A Classic Star Wars Bootleg Toy – May the Force Beam be With You

In the 1990s, I went through a crazy wallet-emptying couple of years where I was buying up as much vintage Star Wars stuff as I could get my paws on. I bought figures by the boxful and vehicles and playsets in every advertised state. I even picked up a few lightsabers in varying conditions. What item that I was never able to find, although I hunted for it was the notorious 1970s lightsaber knockoff, the Force Beam.

The Force Beam was out before other merchandise hit the market and was basically a flashlight on a plastic sword. I love this ad because its just a mashup of Star Wars stuff and seems so blatant a ripoff in retrospect. Despite this, or maybe because of it, I still want one of these, but I have not had much luck tracking one in decent condition. If you are curious as to was they looked like, the Star Wars Collectors Archive has posted some photos of the Beam in all of it bootleggy glory.