1978: ANOTHER FORCE BEAMS ADVERT FROM STAR WARS WEEKLY (Marvel UK)

Crumbs!  Those purveyors of unlicensed Light Sabres (sorry: "FORCE BEAMS") have been at it again.

It's safe to say that their previous advert (see one of my previous posts) eventually incurred the wrath of the Lucas Lawyers, forcing (ahem) the British mail order titan to amend its advertising.

No longer able to use (a pretty good likeness) of Luke and Leia, it looks like the MD commissioned a different artist to illustrate the replacement: their 7 year old son!

In one creative decision, Loydale singlehandedly (hehe) overhauled the entire toy industry: don't bother with fancy box designs and commercials: nothing appeals to children's sense of "must have" than another child's artwork.  

Windsor's finest were expanding as well: into the pendents business.  Jabba knows whether they bothered to acquire a license for these fine pieces of top-notch jewellery.  

This advert appeared on the back page of STAR WARS WEEKLY dated 4 October 1978.

1978: FORCE BEAM ADVERT from STAR WARS WEEKLY (Marvel UK)

It's an advert for a (red or green) Lightsaber toy.  Or is it?

Closer examination reveals that this is - despite the prominent placement of the STAR WARS brand (albeit not the official logo.. although several were doing the rounds during the early days of the saga so its perhaps no surprise) and the almost-accuate key art, this is an unlicensed product.

The toy is a "Force Beam", presumably relying on the fact that the official name hadn't yet entered the public consciousness. And there's no attribution of copyright to Lucas or 20th Century Fox.

But, the greatest deception of all is that this back-page advert ran in Marvel UK's officially sanctioned (and - presumably - checked and approved by Fox's UK operation) STAR WARS WEEKLY.  

First sighted in issue 11, this Loydale Ltd (of Wokingham). advertisement became a regular fixture over the next few months.  Presumably, the penny finally dropped with Fox or Marvel or Palitoy (who held the UK toy license) spotted what was going on and complained.