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Nowadays, it is incredibly common for big movies to have merchandise tie-ins. From toys and comics to shirts and soundtracks, merchandising is key to a film’s success. This wasn’t always the case, however. In fact, making toys for a movie wasn’t seen as a smart investment. One of the first films to try this was Star Wars in 1977. As history tells us, this investment paid off substantially. Today, there are countless Star Wars toys and comics on the market. Today, in honor of May the 4th, we will look at some of the rarest examples.
10. Rocket Firing Boba Fett
Many fans from the 80s will swear they owned this figure, but it was never officially released. Originally, Kenner’s official Boba Fett toy was to have a rocket that shot out of his jetpack. After an unfortunate accident regarding another company’s similar toy, it was decided not to move forward. Several unpainted prototypes were made of the figure, and there were several fully finished ones made for toy shows. One way or another, these prototypes made their way into the collector’s hands. It is rare for these unreleased Star Wars toys to go up for sale, but when they do, they often go for several thousand dollars.
9. 1977 Early Bird Set
As stated before, selling the rights to make Star Wars toys was seen as a gamble in 1977. The film exploded more than anyone could have possibly imagined, including Kenner. When Christmas 1977 rolled around, it was clear not nearly enough figures were made to meet the demand of fans. The solution was simple, sell empty boxes. Kenner sold what was called The Early Bird Certificate Package. This was a card that featured 12 Star Wars figures, a sticker sheet, and a gift certificate.
Kids were to send the certificate out and receive the 12 figures before Spring 1978. These would go on to be the first-ever line of Star Wars figures. The figures themselves go for crazy amounts, but even this original empty box is worth a pretty penny. Finding one for a fan on May the 4th would be a surprise, to be sure, but a welcome one.
8. Blue Snaggletooth
The thing about Star Wars is fans will often eat up merchandise even if it isn’t of a popular character. Snaggletooth was a character that showed up in the background during the Cantina scene in A New Hope. When the film hit the big time, Kenner designed several playsets for kids to buy. One playset was the Cantina Adventure Set which was released exclusively at Sears. One of the characters included in the set was Snaggletooth. This figure was tall with a blue jumpsuit. In the film, he was short with a red jumpsuit. Realizing their mistake, Kenner recalled the set and released a new version with a more screen-accurate figure. The original blue figure is now highly sought after among collectors this May the 4th.
7. Powers of the Force- Yakface
Powers of the Force was a line of Star Wars toys released in the 80s. The line was beginning to lose steam against other figures, such as Transformers, so the line was eventually canceled. One of the figures planned was Yakface, a background character in Return of the Jedi. The figure was produced on a limited basis overseas but never made it to shelves in the States. Now, the Yakface figure has become highly sought after all over the world. The figure itself is worth a fair amount, but the figure in its original packaging with an exclusive coin can go for thousands of dollars.
6. Double Telescoping Lightsaber Figures
May the 4th makes many fans nostalgic. Many may be remembering toys from their youths. For example, an early line of Star Wars figures featured Luke, Ben Kenobi, and Darth Vader. These three figures all had lightsabers. These sabers were part of the character’s hands, and the blade would extend out of their arms. Originally, the blade was in two pieces. Kenner eventually grew to realize this made the blade fragile and would inevitably snap.
They revised the figures so that the blade was only one piece. There were a number of Luke figures released with the double telescoping saber before being recalled. This Luke figure is rare, but the real rarity is the Vader and Ben figures. Some of these figures were made but never officially released. Somehow, these figures ended up in the collector’s market, and they are asking for thousands of dollars.
5. Dark Horse Clone Wars #1 Special Edition
In addition to Star Wars toys, comics are also highly valued collector’s items. One of them was released in 2008 to tie into the upcoming Clone Wars film. In 2006, Dark Horse Comics introduced a promotion called Dark Horse 100. This promotion was a free contest for comic book shops to enter. Dark Horse would then choose 10 shops to receive 100 issues of an exclusive variant cover of an upcoming comic. This meant only 1,000 issues of the comics were made. In 2008, the adaptation of Clone Wars was part of this promotion. What makes this so sought after today is this comic is actually the first appearance of Ahsoka Tano, as the comic was released before the film. Only 1,000 issues of this variant were made, and far fewer than that have gone up for sale.
4. Halcyon Legacy #1 Press Copy
In March of 2022, Disney Parks invited members of the press for an advanced press event for the Galactic Starruiser experience. These press members received press kits, including an advance copy of the hotel’s tie-in comic. It is unknown exactly how many of these issues were produced, but they were made available in the rooms of the hotel. There are 100 rooms, so it is safe to assume at least 100 exist. This issue is similar to the mass-produced issue, safe for a label on the front saying, “Exclusive Press Copy,” as well as an exclusive ad for the hotel. Seeing as how this variant wasn’t mass-produced, comic collectors would love to get their hands on it this May the 4th.
3. MyComyc
This may be one of the stranger items on this list of Star Wars toys and comics. MyComyc was a 16-issue anthology comic released by Spanish publisher Editorial Gepsa. The comics issued various short stories based on popular cartoons such as Mickey Mouse and Tom and Jerry. The first eight issues included stories based on the animated shows Droids and Ewoks. What makes these comics so interesting is they do not seem to be official. The comics seem to be official, seeing how much in common they have with the actual shows, but there are no records of Lucasfilm licensing them out. English fan translations exist online, but original copies are very rare and very expensive.
2. 1976 SDCC Poster
While this isn’t an actual comic, it is in the same ballpark. In 1976, 20th Century Fox and Lucasfilm were gearing up to promote the upcoming film Star Wars. They contracted an artist named Howard Chaykin to design a poster for San Diego Comic-Con. The posters sold for only one dollar, and not many were sold. By this point, nobody had heard of Star Wars and had no interest in a poster of the unknown film. There hadn’t even been a trailer at this point.
The remains posters were either given away to Comic shops or thrown out. Once the movie was released and became as huge as it did, people regretted not getting their hands on one. Now, the few that remain are holy grails among collectors. It is strange to think how unknown this series once was, and now on May the 4th, we have an entire day celebrating it.
1. Star Wars #1
In 1977, it was clear Star Wars was going to become one of the biggest pop culture phenomenons of all time. Marvel Comics got the rights to produce the comic adaptation of the film, and they released it in 1977. An original copy of this landmark comic is worth a lot of money, but there is one even rarer version. Marvel was looking to raise the price of some of their comics from 30 cents to 35. Star Wars was one of these comics. There were a few issues with the 35-cent price tag produced. Original issues with the 35-cent tag is the rarest mass-produced Star Wars comic. On May the 4th, the search for these original issues continues.