Top Toys Cardbacks
Walkie
- March 19, 2023
TABLE OF CONTENTS
The Top Toys packaging mimics it’s Kenner counterpart from the front, however Top Toys made several small changes for the Argentinian market including Spanish translations for some character names and the changing the “RETURN OF THE JEDI” title to “EL REGRESO DEL JEDI”.
1207 Chewbacca
1222 Osito Ewok (Ewok Bear)
1203 Darth Vader
1224 Logray: Brojo De La Tribu Ewok (Wizard Of The Ewok Tribe)
1220 Luke Skywalker: Maestro Jedi (Jedi Master)
1209 Stormtrooper
1221 Yoda: El Maestro Jedi (The Jedi Master)
Photos source ebay/unknown
Photos courtesy of Mark_Yeo
Photos courtesy of Mark_Yeo
Photos courtesy of Mark_Yeo
Photos courtesy of emperorburns
Photos courtesy of J_G
Photos courtesy of Mark_Yeo
Photos courtesy of emperorburns
Although the Top Toys range of figures was short-lived, the artwork for the card backs changed several times.
The collecting community coined the phrase ’17 backs’ for the Top Toys cards which is based on the images found on the reverse of the cards. However, if you look closely you will find that only eight of the first twelve figures are actually named. In addition, you can also see that the following text ‘Boba Fett – con su Rifle Laser’ appears as the last name on the top list. We know from pre-production pieces which have surfaced that this particular figure was pencilled for a release but never got past the prototype stage. While we could have adopted the name ’14 backs’ based on the text descriptions, or even ’18 backs’ if you add Boba Fett into the mix, this guide has decided to keep with the ’17 back’ terminology.
Due to the amount of known card back designs we have included designations such as 17A, 17B and 17C. Below you will find a list of all the differences found on the 17A to 17C card backs.
1 – Hanger Slots. While the placement of the punched slot is completely random on all cardback designations, the ones found on the later issued 17C have a larger notch in the centre.
2 – The trademark symbol located to the lower right corner of the EL REGRESO DEL JEDI logo was updated on the 17C card backs from TM (Trademark) to MR which is short for MARCA – in Spanish this can be translated as ‘brand’ or ‘trademark’.
3 – The alignment of the red EL REGRESO DEL JEDI text compared to the STAR WARS logo is different when comparing the 17A/B’s to 17C. If you look closely you can see that the long vertical edge of the “L” is either aligned with the left or right of the “T” depending on the type of card back.
4 – The licensing information underneath the Kenner logo was updated on the 17C card backs from “Licensed by Lucasfilm Ltd (c) General Mills, Inc.” to a more simplified “Licensed by Lucasfilm Ltd (LFL)” This was more than likely due to changes at CPG (the parent company) when General Mills the toy division was restructured in 1984-1985.
5 – Located below the bubble is a catalogue number. While these are not unique to any card back they are unique to each of the individual characters so are worth a mention. Below is a full list of the numbers used for the Star Wars action figure range. As you can see there are large gaps in the numbering, the reason for this is unknown.
1203 – Darth Vader
1207 – Chewbacca
1209 – Stormtrooper
1220 – Luke Jedi
1221 – Yoda
1222 – Chirpa
1224 – Logray
6 – The trademark symbols found next to the Luke and Leia image and to the lower right of the EL REGRESO DEL JEDI logo were also updated on the reverse of the 17C card backs from “TM” (Trademark) to “MR” (Marca) the Spanish for ‘brand’ or ‘trademark’.
7 – The type of card used on the later 17C release card back was also different. This is more noticeable when viewed from the reverse. If you compare the images you will see that the 17A and 17B have a matte finish as opposed to the 17C which has a glossy finish.
8 – The only difference between the 17A and 17B card back is the wording “y proximamente” which in Spanish can be translated as ‘AND SOON’. This was referring to the Logray and Lando Calrissian figures, the latter of which was never released.
9 – Three extra lines of Lucasfilm & CPG licensing were added to the 17C card backs. This ties in with the change to the copyright information on the fronts of the cards described in point 4.
10 – To make room for the additional licensing information on the bottom left corner on the reverse of the card backs, the Logray and Lando Calrissian names and character descriptions were re-positioned above the image of the five ROTJ/ESB characters.
The above ten points highlight the known differences which can be found on the three Top Toys card back variants. If you know of any other differences or see something we have missed, please feel free to message me on FB or via the contact form on the VV homepage.
