| Micro Collection 4up Presentation Piece for Kenner | |
| Look familiar? If you're into non-production Kenner items at all, it should, because it looks very similar to a much smaller piece given out by Kenner at their Toy Fair Breakfast in 1982. Of course, the Toy Fair piece was made with production-scale Micro Collection figures, and so was only a couple of inches tall. This piece, however, utilizes hand-made hardcopies of those same figures, each of which is a full 4 times the size of its production counterpart.
The story behind this piece is an obscure one, and I don't believe its ever been brought to light in any other collecting forum. 20 of them were ordered put together by Kenner, in order that they might have something to present to Kenner big whigs and associates in commemoration of Kenner's success with the Star Wars license. Of course, the pieces probably also would have served to help get the word out about Kenner's new Micro Collection line, the development of which they had invested quite a bit of time and money in. Apparently, this oversized item was liked so much, the decision was made to produce a smaller scale version for distribution at Toy Fair. This thing is pretty dang impressive to look at. The figures are mounted on a solid wood base, the front of which originally bore a rectangular brass plaque. Those of you familiar with the Micro line will have probably already noticed that these figures are colored a bit oddly. Specifically, several details of their outfits have been painted more precisely than they were on their production counterparts. The Luke figure's pockets, for instance, are painted brown, while the lights of Vader's chest plate have been carefully delineated. Also notice that Luke's eyes have been indicated, a detail totally ignored on standard versions of the figure. Cool, huh? The folks at Kenner must have though so too, since they had a larger 4-Up ensemble piece made for presentation to Lucasfilm.
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Anonymous |
| From the collection of: | Anonymous |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Micro Collection |