Yes, a Star Wars telegraph. Some unproduced toy concepts cause fans and collectors to react "Why didn't Kenner make that back in the day?". Not so much on this one.
Kenner's "Concept 2000" telegraph toy was branded with a Star Wars logo in the corner panel to mix the hit film with "high-tech" gadgetry for kids' product concepts. The color scheme could easily be representative of the Empire, but the toy definitely says "A long time ago...". Of course, telegraphs have not been high technology since the early part of the 19th century, yet kids wireless telegraph toys remained popular through the 1970s until they began getting replaced by wireless voice-transmitting walkie talkies.
Some of the early walkie talkie toys did not even modulate a voice signal at all and instead emitted static sound patterns for received Morse code. The walkie talkie shown in the photo has the same Star Wars logo sticker as the "Concept 2000" home receiver. There's even a compass on the unit in case you need magnetic north to find your way home after playing with friends down the street.
Apparently C-3PO's fluency in over six million forms of communication includes Morse code as Kenner came close to going to market with a C-3PO code-transmitting walkie talkie in the late 1970s. This product sheet was sent to retailers for marketing and order placement. The body of the toy is similar in structure to the black and white "Star Wars" walkie talkie concept, except that these gold-colored units were based on C-3PO's face and torso and had LED blinky eyes and "Battle Alert" sounds. Kenner decided to pull the plug, or rather the nine-volt battery, from this toy at the 11th hour, so it never got into kids' hands.
Make sure to check out Gus and Duncan's Comprehensive Guide to Star Wars Collectibles, available exclusively online.
