Double Telescoping Figures
By Chris Fawcett
Double Telescoping (or DT) figures confuse many a new collector just starting out in
the hobby. Three vintage figures had sabers that retracted up into the arm, Ben, Vader,
and Luke. These figures are not necessarily DT figures. The Double Telescoping variety has
a saber that telescopes twice. This can best be seen in the small animation here.
The left picture shows the regular saber moving in and out of the white "arm" of
the figure. The right picture shows the DT variation where the smaller saber tip slides in
and out of the larger saber piece.
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| The most common of these figures is the Luke. The Luke was most often found packaged with the Early Bird Kit, a set Kenner sent out in early 1978 which also contained Leia, R2, and Chewbacca. There are many DT Luke's around so they're not that hard to come by. Some have shown up on blister cards, so these were also shipped in that fashion. Under a dozen are known to exist like this and they command prices rivaling the carded VC Jawa. | The Ben and Vader were made in DT versions also, but are extremely tough to come by - there are probably less then ten of each known to be in collectors hands today. Beware of fakes on these as there are significantly more fakes than real ones. There are ways to tell the difference, so always have several experts verify the piece. Ben and Vader have also turned up carded, but only one of each is known to exist. | |