Micro Collection "4-Up" Lucasfilm Presentation Piece: Will you look at this thing?! Without a doubt, its one of the most significant, yet surprisingly unheard of, non-production Kenner items to have ever been created. It was produced, probably sometime in 1981, as symbol of Kenner's gratitude to Lucasfilm for their then nearly 5 year association with the Star Wars license. Of course, since Kenner was set to release their extensive (and ultimately doomed) Micro Collection product line in only a few months' time, this impressive piece would have also served to build enthusiasm for the new concept among the folks that mattered--the meal ticket. As you can see, it consists of a wooden base, several hardcopy 4:1 Micro prototypes, a glass enclosure and a bronze plaque saying something to the effect of "thanks for associating yourself with us." Only one of these bad boys was made. Its a safe bet its still at Lucasfilm.

Those of you who are familiar with the Micro Collection line might notice that several of these figures bear paint details not present on their production counterparts. For instance, the eyes of the figures have been carefully delineated and the lights of Vader's chest plate are painted.

This thing is large. Keep in mind that these are not production-scale figures--they're 4-Ups, which means the base of this is probably a good 2 feet in length. Kenner also utilized 4-Up Micro Collection figures for a conceptually similar, internal presentation piece featuring figures of Luke and Darth Vader.