2) History

A Brief History Of Bespin Luke

Luke Skywalker in Bespin Fatigues was the 28th figures to be released by Kenner way back in 1980, making his carded debut on the ESB 31 Back B card and his final appearance on the ROTJ 77 Back B card. This section is aimed at focusing on a general overlook of the figure and later on a break down of the individual unique figure variations and the places where they could be found.

Bespin Luke unfortunately wasn’t graced with the most interesting card at least in terms of the pictures used, however in terms of the ‘bigger’ picture it was quite interesting. Bespin Luke was one of only nine characters to have his photo art changed during the original Kenner line. Six of the Star Wars line characters and Yoda from the ESB line of course had there card art changed towards the end of the ROTJ line. Bespin Luke and Bespin Leia where the only characters to have there card art changed during the same line in which they where released. This of course is reference to the infamous ‘walking’ photo which was changed rather promptly to the photo with his gun drawn, which to me is much less desirable. The ‘walking’ picture was only present on Luke’s first card the ESB 31 Back B, the very next Bespin Luke release, the 32 Back B featured the ‘gun drawn’ picture. Interestingly this wasn’t the case in Canada you used the ‘walking’ picture again for the ESB 41 Back C card.

Many of the characters had there card art changed slightly for the ROTJ line in terms of slight tweeks and adjustments usually as a result of the change from the ESB logo to the ROTJ logo, because the ROTJ logo didn’t have the word ‘WARS’ at the bottom of it, it allowed for more space to place the name plate. In Luke’s case the extra space allowed for the name plate to be moved up a little. The original ‘gun drawn’ photo has the top of Luke’s head touching the name plate but starting with the early Revenge proofs and all the ROTJ cards the name plate adjusted so that there was a gap between it and Luke’s head. This change featuring the gap was only used by Kenner and not adopted by any other country, and can only be found on cards outside the U.S. in the form of imported card stock i.e. Clipper, Toltoys etc.

Another interesting photo art change for Bespin Luke was on the Mexican Lili Ledy cards. As most will know many of the photo’s used by Lili Ledy where the same as the Kenner ones just presented differently, in Luke’s case, the exact same photo art was used it was just enlarged so that barely any background can be seen and Luke dominates the card, also the colour was adjusted and correctly so. The Kenner photo shows a blue background behind Luke which if anything is wrong for Cloud City, the Ledy card is white and this to me is more accurate and the best of all the Bespin Luke card backs. The picture below is from Ozio.

The final photo art change was on the Tri-Logo cards, again as most will know; many Tri-Logo cards featured altered, reversed or completely unique photo art for the cards, many of which are well known like the reversed and airbrushed Jawa, the airbrushed model for the AT-ST Driver etc. Bespin Luke however always seems to be overlooked, despite having not only a reversed photo but a completely unique photo also, not to mention a more accurate photo. Like the LL card, the Tri-Logo feature a white more accurate background in comparison to Kenner’s inaccurate blue background. The photo was also reversed, possibly to work better with the diagonally ascending logo design. But to me the most interesting feature is actually the fact that the photo its self is completely different from the Kenner photo. The Kenner photo shows Luke holding his gun at his waist with a large gap between his arm and his torso, the Tri-Logo photo shows him holding his gun at shoulder height with no gap at all between his arm and torso.

In terms of unique packaging, Bespin Luke was also fortunate enough to be one of the fifteen figures to be released by Popy in Japan and there fore graced with the wonderful Popy box. These however were just a handful of ways to get your hands on a packaged Bespin Luke, in fact there were quite a few cards and packs you could find him on over the years and around the world.

The following section is a reference guide to all the cards and other releases Bespin Luke could be found on around the world. Please note the entries presented here are all confirmed. Others may exist or may have existed and hopefully this will be updated as and when these are confirmed.

Kenner Carded Releases

ESB – 31 Back B

ESB – 32 Back B

ESB – 41 Back A

ESB – 41 Back B

ESB – 41 Back D

ESB – 45 Back A

ESB – 47 Back A

ESB – 48 Back B

ESB – 48 Back C

ROTJ – 48 Back D

ROTJ – 65 Back ?

ROTJ – 77 Back A

ROTJ – 77 Back B

Kenner Canada Carded Releases

ESB – 31 Back A

ESB – 41 Back C

ESB – 47 Back

ROTJ – Transition Card

Palitoy Carded Releases

ESB – 30 Back A

ESB – 41 Back B

ESB – 45 Back A

ESB – 45 Back B

ESB – 45 Back C

ESB – 45 Back C (Kenner import with Palitoy sticker)

ROTJ – 65 Back D

Other European Carded Releases

Tri-Logo – ROTJ – 70 Back

Meccano – ESB – 20 Back Square Card

Meccano – ROTJ – 65 Back

Clipper – ESB – 45 Back C (Palitoy imported card with Clipper sticker)

Clipper – ROTJ – 77 Back A (Kenner imported card with Clipper sticker)

German General Mills – ESB – 45 Back

Poch – ESB – 37/41 Back B

PBP – ESB – 41 Back C

PBP – 65 Back

Other Carded Releases

Toltoys – ROTJ – 65 Back (Kenner imported card)

Popy – ESB – Box

Lili Ledy Carded Releases

Because of the absolute scarcity of Lili Ledy carded Bespin Lukes, it’s difficult to say what cards he was released on. There is of course the infamous ‘El Imperio Contraataca’ 10 Back cards which the blonde LL Bespin Luke appeared on, however none exist to back this up despite it almost certainly being the case. The only carded examples I’ve seen all seem to be on the ROTJ ‘Regreso’ 30 Back cards, but it’s highly likely he existed on others, especially as he was advertised in the first wave and features on the back of the early ROTJ ‘Retorno’ 12 Back cards, so it’s highly likely he appeared on them, but the lack of carded examples means we’ll just have to assume for now, and hopefully one day other examples will turn up.

Bespin Luke could also be found in the Kenner Bespin Alliance Special Action Figure Set 3 pack and was included with the short lived ESB Special Action Display Stand. He could also be found along with Darth Vader and Yoda in the Special offer Darth Vader Collector’s Case. In Canada he could be found in the Sears exclusive 7 figure special pack, this set included carded figures packaged inside a display box.

Bespin Luke could also be found in a number of baggies In the U.S. these include the ESB A, ESB C, ESB G and the ESB H bags. In Europe mostly likely from Palitoy, he could be found in at least three bags that iffered from the U.S. version, Hong Kong with the Kenner square, plain Made in Hong Kong and the well known Made in China bag.

Bespin Luke was never available as a mail in offer or in any catalogue multi pack in Europe, the bagged figures here where sourced from the Palitoy factory, some possibly for transport but other where available to the staff in baggie form.

In the U.S. Bespin Luke was again never available as a mail away figure, but was available in a baggie from numerous other sources. The ESB Action Figure stand and Darth Vader Collectors Case mentioned earlier both featured a bagged Luke and he was also available in a number of Catalogue multipacks, these where:

1980 Montgomery Ward catalogue 4 Pack – Serial No. 48-24513

1980 Speigel catalogue 4 pack – Serial No. 57-4874

1980 Aldens catalogue 4 pack – Serial No. 85Y8403

1980 JC Penney catalogue 4 pack – Serial No. 928-0512

1980 JC Penney catalogue 10 pack – Serial No. 928-0439

1980 Sears catalogue 9 pack – Serial No. 49-59035

1982 Sears catalogue 8 pack – Serial No. 49-59231

Anyone who has any additional information concerning Bespin Luke cardbacks or baggies or anything else, you input would be appreciated, and this page will be updated.