I was in Germany and Italy during the lead up to TPM so I missed most of the merchandising. Regardless of that fact there was still quite a bit of merchandise that showed up at the Post Exchange in Wiesbaden. When AOTC came out I was back in the States so I did see the merchandising that accompanied that film, but it wasn’t any worse than the SE merchandise in 1997. I don’t doubt that there was quite a bit of hype leading up to TPM; I just can’t pass judgment on it because I was not in a position to observe the marketing blitz personally.

To be fair I can also remember collectable Burger King drinking glasses for ESB and ROTJ.