I’ve been a bit slow posting the last month or so and figured I’d put up some of my recent Star Wars purchases. A couple of things aren’t here yet, including a big one that I can’t wait to show as it completes a 5 year quest. The last few months have been pretty good as I’ve paid off a few major purchases with sellers that allowed me to put things on layaway. 🙂
The first is a Cromalin for “The Force” Lightsaber toy. The word cromalin probably means nothing to the average person, so here is the definition from The Star Wars Collectors Archive
Cromalins were an integral part of the packaging design process and were created for almost all vintage Kenner Star Wars action figures, toys, and even a few displays. They are sometimes referred to as proofs of proofs, but this isn’t 100% exact. Their primary use would be for color management and correction. Many Cromalins would be marked, pointing out various suggestions and items that need to be corrected. These marked sheets were sometimes accompanied by a sign off sheet indicating what was checked and the initials (usually an illegible scribble) of who did the checking.
In reality, Cromalin is a trade name for the DuPont material the image is printed on. It is heavy like photo paper and with a slight texture. When the design is printed on a Cromalin, the image will be quite vibrant, which makes it ideal for proofing the colors in the actual design.
The Force Lightsaber was a favorite toy of mine as a child and I still have it to this day, although very beat up. 🙂 I’m glad to own a piece of history for the toy. I purchased this direct from a former Kenner Employee and he had stated only 3 of these cromalins exist. I’m hoping to get mine framed sometime soon, so I can get it protected.
The other purchase from the same Employee was this ad slick which shows a print ad that was used at the time. I’m still working on locating an actual magazine this was used in. I know of one, but am just waiting for it to show up for sale. I’ve always like the image and of course it feature Jedi Luke. 🙂
I also managed to track down another coin a few months ago. This one is for Greedo, the bounty hunter, who came after Han Solo in the Cantina. He never did shoot first.
The last item for right now, is a complete Young Jedi Knight Mailer. I did a little write up of this a couple years ago, but I finally upgraded to one with the original mailer box.
