POTF2 Jabba the Hutt (1996 Variant Box)

I wasn’t a collector at all in the 1990s (most of which I spent either in college or Japan) so at the time the Power of the Force 2 figures came out I didn’t even know they existed. But from what I understand, a lot of collectors at the time got pretty crazy trying to collect packaging and paint variations for various figures. There were apparently dozens of minute variations for Boba Fett alone! I don’t really see the appeal of that, but there are some packaging variations that are interesting.

From the front, you’re not likely to notice anything about this box that’s different from the more common version. As far as I know, they are identical. But the backs are a different story.

If you compare the box above to the more common version, you’ll see a number of differences. First and most significant is that a completely different picture of Han and Jabba has been used at the bottom left. In the original version, Jabba is on the left and Han is on the right, while in the other version they have been switched (see below).

If you look closer, you can also see the difference in copyright dates. The more common version has 1997 copyright dates, but the figure originally had a 1996 copyright. The 1996 version:

And the 1997 version:

The eagle-eyed among you will also see that the number at the lower left has changed from 541082.01 to 541082.02, indicating that the .02 version was a running change. I wonder why they made this change. I suppose Jabba looks marginally more attractive in the second version, and it’s also a photo used on a variety of other products, so perhaps Lucasfilm wanted them to use that version.