First UK Star Wars items.

[Grant_C]

Hi guys,

A few questions maybe you could help for some historical context.

01: when did the first Star Wars items hit the UK market?

02: what were they? Waddingtons jigsaws? Ciro soaps? Helix stationary?

03: did these items arrive in 1977 or 1978?

04: when did the first palitoys hit the market?

05: is it possible that any DT's or VC jawas arrived in the UK?

Think that's it for now. Many thanks for answers in advance.

 

[snaggletooth]

I've heard a rumor of a VC Jawa on a Palitoy card but not ever seen one myself, would be cool if that was the case.

 

[_Lee_]

I've heard a rumor of a VC Jawa on a Palitoy card but not ever seen one myself, would be cool if that was the case.

That old chestnut!

I never beleived that it did,but certain people seem to think that it did.

 

[mr_palitoy]

I believe!



Jason

 

[snaggletooth]

I believe!



Jason

Have you got one Jason, ever seen one?

 

[sith-smith]

Basically...and I mean basically as people generally don't like reading much on here.... :lol: the evidence goes something like this...

The jawa was changed from a vinyl to cloth fairly early on in its run as people at Kenner felt it looked to cheap compared to others in the line that were sold for the same price.

Now it is largely acknowledged that the Jawa was released much later here and so by the time it was, the change had already been made.

In addition, no confirmed sealed example has ever been seen. Top and long term collectors like Jim stevenson have never seen one.

On the other hand, there is a VC jawa pictured on the Palitoy Death Star! Now this may just have been a prototype sent over by kenner before the change. I've also heard it mentioned that the photography for the box may not have been taken here. The Land of the Jawas was released at a similar time as the DS and that pictures Cloth caped Jawas. And in fact had a free cloth cape with it!

The is countless anecdotal evidence, which though interesting is not in all honesty hard evidence.

There have been stories of possible salesman samples turning up..but again no hard evidence.

There is currently a sealed one floating around but the source of it puts questions over its authenticity, though initial inspections by people like Jim Stevenson, myself and others do not show any obvious signs of a reseal. But again this is not a confirmation.

There's loads more than that, but that's a very basic outline

 

[snaggletooth]

Very interesting Gary, thanks for sharing that.

 

[JuniorChubb]

Just to chip in on the VC Jawa, I lived in Berkshire (UK) as a youngster and my cousin lived there to, he had a VC Jawa. I remember this because of how crap I thought his Jawa was when we went round there to play (compared to mine). We all got our toys locally (no US connections) so I would have guessed he got it on a card. Of course this is just a memory and not actual proof but its enough for me.

Is it a case of 'we know VC Jawas where here (UK) just not on Palitoy cards' or 'VC Jawas where not released here (UK)'?

 

[_Lee_]

Gary gave a very good run down there *TORRES* cough*Luminous beings*.....and no,i dont mean Fernando Torres

I myself would have thought that the figures were one of the first things to hit the shores here and also the Palitoy DS playset.However,there was also loads n loads of no toy items released so i think its safe to say that the first one released with never be known.Different areas,yes (toys,school supplies etc)would be a a lot easier rather than which items were released first.

 

[Joe]

We all got our toys locally (no US connections) so I would have guessed he got it on a card.

Any connections to Germany? (family/holiday?) Kenner stock was exported to Germany hence why so many VCJ's turn up there.

Andy (PhantomShadow) was also adamant he had a VCJ as a kid too.

 

[mr_palitoy]

I believe!



Jason

Have you got one Jason, ever seen one?

Would love to see the sealed one that Gary's seen.

Mine is one of several opened examples that have come up over the last few years. I have no reason to doubt the sellers story in this case.
You can see the pictures I took of it before and after I cleaned it up and resealed it here:-

http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4310&p=114048&hilit=jawa+vinyl#p114048

cheers Jason

 

[snaggletooth]

I believe!



Jason

Have you got one Jason, ever seen one?

Would love to see the sealed one that Gary's seen.

Mine is one of several opened examples that have come up over the last few years. I have no reason to doubt the sellers story in this case.
You can see the pictures I took of it before and after I cleaned it up and resealed it here:-

http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4310&p=114048&hilit=jawa+vinyl#p114048

cheers Jason

That's also very interesting Jason, Has there still not been a cloth caped one show up in that type of bubble?

 

[mr_palitoy]

No, there hasn't, and the reason I think it hasn't is that the cloth cape doesn't fit inside the bubble very well so the cape would have ended up getting glued to the card a lot. You can see how tight it would be in pictures posted a page back on the thread:-

http://starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=4310&p=95318&hilit=typer+of+bubble#p95318



Jason

 

[Grant_C]

Cheers guys, some super action on question 5, nice, keep it coming :wink:

Anybody got any info on non MOC questions 1-4? :lol:

 

[sith-smith]

We all got our toys locally (no US connections) so I would have guessed he got it on a card.

Any connections to Germany? (family/holiday?) Kenner stock was exported to Germany hence why so many VCJ's turn up there.

Andy (PhantomShadow) was also adamant he had a VCJ as a kid too.

It's possible Kenner cards made it over here during the Star Wars run. I've heard of people who had Kenner SW cards from their childhood. I also saw kenner playsets here as a kid. So that's also a possibility

 

[JuniorChubb]

We all got our toys locally (no US connections) so I would have guessed he got it on a card.

Any connections to Germany? (family/holiday?) Kenner stock was exported to Germany hence why so many VCJ's turn up there.

Andy (PhantomShadow) was also adamant he had a VCJ as a kid too.

Now that is pushing my memory to its limits, we all went to France in 1982'ish (I had the new England Kit) but they where (still are) richer than us and travelled to Europe more often (our family are Irish/English). They are all sporty though so bringing home toys from a holiday was seen as a waste of holiday time.

Thanks for the Germany info, he definitely had one but (now) I don't know where it came from...

Also sith-smith I do seem to remember the Kenner logo more than the Palitoy logo (this could be due to the web rewriting my childhood memories )