Regal Toy Plush Chewbacca Redux

I've had this item in my collection for a few months now but wanted to post it up just for the sake of completeness. It is of course another Regal Toy plush Chewbacca - but unlike the other one in my collection, this one is complete with all of its tags!

Isn't this a beauty, the original hang tag. Regal Toy was one of the first global manufacturers to bring out Star Wars toys - it produced a plush Chewbacca, R2D2 and Jawa. As noted in a previous post, the Regal Chewbacca differs a bit from the Kenner one as it's a bit bigger, and has its materials/care tag in a different place.

Bilingual hang tag of course!

Here's the Regal Toy materials/care tag at the waist. Kenner version had the tag at the neck.

The other side has French.

The toy was missing two of the cartridges from the bandolier but fortunately I had two 3D-printed cartridges left from the last project. These are a slightly different colour than the originals and marked "Reproduction" of course.

I love the Regal Toy plush characters, they're among the first Star Wars toys ever produced and have their own real charm. Of course now that I've got a couple Chewbaccas I am on the lookout for an R2D2 and a Jawa. The Regal Toy Jawa is a unique and rare piece, coming up for sale infrequently, and is certain to command a price well in excess of the $75CAD I paid for this Chewie at a local shop. I reckon I got an amazing deal on this one (with tags intact!) and it's not going anywhere.

More Plush! Regal Toy Canada Chewbacca

More plush goodness! This time I'm featuring a rare Regal Toy (Canada) Chewbacca plush toy (at right) in a side-by-side comparison with the Kenner (USA) version (at left).

There's an interesting story about how this Regal Chewie came into my collection. A good friend of mine found a plush Chewbacca she'd been given as a child in the '70s. I wasn't that interested in adding it to my collection as it was missing its bandolier. I advised her to just put it up on Facebook Marketplace. A day or so later a collector friend of mine in Toronto messaged me to say he'd spotted a Regal Toy Chewbacca plush on FB Marketplace right here in Winnipeg - it was my friend's ad! 

Kenner tag at neck

"How do you know it's a Regal?" I asked. He said that the definitive "tell" is that the Kenner version has a tag on the back of the neck, while the Regal version has its tag at the waist. So needless to say, I messaged my friend immediately and picked up this Regal version from her. As noted, it was missing the bandolier but I lucked out and found one on eBay, albeit missing two of the ammo cartridges. I addressed that issue by having a friend 3D-print me some cartridges for display - don't worry, they are a slightly different shade of grey and are marked "Reproduction" on the backs :-)

Regal Toy tag remnant visible at waist

Remnant of Regal Toy waist tag

I love these two guys! The other key differences are that the Regal toy (right) is somewhat taller (1-2") and has a larger, higher forehead. These variations can be tough to judge if you don't see them side by side though - but the one sure sign is the waist tag on the Regal version as opposed to the neck tag on the Kenner.

I hope you enjoyed this post, and stay safe!