Dixie Cups The Empire Strikes Back Story Cards (1981)

An Empire Strikes Back cup-box promotion

The Empire Strikes Back Dixie refill-cup Story Cards were issued in the United States in 1981, distinct from earlier Dixie mail-away Collector's Kit cards. The documented refill-cup promotion includes twenty-four numbered story-card pieces that came as connected four-card strips. The original printed card numbers are established, but many individual picture captions are not fully transcribed or paired with reusable source photographs. IDS retains that distinction.

Smaller cut-out imagery in cup cartons

The 1981 refill-cup cartons included thin-stock, four-card connected strips. Twenty-four numbered individual cards are documented, and each can be detached from the original strip. Six strip sets of four account for the twenty-four numbered identities. Strip placement is an original packaging format, not evidence of separate parallels or additional artwork. Existing collector photos of strips are source leads, not licensed individual front and back photographs.

Larger mail-away Collector's Kit cards

Earlier Dixie/Lipton Collector's Kit cards and posters are a separate promotion, sometimes described in collecting histories alongside later Dixie cup-box inserts. Their larger mail-away cards must not be added to the twenty-four 1981 numbered Story Cards. An original uncut four-card strip and its four cut cards likewise represent the same numbered designs, rather than five card images.

Twenty-four original numbers, artwork captions still unverified

The archive now records all twenty-four documented original Story Card numbers, 1 through 24, using neutral editorial labels rather than claiming that each label is printed on the original front. The original distribution year is 1981 even though the stable archive route retains its earlier 1980 identifier. The missing work is photo-by-photo identification of each original scene, exact printed captions and authorized front/back reproductions, not another invented numbered checklist.

Do not substitute unrelated cup art

No independently licensed per-card front or back images have been added to this release. A photograph of an Empire Strikes Back cup, box or Darth Vader poster does not identify the numbered story card on its own. Third-party photos of numbered multi-card strips are preserved as outbound research leads, not treated as permission to extract or host an image for every individual card.

Known formats and unresolved variants

The Star Wars Collectors Archive Dixie history, collector strip photographs and original sales references support the twenty-four numbered 1981 refill-cup pieces. IDS maintains the numbering, source details and known packaging differences without attributing unseen subjects to a character page, inventing an additional parallel for a strip position or claiming any reused third-party image rights. The older larger mail-away Collector's Kit requires separate record treatment.

• Star Wars Collectors Archive: original 1981 Story Card promotion, distribution, six four-card strips and 24-strip positions
• Original owner photographs of all 24 numbered cards, arranged as uncut strips
• PSA documented 24 numbered paper Story Cards, one of two distinct Dixie formats
• 2026 Heritage auction: partial original 1981 Dixie story cards with physical card numbers
• Original StarWarsCards.net earlier combined Dixie release entry

Sources and editorial standards · All U.S. Star Wars card sets