| School Supply Vending Machine Display - Assorted Items #1 | |
| This rather odd-looking piece is one of what wide range of displays used in gumball machine type vending units to sell a limited range of items from the Butterfly Originals ROTJ school supply line. Most examples I have seen only offer Butterfly Original products, but a few like this one mixed in an assortment of other items. The rubber space figures seem like an logical extension, but a football! The added disclaimer about "Plus Many Other Toys" leaves one wondering what kind of a gamble a kid was taking putting their money into this machine.
The variations I have seen in these displays implies that local vending machine companies were probably given some latitude in what was offered. Most versions use the standard blue gradient starfield background and Return of the Jedi logo that was standard to the Butterfly Originals line, but I have one version that uses a photocopy of crudely traced ROTJ logo in combination with what appears to be some licensed print material from Butterfly originals. The most common assortment offered was four pencil toppers and the foil reinforcements. Less common are the erasers, and I also have a version where the vendor put the foil stickers on small plastic mugs! Anyway, my guess is vendors were shipped blank displays and then could adorn them with samples of the products they intended to offer. At first glance, one might assume the foil reinforcement stickers were just cut from the sheets sold in stores, but the vending machine versions have the copyright information below each character, whereas the full sticker sheets only have the copyright information one time at the top. |
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| Description by: | Todd Chamberlain |
| Photo: | Todd Chamberlain |
| From the collection of: | Todd Chamberlain |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Return of the Jedi |
| Licensee: | Butterfly Originals |
| Year: | 1983 |
| Size: | 9.5x8 in |
| Category: | Store Displays / Miscellaneous |