Vintage Return Of The Jedi Imperial Shuttle - love it!

[retrotoyinfo]

Hi All,

This is one of my favourite vintage Star Wars toys. Be interested to see pictures if you have one in your collection. Especially if anyone has the super rare European version. Or your thoughts on the toy.

It's quite hard to track down now to buy. i think it's always had a rarity about it. The postage costs and other size restrictions always made it difficult to import from the USA, and European versions are almost non existent as far as I was aware?

As it was also among the last ROTJ vehicles produced in the vintage era, presumably when demand for the toys was starting to wain, I thought it never sits totally comfortably with other ROTJ toys. I always thought this about the B-Wing too.

Only appearing for the first time in the 1984 Kenner trade Toy Fair catalogue, the 1985 Toy Fair catalog was proclaiming the arrival of the POTF Imperial Shuttle! Yea, like that all worked out!

For my love of this toy, I finished a new post today on the 1984 Imperial Shuttle vehicle. You can see it at http://www.retrotoyinfo.co.uk. The post took me a while as I wanted to reference as many catalogs as possible, as well as explain all the International versions. The original Kenner TV advert is viewable too.

Alex

 

[rhyfelyser]

Got talking to a veteran toy shop owner last year and he mentioned how he struggled to sell these back in the day.

 

[TheJabbaWookie]

They're cool but they're so f***ing Big I can imagine a lot of parents saying hell no way where you going to put it.

 

[Gadders]

It's a great item but so big.
I picked up a boxed one back in the late 90s at a local toy fair. Shortly after I discovered it was a Palitoy boxed version which at the time the SWCA (or toys r guys as it was called back then) claimed it didn't exist so I had to send them pics of proof.

 

[pizzathehutt]

I almost bought the loose yellow one on here a few years ago for £75 but passed on it and then the person who bought it in the end ruined it by trying to make it white again :lol:

 

[Rich200]

My shuttle has a made in the UK sticker. Don't know if this is the rarer European version. Didn't think it was that rare. Would be interested to hear others thoughts on this though.

 

[pizzathehutt]

I can remember seeing one in my local toy shop on a shelf high up and asking my parents to buy it for me and they talked me into getting an isp-6 mini rig instead :lol: , I did play with it a lot to be fair

 

[Gadders]

Think so, Rich.
US one has Kenner logos all over it which UK/Euro ones don't have.

As for rarity, the vast majority that come up for sale are Kenner ones. Can't remember the last time I saw a UK one for sale.

 

[subzero]

It is a stunning ship, always loved the look of it and it would just look incredible sitting next to a collection of figures, especially in a diorama type display setting, but like others have said it's too big unfortunately.

 

[ChallengerFox]

Imported one ages ago from the US, this was before prices started getting ridiculous though, when I eventually get to display my collection i'm going to try and do the Emperor's arrival diorama.