In my third article for Jedinet.com I give a potted history of Palitoy, the UK based company that released Star Wars figures in the 70’s and 80’s.
Christmas 1977 must have felt like an age away when the film arrived in May ’77, but with the lead time for action figure design, sculpting and release taking 12 to 15 months, shelves were bare. In the States the infamous Early Bird sets were sold, promising purchasers the first wave of figures. When the figures finally arrived a torrent of releases began that ran right through to the mid 80’s. By 1979 $100 million dollars of figures had been sold, with international licensees taking on their own regional versions of the Kenner figures. The regional licensee here in the UK was Palitoy.
