Tantive XI Glossary of Vintage Star Wars Collecting Terminology

When collecting Star Wars merchendise you will encounter a mine field of abbreviations and terms that you may not recognise. Below is a list of the ones you are most likely to encounter.

# Back - You may come across a term such as 12 back or 20 back in relation to carded figures. This is a way of more precisely describing a cardback for the variant collector by referring to how many figures are displayed on the reverse. When the figures first came out, there were only 12 different figures available for purchase. As more characters became available, the backs were changed accordingly. 12, 20, 21, 31, 32, 41, 45, 47, 48, 65, 77, 79, 92 are all the different Kenner cardbacks you may find. You may also see a letter after the number e.g. 12A. The letter A denotes the first issue of that particular card, subsequant letters with the same number denote a change. This can be as simple as the addition of a promotional sticker at the factory or a printing change.

AFA - Action Figure Authority, this is a US based company which grades toys. This involves assiging a number according to condition of the item e.g. AFA 85 NM+ & sealing the item in a clear perspex case.

ANH - A New Hope

Baggie - Factory sealed sealed plastic or polythene bag used to contain complete figures or accessories. These may or may not have manufacturer information printed on them. e.g. 'Kenner Made In Hong Kong'

Bootleg - Unlicensed merchandise made in the style of original licensed products. These were produced in countries which either had no licensed product, or where the licensed product was very expensive.

C# - Many sellers will subjectively grade items on a scale of C1 (very poor) through to C10 (perfect).

Cardback - This is the card that the figure was originally attached to when sold at retail.

Clipper - A company that was licensed to distribute Star Wars toys in Belgium, Holland and Luxembourg.

CONUS - Continental United States.

COO - Country of Origin, Getting to grips with COO's can be a complicated business, but basically 3 3/4" figures can have Hong Kong, Taiwan, Macau, China, Japan or no COO and variations there of.
Mexico can also be a COO, but this should only be seen on some toys. For example: cardbacks, baggies, vehicles, preschool figures... It will not be found on any of the 3 3/4 figures.

CPG - Consumer Product Group

Custom - Fan made character, vehicle or packaging that is based on non production or pre prouction items.

DT  saber - Double Telescoping, this refers to the two piece light sabers issued with the earliest releases of Darth Vader (orange), Obi-Wan Kenobi (blue) and Luke Skywalker (yellow).

Early Bird Kit / Figures - This was the first Kenner Star Wars action figure product. The early bird kit was a cardboard envelope containing a display stand, a redemption certificate & other paper goods. The early bird figures were a mail in promotion using the redemption certificate and included Luke Skywalker (with either a DT or ST saber), Princess Leia, R2-D2, Chewbacca & pegs for the display stand.

ESB - Empire Strikes Back

First 12 - This refers to the first 12 characters produced (Luke Skywalker, Han Solo etc.)

Glasslite - A licensed manufacturer & distributer of Star Wars toys in Brazil.

GMFGI - General Mills Fun Group Incorporated (General Mills was the owner of Kenner and in control of most of the European distributors also).

Harbert - A licensed distributor in Italy.

HTF - Hard To Find.

Kenner - An American toy company based in Cincinnati, Ohio which held the license for the manufacture & distribution of Star Wars toys.

Kenner Canada - Kenner Canada was created, when an agreement between Irwin Toys & Kenner US was reached for the distribution of Star Wars toys for Canada.

Last 17 - This refers to the last 17 characters produced. The last 17 was the end of the line for Vintage Star Wars action figures and as such not as many of them were produced, hence they command a premium among collectors.

Lili Ledy (LL) - A licensed manufacturer and distributor of Star Wars toys in Mexico.

LFL - Lucasfilm Limited.

M - Mint condition with no flaws.

Meccano - The licensed distributer in France (the full title was Miro Meccano)

MIB - Mint in Box - original factory seal has been broken, contents may be used or unused.

MISB - Mint in Sealed Box - factory seals e.g. tape on flaps is intact.

MOC - Mint on Card - the plastic bubble is still factory sealed to the backing card. Figure has never been removed.

NM - Near Mint with minor flaws e.g. slight paint rub or minor factory imperfection.

NOS - New Old Stock - old shop or warehouse stock which is in 'as new' condition.

NRFB - Never Removed From Box.

OT - Original Trilogy.

Palitoy - A licencee for Kenner which was based in Coalvale, Leister, England.

PBP - A toy company that was created from the merger of three Spanish toy companies, Poch, Borras and Palouzie. (Poch produced Toys, Borras produced games, Palouzie produced educational products)

POP - Proof Of Purchase.

Popy - A licensed distributer of ESB Star Wars figures in Japan.

Poch - (Refer to PBP)

POTF - Power Of The Force.

Recard - When an original figure is mounted onto a reproduction card with a reproduction bubble. Recards often include reproduction weapons / accessories.

Reseal - When an MOC has had the bubble re-attached to the card that had previously been opened (typically this is used to describe original cards with original bubbles, how it is sometimes used in descriptions when fake bubbles are used.

Reproduction / Replica (Repro) - A Reproduction item is designed to look exactly like the original.

ROTJ - Return Of The Jedi.

RR - Removable rocket, reference to the Boba Fett figures released by the Mexican company Lili Ledy which had a non sonic welded rocket which could be removed.

RF - Rocket Firing, reference to the early prototype Boba Fett figures which had the firing mechanism for the back pack rocket.

ST saber- Single Telescoping, this refers to the 'standard' single piece lightsabers that were issued with Darth Vader (red), Obi-Wan Kenobi (blue) and Luke Skywalker (yellow).

Takara - A licensed distributer & manufacturer of Star Wars toys in Japan.

TCFFC - Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Toltoys - A licensed distributer of Star Wars toys in Australia & New Zealand.

Top Toys (TT) - A licensed manufacturer & distributer of Star Wars toys in Argentina.

TT - Often used to identify Top Toys figures (see above) but has recently been used to identify Toy Toni MOC's (description needed)

Tri-Logo - Tri-Logo packaging has the ROTJ logo printed in English, French and Spanish for the European market.

Tsukuda - a licensed distributer of ROTJ Star Wars toys in Japan.

U grade -  U graded toys receive a number such as U90. U grades are given to toys that are removed from their original packaging by the grading company, the U stands for Uncirculated. This destructive practice is discouraged by most serious collectors. This can also refer to factory shipping boxes been opened by the grading company, the MOC's in side would subsequently receive a U grade because they had never been circulated after leaving the factory.

UKG - UK Graders, a company based in the United Kingdom which grades toys.

VHTF - Very Hard To Find.

Vintage - In the Star Wars collecting world, vintage refers to items produced between 1977 and 1989 it does not include items released since the 1990's.



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Noted on the terminology and will update my write up to reflect the wordings used.

you should add 2 line,3 line 4 line.

i had a LFB in hand once years ago and someone said it was a 2 line.....i was like what the f#ck i was looking up and down for ages looking for 2 lines literally ha ha ha

Chris, Thanks for pointing the omission out. We'll ad the entry asap.