Guide to Kenner CardBacks

Without a doubt, the most collected items from the Star Wars trilogy are action figures. Among action figure collectors are those who collect unopened figures in various packaging schemes that Kenner made. Most of the figures came packaged on a 6″ x 9″ card with a bubble or blister attached and the figure inside. The backer cards went through many changes in the line’s eight-year history creating many variations of collectibles for the Star Wars action figure collector.

The information contained here will hopefully be of great help to the carded figure collector. While it would be almost impossible for a single person to obtain one of every variation of Star Wars carded figures, it is interesting to know what one has and what to be on the lookout for. At this point in time, few collectors are interested in which card back figures are on with the exception that most prefer 12-backs if given a choice. There are some figures, though, even harder to find than 12-backs. They’re not as well known and not as well advertised. They may be difficult to track down, but the hunt is half the fun.

The most often used terminology for labeling these different cards stems from the number of action figures pictured on the back. Thus a 20-back has 20 figures pictured on the back of the card. A letter system is also used to designate the logo on the card. A 65-ROTJ back, then, would be a card with 65 figures on the back and the Return of the Jedi logo on the front. To break things down even further, there were different toy offers, promotions and advertisements on otherwise identical cards. These differences are noted by adding a letter to their designation and are assigned in the order of their release. For instance, a 65A-ROTJ figure would have the Return of the Jedi Logo on it, 65 figures on the back and the pictures of the Ewoks have been blacked out. A 65B-ROTJ is the same as a 65A-ROTJ except that you can now see the Ewoks on the back of the card.

Star Wars 12-backs

One of the most popular with collectors, the twelve backs belong in a category all their own because of the higher prices they command. It is interesting to note that there are instructions on the 12-backs for using the telescoping lightsaber feature that was originally planned for Luke, Ben, and Darth. The saber feature was dropped, but the text still made it onto the packaging.

Star Wars

Star Wars cards were also released with 20 backs which showed the first two set of figures and then on 21-backs which included the Boba Fett figure.

The last Star Wars header card was actually a 32-back. This seems odd looking at the fact that ESB cards started with 21-backs before moving on to 31- and 32-backs. This SW card, however, is simply a 12-back with a sticker slapped over the bottom half showing the next twenty figures e. A likely reason for this oddity is that Kenner started releasing ESB 31-backs and had some SW 12-backs left over. They wanted to update the card to let people know about the new figures, so they printed up a sticker showing the new figures. These were probably released just after the ESB 31-backs and before the 32-backs came out. These SW 32-backs are fairly difficult to find and could command a price of up to 40% more than book to a buyer interested in such variations.

Empire Strikes Back

The first ESB cards were the 21-backs. These are basically the same card at the SW 21-backs with the logo updated for the Empire Strikes Back. These cards are some of the hardest to find and often get prices up to 50% over book. Of all the card variations, the ESB 21-back is probably one of the most sought after even though it may not be the rarest.

The Empire headers had a long life, proceeding from the 21-backs to 31-, 32-, 41-, 45-, 47-, and 48-backs. As new figures were added to the line, they were put on the card backs. Many of these cards also had variations on the toys and playsets shown at the bottom of the card.

Return of the Jedi

ROTJ cards had four card backs starting with a 48-back and proceeding through 65-, 77-, and 79-backs. The 48-back is the tough find of the bunch because it was a transition card like the ESB 21-backs. Kenner was moving all the figures onto ROTJ packaging and this card had the short run before being updated with ROTJ figures on the back. It can garner some price increases in the range of 25% over book value.

It is interesting to note that the 65A back has two figures blacked out on the card. These are both Ewoks. The reasoning behind this is that these cards were released before the movie Return of the Jedi was actually in theaters. George Lucas wanted to keep the Ewoks a secret, so he insisted that Kenner not reveal them.

Power of the Force

There was only one card back for this series of figures, the 92A (right). Figures that come on this card are often the mostly highly priced, even if the figure had been released on an earlier card. This is due to the fact that many less were released and that the nifty packaging which included a collector’s coin is usually more sought after by collectors than other carded figures.

Droids and Ewoks

These two cards had scenes from the cartoons on the fronts and pictures of the Droids and Ewoks toys on the backs.

Trilogo & other Foreign

Trilogos were identical to ROTJ and POTF cards with the exception of the trilingual packaging. Figures packaged on Trilogo cards bring a much smaller price than the same figure on another card back. Most of the Trilogo card backs are the same as their U.S. counterparts, but there are a few differences. There is, for example, a 79-back Trilogo card with the Ewoks blacked out in the same manner as the 65A card. This back does not appear on the U.S. packaging.

There were many other foreign packaged items by Kenner affiliates in Europe, Asia and South America including Takara (Japan), Meccano (Mexico), and Palitoy (England). Some of these packages are very similar to their North American cousins and some are radically different.

Promotions Kenner held many promotions for free merchandise. Sometimes these were printed right on the card and at other times they were stickers plastered onto other card backs. Some offers appeared both ways. Here’s a run down of the basic promotions that Kenner ran on blister cards:
1. Action Figure Collector’s Stand: This offer appeared only on 12-backs and came with two variations, one offering the stand for 2 Proofs of Purchases and $2.00 and the other adding that it could be received free for 12 Proofs of Purchase.

2. Free Boba Fett: This promotion was for the infamous Rocket Firing Boba Fett, none of which were ever actually shipped. The offer has several different appearances with later cards having a sticker slapped over the part of the card touting the Fett with a firing rocket. There are also several expiration extensions which appear as stickers on earlier cards with the offer.

3. Free Secret Star Wars Figure: This offer appeared on several cards extending from Star Wars and into the Empire Strikes Back era. The latest ESB card with the offer revealed that the secret figure was Bossk.

4. Action Figure Survival Kit: This package had several items to be used as accessories to the action figures. The offer ran only on the ESB 41-backs.

5. Star Wars Display Arena: Running on ESB 45-backs, this promotion only had one variation, an extension of the deadline.

6. Free 4-LOM: This offer only ran on one card, the ESB 47 back.

7. Free Admiral Ackbar Figure: This offer was touted as a Revenge of the Jedi offer, the name of the third movie before George Lucas decided to change it into Return of the Jedi.

8. Free Nien Nunb Figure: This offer was only on ROTJ 48 backs.

9. Free Emperor Figure: This offer only ran on the 65D card backs.

10. Free Anakin Skywalker Figure: This offer was on card backs from 65-backs through the end of ROTJ 79-backs.