Kenner Empire Strikes Back Toy Catalog

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While it could be said that Kenner was caught with it's pants down when meeting demand for toys based on Star Wars in 1977, nobody would call them slouchs when it came to the sequel, the Emprie Strikes Back. They were more than prepared to meet the demand they created by offering mysterious new characters like "Boba Fett" and "Bossk". Seeing that I was 9 at the time this stuff came out, I can honestly remember the fever it caused.




Click on the images below to be transported again to the 1980 Kenner Star Wars offerings






1980 Kenner Empire Strikes Back Catalog

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[vulcan2074]

Some of my all time favorite toys. I Love Star Wars
Sammy

[rche]

Oh, I soooo loved those little catalogs. I still gots a stack of 'em right next to me
.
Confessional: I used to slip them out of the vehicle boxes just to see if anything new was coming out that I had not heard of yet. Of course, since they were already out of the box, most of them went home with me.
My apologies if you bought a Snowspeeder in Albuquerque and were missing your catalog.

[starsky]

classic!! love em!!

[toys2cool]

awesome, ESB had some of the coolest fig's... Like Lando & IG-88 and Yoda

[nvmbrsdoom5]

Many MANY happy memories of buying ESB toys, getting them for Xmas, playing with the Hoth related toys in the snow in my front yard, etc.

I have a couple of strong memories of my dad surprising me with ESB toys when he'd come home from a business trip. Once he brought back a Twin Pod Cloud Car and a 3-3/4" Yoda figure, both of which I'd never seen before, and I was so ridiculously excited. Now that my dad is gone, I have a particularly strong sentimental feeling towards these toys

How many of us took those little catalogs with us to school and would sit and stare at the pages of toys we wanted when we shoulda been reading our books? LOL

[DocDrako]

I remember getting the Darth Vader carrying case for Christmas. And when I opened it up, there were already a bunch of new figures inside! I gave the case to my wife's nephew when he came to visit once. He didn't have hardly any action figures so I hooked him up with some of mine and threw in the case just so he could carry them. He was very happy and it made me pretty happy too. Star Wars toys are the reason I forgot about Megos as a kid. Had I remained a Mego kid, I'd probably be a member at the Star Wars Museum today. If there is such a thing.



I forgot to mention that I also got the 12" Darth Vader from my cousin Janet, and 12" Boba Fett from my dad that year. I still have Vader (sans lightsaber and cape) somewhere, although I gave Boba Fett to my brother in law. I remember opening Boba Fett and as I played I realized that, unlike the picture on the packaging, I didn't have the Wookie Scalps. I then realized that I had thought that they were just part of the packaging and had thrown them away. I dug through the Christmas trash but never found them. It was the only accessory that I lost before I ever had a chance to use it. I lost Zartan's face disguise pretty quickly years later though.

[EmergencyIan]

I have lots of specific memories of playing with the ESB Star wars figures, sets and vehicles. Especially of playing with the AT-AT and Tan-Tan (spelling?) with the figures, of course.

- Ian

[tomstoyz2]

Good Times, Good Times.

[mightyquinn]

Loved those bounty hunters from ESB!

[R.O.M.]

Great memories. I was only 2 when Star Wars came out, but I saw it at some point and was hooked by the time ESB came out when I was 5. This was numero uno in my world until I got the GI Joe bug a few years later.

Darth's Tie Fighter was badass. That and the Remote Control Jawa Sandcrawler are a couple of my favs from that release.

My mom spoiled me pretty good, so I had almost every figure, and quite a few of the larger playsets and vehicles. The AT-AT was the big Christmas present one year, and that was always one of my best toys. That and the Millenium Falcon are just icons in my book.

The Star Destroyer playset was one that always bummed me out. I loved the big stuff, and that was as big as you could get, yet they made something that looked nothing like a Star Destroyer and was nowhere near scale (not that you could really do it). I always wished they had done like a USS Flagg-sized Star Destroyer or something. That would've been awesome.

I like the diecast and micro-sized toys, though, too. The detail is great, and I like the little plastic action parts you could move. Man, I wished I could've found a TIE Bomber!!!! I remember seeing it in catalogs like this, but never in a store. Makes sense. I would have scooped it up and gave it to mom if I had, just because it looked so cool!