Fox or Lucasfilm sued over all the lightsaber knockoffs in the 70’s. I had one of these for Halloween around 1978 or '79.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-1970s-Space-Sword-toy-molded-plastic-glow-in-the-dark-by-Toy-Box-USA-23-/262597449701
Mine had a futuristic decal on the hilt though. The molds were probably for some more earthly toy sword before 1977. Ironically, I thought it was cooler than Kenner’s official version, which as an adult looks like a giant rubber on a flashlight. 😉
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XESLIiwsWp8Kenner did make a cooler saber by ESB though. Wish I still had my red bladed beauty!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hn0AxNeb_vM
And again, someone at Kenner had a yellow saber fetish or something.
That ESB one actually looks kind of cool. The whistle sound effect was pretty clever.
That floppy yellow balloon on the other hand just looks really awkward.
“Inflation required” isn’t something I ever thought I’d hear from a lightsaber commercial btw. Also, I can imagine that balloon popped quite often?
I still can’t wrap my mind around why they kept making them yellow though? I mean the lightsaber toys that were available in the late 90’s when I was a kid didn’t always have the right colour that corresponded to the hilt design. But I get that. That’s a pretty nitpicky detail. But making toys with a colour never apeared in the films, that’s really weird to me.
Then again it makes a great discussion topic, so I guess I shouldn’t complain.