Jason Lenzi, host of Plastic Soul, the Entertainment Earth pop culture show gives the rundown on some of his most prized Star Wars collectibles.
Why Wonder Bread Cards are So Special to Me
Let’s be honest. I grew up Italian, we had Italian bread in the house all the time, we’re in a Wonder Bread family, but I begged for Wonder Bread to get these. I got a few of them, I didn’t get them all. This is a set that I acquired many years later.
But the reason they’re so special to me? Well, there’s a couple of reasons. First, I don’t think we get stuff like this anymore. Do we get cards on the bottom of Hostess Twinkies and things we can cut out and collect? Do we get stuff inside cereal boxes? Do we get cards like this inside loaves of bread? We just don’t seem to do this anymore. I have to question, what has happened to this world that we don’t get these kinds of premiums anymore? Because these were fantastic. I can’t imagine how much bread was eaten by the kids of America to get this card set.
I love the design of the cards, the images chosen, and the writing on the back because this is all we had. You know, there was no internet. You had the book, the novelization. You had some magazines that came out. You had the little silver cardboard little cards that came with the necklaces and jewelry and stuff that actually had some really interesting information like told you what TIE fighter stood for and things like that, but it was few and far between where you’re getting your information.
On the back of these cards, lots of info. And then the tops cards had info too, but mainly I love this card set because it has this Han Solo card, that for me, is one of the coolest Han Solo pictures of all time. This is my spirit animal. This is who I’ve tried to be in my coolest moments when I think I’m walking down the street or through a restaurant or at a zoo, and I think my inner Han Solo, like, I look this cool. I’ve never looked this cool in my life, I never will, but as a kid, this is who I wanted to be, this picture of Han Solo, this cool, super cool badass dude was who I wanted to be as a kid, and you know the one I have is really beat up, so I figured maybe I carried it in my little velcro wallet for years to keep looking at and going, “that’s who you got to be.”
Premiums from the Early Days of Star Wars
General Mills 100 years ago had these little press-out and make-it ships that came in boxes of cereal for Star Wars. They did cards, stickers, an album you could mail away for was like a long wallet sort of thing that all the stickers could go in, and they did these punch-out ships which I kept for some reason. I put them together, hung them up then took them apart again and put them in an envelope that I still have today.
I’ll let you in on a secret. I will go down the cereal aisle occasionally and buy cereal just for the prize. Like, maybe I’ll eat some of the cereal, but if it’s a super cool prize inside, probably going to get the cereal. I’m still seven years old. My goodness, I don’t know what it is about the cereal aisle that’s so attractive. It’s the perfect food, let’s be honest. I mean, you can eat it dry, you can eat it with milk, eat it with rice milk, you can eat it with water, whatever you want to do. You can put it in your pocket and munch on it throughout the day. It’s a great food, but we’re missing all these premiums, all these great giveaway things that we used to have.
When Force Awakens came out, there were some little flashlights, I think, that came in some cereals, and given whatever they had to work with, obviously, but it turns out that every one of these cards is like one of the most iconic images of that character or that vehicle or that creature. I love them, so you can’t have them, they’re mine, but this Han Solo card, this was better than anything in the tops cards and any other image I had. This, if I had a locker when I was a little kid, this would have been in my locker.
Let Us Know Your Favorite Giveaways
Anyway, let me know what you think. Do you miss premiums and cereal items and fun things to be in packages? In the early days of Star Wars, when you got this stuff, what are some of your favorite giveaways? Wherever you’re at, are you in the US, in the UK, Spain, Japan? Let us know what kind of stuff you got.
Please let us know in the comments, please hit like and subscribe, and don’t forget to sign up for the Entertainment Earth email newsletter to stay up to date on all of your pop culture needs. Alright, I’m going to look at these again and do my best to get this look going. Still working on it, we’ll see. Thanks, everyone, we’ll see you soon. May the force be with you.
