StarWars.com posted a magnificent article on the Mexican Lily Ledy 12" figures made
during the vintage era. They go into great detail and you may just learn a
thing or two that you didn't previously know about them in this very well-written
article. Check
it out here!
Or click
through to read the major points of the article.
The set of seven Lili Ledy 12-inch dolls from Mexico is regarded by many as
the most famous, or infamous, group of Star Wars collectibles ever to
emerge from south of the border, a distinction earned by both their rarity and
their unique design. Specifically, there are three reasons collectors avidly
seek out this set:
- The sculpts for each character are different from their US counterparts,
and the Tusken Raider figure wasn't even released in the US
- They are very rare -- putting together a complete set can be extremely challenging
- Very little is known about them, other than the fragments of information
printed on the packaging. This lack of information has only enhanced the mythos
surrounding these figures
Collectors have managed to piece together some rough ideas about their manufacture
and distribution, although facts are difficult to confirm since hard evidence
has remained exceedingly elusive. There was a warehouse stash of these figures
found in 1996, according to several websites, which contained small numbers of
each figure still in the original packaging. Before the find, many fans thought
the loose examples they encountered were mere bootlegs of the US Kenner 12-inch
line. One more fact that seems indisputable is that the Tusken Raider figure
is the most sought-after of the bunch, by simple virtue of his having no counterpart
in the US Kenner series.
With so much mystery surrounding these figures, we can only offer up a few alleged
facts compiled by some of the more advanced collectors in the hobby:
- The series was released in 1978-79
- Tusken Raider, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader, and Jawa are the hardest to find
- Jawa and Tusken Raider
were likely released as a "second series" of
sorts, due to the figures only being depicted among the others
on the Jawa and Tusken boxes. Early catalog imagery also depicted the first
five without the Tusken Raider and Jawa
- The R2-D2 figure was nearly an exact replica of Kenner's small action figure
series version, including the illustrated decal around his body (the US version
sported molded features)
- The basic plastic figures
themselves are said to have been cast from the same molds used on an earlier "Barbie-type" series
made by Lili Ledy for Mexico