1983: RETURN OF THE JEDI UK PROMOTIONAL POSTCARD

From the summer of 1983: the all but ubiquitous RETURN OF THE JEDI PROMOTIONAL POSTCARD.

These seemed to be handed out everywhere... especially when Darth Vader was making a promotional appearance to promote the Palitoy action figure line. Although the card itself promotes the Odeon cinema chain and not the toys. 

The Dark Lord, clearly with time on his gloved hands after the defeat of the Empire, kept himself busy by touring the nation's toy vendors. I seemed to run into him several times that summer: once at a toy store in Colchester (long gone over twenty years ago) and once at a branch of Debenhams although I know not where. I seemed to recall he was accompanied by a menagerie of other aliens for the second encounter although I don't remember what and there is a good chance they were not even WARS related but just seemed like the sort of aliens that might lurk in Jabba's palace.

The Darth stand-in would, as I recall, even autograph these cards and I'm pretty sure I have a signed one somewhere. Needless to say, I doubt very much that it was Dave Prowse beneath the mask.

1981: STAR WARS DARTH VADER COLLECTOR'S CASE MAILAWAY (Palitoy)

From September 1981: another STAR WARS mailaway offer from Palitoy... and this time it was a biggie.  Literally.  

The DARTH VADER COLLECTOR'S CASE (which I did send off for.. although, to this day, I'm convinced that I actually ordered the Dengar figure and this arrived instead) was, by some margin, the biggest (in every sense) of the items included in the "Bounty Hunters" promotion.  Just look at the whopping Postage and Packing fee.  

Incidentally, Kenner toyed (hohum) with plans for a C3PO version later in the run so tested the required finish by rendering a test run of gold Darth cases.  The plan was abandoned. 

1981: STAR WARS' DENGAR MAILAWAY ADVERT (Palitoy)

From May 1981: DENGAR mailaway offer from Palitoy's STAR WARS range.

Making Boba Fett initially a send-away exclusive (the previous year), ahead of a proper release, almost certainly added to the not-entirely-explicable enthusiasm for the character amongst Star Wars fandom (he's actually pretty useless in the films... and the prequels do nothing much to enhance his reputation).  I certainly remember trying to find the figure on the racks in both Hamleys and Debenhams.  I think I finally found him in Debenhams dump bin in their Chelmsford store.

Making his fellow bounty hunger Dengar (little more than an extra in THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK) a similar premium product in 1981 failed to work any sort of similar magic.  No one could get excited about this one.

The figures were dispatched in small white mailing boxes (rather than carded like the retail versions) and are now (surprise surprise) much coveted by collectors if still in their original box.

This advert appeared across the MARVEL UK range. 

1982: STAR WARS MAILAWAY DISPLAY STANDS ADVERT (Palitoy)

From the summer of 1982: a Palitoy ad for one of the least interesting (but possibly most useful) STAR WARS toy mailaways: molded plastic display stands for the action figure range.  

The displays, with handy little pegs that worked with the holes drilled into the feet of the figures, were plastic with a reversible cardboard backdrop approximating scenes from THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK.  

1984: STAR WARS RANCOR KEEPER OFFER Advert (Palitoy)

From 1984: STAR WARS mail-away-for-a-fat-man offer.

The Rancor Keeper was not the most figure-friendly character lurking in Jabba's desert palace... but Palitoy still thought it was the ideal choice for its latest send-for-a-figure promotion.

Maybe they thought they stood more chance of shifting this duffer by making it seem like a premium item rather than exposing it to ridicule in the nation's discount dump bins...  Or maybe they hoped that this would help shift more Rancor Monster toys.  

This particular advert, which appeared in September, is from a copy of the EAGLE. 

1983: CHEWBACCA'S BANDOLIER PALITOY OFFER

From 1983: Another STAR WARS mail-away promotion from those Palitoy folk: CHEWBACCA'S BANDOLIER ACTION FIGURE HOLDER.  

In retrospect, I don't remember anyone I knew ever having one of these... suggesting that the take-up probably wasn't great.

1980: THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK TOYS Print Ad (Palitoy)

From 1980: A UK Palitoy print ad for the new THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK additions to the STAR WARS toy line.  

Not even an advertising genius could make the Twin-Pod Cloud Car (which always reminded me of the laser pistols from THE BLACK HOLE) any more exciting than Lando's taxi. 

The captured Snow Speeder is also a bit of artistic license... presumably the AT-AT Walker (surely the most coveted of Star Wars toys) hadn't been released in the UK when this Ad ran... so an alternative way of featuring the Snow Speeder toy had to be concocted. 

1980: STAR WARS KENNER TOY ADVERT

This US STAR WARS Kenner toy ad, from Marvel comics cover-dated February 1980 (therefore on-sale during the key late '79 gift buying season), teased Brits with several products that never crossed the Atlantic to form part of the Palitoy offering.

The US Death Star (or, more accurately, slice of the Death Star) looked a lot less exciting than the British 'Death Dome' cardboard play set (cunningly reworked to form part of the original ACTION FORCE offering a few years later).

The remote-controlled Jawa Crawler also never made the crossing.

I'm also dubious that the somewhat peripheral Droid Factory appeared over here.

And, I believe, the "Death Squad" figure was renamed "Death Star Commander" for the British line.

I DID have the off-camera (although it did make it into the Marvel strip) Imperial Troop Transporter and it was very cool.

1979: STAR WARS DESIGN A DROID COMPETITION (Palitoy)

Filming the original STAR WARS SAGA in the UK certainly must have made life easier for Palitoy's Marketing Department: it's a lot easier (and cheaper) to send prize winners to North London than it is to Hollywood to another exotic international location.

This DESIGN A DROID competition was widely promoted in April 1979 by which point, location filming for THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK was well underway.

Who won... and what they saw... is now lost in the mists of time.... unless you know otherwise....

1980: ACTION MAN ADVERT featuring ROM THE SPACE KNIGHT (Palitoy)

Here's an August 1980 ACTION MAN advert (reprinted from BATTLE ACTION) promoting erstwhile Space Knight ROM's inclusion in the UK equivalent of the G.I. JOE toy line.

But... good luck spotting him.  The purpose of the advert was - beyond flogging the toys - to promote a drawing competition to design a suitably bizarre alien creature (note: they have to be a "space enemy", no friendly monsters here!) for the suddenly space-bound Action Man (this was post-STAR WARS... and sales of the old soldier were falling fast) to have a close encounter with.  So, it makes sense that Ron Smith's extra-terrestrial beastie should be centre stage.  But Rom, despite being "our only hope", is barely visible (someone - probably belatedly - obviously spotted this and added his name to his back pack). 

I imagine Action Man manufacturer Palitoy did a deal with Parker Brothers to import a warehouse full of unsold Rom toys and - rather than sell them as a standalone item - bundled him into the Action Man line to hastily bolster its SF credentials.

All this was happening whilst Marvel UK was merrily reprinting the US ROM strips (in FORCES IN COMBAT, FUTURE TENSE and - latterly - STAR WARS) with a completely different continuity.  Copies of the original US books were also appearing in British newsagents, as part of the monthly consignment of imported US Marvels.

1982: REVENGE OF THE JEDI SET VISIT COMPETITION

This is the offer that no kid could refuse: A chance to visit Elstree studios during the shooting of REVENGE OF THE JEDI!  Runners-up could grab a STAR WARS mini-rig from the Palitoy range... which was a pretty crappy consolation prize considering the not-seen-on-screen toys were specifically created to allow cash-strapped fans to own a cheap SW vehicle.

This advert appeared in Marvel UK's titles (specifically CAPTAIN AMERICA 51 for this particular scan) during February 1982.

The promotion was to push Palitoy's ESB toy range during those difficult between-movies periods.

The name of the winner, what they saw and who they met are all lost to history.... unless you know better!

1983: PRE-LAUNCH ACTION FORCE PROMOTION FOR MARVEL-UK WEEKLY

This is a fascinating sales brochure produced by Palitoy for the British toy trade.

As it points out, a "masterstroke" of their Action Force launch strategy was planned to be a new 24-page ACTION FORCE weekly comic, published by Marvel UK and timed for a June 1983 launch (supported, apparently, by TV promotion).

The image below is, presumably, a mock-up rather than a finalised cover. 

For reasons unknown, the Marvel weekly didn't happen and an Action Force strip appeared for four weeks in IPC's BATTLE during June.  

This was followed by a series of five 8-page mini-comic inserts included in IPC's boys adventure weeklies on a fortnightly basis during July - September 1983.

BATTLE formally became BATTLE ACTION FORCE from the issue cover-dated 8 October 1983 with half its pages devoted to three toy-based strips.  

This arrangement lasted until the issue cover-dated 6 December 1986 when the Action Force material was dropped ahead of a new full-colour Marvel UK weekly (mixing original British material with reversioned G.I. JOE reprints).