1981 Kenner
'The Empire Strikes Back'
Mini Catalog
This article and gallery is a continuation from the 1977 Kenner Star Wars Mini Catalog post that I made last year, and it can be found by clicking here. By 1980 Star Wars fever had swept the world and the sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, was coming out. Many would consider this the best Star Wars film made to date (I agree). I myself was head over heals about Star Wars, more so than the first film, because I was older and understood it better. I was also more heavily into the toys at this point as I was 5 and 6 years old during the Empire run. I would say the bulk of my Star Wars toys were bought during this time, and thankfully I still have them.
This particular mini-cat also has the advertisement for joining the "Star Wars Fan Club", which was awesome! I wish I still had copies of the "Bantha Tracks" newsletter that they sent out. I think all I have left from the fan club is the 'Empire Strikes Back' patch, which I have on display. It is also interesting that they are showing the original WHITE X-Wing Fighter, as it was not long after that they changed over to the gray battle damaged models.
The toy merchandise line was made again by Cincinnati based toy maker Kenner and these post card or smaller miniature catalogs were included inside many of the packaged of Star Wars toys. They gave a kid a glimpse of what was available in the highly sought after toy line, or what would be coming! This particular mini catalog is dated from 1981, and I had a bunch of this stuff! One item in particular, Han Solo’s Blaster, is probably one of my all-time favorite toys I’ve ever owned. You can see an article about me “bringing it back to life” by clicking here. Anyhow, below are some high resolution scans of this 1981 Kenner ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ mini catalog to look over! Enjoy!
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