Force fact: These were the very first Kenner Star Wars Action Figures to be released. The back shows the original 12 figures as well as the early vehicles and the Mail In Collectors Action Stand. Kenner used artwork rather than pictures of the toys themselves for all but the Display Stand. The Star Wars figures in 1978 were the only ones depicted this way on the back of the cards. From 1979 onward the toys themselves would be pictured rather than artwork renderings.

Please note there is a variation on the 12 A, just to make things more confusing.  It has nothing to do with the card itself but the earliest release of this batch had the SKU number printed on the footer underneath the figure itself inside the bubble.  These are referred to as 12A SKU releases.

These figures, as well as the other Kenner Star Wars toys, combined to make this the most successful movie related toy line ever. The Action Figures from the 12 Back releases sold a staggering 26,000,000 units in 1978 alone. Unheard of success for a toy line with similar amazing results to come for the next decade.

Force fact:

• The offer on the Collectors Display Stand had been changed including a second way to acquire it with no money and 12 Proof of Purchases.  These Proof of Purchases were to become a marketing phenomena. Kenner puts these Proof of Purchases (or POP as they are referred to in the hobby), the small circular blue and white image in the bottom right corner, to be cut out and mailed in for new toys and this was the first example of their use.
  • The 12 B Back is the second of the 12 Back series from 1978. The 12 B had a few changes from the A.

  Additionally the Lightsaber artwork in Luke’s arm is a tad longer in the How to Work area.

• Force fact:
  • The 12 C Back is next on our list. The C’s only change is again in the How to Work area. The instructions for the Lightsabers has changed reflecting a manufacturing alteration at Kenner. The original Lightsabers were designed to be “Double Telescoping” meaning the outer shaft came out and an inner shaft was then pulled out even further. This proved both overly costly and fragile so Kenner dropped this concept very early on. That has made the DT figures, as they are known, quite rare and difficult to come by. Luke is by far the easiest to find of the three but is still a difficult one to get.

  Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi are virtually impossible to find. Fakes abound on these Lightsabers so be very wary when you see one offered for sale.

Force fact:

Now things start to get very interesting regarding the backs. The Star Wars D back is actually released during The Empire Strikes Back and not as a first release but after 2 or maybe 3 waves of figures have been released. The major change is that this is a 12 C Back with an additional sticker on the back show Collect All 32 Figures which includes the first 11 figures of the new movie. The purpose or reason for this release is unknown but most likely Kenner found left over cards and, not to waste any material, simply released them with the sticker on the back. Interestingly the four figures that are found most from this wave are the four figures from the Early Bird Kit which has led to speculation that this is just left over inventory found in a warehouse. However other figures than those four have been found on this cardback but they are quite rare to find not that the first four are easy to find, they are not. Anyway this is the first of the unusual and more odd of the Kenner releases.

Force fact:

The 20 A Back begins the standard where Kenner introduces it new figures and displays the old ones, at least those still available. Another change is that all the toys are now photographed and no artwork is used. The top show the New Eight Figures Available Soon which, in fact, no available yet in this line. As far as I can remember only the original 12 were released on the 20 A Backs so this back was more or less a teaser of what was to come. Also new was the bottom panel of the back of the card would now be used to showcase Vehicles and Playsets for the line as well as Mail Away offers (much more to come with that shortly).

Force fact:

The 20 B Back is very much the same as the 20 A with a few changes. For starters the new figures are actually available but in extremely limited quantities. The new 8 Figures on this back are extremely rare. The change on the back was regarding the Vehicles on the bottom. The Cantina and Land of the Jawas have changed from photos of the prototypes to production items.

Force fact:

The 20 C Back has some considerable changes as they flipped the Figures to the bottom and but the Vehicles above them but the main focus at top is the Mail Away offer for the Boba Fett Action Figure. Boba Fett is pictured in prototype form and is advertising the rocket firing feature that was NEVER released.

• Force fact:
  The 20 D Back begins a run of sticker variations. The card itself does not change but Kenner has a whole series of alterations to the Boba Fett offer. The D back has a black sticker covering the picture of the Rocket firing that is curved on its edges. If you are asking who cares about the edges of the sticker you have no idea what is in store for versions E through L.

Force fact:

The 20 E Back has a new sticker with curved edges that describes the new Bounty Hunter, Boba Fett.

Force fact:

The 20 F Back has a yet another new sticker with straight edges that is blacked out once again. Also there is a new Offer extended circular sticker that extends the offer until 3/31/1980. I suspect there should be another version of this back without the red sticker but that is not generally accepted at this point.

• The 20 G Back begins the utter nonsense of sticker madness. G has a squared corner sticker with the red circular extended offer. Also accepted as a G back for reasons I do not know is the same yellow sticker with squared corners.

  Force fact:

Again should be a different issue but this is the conventional wisdom here.

Force fact:

The 20 H Back is the same as before with the yellow sticker and the circular red sticker extended offer with, get this, a new rectangular sticker extending the offer yet again until 12/31/1980. That Boba Fett offer will now be running for 2 full years!

Force fact:

The 20 I Back is the back to the blacked out sticker (square corners) and the new rectangular sticker extending the offer yet again until 12/31/1980. No picture yet of this variation.

Force fact:

The 20 J Back is the same as before with the yellow sticker but just the new rectangular sticker extending the offer yet again until 12/31/1980.

• Force fact:
  The 20 K Back at least offers something new. A new Action Figure mail away sticker offer! This time it is the Secret Figure Offer that is pasted on the back of the card, no more Boba Fett!

Force fact:

The 20 L Back is not a variation that has been readily acknowledged but given the endless sticker variations that is not a surprise. For variety sake I am adding it as the 20 L. This is the very early release, the 20 C, with a rectangular second extension offer. Speculatively my guess is that these stickers could have been added at the stores by Kenner merchandiser or reps and this one was an early release that was just a peg warmer for some reason. We will never know for certain on some details of these toys.

Force fact:

Finally no more 20 Backs! This is the 21 A Back and some of its content is a bit puzzling. It now includes Boba Fett in the general release of figures and this is a late 1979 release. With that said Kenner still shows prototype Vehicles on the bottom of the page. Go figure.

Force fact:

The change on the 21 B is much like the 20 A to 20 B, the Vehicles went from prototypes to production.

• The change on the 21 C is much like the 20 K back in that Kenner slapped a new Action Figure mail away sticker offer and it is the Secret Figure Offer again. It is generally believed that the Secret Figure offer that is on the earlier 20 Backs are just left over inventory that had the new sticker applied to it. This was very common practice with Kenner with that 12 D Back released during The Empire Strikes Back being the most striking example of “waste not, want not.”

  Force fact:

There is also a 21 D Back that has, I know you can guess, the red rectangular sticker extending the offer until 12/31/1980.

Force fact:

Well I had to put this one somewhere so I decided on Star Wars given that is technically what the card is. This is a 12 Back in all ways except it was released in 1980 and with a sticker on the back of 32 ESB figures. My best guess is that this was left over inventory found in a Kenner warehouse and they being of the proper business “waste not want not” philosophy printed up another sticker, slapped it on the back and off they went. Given that these are rare figures in any vein the fact that the most “common” of these are the R2-D2, Chewbacca, Leia and Luke (and I do use the term common only in regards to the ESB 12/32 Back releases as none are common overall) I wonder if there was some leftover unsold Early Bird figures that got put to card late and then found. Anyway like any theory on such things we will probably never know. I remember a similar theory of mine given like circumstances I supposed the General Veers, R2-D2 Senscope and Luke Hoth were the more again “common” of the vacuformed Canadian ESB cards that they were left over inventory from the Sears Rebel Command Center as they were the same figures. Good theory until I was informed by a Canadian customer many years ago that they never got the Rebel Command Center in Canada. So as said, just a theory and words on a page.