| Star Wars 20-Back Death Squad Commander 8-pack | |
| With the square card format for Star Wars figures that Meccano introduced in 1979, also came the per assortment ordering for wholesalers and retailers; each figure then available as a single pack of eight. This would last until 1982, before switching back to assortments only with the upcoming Return of the Jedi packaging. During the square card era, each Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back character was packaged at the factory using that standard: 4 pairs of carded figures facing each other in a single wrapping-up pack held up with staples and shrink-wrapped plastic. Because Star Wars has always been popular in France, because the wholesalers / retailers would obviously break up the packs, and because of the volumes of production were lesser than some other countries, those packs have always been rare. At the early days of SW collecting, some Jawa packs could be found every now and then, but they were -again obviously- broken up for selling, trading, and… U-grading. For the record, I bought it UK. Palitoy had tight connections with Meccano, the latter would produce for the former, but some French items also found their way for wholesale in UK; so far a few dolls and some particular characters (only on square cards) like Luke, Jawa, Ben, and… those Death Squad Commanders. This pack was part of a lot of EIGHT packs that had been stored since the early 1980s by a former bazaar / everything you need countryside town shop. Back in the days, they had been ordered as presents for a summer-camp jamboree in UK, to offer a single figure to each child, and same character in order to avoid jalousy. For some reason, the jamboree was canceled and the figures not needed were stored away and forgotten about. A relative of the owner sold the packs of figures to someone who broke up the packs in order to sell them individually. I showed interest in a getting a sealed pack, and by a few months until we settled a deal, there were only 3 packs remaining with only this ONE sealed. With that backstory, this particular pack of 8 Death Squad Commander is truly a gem. This was the last sealed pack of a recent lot that surfaced in 2017, which I bought in order add it to my Meccano collection, but also in order to preserve it from inevitable breaking up... A detailed entry on the Meccano 20-backs Star Wars Death Squad Commander also exists here |
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| Description by: | Stephane Faucourt |
| Photo: | Stephane Faucourt |
| From the collection of: | Stephane Faucourt |
| Country: | France |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Meccano |
| Year: | 1979 |
| Category: | Toys / Action Figure Related / Small Action Figures (Licensed) |