1997 :: Confection Concepts Postacards (ANH)
Betwixt the years of '83 and '97, the Darkness befell. As the merchandising of the third film waned, the memories of the Heroes of the Rebellion began to fade amongst the common folk. A select few protected the flame of the Force, but an entire generation nearly grew up not knowing the difference between a "Skywalker" and a "Landspeeder".
The coming of the Special Editions in 1997 (welcomed by some, condemned as a sacrilege by others) introduced Lucas's vision to the children of the time, rekindled the passion in many who had visited that Galaxy in their childhood, and bought new marketing opportunities for those who realised the inimitable value of the Star Wars brand.
This series of 50 "Postacardz" was issued around the time of the Special Edition releases, by a New Zealand-based company, Confection Concepts International Ltd., who produced a few licensed collectables (e.g. The Simpsons as well as Star Wars) in conjunction with confectionery products. The Star Wars cards were distributed with 40g chocolate bars (which were approximately the same size as the trading cards), but at a rate of one card per chocolate bar, a lot of calories needed to be consumed to complete the set. The cards (and kilojoules) could only be purchased locally. (images: wrapper front, wrapper opened, with thanks to Michael Moulden). The counter-top box held 48 such bars, and has become an even harder-to-find related collectible (images: box, oblique view, box, top view).
The images on the cards included scenes from both the original version and the Special Edition versions of 'A New Hope'; cards depicting the latter bore the Special Edition logo in the top left of the card, and the writing/numbering was green in colour (the rest had yellow text). The flipside of the cards fitted together to build a full colour SW:SE poster (the excellent Drew Struzan version), with glow-in-the-dark highlights!! (Click here to view image of the poster).
Confection Concepts went on to release a similar 45-card Empire Strikes Back set, and were slated to pump out a ROTJ follow-up. But, alas, the latter series never made it to production, and the company seemed to go out of business sometime thereafter.
The following photo is a fantastically rare piece of Star Wars Kiwiana: an uncut sheet of these Confection Concepts postacards. Next in line is a photo of a large cardboard point-of-sale advertising piece (thanks to Sean F). Click on the thumbnail to view the full images.
If you have any of these cards (or the chocolate bar wrappers/boxes) for sale or trade (I have a few spares), please contact me at [email protected].
Postscript: how many of you noticed what was wrong with the image used in card number 8? This is the same publicity photo used on the cover of the original release 'Story of Star Wars' vinyl LP. Most people don't notice it at first glance, but there are a number of details on the front of Artoo's body that are supposed to be blue, but aren't!
Related article: Confection Concepts Postacards (ESB).
Matt G
(with thanks to TK-102)
