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International ROTJ Cardbacks: Anglophone Countries

First up we find the domestic American version. We see the introduction of several design elements that will follow throughout the other examples. We see the single race track around the image, the Star Wars logo above the text, and the Times New Roman font.

We also see the text "Return of The Jedi." It is worthwhile to consider these four words independently. Note the lack of article. It is not "The Return of the Jedi." We will see that in most other languages the the is added back. After the noun "Return" (which also serves to imply the action verb "to return") comes the prepositional clause "of the." What makes this interesting is the fact that the English definite article "the" has no number. It can be either singular or plural...

In cinematic terms, this is one of the most intriguing things about the film. It can mean:The Return of "the order of the Jedi" (singular) or the return of "the Jedi Anakin" or "the Jedi Luke Skywalker,"(singular) or the return of "the Jedis." (plural). The title of the film leaves this intentionally ambiguous. Lucas would do the same thing years later with "The Revenge of the Sith."

As we will see, other languages take a firm stand on the meaning of the title and make it singular.

For more on this figure click here.

Next we see the British version made by the Palitoy company. There are few differences from the American Version. The most notable difference is the lack of Kenner logo. Palitoy long abandoned including its own logo on the front of the card. This gives us a clearer view of Chewbacca's heavily airbrushed arm.

Collectors (rightfully) lament the lack of foreign logo on many foreign carded figures as they seem to strip them of their exoticism. Careful observers, however, will note other design elements that set this card apart from its American counterpart. The lack of Assortment number in the upper left is quite noticeable as it throws the off the balance leaving much of the top third of the card drowned in black. This effect is only heightened by the fact that the card is more top-heavy than the American version.

Keen eyes will also notice that there is a variance in the age warning. In England they say "Ages 4 and over," whereas in America they say Ages 4 and Up." Is there a prepositional difference between American and Queen's English?

Also worthy of note is the "Made in Hong Kong" more prominently featured outside of the silver race track. On the American card this info is hidden.

There is, of course, a great difference with the bubble, but that is hardly worthy of note as it is not much of a linguistic difference. However, grand bubble variance was a part of the Palitoy regional style. If you click on the link below you will see details of this figure as well as another Palitoy Chewbacca with a different bubble and a different offer on the back.

For that info (and more) click here.