Orange Snake Yoda (UK Kenner Card Imports)

[Hod10]

Hi people,

I'm new to this site and I think its great, I was wondering if anyone could help?

I have a Yoda, Orange Snake, Kenner card with the survival kit offer. We know Kenner cards were once imported and distributed with Palitoy offer stickers applied on the reverse. With regards to the Yoda figure itself we know early US imports were required to meet the demands of all the kids who wanted a Yoda. We also know that the only Yoda (with the Orange snake variation) was released via Palitoy on ROTJ Tri-Logo cards. My first ever Yoda was in 1983/4 and I remember my Aunt bought it in the Midlands for me before visiting me in the North East, it was obviously a ROTJ card and I swear this had a Kenner logo. I remember the Kenner logo (aged 5) being more prominent than the than the Palitoy logo. I had a keen eye for Star Wars from around late 1981.

Purely out of curiosity, why wasn't the orange snake version available in the UK ESB line? Were Yoda Kenner carded imports made straight from the US as early as 1980/81 without Palitoy offer stickers? Has anyone got any samples of childhood carded collections that throw up proof of cards that would of been for sale in th UK as early as the 32 back survival kit offer?

If anyone can shed any light that would be magic.

Cheers

 

[paulcalf]

Not sure if this will help

See the toy shop photos in the vectis visit thread, shows Kenner ESB Yoda below loads of Palitoy Star Wars carded stuff.

http://www.starwarsforum.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=25273

My childhood cardbacks, Kenner 41 back Yoda. I remember him being hard to get hold of, so i think Kenner cards were brought over to help with demand. No idea when that would have been.

We also know that Yoda was available on Palitoy 30 backs. Image nicked from ebay

 

[Hod10]

Wow! That's an amazing insight, thankyou... all Palitoy there apart from Yoda. Indeed he must of been specifically imported to help with demand. Unless it was Palitoy importing and distributing the Kenner figure. I'd heard and read the orange snake Yoda wasn't available on ESB Palitoy cards but he must of been then, I guess they were just so few and far between. What I would do to own one of those :shock:

I wonder if US suppliers were asked to supply standard cards with no offers on the front!? I guess though, the store owners, market stall owners or news agents were stuck with whatever they got if they decided it was better business to import!?

 

[paulcalf]

I have no idea on snake colours. As a kid i remember seeing both brown and orange Yoda snakes. I hae no idea what cards they would have come from.

People who collect Mint on Card stuff will be able to tell you, based on what snakes they have sealed on Yoda's

Wow! That's an amazing insight, thankyou... all Palitoy there apart from Yoda. Indeed he must of been specifically imported to help with demand. Unless it was Palitoy importing and distributing the Kenner figure. I'd heard and read the orange snake Yoda wasn't available on ESB Palitoy cards but he must of been then, I guess they were just so few and far between. What I would do to own one of those :shock:

I wonder if US suppliers were asked to supply standard cards with no offers on the front!? I guess though, the store owners, market stall owners or news agents were stuck with whatever they got if they decided it was better business to import!?

 

[Palifan]

I've also asked this question before about the orange snake as it was the version I had back in 1980 when this figure first hit the UK shelves. I was surprised to hear that only the brown snake came with the Palitoy ESB 30 back and wasn't available in orange until much later (tri logo I think?). I can only assume that the version I had was Kenner and any childhood collections I've seen have kenner card backs with the orange one and Palitoy 30 backs with brown. No real idea why this was and why orange was the colour first packed with the Kenner ones and Brown for the Palitoy release. Seems strange to me to have two so different colours with a very similar release date for this figure.

Ian

 

[Hod10]

Yeah, we also know Kenner were meant to/did hold back this figure slightly, globally, to not spoil the movie for film goers. It kind of reminds me of how in short supply Darth Maul was in 1999 for the first wave of Episode 1 (UK Hasbro Bilingual) figures here, with the exception that Darth Maul was a major marketing point of everything surrounding the movie right from the off, which was possibly intentional... and a little easier to locate at outlets that relied on US Hasbro imports.

It baffles me that no ESB Palitoy cards packaged the orange snake version... but to be fair as a kid I did prefer the brown version with more earthly colours, but now as a purist the orange version fascinates me. Maybe it was a Brit thing back then

I'd love to know more about how heavily the UK imported ESB Kenner cards. Would love to see a Kenner card with a survival kit offer on the front (32b or 41b) which also has a UK price tag to confirm this. This would then suggest strongly that it wasn't just Palitoy using standard Yoda Kenner cards because of shortage of stock, but that outlets were indeed specifically importing from the US directly...