Special Offers

Canada would have to be the country with the highest amount of special offer items to have been released between 1978 and 1985. Most of them were available at Sears Canada. Presented below is a list of special offer items available in Canada.


Sears Canada    K-Mart Canada    Consumers Distributing



Sears Canada Special Offers

Sears Canada was arguably Kenner Canada's biggest client. When unsold stock remained in Kenner Canada's inventories after the initial period they were made available for sale, Kenner Canada would often package a carded figure inside a vehicle or playset in order to increase the likelihood of selling the item and reducing overstock. The retail outlet that carried the vast majority of special offer sets was Sears Canada. The vast majority of Sears special offer items came during the Empire Strikes Back years. Sears special offers were made available in one of two different categories: in-store purchases or through the annual Christmas catalogue: the Christmas Wishbook. The dates presented below indicate when the special offer was first available for sale. Where the item was available for multiple years, the accompanying text description will indicate so.


1979 (Wishbook):  Land of the Jawas   -   Sears Canada Death Star   -   Landspeeder
1980 (In-Store):     Patrol Dewback   -   Millennium Falcon   -   Snowspeeder   -   Hoth Ice Planet
1980 (Wishbook):  Creature Cantina   -   Remote-Controlled Sandcrawler
1981 (In-Store):     Snowspeeder   -   Hoth Ice Planet   -   Tauntaun   -   Slave I
1981 (Wishbook):  Hoth Ice Planet
1982 (In-Store):     Twin Pod Cloud Car   -   AT-AT   -   Scout Walker   -   X-Wing Fighter
1982 (Wishbook):  Twin Pod Cloud Car



Land of the Jawas:


Kenner Canada packaged a Jawa action figure with the Land of the Jawas playset and was carried by Sears. This offer was available exclusively through the Sears Wishbook during the Christmas seasons of 1979 and 1980.




Sears Death Star:


Kenner Canada packaged two Stormtroopers with the chipboard Death Star carried exclusively by Sears. This offer was only available through the Sears Wishbook, and was available in 1979 and 1980.




Landspeeder


Kenner Canada packaged a Luke Skywalker (original) action figure with the Landspeeder and was carried by Sears. This offer was available exclusively through the Sears Wishbook during the Christmas 1979 and 1980 seasons.




Patrol Dewback


Kenner Canada packaged a Stormtrooper figure with the Patrol Dewback and was carried by Sears in 1980 and 1981. This offer was available to in-store shoppers only. The offer itself was printed on the box. Later releases saw an orange sticker added to the box to bring out the special offer more vibrantly and clearly to consumers.




Millennium Falcon:


Kenner Canada packaged both Han Solo and Chewbacca action figures with the ESB version of the Millennium Falcon and was carried by Sears. This offer was only available to in-store shoppers. This offer was available in 1980, 1981 and 1982. The Millennium Falcon special offer came with different special offer stickers over the years in which it was offered:


1980:   Round yellow special offer sticker indicating 'Special Star Wars Secret Action Figure Offer'
1980/1981:   Starburst yellow special offer sticker similar in shape to the 'With Battle Alert Sound' starburst printed on the box. This sticker indicated that both Han Solo and Chewbacca figures were included.
1982:   Rectangular white special offer sticker indicating that both Han Solo and Chewbacca figures were included.

The 1980 special offer sticker was 'borrowed' from the Bossk secret action figure mail-in promotion earlier in the year. This round sticker was originally affixed to the action figure display headers in stores to promote the mail-in offer. This sticker was reused in the fall of the same year for the Millennium Falcon special offer in store at Sears.




Snowspeeder:


Snowspeeder with Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear)

The first version of the Snowspeeder special offer was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only in the fall of 1980, and it included a Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear) action figure.


Snowspeeder with Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot)

The second version of the Snowspeeder special offer was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only in the fall of 1981, and it included a Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) action figure.




Hoth Ice Planet:


Hoth Ice Planet with Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear)

The first version of the Hoth Ice Planet special offer was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only in the fall of 1980, and it included an Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear) action figure, commonly known as the "Snowtrooper".


Hoth Ice Planet with Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear), Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) and Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear)

The second version of the Hoth Ice Planet special offer was offered in the Sears Wishbook as well as to in-store Sears shoppers during the 1981 holiday season. It included a Rebel Soldier (Hoth Battle Gear), Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) and an Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear) - commonly known as the "Snowtrooper".




Creature Cantina:


Kenner Canada packaged a Yoda action figure along with an 8" X 10" photo of the Jedi Master with the Creature Cantina and was carried by Sears. This offer was available exclusively through the Sears Wishbook during the Christmas 1980 season.




Remote-Controlled Sandcrawler


Kenner Canada packaged two Jawas with the ESB version of the remote-controlled Sandcrawler and was carried by Sears. This offer was available exclusively through the Sears Wishbook during the Christmas 1980 season.




Tauntaun


Kenner Canada packaged a Han Solo (Hoth Outfit) action figure with the original version of the Tauntaun and was carried by Sears. This offer was only available to in-store Sears shoppers for a short period in the fall of 1981.




Slave I


Kenner Canada packaged a Boba Fett action figure with the Slave I vehicle and was carried by Sears. This offer was only available to in-store Sears shoppers for a short period in the fall of 1981 and 1982.



Sears Special Offer Twin Pod Cloud Car

Twin Pod Cloud Car


Twin Pod Cloud Car with One Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilot

Kenner Canada packaged one Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilot with the Twin Pod Cloud Car vehicle which was available through the Sears Wishbook in 1982 and 1983. The special offer sticker seen near the bottom of the box reads: "Special! Includes Mini-Action Figure".






Sears Special Offer Twin Pod Cloud Car

Twin Pod Cloud Car


Twin Pod Cloud Car with Two Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilots

The second version of the Twin Pod Cloud Car special offer was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only. Kenner Canada packaged two Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilots with the Twin Pod Cloud Car vehicle in 1982. The special offer sticker seen near the bottom of the box reads: "Special! Includes 2 Mini-Action Figures". This special offer sticker was similar to the Twin Pod Cloud Car special offer seen above.







AT-AT


Kenner Canada packaged an AT-AT Driver with the AT-AT in 1982, and was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only.




Scout Walker


Kenner Canada packaged an Imperial Stormtrooper (Hoth Battle Gear) action figure (sometimes indicated as Snow Stormtrooper in the Sears advertisements) with the Scout Walker in 1982, and was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only.




X-Wing Fighter


Kenner Canada packaged a Luke Skywalker (X-Wing Pilot) with the ESB X-Wing Fighter in 1982, and was offered to in-store Sears shoppers only.




K-Mart Canada Special Offer

The special offer that was available through K-Mart in Canada was the Land of the Jawas playset that came with a Yoda figure in 1980. The sticker on the outside of the box promoting the offer was the exact same as that of the Sears Canada Creature Cantina special offer that also contained Yoda; offered in the same year.


The Yoda action figure itself was issued to stores in the fall of 1980 in solid cases. In so doing, there was ample stock of the little figure in Canada. In order to help move the figure, Kenner Canada took the opportunity to include him in both the Sears Canada and K-Mart Canada special offers in the same year. Interestingly, both playsets were from the Star Wars era (that Kenner Canada was also ready to move from inventories as they were old stock), and both playsets were from Star Wars movie scenes that contained a variety of creatures. They were playsets that Yoda could blend in with if children used their imaginations. Yoda's home - the Dagobah playset - would not be released until the following year in 1981.




Consumers Distributing Special Offer

The special offer that was available through Consumers Distributing in Canada was the AT-AT that came with three action figures. The Stormtrooper, AT-AT Driver and the AT-AT Commander were packaged with the vehicle. Unlike the special offers shown above, the Consumers Distributing special offer AT-AT did not contain a sticker on the outside of the box promoting the offer. The only indication of the special offer was the Consumers Distributing catalogue sticker on the box.