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Mr Palitoy's Cardback Guide |
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  The 70B card variation is the first card to feature the now familiar ROTJ logo in English, Spanish and French on the front of the card. This card and further variations 70C and 70D are known as Tri-Logo cards. The 70B is the first of the 2 standard variations of the Tri-Logo card. To the left of the tiered logo at the top of the card is the text Ages 4 and up in English, German, Dutch, Spanish, French and Italian. The name tag has moved from the upper middle of the card to the bottom right hand corner and is much bigger than previous card variations. The names used for figures on Tri-Logo cards tend to differ from the ones used on previous cards. Also, the character pictures used tend to be different too. The bubble area is also much larger than before. The bottom left hand corner has the Lucasfilm copyright text and year in white text on the black border beneath the bubble. This area differs on the 70C card variation. The back of the card is the same as the 70A variation and features 70 figures. The punch is either perforated or unperforated on this card variation. This card variation was manufactured in a number of European factories, including the Coalville factory in the UK. All the figures shown on the back of the card with the exception of Death Squad Commander were available on this card variation. The 70C is much less common and has been seen with much fewer figures. The fact that they have different character pictures, different figure variations and were manufactured and sold Europe wide and sold later in America at discount giving them a wide audience has made them popular with collectors. Collecting a full set of Tri-Logo figures MOC is quite a challenge as some of the figures are very rare. General Madine is the rarest, followed by Boba Fett, Jawa and Emporer's Royal Guard. The Hybrid 70A cards can be tricky too, with Cloud Car Pilot being the rarest. Towards the end of the production cycle of Tri-Logos, figures that were similar were mixed and matched with their cardbacks. These are known as miscards. The most common one is normal Klaatu figures on Klaatu (Skiff Guard Disguise) cards. Weequays on Barada cards, Han Solo and Han Solo Bespin on Han Solo Hoth cards and Imperial figures on AT-ST cards are the other common ones. There are many rarer ones too which can make collecting miscards a focus in itself. The hole punch on the card can have a larger circular hole on some cards rather than the regular punch seen on all the other cards. This is a Meccano style hole punch.   There are sub variations of this card where there is a different country of origin than the standard Hong Kong. The 70BC says Made in China rather than Made in Hong Kong on the bottom right hand corner on the front of the card. The figures Luke Skywalker, Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) have been seen on this sub variation. The 70BW says Made in Taiwan and has only been seen on the Jawa figure. The 70BX says Made in Mexico and has only been seen on the Lumat figure. The 70BM says Fabrique a Macao, but this has been done by placing a small black adhesive sticker with white text over the original country of origin text. This sticker can also be found in black text on a white background. There are quite a few figures that have this variation. Cards with this variation also have the circular hole punch and are early Tri-Logos made for and sold on the French market. The 70BE says Fabrique en Espagne with a white sticker with black text and was sold on the Spanish market. The 70BI says Fabrique a Taiwan using a black sticker with white text. This has only been found on the Wicket W. Warrick figure so far. The 70BH has a Made in Hong Kong sticker with white text on black background covering over Made in Taiwan or Made in China printed on the card. This has only been seen on the Jawa and Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) figures.        Tri-Logo
cards were also manufactured by PBP in Spain. The initial card they
released has the standard Tri-Logo card front and the PBP card back they
used on their 65 back cards. This card is referred to as a Hybrid PBP
Tri-Logo. This variation is known as 70BP on the matrix. The punch used
was a standard punch rather than the Meccano style one. Only 8 figures
have been confirmed on this card variation. These are Wicket W. Warrick,
Teebo, Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot), Rancor Keeper, 8D8, Nikto, B-Wing
Pilot and Zuckuss.   The
second card they released has the standard Tri-Logo card front and back
and the Meccano style hole punch. This is not shown as a variation on
the matrix. The last card PBP released updated
the addresses on the back of the card. On this release of the card Lumat
and Paploo were also released on cards that had the background picture
for Wicket on them. These are not miscards as the correct name for the
figure is printed on the card. This variation is known as 70BK on the
matrix. These cards also have the Meccano style punch on them too. 13
figures have been confirmed on this variation. These are Princess Leia
Organa (In Combat Poncho), 8D8, Nikto, Teebo, Lumat, Paploo, Wicket W.
Warrick, Paploo (With Wicket Picture), Lumat (With Wicket Picture),
Klaatu (Skiff Guard Outfit), Prune Face, AT-ST Driver and Han Solo (In
Trench Coat).  The
Spanish address was updated on the back of this card from Rodgau BRD,
PBP, S.A. Spain to Rodgau BRD, GMJ, S.A. Spain. And the Meccano address
was updated from Miro Meccano S.A., 118-130 Ave. Jean Jaures, 75019
Paris to Miro-Meccano, Tour Essor 93, 14 Rue Scandicci, 93500 Pantin,
France.   In the Netherlands the 70B card variation was released with a tearaway mini catalogue on the back of the card. The front page with pictures could be torn off revealing the catalogue underneath. Some also have a small round yellow star sticker on the front of the card in the top right hand corner of the card that says Nieuwe Premies Nouvelles Primes. The phrase is the Dutch and French for New Rewards.    This is an Italian sticker that appeared on a Rebel Commander on this variation. There is also an Italian sticker that was applied to the back of some cards.   There
were a few figure variations that only appeared on this card. Yoda with
orange and green snake instead of the usual brown. And Luke Skywalker
(Jedi Knight Outfit) with a blue saber rather than the usual green.   The are a few different bubble types that appeared on Tri-Logo cards. The most common bubble type has etched corners that ident inwards on the four corners of the bubbles. There are short indented bubbles where the ident does not extend to the front of the bubble as can be seen on the B-Wing Pilot below. The other type is the long indented bubble where the indent extends all the way to the front of the bubble as can be seen on the Klaatu (Skiff Guard Outfit) below. The next most common bubble is the standard Tri-Logo bubble with rounded corners seen on 45C, 65A, 65B, 65C and 65D variations. This can be seen on the 8D8 example below. Much harder to find outside of Spain are PBP bubbles which have rounded corners where the bubble attaches to the card instead of square corners like the two last bubble types. This can be seen on the R5D4 example below. Lastly are Meccano bubbles which are much harder to find outside of France. The bubble is much more rigid and has square corner edges. The bubble also has rounded corners where the bubble attaches to the card. An example Meccano bubble can be seen on the Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight Outfit) example above. There is normally a gap above the bubble where the backing card bubble is visible due the snug fitting size of this bubble. All of the bubbles can come in a variety of sizes to accommodate the figure like with the Yoda example above.     |
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