The
45A card variation added a third set of ESB figures to the range of
figures available. There are 8 ESB figures that are known to have
debuted on this card. They are Artoo-Detoo (R2-D2) (With Sensorscope),
C-3PO (Removeable Limbs), Luke Skywalker (Hoth Battle Gear), AT-AT
Commander, (Twin-Pod) Cloud Car Pilot, Bespin Security Guard (Black),
Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot and 4-LOM. The front of the card has the the
familiar ESB logo and the same Palitoy logo as on the 41-back. Above the
Palitoy logo is a blue circle with a special offer in it saying Become a
Star Wars Bounty See Back for Details. This is the only Palitoy card
with a special offer circle on the front unlike Kenner which had many.
It was also the last card to feature the Palitoy logo on the front of
the card. This makes the 45A card more popular among collectors. The
back of the card featured the 45 figures to collect with details of the
special offer underneath. The words Special Offers! are in big bold
yellow letters to the left of this text. The offers you could get were
Dengar the ruthless bounty hunter, a Survival Kit or the impressive
Darth Vader collectors case, which holds 32 figures. Reference was made
to the Bounty Hunter Capture Log and an address included for sending in
for the special offers. There is also a Boba Fett symbol to the left of
the address along with writing saying Offers open to U.K. residents
only. This was the last card variation that was exclusively manufactured
in Hong Kong at the Kader Industries or Smile factory by the Palitoy
(Far East) Company Ltd and then shipped back assembled to the Coalville
factory in the UK. You can see is says Made in Hong Kong on the bottom
line of text on the back of the card.
The Boba Fett symbol appeared on boxed vehicles and
playsets too, the larger the toy, the more symbols it had. The AT-AT
Walker had an impressive 9 symbols on it. It is believed these symbols
were to be cut out for a special offer that never happened in the end.
The Bounty Hunter Capture Log came inside the box with larger vehicles
and playsets or was available from toy stores. It detailed how the 3
special offers could be claimed. You had to cut out the name tag on the
front of the figure card and send in the appropriate number of name tags
along with postage and packaging costs. Dengar required 3 name tags,
the Survival Kit required 4 and the Darth Vader collectors case needed
6. We can tell that this special offer was very popular with children
because of the number of surviving cardbacks which have either had the
name tag cut out completely from the cardboard or have the name cut out
from the paper front of the cardboard.
It
is believed all of the earlier Star Wars and ESB figures also appeared
as a 45A with the exception of the original R2-D2 and C-3PO. Updated
versions of these figures with a popup sensorscope and removable limbs
debuted on the 45A instead. The new R2-D2 card has the text NOW!! WITH
SENSORSCOPE to the right hand side underneath the name tag. There were 2
further figures that debuted on this card. They were Imperial TIE
Fighter Pilot and 4-LOM. It is not known if Zuckuss appeared on this
card. None of these 3 figures were listed on the back of the card.
Confirmed examples are also missing for Hammerhead, Leia Organa Bespin
Gown, Yoda and Ugnaught.
The
text featuring trademark information under the Palitoy logo on the front
of the card, is either on a black background or printed directly on the
background picture for the figure except for the 4-LOM, Han Solo
(Bespin Outfit), Luke Skywalker (Bespin Fatigues), Rebel Soldier (Hoth
Battle Gear) and Imperial TIE Fighter Pilot figures. Here both
variations exist giving rise to the 45AB sub variation for the one where
the text is on a black background. The font used on the Become a Star
Wars Bounty See Back for Details writing is also different between the
45A and 45AB sub variation. Only the smaller font is seen on the 45AB
variation. Both types of font are seen on the 45A variation, giving rise
to the 45AC variation for the thinner font text seen on the 45AB
variation with the fatter text being the 45A variation. There is also a
font which is slightly wider and shorter than the text on the 45AC
variation giving rise to the 45AD variation. On this variation the A of
'Become A' is much further over than on the 45AC variation, above the
letter R of 'Wars'. The R5-D4 and Sand People figures have also been
found with both a 45A and 45AD variation. There is no example of a
figure being found with both a 45A and 45AC variation or a 45AB and
45AC/45AD variation or a 45AC and 45AD variation. There does not seem to
be a pattern as to which variation each figure is with the distribution
being fairly random.
The
45AD variation also has a spelling mistake on the back of the card with
Leicester being spelt Leichester. This means that the 45AD variation
was produced first, and the spelling mistake was spotted and then
corrected on later card/figure variations. The text underneath the
Palitoy address also stretches further to the right on the 45AD
variation.
A
small letter S appears to the left of the Boba Fett head on the back of
the card on the 41AB and 41AC variations showing these were produced in
the Smile factory. The 45A and 45AD variations were produced in the
Kader factory and do not have this letter next to the Boba Fett head.
In
the Netherlands, the 45A variation was sold with a wrap round Clipper
sticker. The front of the card has the sticker on the right hand bottom
corner with the same text that features on the 45BN in the tilted white
box. The back of the card has the Clipper sticker on the lower half of
the card covering up the English text that is there. Since this was not
made up to be a Palitoy card, but a Clipper card, it is not given a sub
variation on the Palitoy cardback guide. The background colour for the
back of the wrap round sticker is normally black but can sometimes be
white as well. The text on the white version is a little different
in places too compared to the black version.
Single
stemmed bubbles with a footplate were used on all figures on this card
variation. This was the last card variation to feature the footplate. It
was removed in subsequent card variations. There are some examples with
rectangular bubbles that were used on this card variation. Death Squad
Commander and Sand People are examples of figures on which this
occurred. Some of the single stem bubbles have a number embossed on the
bubble in the bottom right hand corner. Certain figures only used
certain bubble numbers. IG-88 (Bounty Hunter) used 08, Imperial
Commander used 01, 2-1B used 03, Princess Leia Organa used 03, Artoo
Detoo (R2-D2) (With Sensorscope) used 12 and Chewbacca used 02.