30th Anniversary Coin Album With Figure #1 - Darth Vader - TAC - Basic (30 01)

The sound of his mechanical breathing makes blood congeal in your veins. His shadow blankets a person, a starship, a planet... and when it passes, only death and destruction remain. His name has come to personify crushing power and remorseless cruelty, a name spoken with trepidation and fear. He is the Dark Lord of the Sith. He is... Darth Vader.

A galaxy of collector coins to celebrate the power of the Force.

In 1985, Kenner introduced a new concept into the 3¾" figure packaging – the collector coin. These "Power of the Force" coins were an instant hit and are highly sought after today.

Now seasoned collectors and recent arrivals to the galaxy can experience the excitement of a new series of Star Wars collector coins. Depicting characters and scenes from the entire six-film epic as well as the Expanded Universe, these coins have been re-created in the original size - but with some fresh new twists. This special album has slots to display all 60 3¾" figure coins. You will also find extra spaces for duplicates or promotional coins that may be produced over the course of the year. Enjoy the hunt for these truly special coins!

Darth Vader is a repack of 2005’s ROTS Darth Vader (III 11) figure. OK, we’re done with Darth Vader, onto the spectacular coin album. Can you sense our excitement for what we consider one of the greatest collectible pieces Hasbro ever made for us? If the coin album and the coin pack-in premium just didn’t do it for you, you likely didn’t grow up with the vintage line from the 70s and more specifically the 80s which gave us the end of vintage Star Wars collecting as we knew it in 1985. The coins were first introduced in this year when the line changed to The Power Of The Force, only to be completely canceled less than six months later and go into hibernation until 10 years later when a revitalized Kenner decided redevelop the line. Hasbro (Kenner) got brave and gave the coins another stab during The Power Of The Force "2" modern line, but they were all Toys R Us exclusives and didn’t capture audiences as well as they should have. (Maybe subconsciously those sculpts just didn’t do it for us. We don’t know.) But almost another decade went buy before the coins became the pack-in premium again for the basic figures and we have to say that Hasbro couldn’t have done it at a better time than for the 30 year anniversary celebration of Star Wars. The coins changed design so that they look a little more modern, but they have the same photo on the front as well as name and source detail on the back and a few other details. It was an exciting time to collect and it all started with the Darth Vader figure, appropriately numbered as 30 01!

In the 30 (77-07) line, Hasbro managed to release 60 basic figure coins, 6 vintage coins, 6 episode specific Saga Legends coins, and quite a few more that came with exclusive figures or other convention exclusives (and we didn’t even mention the “gold” and “black” Expanded Universe coins that came with some special Saga Legends figures as well). There was a lot to grab all at once, but 2007 was one of the most exciting periods for collectors. The 30 (77-07) line gave collectors an awesome array of characters from all the films, a glorious Expanded Universe wave and some of the biggest pack-in accessories our action figures have ever seen. It’s an awesome collection to say the least. And Hasbro really started buckling down on the quality of their figures (Editor’s Note: This is a trend which has followed us to where we are today. Hasbro has gotten better and better.) and put great thought into the pack-in premiums, no matter how gimmicky they may seem to some people. (Editor’s Note: we are wishing and hoping that Hasbro brings coins back briefly for when they start making The Power Of The Force vintage figures in The Vintage Collection.) But getting coins again after 25 years was very exciting for us. It seemed to come and go so quickly. But maybe due to it's short shelf life that’s the magic that keeps these coins (and figures) special for us. But what to do with all of those coins? Thankfully Hasbro made it very easy for us!

Months before wave 1 of the 30 (77-07) came out, Hasbro got plenty of the 30the Anniversary Coin Album With Figure #1 – With Darth Vader out to retail. And it was a great way to start the buzz about how cool 2007 was going to be for all of us. (A little side note for you: this is the ONLY product in the 30 (77-07) line that has “30th Anniversary” denoting the line as the collection name. Interesting tidbit, isn’t it?) The album has slots for 80 coins, but if you picked up every single one, there aren’t enough spots. Still, it holds all the important ones, so we’re not complaining. But the best part of this album is the mural on the outside cover. Stretching in glorious widescreen format, the painting is one seamless work of art which chronologically shows character from Episode I through Episode VI. For obvious reasons, no Expanded Universe characters were included in the scene. But don’t worry, because there are more than enough of the most important Star Wars characters portrayed in the "painting" to satisfy any critical fan. This coin album shows that Hasbro has gone above and beyond what they needed to do here. In fact, many non-Star Wars fans commented how amazing the album was. Hasbro must have made more than enough of these because it was very easy to pick up a few extra albums on clearance to use for those extra coins we all had. This was a treat in our Star Wars collecting. We hope you took advantage of the coin collecting too!