This Forgotten Star Wars Toy Had a Packaging Feature You Have to See to Believe

Back in the 1970s and ’80s, toy manufacturers didn’t have too many avenues to advertise their products. Social media was still decades away and not everyone could afford TV commercials. Besides relying on catalogues and physical promotional materials, they had to make the toy look as attractive as possible on shelves so that kids would be drawn to it. Blister packaging was one of the earliest techniques adapted for this purpose, but manufacturers needed to get creative once that too became common. That’s probably when a marketing executive had the bright idea to give potential customers a small taste of the toy. You’ve probably seen toys on store shelves with a “Try Me” sticker, letting you push a push a button on the toy to see what it does, but it seems Kenner did something even more interesting with one Star Wars toy.

The packaging for the 1984 Kenner Biker Scout Laser Pistol featured an opening on the side that allowed you to look through its ‘infrared’ scope. You can check it out for yourself, as an AFA NM 80 version of it is currently going for $424 at Goldin Auctions. The Imperial Speeder Bike, introduced in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, is one of the franchise’s most memorable land vehicles, but what you may not remember is the compact laser pistol used by the Scout Troopers that rode the speeders. While the weapon wasn’t as iconic as some others in the original trilogy, Kenner’s toy version is pretty cool. The most interesting thing about the pistol was its movie-accurate targeting scope, and Kenner wanted to show it off through the packaging in order to entice customers to buy it.

Kenner Ensured You Could Experience The Scout Pistol’s Coolest Feature Through Its Packaging

This truly was an innovative packaging and marketing idea, especially for a weapon that has to contend with lightsabers and a plethora of other blasters in order to stand out. Not only did Kenner ensure that the weapon’s built-in targeting scope was incorporated into the toy, but doubled down on it by introducing a unique twist to its packaging. It’s one of the very few vintage Star Wars toys that allowed you to get a literal glimpse at its features before buying it. It has managed to rack up a decent bid price of $424, and you can bet that the original packaging helped boost that price from the starting bid. Not only is it a unique toy, but a great example of vintage packaging innovation.

However, hardcore Star Wars fans will notice that there’s a major difference between Kenner’s model and the one in the movie. A fun little fact that some of you may not know is that the Imperial Scout Pistol from the movie didn’t feature a traditional trigger, unlike its toy counterpart. You may think this was simply to make it easier to craft the prop, but diving into a Star Wars rabbit hole reveals that the in-universe pistol, created by BlasTech Industries, actually had the trigger on the side of the gun to maker it easier for Scout Troopers to fire it while wearing padded gloves. It seems Kenner didn’t think that kids would be wearing padded gloves while playing with the toy version, giving it a regular trigger underneath the barrel. Be it for the unique feature or the innovative packaging, this Star Wars toy would make an interesting addition to any fan’s collection, and you can always spit out this fun little trigger fact while showing it off.