| Prototype Designs for Revenge and Return Kenner Shelf-Talkers | |
| Although a lot of products snuck onto the market bearing the Revenge of the Jedi title, you don't see many store displays with it, probably because displays are generally released soon before the premier of the movie -- and by that time everyone knew that "revenge" had been replaced with the somewhat blander "return."
These two early shelf-talker designs, obtained from a contractor who designed a lot of Kenner's store signage, provide an inside look at the how the title change-over affected the design process. The design you see at the top of the above photo bears the "revenge" logo and a date of November 11, 1982. The lowermost one features the "return" logo and a date of November 18, 1982. Therefore, I think it's reasonable to assume that, sometime during that week in November, Kenner got word that the title of the upcoming Star Wars movie had been changed, and then sent word to their contractors accordingly. The legal text on both differs slightly from that on the production shelf-talkers, as do the positions of the Kenner logos, but otherwise they're identical to what was released to stores. Interestingly, the positioning of the Kenner logo seen on these early designs is consistent with earlier Kenner shelf-talkers, including the one issued to promote the Micro Collection line. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Ron Salvatore |
| From the collection of: | Ron Salvatore |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Revenge of the Jedi |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1982 |
| Category: | Store Displays / Toy |