| Empire Strikes Back General Veers | |
| With some shakey beginnings in the collecting community these oddball figures were once the topic of debate and theory. Due to the curiosity of Canadian collector Scott Bradley the truth is now known. Scott investigated with a call to Sears-Canada corporate headquarters and was sent color copies of 4 pages from the 1980 and 1981 Christmas catalog Wishbooks. The figures were sold both years in different sets as can be seen here. Scott recalled that these special boxed sets included figures that were packaged side by side in boxes that were bilingual (English and French). They also had an Only at Sears starburst on the box. This starburst can be seen on another type of Canadian 3-figure multipack in the Tomart guide on page 192. The 7-figure multipack box backing shown here pictures the different packs available. The multipacks offered in 1980 consisted of 7 figures including a new one exclusive only to Sears at the time. There were 5 different multipacks that year and the special figures were: Ben Kenobi, Ugnaught , Han Solo (Bespin), Dengar and Lobot. In 1981 there were 4 multipacks each of which consisted of 3 figures plus the Sears exclusive. Han-Bespin was issued again in addition to General Veers, Luke Skywalker (Hoth Outfit) and R2-D2 (with Periscope). The backs of these figures have nothing on them as can be seen here.
Since these special packs of figures came in a window box made of very thin cardboard, the figures were sometimes found ripped from the box, lying (still carded) on the shelves at Sears). The employees would often sell these "liberated" figures as singles to avoid having to ship them back to the manufacturer as damaged goods. This might explain the existence of the General Veers figure with Canadian Return of the Jedi logo sticker and Ackbar offer on it.
This is the only example of a Canadian Sears figure with something on the back of the card. In this case it's the offer for the Admiral Ackbar mail-in figure.
Some Canadians have stated that Sears was not the only place these oddball figures could be found. Many were seen at other small department stores and even at some grocery stores. However, I have never seen one of these carded figures that had any kind of individual price sticker on it myself. |
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| Description by: | Chris Georgoulias, Scott Bradley |
| Photo: | Chris Georgoulias |
| From the collection of: | Chris Georgoulias |
| Country: | Canada |
| Film: | Empire Strikes Back |
| Licensee: | Kenner/Sears |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Toys / Action Figure Related / Small Action Figures (Licensed) |
