In the spirit of the holidays, and of the 30th anniversary of the first real year of Star Wars merchandising, we thought we'd explore some of the vintage merchandise stored in the Lucasfilm Archives that were placed under Christmas trees back in 1978. No Wii consoles or iPods here -- just good old-fashioned action figures with five points of articulation and board games with graphics cards that get dealt from a deck.
Lucas Licensing Archive Supervisor Marc Wendt, who oversees the entire collection of Star Wars licensed merchandise old and new, remembers Star Wars' early merchandising years well, being a 14-year-old kid who by-in-large admired Star Wars toys from afar:
"In 1977, my family was going through some tough times, so there wasn't a lot of money for Christmas," says Wendt. "Now, here I am a grown up, and all year long I receive the coolest Star Wars toys, day in day out, for the archives, which is wonderful."
Wendt is now glad to be able to help out kids whose families might also find themselves in some tough times by donating toys in the annual Toys for Tots program.
"Working with Star Wars merchandise is like working at Santa's shop," he continues. "I know the whole Licensing team looks forward to this time of year, when the warm spirit of the holiday season returns and the Marines show up to collect what we've saved for the Toys for Tots program. They make the term "Happy Holidays" possible for so many kids."
Click the images below for details on some of the old merchandise we found hidden in the Lucas Licensing Archives, and also check out our recent trip highlighting Star Wars on super-8, which would have also made popular gifts back in 1978:
