Page 40 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2020)

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IN A NEW SERIES, STAR WARS INSIDER LOOKS AT THE STORY BEHIND CLASSIC
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COLLECTIBLES. WHERE BETTER TO START THAN WITH THE CLASSIC KENNER 3¾”
START THAN WITH THE CLASSIC KENNNER 3¾”
HE MUCH-LOVED TELESCOPING LIGHTSABERS?
ACTION FIGURE LINE—FEATURING THE MUCH-LOVED TELESCOPING LIGHTSABERS?
he first four Star Wars figures the toy also broke easily during play,

ever made were Chewbacca, violating the “Long Play Toy” claim
R2-D2, Princess Leia, and Kenner advertised on its packaging
Luke Skywalker. Included in at the time.
Tthe legendary Early Bird Kit, Thus, the double telescoping feature
these four were sent to kids in the mail was revised into the standard one-piece
in the early months of 1978. While three saber most common on the Ben

of the four were standard figures, the and Vader figures. Blueprint change
Luke was special as his lightsaber was drawings have surfaced showing a
an early Kenner design that was soon change date in mid-November of
discarded. Rather than the single-piece 1977, well before the Early Bird kits
saber, the Early Bird Luke had a were shipped. So, Kenner already knew
two-piece saber: a main shaft that slid the feature was not going to survive.
in and out of the arm, and a smaller While the majority of DT Lukes came
filament that slid in and out of the shaft. in the Early Bird kit, some of these also

Collectors have come to call this the ended up on cardbacks at retail. This
Double Telescoping lightsaber (or DT variant is exceedingly rare and, while
for short). there is no solid count, experts
When Kenner was creating product suspect that less than 25 remain
concepts for the action figures, Bernie in existence today. The loose version

Loomis, the president of the company at is fairly common and can be found
the time, wanted the saber to magically regularly in the market for $150-$200,

appear in the figure’s hand. Several but carded examples are pushing the
concepts were prototyped to achieve $10,000 mark.
this goal, including one saber that Even rarer are the DT Ben and Vader
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would wind up around a spool inside figures. Kenner produced some Bens
the figure. The problem with this and Vaders with the double telescoping

design was that when extended, the lightsabers early in the production
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lightsaber retained a curved shape— BERNIE LOOMIS, THE process prior to making the change,
not exactly movie accurate! though far less were produced than the
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The best idea was a two-piece saber. PRESIDENT OF KENNER, Luke figure. Most of the examples in
Engineering this was difficult, however; collectors’ hands today came through

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at the 3¾” size, the plastic for the saber WANTED THE LIGHTSABER Kenner sources as loose figures, but
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was very thin and fragile. To keep the there are a few examples of carded
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small filament from simply falling out TO MAGICALLY APPEAR. DT Bens and Vaders, and at least one

of the larger shaft, Kenner had two example with a store price sticker,

designs. The first was the “mushroom proving these figures did make it to

tip,” where the tip of the filament already was. The final design was just to retail. The scarcity of DT Ben and Vader

was melted into a small dome or mold a slight kink in the tip of the saber, cannot be overstated. Most likely fewer
“mushroom” shape after being installed which kept the filament from falling out, than 30 loose examples exist for each

into the larger shaft. This approach but left Luke with a bent light blade. Not figure, and the number of carded
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never worked as the melting made the only was the double telescoping saber examples can be counted on your
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small filament even more fragile than it design a problem in manufacturing, but fingers. Loose, the price of a DT Ben

40 INSIDER