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Says there were 100 million packs of Star Wars cards printed. Never heard that before.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: H_Toser,

Wouldn't surprise me, but don't worry, in 2414 your mint Star Wars card collection will be worth a fortune.

Great article, thanks!

I lived in Southern California in 1977, so my 6 year old self got to the theater plenty of times to see the original, and with all the attendant hoopla of that film when it was new in a major market like Los Angeles. I have some pretty vivid memories of that still, 37 years later.

But by 1980 when Empire came out, I lived in a Tattooine like section of New Mexico (with a little Endor up the mountains), and our lone cinema didn't get ESB until September (or maybe even October). They started advertising in August that it was finally coming. I guess the film cannisters had to go to every bigger city in New Mexico than the small one where I lived, not many, but enough to keep it from us for a couple of months. I think I saw it twice during that original run. Our theatre actually kept it once we got it for about 3 weeks, virtually unheard of in the decade I lived there (1978-1987). Maybe E.T. was held over a week.
(I saw Empire a couple more times at the bigscreen in 1997 when the Special Edition came out, and although I was 26 instead of 9 by then, the thrill was much the same.)

Anyway, because I literally had to wait MONTHS after Empire first came out before I could see it, those cards were a godsend, and the toys, which were plentiful in our stores, like the article says, really helped advertise the new wonders this movie would hold for those of us unable to see it immediately. And boy, did it deliver, and for a lot of people, it keeps delivering. It's a special movie.

One odd thing was that while our small town got the first two series of Empire cards, I didn't find out there was a third series until almost 10 years later. If any of our stores ever got those, they were gone before I ever saw them. That could happen, even though I always kept my eye out for cards. It was also tough to get Topps football and baseball card packs before they sold out for the season back then, too. You'd pretty much get whatever you could afford from the first box you saw, and that was that, you wouldn't see anymore.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: chesspieceface,

Empire is my favourite Star Wars film by far, and one of my all time favourite films. As common as they may be I'm very proud to say I have sets of Empire Strikes Back Series 1 & 2 assembled from rack packs that are truly mint for vintage.

I love them because the designs are very much of the time and whilst the article mentions they use obscure images I think the sets are very plentiful in images that are not readily available elsewhere. I don't want to see the same shots seen a thousand times over.

Still need a perfect set of Series 3 though!

Thanks for posting the link.