Friday, May 28, 2010

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

On to the next set of trading cards from Topps in 1980... Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back.
A whole butt-load of cards separated into three different series.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS 1980 EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

The first series has the red box/border, each pack containing 12 movie photo cards, bubble gum, and alphabet stickers kids used to spell out their names. With the popularity and anticipation of the movie the cards were a sure-fire hit.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Series 1 box

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK
Series 1 wrapper

The first ten cards were "Star Files" spotlighting the ten major characters. I always thought it was funny back in the 80's when C-3PO and R2D2 were always spelled out as See-Threepio and Artoo-Deeto. Back in the 1980s a lot of the names weren't established or as important as they are to current fans so looking through the cards is kind of fun remembering how we used to refer to them. There's plenty of examples in the story cards:

Imperial Probot= Probe Droid
Rejuvenation Chamber= Bacta Tank
Surgeon Droid= 21B Medical Droid
Snow Walkers= AT-ATs
Bat-Like Creatures= Mynock
Calrissian's Main Man= Lobot

There are 109 "Story Cards" with movie photos narrating the story and then the last 12 cards are "Space Paintings" cards with conceptual artwork by Ralph McQuarrie followed by 2 checklist cards. That completes the 1st series 132 card set.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

The 1st series also had 33 different sticker cards which included the alphabet stickers.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK

Photobucket
Sorry, I couldn't resist.

Alright, on to series 2...pretty much the same as series 1 (132 cards, 33 stickers). This time there's just different photos and narration and blue box/wrapper.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

As you can see by the ad on the series 2 wrapper, Topps was also selling the Empire Strikes Back candy filled heads during this time. There were 2 series of these plastic containers shaped like heads of the Empire Strikes Back characters filled with hard candy. I remember buying these as a kid. I wish I would have saved them since they are of course highly collectible now days.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

I don't have scans from the series 2 or 3 cards because I don't own any of them. I do have the wrappers from each series but that's it for the time being. I stopped collecting Star Wars years ago and sold the majority of stuff.

Series 3 is the smallest of the three sets with 88 cards and 22 stickers. This set has the yellow box/wrapper. Once again there are the movie photo cards along with alphabet stickers and stuff.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

Once again the ad on this wrapper is worth noting. It advertises a set of four "collecting boxes" to store your sets in. These are a pretty neat idea and a great way for Topps to promote sales to complete full sets.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

Finally, in addition to the three standard card series, Topps released a set of 30 giant photo cards. These were kind of like mini posters.

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980
giant card back

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

TOPPS EMPIRE STRIKES BACK 1980

That pretty much covers the basics as far as that set goes. May the force be with you!!

Next up: TOPPS NON-SPORT MYSTERY FUN PACK BAG

3 comments:

Tim Fredriksson said...

Thanks for sharing!
I would love to buy some of these cards, but the Swedish Custom would not let me import them.

/Tim

STEVEFELLDOWN said...

Thanks for the comment Tim. I visited your tourist blog and was extremely amused. As you can see I have added a link to it on my page. Best of luck!

Unknown said...

I have this series as well as comic books for star wars,howard the duck,star trek and special edition books and more cards. I never thought about selling before now. please help I don't know where to start.. Please email me at jguinta@hotmail.com or call 678-391-2880.. thank you so much.. and to Mr. fredriksson, If you still want series 2 or anything else please let me know.. thank you in advance