Advertisement - Warren's "Creepy" magazine, June 1978, showing more "Star Wars" merchandise.

New Star Wars products on Page 67!

Advertising from Warren's "Creepy" magazine, June 1978, showing more, new "Star Wars" merchandise including the first four plastic models by MPC, a cheapo Darth Vader costume, an Estes flying model rocket of Luke Skywalker's "Proton Torpedo" and the first three movie related toy vehicles designed for the (then) new action figure line.

If you look close at the windshield of the Landspeeder you'll see the arm of the Luke Skywalker action figure.  The rest of the image of the toy was cut off and manipulated.  I had all of the MPC model kits except Darth Vader's TIE fighter ... not sure why I never had that but I just never did.  Likewise for the Vader costume and the Estes rocket because neat as it was I really wasn't into model rocketry when I was young.  

My first action figure vehicle was the X-wing fighter which I received for my birthday in June of '78.  I was 9 years old.  Later that Summer I got the TIE fighter while on vacation visiting my uncle and aunt in Chattanooga, TN.  The Landspeeder was the hardest vehicle to find and I didn't get it until the late Fall of 1978 when I found it at a local Western Auto store, of all places ... it was the only one they had and, as far as I know, the only one they ever got in.

As for the MPC plastic models, the X-Wing Fighter was a real step-bitch to put together, ditto for the R2D2 model with its opening panels and extending leg.  The C3PO model went together fairly easily.  None of the models survived into my early teenage years ... thankfully MPC later not only reintroduced these models but added a whole lot more to the lineup.

Kenner "Star Wars" Laser Pistol and Laser Rifle Toys

(reproduced from my Angst and Speed blog)

There came a time in my childhood when two of the most awesome guns were made available by Kenner; the Star Wars (Han Solo) Laser Pistol and the Star Wars 3 Position Laser Rifle.  This gave the "good guys" a gun to use and the "bad guys" a gun to use as well.  For Christmas of 1978 I received the Star Wars 3 Position Laser Rifle while my friend three houses down got the Star Wars Laser Pistol.  After that, the hours were spent running around the neighborhood draining pairs of C and D sized batteries to our hearts' content and our parents' dismay (disposable batteries were kind of expensive during the Jimmy Carter era).

The weapons were somewhat faithful reproductions of their on screen counterparts but the sounds that these toys produced were nowhere near what the sounds in the movie were.  In fact, both toy guns were activated by a two stage trigger system ... a small nipple type button in the hand grip activated something inside the gun so that when the trigger was pulled the toy gun made a noise reminiscent of either a buzzsaw at a lumber mill or a hamster being put in a blender.  We both found that even at the age of 8 years old we could make more accurate Star Wars blaster sounds using our mouths than Kenner could using electronics and back then electronics was the big thing in toys ... an electronic toy was cutting edge and these toy guns weren't the cheapest toys on the market.  They weren't the most expensive, but they weren't the cheapest either.

Pictured above ... Han Solo's German Mauser based heavy blaster pistol.  The trigger always felt like it would break off if you pulled it too hard.  You unscrewed the two twist knobs on the side and inserted two "C" sized batteries in the toy.  The batteries had amazingly short lives, IIRC.  Oh, yeah, both weapons had "secret buttons" which really weren't that secret in hindsight.

I think one of the things that endeared me most to the weapons of Star Wars was the fact that all of the weapons were built out of real world counterparts ... familiar counterparts ... mostly taken from World War II which fit right in with my pre-Star Wars love affair of all things World War I and World War II.  Years of being weaned on "Sgt. Rock" and "The Unknown Soldier" and "The Losers" and other combat comics and of playing with Marx "green army men" had made me more than aware of the many, many weapons used in the major wars.  As such, it was easy to see where Han Solo's blaster was made out of a early 20th century German Mauser (one of my favorite pistols of all time).  The standard Stormtrooper weapons included the standard issue blaster rifle (created from a Sterling 9mm submachinegun) and two heavy blasters created out of a German MG34 machinegun and a British Lewis machinegun.  Scopes and doo-dads were added liberally to these classic weapons but their cores, their guts, were unmistakeable which I guess made them all the more believable when they were being used because I had seen so many combat movies where the cores of those fantastic weapons had been used.

The 3 Position Laser Rifle was probably the neater (and more expensive) of the two blaster offerings but it was also the more prone to break.  Loading batteries into this toy weapon required that you twist / pop the rear loop off at the rear of the weapon, take a cover off and insert two "D" sized batteries (batteries not included).  When you pulled the secret nipple trigger below the trigger guard and then pulled the trigger the 3 Position Laser Rifle did something that the Laser Pistol did not ... it spun a yellow with black stripes "barber pole" inside the barrel ... and made a sound reminiscent of a failing starter on a AMC Pacer.

The rear loop, for whatever reason it was included, was both prone to breaking through hard play and even more prone to simply fall off and disappear.  I'm not sure why the rear loop was part of the design as it wouldn't hold the rifle on anything like a belt loop or a shoulder srap.  The rear loop wasn't required for the laser rifle to work but it was something that when it went missing you felt like your toy was incomplete.  The trigger was also way more substantial than the trigger found on the laser pistol.

What really set the Laser Rifle apart from the Laser Pistol was the three position folding stock hence the name of the weapon being 3 Position Laser Rifle.  The stock was affixed to the weapon at two swivel points located at the back and to each side of the hand grip.  On the front, a simple clip "snapped" the folding stock in tight against the barrel.  This clip also did not survive strenuous childhood rough housing and when it broke it would leave you with a folding stock that simply had to either be deployed full or held tight against the barrel.

The three positions, seen above on the box, were folded (standard), shoulder pad down up front (guard) and fully extended (turning the rifle into a real rifle).  While we never saw any of the three positions of the stock being used in the movie that didn't stop us from taking it as canon and running with it.

Although my original 3 Position Laser Rifle never made it with me out of childhood I was lucky enough to find a replacement on Ebay a few years ago.  The toy did include the rare (and often lost) rear D-ring type clip but the front clip for the stock was broken.  The toy blaster did not work even with new batteries and a quick inspection of the screws used to secure the casing showed that the tiny screws were heavily rusted and corroded.  If I go into this toy to see if I can fix it, it's going to require new screws as I have doubts if the heads of the current screws may even make it through a very careful disassembly.  I also plan on using a simple pair of magnets under the barrel to "grab" the stock and secure it in the folded position.

I said that I never owned the Laser Pistol ... now I do, from the same Ebay seller and in similar condition (though this toy still had some obscure, cheap-ass "C" size batteries in it that were rusting to pieces).  Other than the non-functioning electronics and the broken stock retaining clip on the laser rifle, both toy weapons seem quite well preserved for 36 year old artifacts from my childhood.  Both are dusty as hell and will require hours of careful cleaning to be fully presentable but the plastic is still non-discolored and uncracked.

I think I'll mount them on pegs on the wall of my study where, like my other iconic toys from the 1970's, I'm sure they'll incite conversation from those who remember these toys.  As I hold these toy weapons in my hands, I'm taken back to cold winter days where imagination ran free and so did we through the yards of our neighbors yelling and laughing and not having a care in the world other than how much fun we could have.

Advertisement - First Marvel "Star Wars" Comics Action Figure Ad - Issue #14, August 1978

Here is the first in-issue advertisement for Star Wars action figures from Issue #14, August 1978.  Note the price of a Marvel comic book back then ... 35 cents!

The color is good but wrong, also note the price ... $2.79 each plus fifty cents shipping and fondling.  The original three vehicles (Landspeeder, X-Wing fighter and TIE fighter).  Again, just the first nine figures.  Missing in action are the three rarer figures; the Sand People, the Death Squad Commander and the Jawa.  

I've said before that, at least for me, the Sand People, Death Squad Commander and Jawa were the hardest figures to find.  Maybe I wasn't the only one that this happened to.  All told, it took me nearly a year after the Early Bird Kit to finish out my original twelve back figure collection.

Advertisement - first Star Wars merchandise listing - Warren Publishing - "Creepy" and "Eerie" Magazine - October 1977

Growing up in the 1970's, Warren Publishing's "Famous Monsters" was big among kids my age but for me it was Warren's other horror offerings, "CREEPY" and "EERIE" magazines which were a mixture of fantasy, horror and science fiction.  Many famous artists contributed to these magazines, artists like Richard Corben, Pepe Moreno, and Frank Frazetta.

After "Star Wars" debuted in May of 1977, the story aspect of these two magazines began to be less horror and more science fiction.  Also, after "Star Wars" merchandise started to roll out the ad sections at the back of these magazines became clearing houses for all the good stuff.

Here is the first Star Wars merchandise advertisement in Warren Publishing's "Creepy" series magazine, Issue 92, and "Eerie" series magazine, Issue 87, both circa October 1977.  Figures and toys were still several months away but these early merchandising items were the first few snowflakes of the marketing and merchandise avalanche that was soon to follow.

Here we have the original four masks, a few films, the original double LP (vinyl) soundtrack, the novelization of the movie, a movie poster and four T-shirts.  The movies were available in two formats; black and white (with subtitles) for $9.95 or color with sound for $29.95 (which back then was quite a bit of money).

For what it is worth, in the Summer of 1978, the local Hattiesburg public library had a special showing of the color 8mm movie with sound.  They touted that they were showing "Star Wars" but it was only about 10 minutes long ... butchered for the Super 8 genre but hey, it was "Star Wars" ... again, and I loved sitting on that tile floor in the dark in the old public library and watching 10 minutes of pure magic.  

Advertisement - early Star Wars Action Figure ad - "Creepy" Magazine, May 1978

Back during the late 1970's we didn't have the Internet, toy companies didn't have websites and the only way to find out about new toys or cool stuff was this mass media object called a "magazine."  It was like a soft book, it had pages inside of it, most of them black and white.  There were sections for the editors to talk to you ("news") and sections for you to respond ("mail" or "feedback") which, I guess, was like an early type of message forum.  Nevertheless, way back in the 1970's the way that we, as kids, found out about new toys was often in the back of magazines like "Starlog", "Fantastic Films" and of course, Warren Publishing's "Creepy" and "Eerie" magazines which were a treasure trove of new toys.  I usually found out about new Star Wars toys first in "Creepy" and "Eerie" because those were two magazines that I read each month.  

I never bought the magazines, I just read them and that's because my mother would go grocery shopping at Jitney Jungle near Cloverleaf Mall and Jitney Jungle had a well stocked magazine section that had everything from romance novels to best sellers and of course, magazines.  While my mother shopped for groceries, I would sit on the lower magazine rack (it was angled slightly upward, like a pew at a church) and I would take each magazine and read it from cover to cover.  I was a quick reader but my mom usually took about 45 minutes to an hour to shop and compare prices, etc.  This gave me plenty of time to "catch up" from what I had read and learned from last month's issues.  

Among the magazines were such (then) contemporary favorites like "Cracked", "Mad", "Starlog", "Fangoria", "Fantastic Films", "Creepy", "Eerie" and later, "The Rook."  While the glossy sci-fi magazines had some sections at the back to advertise products and toys you could buy the Warren Publishing titles were like a set of horror, fantasy and science fiction stories stapled to a toy catalog.  Once the last story was told, page after page of toys, games, puzzles, models, novels, movies, posters, clothing ... just about anything and everything ... was listed for sale and since "Star Wars" merchandise had such a high demand (and a high profit margin), the "Star Wars" section soon grew from a single page to several pages during the late 1970's.  Sometimes full color spreads of "Star Wars" merchandise would grace the back cover or inside covers of these magazines, such was the attention that these items were demanding and getting.

.

May 1978.  New "Star Wars" products!  See page 73.

"Star Wars" and its merchandise was so hot that magazines advertised the fact that you could purchase this stuff out of this magazine ... with the intent being that even if you didn't like the magazine you might just buy it so you could fill out the order form and purchase some of the "Star Wars" merchandise.  Selling "Star Wars" merchandise from a magazine, with the magazine offering itself as a conduit to this amazing swag and booty, was itself a selling point.  All just part of the magic of the era.

 

Already assembled!!!!   I don't ever remember any action figures that ever needed any assembly.  Very early ad from the back of Warren Publishing's "Creepy" magazine, Issue 97, May 1978 (a full year after "Star Wars" hit the theaters) advertising nine of the original twelve Kenner action figures.  Not shown is the "Death Squad Commander", "Sand People" and "Jawa" which would be (at least for me) the hardest three figures of the original twelve to find. 

This was the tip of the iceberg, the snowball that started rolling downhill from the top of the mountain and started the avalanche that covered everything below.  Soon every major cult magazine would be advertising "Star Wars" related merchandise in the hopes of getting their share of the giant cash pie that George Lucas had baked and served up hot and fresh.