Interesting Early Catalogue Figure Pictures

[kieatky]

Came across these images from a 1978 toy catalogue. Great to see the original DT figures as they were meant to be but not so sure about the Tuscan Raider, Death Squad Commander and Chief Jawa Also check out the Tie Fighter, looks very playschool :?

 

[Robstyley]

That's very cool. They must have got this out before all the designs were finalised, nice bit of vintage work in progress history. Love it :shock:

 

[ChrisG]

The conceptual mock-up figures are discussed in Plastic Galaxy so I'd highly recommend owning that DVD. The catalog photo you show here is a mix of Kenner versions plus mock-ups. There are more shown here, including all of the conceptual mock-ups, not just the final 3.

http://theswca.com/images-concepts.html

The Jawa is essentially a brown sock and the Death Squad Commander and Tusken Raider were made from Fisher Price Adventure People. Check the link I showed for images of the others. The descriptions have more details, especially the Luke.

Here's an early Meccano catalog group shot:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48959

Interestingly, Kenner even used a Fisher Price figure to mock up Luke X-Wing Pilot for the 2nd wave:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48958

The TIE Fighter you show is a handmade styrene model built in Kenner's Prelim model shop. An artistic representation of it is used on the 12-back cards. Here's the original artwork:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=78520

Cheers,
-chris

 

[kieatky]

Thanks for the information links Chris, it's always great to learn new details about the history of the Star Wars line

 

[itfciain]

I was just about to comment until I saw Chris had - we were looking at the exact same picture a week or two ago !

Some of these early catalogues are fantastic reads and you can tell from the pictures how far development had gotten on certain toy lines

 

[steve obi wan]

Great piece of history

 

[ChrisG]

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=38499

This display helps reinforce the fact that Jawa, Tusken Raider, and Death Squad Commander were essentially their own wave of the original 12. As seen in the catalog image, these 3 were lagging in the design phase when that 12-figures photo was taken. Even though the 4 Early Bird figures were "first", when they were finally released on cards, they were part of the original group of 9 figures. The last 3 would have been late 1978. In fact, Jawa (vinyl cape version) was distributed in select movie theaters en masse as the film ran for nearly a year straight in some locations - at least in the U.S.

-chris

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Thanks for sharing, this is interesting and also for the name differences of 'Chief Jawa' and 'Lord Darth Vader'. Is there any other record of these two toys being named in this way?

 

[ChrisG]

Jawa, never, but Vader, yes. More or less.

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=55127

 

[Grant]

Awesome links Chris. 8)

 

[Cocobean]

Very interesting thanks for sharing

 

[Fishtalk]

I've always loved the prototypes of the second wave of 8 figures, Walrusman looks better with the more subtle and realistic colour scheme, and I prefer the Power Droid to the production version. Can't quite tell if Greedo has slight sculpting differences or it's just a different paint job.

 

[Chico]

I love the line in the bottom left corner of the first image ...

"This is probably the biggest single merchandising opportunity of all time." :lol:

 

[batman]

Jawa, never, but Vader, yes. More or less.

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=55127

Hi Chris, if Harbert named Vader "Lord Vader" could it be possible the translation for "capo jawa" is supposed to be "chief jawa" instead of "caped jawa" ?
http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=42021
as far as i can tell cape (garment) translates to cappa or mantello and cape (geographical) translates to capo which can also mean chief or boss.

Dieter

 

[ChrisG]

You are correct, sir! I forgot about the Harbert Jawa saying that. Italian 'capo' meaning 'captain'.

 

[batman]

Thanks, i must have seen that page on theswca a dozen times without ever doubting the translation . On a non toy side note there are also two Canadian stickers that refer to the jawa as "le chef".

 

[Bonsai_Tree_Ent]

Indeed, here is the Harbert cardback - 'Capo Jawa' does indeed translate to 'Chief Jawa'. What the hell is going on with the droid names here though???

 

[batman]

Somebody please correct me if i'm wrong but i believe this has something to do with pronounciation in Italian.

 

[Ross_Barr]

The conceptual mock-up figures are discussed in Plastic Galaxy so I'd highly recommend owning that DVD. The catalog photo you show here is a mix of Kenner versions plus mock-ups. There are more shown here, including all of the conceptual mock-ups, not just the final 3.

http://theswca.com/images-concepts.html

The Jawa is essentially a brown sock and the Death Squad Commander and Tusken Raider were made from Fisher Price Adventure People. Check the link I showed for images of the others. The descriptions have more details, especially the Luke.

Here's an early Meccano catalog group shot:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48959

Interestingly, Kenner even used a Fisher Price figure to mock up Luke X-Wing Pilot for the 2nd wave:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48958

The TIE Fighter you show is a handmade styrene model built in Kenner's Prelim model shop. An artistic representation of it is used on the 12-back cards. Here's the original artwork:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=78520

Cheers,
-chris

I think Chris joined the discussion just to increase the clicks to the SWCA.

Seriously though, very awesome stuff. Seen most of those links before, but great to see them all together in the context of this discussion.

 

[ScruffyLookingNH]

That product catalogue is superb. I'd heard about the sock Jawa on a SWFUK Podcast but not seen it. Real toy history.