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.
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