Showing posts with label Parker Brothers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Parker Brothers. Show all posts

Sunday, July 8, 2018

Star Wars Community Digest Issue #12



Yehuda and Tommy write:

 Welcome to the latest issue of Star Wars Community Digest, your place to get summaries about what's going on in the Star Wars collecting community across all of the forums and Facebook groups. We will present the news and current events each week, so that you don't miss anything. Please be aware that many of these are closed Facebook groups though, which means you will need to join them in order to read the conversations. But don't worry, it's free and almost instantaneous.

Participating Groups and Forums:
Star Wars Displays and Advertising
Star Wars Records and Tapes
Star Wars 12 Backs and Early Vintage Collectors Group (A New Hope 1977-79)
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back Vintage Collecting Group 1980-1982
Star Wars: Return of The Jedi Vintage Collecting Group 1983 - 1985
Star Wars: POTF (Last 17) Vintage Collecting Group 1985
Star Wars: The "Dark Times" Collecting Group (1985-95, Droids & Ewoks, etc)
Jabba's Court - Vintage Star Wars Collectors Group 1977 - 1988
The Imperial Commissary - 1977-1985 Vintage Star Wars Toys, Buy Sell Trade
Power Of The Force Coins
Star Wars bootleg and knockoff collectors
Star Wars Micro Machines and Action Fleet Collecting Group
vintage star wars action figures
The RebelScum vintage forum
Jawa's Outpost (UK and EIRE Star Wars trading group)
Echo Base Vintage Star Wars Trade/Sell/Buy
The Prototype Exchange
The Star Wars Traveler: filming locations and road trips for Star Wars fans
La Guerre des Etoiles Collectors (vintage Star Wars items with French language on them)
Star Wars at the Movies: Theatrical Advertising and Collectible Ephemera

If you are an administrator or moderator and would like your community to be a part of this feature, please let us know. We are always happy to include additional groups/forums in our summaries, but be aware that not every group can be featured every week.

In any case, lets get right down to it and get everyone caught up to date on what they may have missed in recent weeks...

Props and Grails

Whether it is an original Rebel prop helmet from The Empire Strikes Back or the prototype run for the Kenner Tusken Raider Power of the Force coin, Gus Lopez continues to astound with his latest Star Wars Artifacts Updates. Make sure to check them out in the SWCA What's New gallery!

6/10/2018

Woman’s Day and a Galaxy Far, Far Away


In 1978 and then again in 1980, Woman’s Day magazine published detailed blueprints for build-it-yourself Star Wars action figure playsets. Woman’s Day is a monthly periodical published in the United States with a demographic of mostly young mothers. 
Collector Scott Bradley shares a vintage picture of a young child standing next to his Woman’s Day homemade Hoth playset likely built by an enterprising mom. 

The full thread can be found here:

Further Reading on the Archive:

A Limelight Worth a Look: Pre-production Vinyl Records 


Every Star Wars collectible that has been manufactured underwent a design process which necessitated the production of prototype examples during the creative and approval stages. These unique pieces were designed to be disposable after the final product was approved and came to market. 
Much like an author's original handwritten notes, these unique artifacts have become appreciated by collectors in all branches of the hobby. 
Collector and audiophile Kevin Lentz shares his  prototype “grooveless” blank colored records used for the production of a colorful edition of the soundtrack for The Phantom Menace. 

The full thread can be found here:

Prototype Toy Found at a Retail Store


Prototypes toys never leave the design shop and are routinely discarded. 

Except when they aren't!

Eagle eye collector Jeff Correll spots a pre-production engineering pilot for a new Jurassic World toy at a retail store which was likely accidentally packaged along with standard production pieces. The EP includes a hand cut box with writing.

The full thread can be found here:  

Further reading on the Archive:

Look What Popped Up 


Master Bootleg Collector Joe Yglesias studies his collection of the original steel molds used to make the storied Uzay line of Turkish action figures and vehicles and finds the mold for the UZAY R2-D2 pop up lightsaber accessory.   

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading on the Archive:

Collect Them All 


Collector Thomas Gill continues the search for action figure variations as he studies the stitching on the snap cape Luke Jedi figures. 

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading:

A Limelight Worth a Look: R5-D4 Yupi Run


Collector Adam Marks assembles a complete run of 9 different color variations of the Yupi R5-D4 figures. The figures were a premium in Colombian snack foods in the late 1980s. The 40 figure set was produced in 9 color variations and is among the rarest lines of Star Wars action figures. 

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading on the Archive:

Vintage Imperial Gunner First Shot Found at Garage Sale


Collector Kyle Kaufmann brought home an Imperial Gunner action figure he found at a garage sale in Michigan. On closer inspection the figure was noted to be unpainted and missing its copyright information. The community helps evaluate the figure, which is most consistent with a first shot pre-production figure. 

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading on the Archive:

A Limelight Worth a Look: Chewbacca Rumph Mug Sculpt


Artist Jim Rumph (1942-1993) was a pottery sculptor in Santa Monica, California who produced folk art pottery out of his studio "the Slyme Factory" in the 1970s. Jim sculpted and produced three Star Wars themed mugs which were among the earliest Star Wars collectibles ever produced. The mugs were sculpted as busts featuring 3 different movie characters. The generously sized mugs featured Darth Vader, Ben Kenobi and Chewbacca. The Chewbacca mug has always been a personal favorite of George Lucas and sat on his desk.
Collector Will Grief shares an original Jim Rumph sculpt for the Chewbacca mug complete with Jim’s fingerprints on the back.

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading:

Vintage Parker Brothers Store Display 


From 1977-1982 Kenner produced a large assortment of Star Wars themed board games. However, in 1983 Parker Brothers took over board game production and introduced a series of games including the “Battle at Sarlaac’s Pit” board game. 

Collector Christopher James Leddy shares his rare store display used to advertise the Parker Brothers games. 

The full thread can be found here:

Further reading on the Archive:

A Limelight Worth a Look: a Different Approach to Carded Figures


Collector Jesse Cedar Soberman took a looser approach to carded figure collecting and completed a run of the "First 31" figures in varied rare packaging including 3-packs and special offers. Check it out on the Imperial Commissary. 

The full thread can be found here:

💥The Dark Side: Scams and Counterfeits


Fake second series Unproduced Droids and Ewoks

Unmarked counterfeit figures, accessories, and coins for the Unproduced Droids and Ewoks (UDE) line are being produced to look as authentic as possible. Some figures are being resculpted and some are being cast from original prototypes. We encourage all reproductions to be marked in a responsible way to avoid fraud. 

Reproduction Early Bird Kit Action Stand Coupon Being Circulated

Collector David James Lackore warns the community both in Rebelscum and on Facebook about a counterfeit Early Bird Kit action stand coupon that is being sold. David shares the differences he noted between the authentic coupon and the fake. Make sure to check it out. 

The full Facebook thread can be found here:

And the thread on Rebelscum can be found here:

Counterfeit Special Offer Stickers Used to Defraud

Once again, collector David James Lackore warns the community both on Rebelscum and Facebook of a new fraudulent special offer sticker that has been applied to production vehicles to criminally increase their sale price. Learn how to spot the fakes with the links below. 

The full Facebook thread can be found here:

The full Rebelscum link can be found here: 

Our Star Wars Community Digest Time Capsule Thread for this Issue: 

The Earth Toy Mall



Like Camelot, The Earth Toy Mall has receded into legend since its closing in 2008. The Earth was a Cincinnati based store that sold production vintage toys alongside Kenner hardcopies, first shots, and proofs. 

Cincinnati, the birthplace of Kenner toys and it’s Star Wars line, lent a fertile field for buying and selling rare Star Wars collectibles. The store's grand opening in December of 1997 was a well attended affair, with guest Kenny Baker present. Once established, The Earth began advertising in local media that they were interested in buying production and prototype toys. They marketed directly to former Kenner employees, who had often taken home unique pieces.

Throughout their tenure, The Earth had many great finds including multiple rocket firing Boba-Fett figures. 

Below are threads that help sum up the impact that The Earth Toy Mall had in the hobby. 

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Friday, July 21, 2017

All the Appeal of the Movie (or Some of it Anyway): Vintage Star Wars Board Games

Ron writes:

 I'd list all the activities I enjoy less than playing board games, but we have a data limit here at the blog, and I'm not sure I can describe some of them without using language outside the parameters of civilized discourse. Have you ever seen the movie called The Naked Prey? Remember the part where Cornell Wilde watches some poor sap get slowly cooked inside a human-shaped oven made of clay? Suffice it to say that I find that somewhat less horrifying than Chutes and Ladders.

My opinions aside, board games lie at the very foundation of Star Wars toy licensing. As discussed here, Kenner's original contract with Lucasfilm required the company to produce exactly one item: a board game. Had the movie been a box-office dud, that's likely all Kenner would have produced: one lonely board game to languish on toy store shelves alongside the Pet Rock and Mattel's toy representation of Horshak from "Welcome Back Kotter."

Weirdly, Kenner didn't have a whole lot of experience producing board games. Parker Brothers was the board game ace of the General Mills Fun Group. In fact, when the time came to produce a board game based on the Six Million Dollar Man, a property for which Kenner produced a popular line of action figures, it was Parker Brothers rather than Kenner that did the deed. But Kenner was a company eager to explore new horizons, and a Star Wars board game must have seemed like a fairly inexpensive means of breaking into this newly acquired license.


Board games, consisting largely of printed paper goods, aren't nearly as difficult to produce as action figures. Once one is designed, a toy company can bring it market in a matter of months. Consequently, Kenner's first Star Wars board game, "Escape from Death Star," was among the first licensed Star Wars trinkets to appear on store shelves -- which meant it was one of the few Star Wars items a child could hope to receive for Christmas of 1977. The action figures, of course, weren't available until spring of the following year.


Above you see the first order form that Kenner distributed to retailers. It includes the Early Bird Certificate as well as several other paper-based products: puzzles, Dip Dots, Playnts, and, of course, the Escape from Death Star Board Game.

If you were a Star Wars-obsessed kid, and you were opening your presents on Christmas of 1977, which of these alleged toys would have disappointed you the least?


Kenner's 1978 industry catalog makes some dubious claims. I have never played Escape from Death Star, but I have a hunch that it doesn't quite have "all the appeal of the movie." It probably doesn't even have the appeal of your slow cousin Freddy's verbal summation of the movie, in which he referred to Chewbacca as a spaceship and confused the ending with the punchline of a joke about pandas.

Based on the catalog photo and description, the game involved moving pieces around the board in accordance with directions yielded by a spinner.

If this sounds like 95% of the board games you've played, well, allow me to leave you with a complimentary copy of our brochure. A membership in the I Hate Board Games Society costs only $3.97 a year, and it comes with a bumper sticker that reads, "Honk if you'll stab the next person who asks you to play Monopoly."

Jokes aside, Escape from Death Star must have been pretty successful. Today, it's easily found in opened condition, and it was released around the world by Kenner's various sublicensees.


In 1978 Kenner released the Adventures of R2-D2 Game. Aimed at younger children, it involved, uh, moving pieces around the board in accordance with directions yielded by a spinner.

As the box makes clear, "reading and counting [were] not required to play" the game. Presumably, kids merely needed to be able to recognize colors in order to progress along the paths printed on the board.

If you were color blind, I suppose you were SOL, and you added Kenner to the list of companies worthy of your undying hatred, along with Crayola and the makers of Twister.


You probably can't tell from this photo, but the boards of these games tended to feature terrific graphics, usually the result of an artist's painstaking work with an airbrush. From a collecting standpoint, it's the art used on the boards and the boxes that makes these items attractive.


The box containing the board game released by Kenner in 1979, the "Destroy Death Star Game," was substantially larger than those associated with their other offerings in this vein. In fact, its box was about twice the size of a traditional board game box. The game's playing board didn't fold in half, meaning the box had to be about the size of the board. This surely resulted in a greater shipping expense, but it also yielded a more impressive-looking product. In my experience, Destroy Death Star is the most popular board game among Star Wars collectors -- largely because of its impressive size.


This catalog image reveals that the board was decorated with an image of the Death Star. This was bisected by a graphical path intended to represent the trench down which Luke's X-Wing zooms during the film's exciting finale. Maybe Kenner opted to omit the fold in the board because they didn't want to interfere with this detail?

My favorite element of the above image is the kid on the right. He looks like someone just reminded him that he has red hair.


This image gives a better sense of the graphics featured on the board and spinner.

Hey, did you see this article concerning the orientation of the Death Star's trench? In it author Todd Vaziri explains why people who believe the trench ran along the equator of the space station are mistaken. The equatorial line visible on the Death Star is a giant chasm where ships dock, and is not the rather narrow channel through which the Rebels navigate in their efforts to exploit the weapon's fatal weakness.

Now, I don't mean to brag, but I was never under the impression that the X-Wings were racing along the equator of the Death Star. But Vaziri's article clearly states that he and other fans did believe that to be the case -- to such an extent that they were shocked to learn otherwise. Is the Destroy Death Star Game the earliest licensed product to perpetuate this misconception? Might it be the source of some folks' false memories?


In 1980 Kenner released the "Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Game" to coincide with the release of the first Star Wars sequel, The Empire Strikes Back.

Is it me or is the design of the box used to package this product among the worst of Kenner's Star Wars offerings? The image, showing the Rebels scurrying about in a snow trench, lacks a focal point. And, aside from perhaps the turret cannon, it features none of the film's iconic elements. There's no AT-AT, no probe droid, no main character. It's almost as if Kenner's marketing team decided to telegraph the game's dullness. I almost wish they'd allowed this impulse further expression by printing on the box: "Contents: Game board, spinner, self-loathing, rejection."


The game's playing surface almost made up for the lack of packaging fireworks: It was a collage of Hoth scenes and character portraits, and it included a lot of bright primary colors.

The inclusion of Boba Fett is a little odd, no? I don't remember Boba Fett being on Hoth. The molded plastic Falcons are a nice touch.

For some reason the Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Game is pretty tough to find with its original plastic shrinkwrap intact. If you collect this sort of thing, and you see a sealed example at a decent price, don't hesitate to snap it up.


In 1981 Kenner added to their range of ESB board games with the "Yoda the Jedi Master Game." The appearance of Yoda, remember, was kept secret prior to the release of the film. Consequently, most Yoda-focused products didn't hit the market until late 1980 or 1981.

This time out the box art was entirely painted. This yielded a product that was considerably more attractive than the Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Game.


Oh, look: The game play involved moving pieces around the board in accordance with directions yielded by a spinner. Hopefully, dumb children didn't run into problems upon encountering such novelty.

Is it me or does the spinner seem to be embedded in an anus?

I think I'm starting to understand why Luke was so eager to escape from that bog planet.

Luke: Master Yoda, is this really necessary? Obi-Wan never told me about this exercise.
Yoda: Incomplete is the training. Spin again you must.
Luke: But that's your answer to everything! How can I become a Jedi if all I do is play with your spinner?
Yoda: Concentrate!
Luke: In this particular instance I'm trying not to.
Yoda: Spin slower. Slooooowerrr.


The Yoda the Jedi Master Game was the last Star Wars board game released by Kenner during the vintage years. After 1981, Parker Brothers assumed responsibility for releasing Star Wars games -- including those relying on cards and video cartridges (which we won't be covering here).

The company's first effort, which I believe was released in 1982, featured slick cover art of Luke, Vader, and their respective spacecraft. The white background color really set it apart from earlier Star Wars board games. All of Kenner's offerings featured the black-and-silver scheme for which the company's Star Wars line is noted.

The Parker Brothers game was called simply "Star Wars."


I don't have a marketing image of this game, so the reverse of the box will have to serve to satisfy our curiosity regarding its looks and features. Parker Brothers seems to have done a nice job of adding complexity to the game play. There are puzzles to complete. There are also two spinners: one for the Rebels and another for the Imperials.

Interestingly, the game is a mashup of the two Star Wars films then in existence. It references Yoda and Hoth, but it also relies heavily on the planet known as Dantooine. Given that Princess Leia told Grand Moff Tarkin that the Rebels had a base on Dantooine, I'm not sure the planet was capable of serving as an effective post-Hoth hiding place. But you have to give the folks at Parker Brothers credit for pulling such a peculiar reference out of their hats.

Like the Hoth Ice Planet Adventure Game, this item is surprisingly difficult to find in sealed condition.


In 1983, Return of the Jedi hit theaters, and Parker Brothers was ready with the colorful and novel "Battle at Sarlacc's Pit Game."

The artwork adorning the box of this game is among the nicest of the ROTJ era. Not only is the nicely rendered, its composition is convincingly dynamic. You feel the energy of that battle.


Does the product qualify as a board game? It features a playing board, playing tokens, and cards, so I'm fine considering it as such. But it must be pointed out that the item's three-dimensional quality has caused more than a few people to remember it as an action figure toy.

Trust me, when some nerdlinger insists that he once owned a Sarlacc playset, you can be sure that he's remembering this game and not some mythical Kenner prototype.


The Battle at Sarlaac's Pit Game featured in Parker Brothers' 1984 industry catalog displayed a prototype version of the product. If you look closely, you'll see that the artwork featured on the box and base differ notably from that found on the version sold in stores.


At some point in 1983 Parker Brothers released this game, called simply "Wicket the Ewok." It was part of Lucasfilm's push to make the Ewoks the basis of a toy range appealing to younger children.

Children, rather sensibly, balked at the idea of cartoon Ewoks, and the spate of kiddie-focused Ewoks products lasted only a couple of years. However, that doesn't mean that adult collectors won't spend thousands of dollars on some of these things -- the unproduced action figure prototypes especially.

We adult collectors are a bit like kids without any constraints or limitations -- including those dictated by common sense.


The copy on the back of the box commands the player to:

Romp through the forest with WICKET and his friends KNEESAA, PAPLOO and LATARA as they collect berries, nuts, pears, mushrooms, and wild honey, too. You'll travel on shaggy ponies and in rickety wagons. You'll even swing on hang-gliders. All this adventure is yours as you try to be the first EWOK home with all five kinds of food.
Good lord that sounds absolutely horrifying. I feel like I just watched a Wes Anderson movie.


My favorite word in the above marketing copy is either "irrepressible" or "mythological."


In 1984 Parker Brothers added to their lineup of Ewoks board games with "Ewoks Save the Trees!" It was a Funburst game.

I take it the Funburst line combined the worst aspects of board games with the worst aspects of pop-up books.


The line's products came in special boxes that could be folded into briefcase-like configurations, presumably to allow socially awkward kids to carry them to their friends' homes, where they could be used to inflict on others the joy of playing Funburst games.

Kid 1: There's Timmy again. He's in your driveway, just standing there.
Kid 2: Does he have that dang Ewoks Save the Trees! game with him?
K1: Yep, that and a little stuffed animal shaped like McGruff the Crime Dog.
K2: Oh, God. Pretend you don't see him.
K1: Too late. He just waved at me.
K2: Maybe he's shooing away a mosquito?
K1: Nope, he just held up a sign that reads, "Timmy Perkins: World's Best Friend."
K2: You grab the weed-whacker and I'll grab the leaf-blower. We'll strap them to skateboards, fix each to the "on" position, and deploy them straight outta the garage and in his direction.
K1: Hold on a sec. I want to see what happens.
K2: I don't know about you, but I'm not giving in without a fight.
K1: I think he's trying to play catch with the fire hydrant.

With that little morality play I'll end this look at vintage Star Wars board games, a class of product only barely redeemed by the fact that its name gets the spelling of "bored" wrong.


But, like Steve Jobs, I do have one more thing. It's a product released by All About Town, a company that produced board games for various municipalities. This particular example is focused on the city of Cincinnati, Ohio -- which of course was the home of the Kenner toy company. To learn more about it and its Kenner-specific references check out Chris Georgoulias' excellent write-up on the item.

And don't forget to check out my co-blogger Amy Sjoberg's excellent article regarding her experiences playing several of these games.
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