Overseas Licences
Star Wars figures were offered for sale in a number of countries outside of the US. These were usually sold through other companies, many of which were also subsidiaries of General Mills.
In the UK, the Star Wars licence was held by Palitoy, which imported the figures and packaged them in the UK on Palitoy branded cardbacks. Analogous arrangements were in place in Spain with the company PBP/Poch, in France with Meccano, in the Benelux countries with Clipper, in Germany with Parker, in Italy with Harbert and in Scandinavia with Brio/Playmix.
In Japan, the line was first controlled by the company Takara, then by Popy and finally by Tsukuda. The licence was acquired in Australia by Toltoys, while in Mexico it was held by Lili Ledy and in Brazil by Glasslight.
In certain cases figures produced by the non-US licenced companies were substantially different from those sold by Kenner. Takara, for example, sold resculpted versions of Darth Vader and C-3PO. Lili Ledy used different paint detailing and different fabric accessories. Glasslight figures were molded using slightly different, glossier plastic and used different paint detailing. The Glasslight Droids range was also notable in that it included a character "Vlix" that had not been issued in other countries.
Towards the end of the Star Wars figure run, figures for the European market were issued on trilogo cardbacks, so-called as the cardback front had three logos in English, French and Spanish. The cardback rear was a unique design showing 70 characters. Trilogos are in somewhat greater demand amongst collectors due to overstock having been bought by the US company Kay Bee. The character "Yak Face" that had only previously been issued in Canada was also available on the Trilogo card.
Read more about this topic: Kenner Star Wars Action Figures