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Discussion: What Was Your Reaction (If You Ordered It In 1978) To The Infamous "Early Bird Star Wars Toy Kit"?

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I’ve written about this before but the Early Bird set was AMAZING.

Seriously. Do any of you know / remember what was available for Star Wars by Christmas 1977? The novel (with some photos). The board game. The soundtrack. Maybe some t-shirts / pajamas? Oh, and the Marvel comics.

If the early bird box was ALL you got for Christmas, um, yeah it wasn’t much. But it was a lovely piece of artwork. It was a promise. It was fun. (It taught me how to draw Artoo Detoo.) AND when the figures shipped (way earlier than potentially promised) you got you figures weeks before anyone else did.

The only downside to the box was that when you got the figures in their little white plastic box you wouldn’t have the figure cards that your friends had (and like you did for Han which was OBVIOUSLY the first figure you bought).

I might be a special kind of nerd, I guess. I loved getting new Star Wars toys for the little Kenner catalog that came with them.

– Bill

Never tell me the odds.

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Tallguy said:

I’ve written about this before but the Early Bird set was AMAZING.

Seriously. Do any of you know / remember what was available for Star Wars by Christmas 1977? The novel (with some photos). The board game. The soundtrack. Maybe some t-shirts / pajamas? Oh, and the Marvel comics.

If the early bird box was ALL you got for Christmas, um, yeah it wasn’t much. But it was a lovely piece of artwork. It was a promise. It was fun. (It taught me how to draw Artoo Detoo.) AND when the figures shipped (way earlier than potentially promised) you got you figures weeks before anyone else did.

The only downside to the box was that when you got the figures in their little white plastic box you wouldn’t have the figure cards that your friends had (and like you did for Han which was OBVIOUSLY the first figure you bought).

I might be a special kind of nerd, I guess. I loved getting new Star Wars toys for the little Kenner catalog that came with them.

thanks good to know

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I never got the EBS. Hell, I didnt even know it exsisted until after the fact. But I do remember my first figure, Chewbacca from Service Merchandise! I was only 8 yrs old, but boy was I excited and played with my lone figure until Christmas of 78’ when I got all the figures, a TIE Fighter, an X-Wing and Lukes landspeeder. To date, probably the best Christmas ever. From then on until Jedi, every Christmas was Star Wars heavy.

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rodneyfaile said:

Parents said “No, it’s a scam, end of discussion.”

Did other kids getting their figures in the mail shoot some holes in that argument a tad? 😉

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Where were you in '77?

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SilverWook said:

rodneyfaile said:

Parents said “No, it’s a scam, end of discussion.”

Did other kids getting their figures in the mail shoot some holes in that argument a tad? 😉

Nice.

– Bill

Never tell me the odds.

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SilverWook said:

rodneyfaile said:

Parents said “No, it’s a scam, end of discussion.”

Did other kids getting their figures in the mail shoot some holes in that argument a tad? 😉

Nope. Their level of cognitive dissonance is high.

They didn’t believe in going to the theater or even renting movies. All of that is a scam. In their opinion, if a movie is worth seeing they will eventually broadcast it on TV for free.