This was an offer that was never advertised. Around 1984 kids were moving on from Star Wars with things like He-Man, G.I. Joe, and Transformers taking its place. Kenner decided to send these out to young kids to try and generate interest in Star Wars. The sets were mailed out in a white mailer box that contained an envelope with lots of goodies and a free figure.
The envelope featured a great picture of a space battle. Inside was a letter for parents about introducing Star Wars to their young child. At the bottom was two coupons. One which was good for a free figure which required $1 to cover shipping costs. The other was for a $1 rebate off a figure or accessory. The kit also contained a letter from Luke Skywalker that was for the child talking about his adventures from the movies. On the other side of the letter was 4 stickers that the child could use to place one of them on the rebate coupon for a free figure. 
A poster was also included that showed scenes from the various movies. Lots of sample kits have come to the market from Kenner employees. These ones are addressed to the son of John A. Sample and included Logray as the figure in the box. Finding ones that were actually mailed out is much harder. I managed to find the paperwork for one that was actually mailed in an ebay auction that went under the Radar. I was then able to pick up the envelope and some of the other items I was missing from a sample kit a fellow collector was selling. I have seen in some collecting books that Chewbacca was a figure included and also saw a kit on ebay that included Lando. I decided to pick up a baggie Chewbacca to go with mine. I pretty much have the whole kit minus the white mailer box and return envelope. I have a vague memory of receiving one of these as a child, but obviously have no proof left except that memory. I wish I could say for sure. I would have been close to 6 years old at the time which is about the age that these were supposed to be sent to.
Here is a picture of the sample kit with Logray from another collection
and here is mine
Another neat thing about the paperwork I received was that it included a followup letter, coupon, and cardback from the 2nd free figure. It is dated as being received on 8-24-84 and the proof of purchase is blacked out on the back of the R2-D2 cardback. This is the only one documented of these items that I know of. Here is a picture of that paperwork as well.
This concludes the series on mail-away items. I still have a few more I would like to add down the line which include the original early bird figure set. They are right now just a little bit out of my price range, but hopefully I will add one of those to go with the set.
1 comment