Bootleg Star Wars- Force Beam, Star Swords and more
Bootleg Star Wars- Force Beam, Star Swords and more
If you ever want to see the actual cultural impact of May 4th, 1977, look no further than any toy industry magazine about 6-24 months later. There you will find spaceships, ray guns, action figures and a new one, swords. Yes, the trades are littered with blades with competing gimmicks, such as lights or glow-in-the-dark. Never will you see the word sabre, but they’re fooling nobody. Let’s go through a few shall we?
Meet the Star Force Ray; I remember an infomercial where they interviewed the creator of this. He said he created it in a department store by adding a golf tube and a flashlight. He then slapped a familiar font on it and called it a day. He likely made a fortune.
In the UK, they had the much more aggressive bootleg “The Force Beam” a hot seller there and no wonder! Look at the ads they’d run for it.
I like to picture George Lucas seeing this and then blowing into this big Conch Shell and summoning his legal team. This is Bootleg Star Wars at it’s most brazen. Although I still think the toy is better than the actual Kenner product.
But my absolute favourite is the Star Sword and Space Shield by Toybox Inc., Mainly because I had both as a kid/adult but also because they embrace the best of Bootleg Star Wars. Yes, they’re supposed to be Star Wars toys, but they’re well made; they’re highly creative and enjoyable. Trust me on that one, fan for life.
One of my earliest Toy-Ventures episodes was about these awesome toys.
Bootleg Star Wars- Star Sword
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Bootleg Star Wars
I had a Star Force Ray, of course it had many dents.
Around the early 2000’s I met one of the guys behind it.
Unfortunately, I don’t remember his name. It was one of those things where we were discussing other business. I would have rather talked about his time getting the jump on legit toys.