in a plastic case with Han Solo and Chewbacca on the cover.

Now for something really weird and unfortunately, highly offensive. In all my years covering Star Wars collectibles, I've seen some controversial stuff, but I've never felt compelled to censor an image. Until now. This product is so bad that we don't want it shared publicly in its original form. It's a cookie wrapper from France from the late 1970s from Brun's brand of Papou cookies that sadly used a racist caricature that remarkably they found acceptable for the French market at the time. Moving on from that, the wrapper shows a radio-controlled R2-D2 as a contest prize. Brun's contest on Papou and Palmito cookies offered the chance to win one of these R2-D2 toys or Star Wars posters. Brun continued to do food promotions on their Palmito brand for The Empires Strikes Back in France in 1980.

The next image shows two items: a 4 pack bag for Oh Henry! candy bars from Canada with a Star Wars mask promotion from the late 1970s along with a Lowney's Oh Henry! candy bar wrapper from the same period. Unlike the U.S. where the Oh Henry! brand was owned by Hershey's, in Canada, Oh Henry! was marketed by the Lowney's corporation. These bags contained four 50g bars of Oh Henry! and also promoted the Official Star Wars Fan Club. 

For The Empire Strikes Back, Express Dairy did a promotion on milk containers in the U.K. The premium for this promotion is a cool AT-AT Walker Hoth Battle poster which is fairly difficult to find. But an even more challenging piece is this milk ring packaging promoting the poster mail away offer. This ring went around glass bottles of Express Dairy milk. It also promoted The Empire Strikes Back soundtrack by RSO Records that was sold in Woolworth and Boots stores in the U.K.

One of the best examples of the disparity in scarcity between the premiums and the packaging occurs with the York Peanut Butter promotion in Canada for The Empire Strikes Back. The six character discs that were found on the insides of York Peanut Butter lids are still easily found today, however the jars promoting this offer are extremely scarce. This is a 500g jar of York "Crunchy" Peanut Butter. There was also a jar of "Smoothy" peanut butter shown in promotional literature but I'm not aware of one of those jars in a collection.

For Return of the Jedi, Konga did a tie-in with PBP in Spain where kids could enter to win Return of the Jedi action figures. The action figure line was shown on bottles of cola, lemon, and orange drinks. So far, we know of two 2 liter bottles of Konga Cola that sit in collections featuring this promotion, and there may be more out there, but have not documented any known examples of Konga Limón or Konga Naranja.

The Doriana margarine containers from Argentina are arguably the toughest Star Wars food packaging set to complete. I don't know a single collector who has ever assembled the entire set of 14 margarine tubs. The containers were also the premiums as the lids were meant to be cut out to create plastic character standees. So when they are found, they are often cut from the lids. An uncut, intact lid is super difficult to find, and an entire margarine container with a Star Wars lid is next to impossible.  

And finally, Crecs potato chips in Spain offered stickers for the Droids and Ewoks cartoon series. The cartoons were widely popular in Spain with a large variety of product. Similar to other food packaging, people don't typically save potato chip bags from almost 40 years ago, but they do save stickers. These bags are super fragile with a flimsy foil banner across the front with the Droids and Ewoks characters.