We all know the text on the back of Trilogo cards states “Collect all 70” yet there are 79 figures listed but is that all there is to it? Let’s take a closer look..

When you examine the back of any Trilogo and look at the list of figures on it  you will actually notice that the numbered list of figures does indeed start from number 1 and end with number 79 but you may not have realised that there are actually figures missing from the cardback, both in the numbered list and in the pictures above.

The numbered figures omitted from the Trilogo cardback are the following :

22 , 24, 25, 44, 55, 52, 58, 59 and 60.

That might not mean a lot at first but when you check those numbers off against an earlier released Palitoy 65 back card things become a little clearer.

When you compare a Trilogo cardback to a Palitoy 65 back cardback (like the one shown above) you can see that although more figures were added to the Trilogo cardback when it was designed and the layout of the figures was changed, the actual order of the figures listed did not. Instead of rearranging the list, the new ROTJ figures were simply added to the existing list, from 66 and onwards.

So which 9 figures are missing from the Trilogo cardback? Well, using the earlier 65 back card we can see that the numbers correspond to the following figures:

• 22 : Cloud Car Pilot
• 24 : Bespin Security Guard (Black)
• 25 : 4-LOM
• 44 : Bespin Security Guard (White)

• 52 : Power Droid
• 55 : Snaggletooth
• 58 : Hammerhead
• 59 : Greedo
• 60 : Walrusman

The interesting thing here is that it shows the figures listed above were purposely removed from the backs of the cards when Trilogo packaging and the second wave of ROTJ figures were introduced because they were not intended to be continually produced alongside the other figures.

It’s very possible that these characters were chosen due to their low popularity with children or the fact that ROTJ had a bunch of new non major character figures which obviously needed to be promoted and sold in stores. 

You can see more proof of this change by looking at other packaging and paperwork and in fact it shows that it was a change that affected all of Europe.

Evidence of some of these figures being removed from production can be seen in the European Power Of the Force catalogues which were released in a variety of languages/countries. These catalogues not only showcased the new POTF line but also the existing line from Star Wars figures right through to Return of the Jedi.

In the European POTF catalogues, Greedo, Hammerhead, Power Droid, both Bespin Guards and the Cloud Car Pilot were all missing yet Walrusman and 4-LOM were still shown for some reason, perhaps to see if there was still any interest in either character.

On German KDM (Kraft Der Macht) multipacks the back of the cards displayed a selection of figures up until the second wave of ROTJ, all of the figures missing from the Trilogo cardback are also missing from the KDM cardback.

Strangely there is a figure that is both listed & pictured on all Trilogo cardbacks (and other European packaging) yet never actually saw a real Trilogo release. That figure was number 50: The Death Squad Commander/Star Destroyer Commander.

Perhaps he was intended for a Trilogo release that never happened or was meant to be removed from the list and was forgotten, we may never know. (*Although, he can be found “miscarded” there was never a Trilogo Death Squad Commander released*)

The Hybrid Theory

Six of the figures mentioned above will be familiar to collectors with regard to Trilogos because they were actually released on “Hybrid” Trilogo cards produced by Palitoy.

Below is a complete set of these Hybrid cards in almost factory fresh condition.

After looking at the design of the Trilogo cardback and the purposely removed figures,  we can get a better idea of the reasons behind these Trilogo Hybrid cards and more importantly when they were produced.

Many collectors have always assumed that the hybrid figures were produced before the true front and back Trilogos yet others have stated that this is not the case, that in fact the release of the hybrids was instead a cheap way to reissue certain figures either through increased demand or an effort to move overstock.

This theory of the hybrid cards representing some kind of cheap reissue packaging rather than the bridge between Palitoy ROTJ cards and Trilogos definitely looks to be more accurate when you look at all of the information above.

The hybrids couldn’t have been made before true Trilogos if the cardback they appeared on was already changed to exclude them from the intended range of figures, this had to have been a late decision to continue production of these six characters.

Unfortunately it looks like 4-LOM, Walrusman and the Power droid never managed to regain their popularity with children to warrant a reissue, which let’s face it isn’t hard to see why, one of them was just a box with legs!