An Introduction to Kenner Mail-away Offers
      From the very start, the experience of collecting Kenner's Star Wars action figures was intertwined with the concept of the mail-away--that special item which could only be received through the mail, as a type of premium or bonus for buying something else. In fact, the first Kenner action figure item, the 4 figure "Early Bird Kit," was only available to consumers who had purchased the Early Bird Certificate package during the Christmas season in 1977. Kids who received the package could send away the certificate and in a few months' time they would receive their figures. A marketing coupe for Kenner--who had been unable to get their figures to market in time for the Christmas season--the Early Bird Kit set the tone for the Kenner toy line, which featured at least one mail-away item every subsequent year until the line petered out in 1985.

      Every child (and a few isolated adults) that collected the Star Wars toy line has those mail-away related memories--diligently cutting out those round proofs-of-purchase, storing them in a drawer or plastic baggie, sending them away when a new promotion rolled around, and, most poignant of all, waiting with bated breath for the toy you sent away for to arrive. Personally, I can remember running to the mail box every day hoping to find that little white box, in which would be safely stowed my Admiral Ackbar figure or Survival Kit accessory set. It was all part of the routine, the ritual, the fun of collecting Star Wars toys.

      Of course, the most infamous tale in all of Star Wars collecting history owes its existence to a mail-away promotion. I'm speaking, of course, of the Boba Fett promotion. Originally advertised as having a firing rocket, the Fett figure was modified prior to release in order to render the rocket unfireable. Although stories of kids receiving RocketFetts in the mail abound, it has been convincingly proven that no rocket firing Fett figures were ever mailed. Still, it makes for an interesting bit of collecting lore.

      This mail away section is focused specifically on those items which were offered by Kenner as part of a premium program. All were advertised on some other product and most were intended as a way of coaxing consumers to buy more Kenner products (meaning, of course, that you had to obtain the proofs-of-purchase from several retail items in order to receive the mail-away). This section does not include the mail-away premiums associated with other companies' products, such as those offered by Coca-Cola and Pepperidge Farm, nor does it encompass the vast number of items that were available for direct purchase via the many department store catalogs. (Information regarding catalog figure packs can be found here.)

      You'll find that the below chart is broken up into two main sections. The top portion is devoted to those items which were primarily advertised on action figure blister cards. The Early Bird Kit is the exception to this rule, since there were no blister cards available when it was first advertised. For the sake of showing what would have been had the line continued, we've also included the infamous Power of the Force coin album, which was planned to be advertised on the cancelled 93 figure cardback, but which never saw release (it exists today only in prototype form). The second, more concise portion includes items which, while not advertised via blister cards, were nevertheless part of a Kenner mail away program. These include the 1985 C-3PO's cereal promotion for 4 Micro Collection figures, the "Star Wars Is Forever" poster, and the "Young Jedi Knight" promotional package. The last of these is somewhat anamolous, since you didn't have to buy anything in order to receive your free figure, but it fits in with our theme well enough.

      This section was designed to integrate with the Archive's extensive chart spotlighting blister card variations, and throughout the two sections you'll find links leading to relevant items within one or the other area.

      Select items on these pages appear courtesy of the collections of Will Grief, Gus Lopez, Dov Kelemer, Todd Chamberlain, Duncan Jenkins and Steve Niemzcyk of the Star Wars Insert Guide.

      Ron Salvatore (salfamily@aol.com)


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