Topps The Empire Strikes Back Series 3

The shortened green-framed final series

Series 3 completes the 1980 Topps Empire Strikes Back program with 88 numbered cards, 265 through 352, and 22 stickers, 67 through 88. Its green picture frames sit on a gold-toned background, unlike the silver-toned first two series. The smaller installment still contains portraits, film scenes and production-related material. Its 110 indexed objects must not be described as 110 ordinary numbered base cards.

Cartoon portraits, production art and checklists

The release starts with a title card followed by sixteen cartoon-style character portraits. The remaining base sequence includes film stills and individual characters, ten Ralph McQuarrie concept-art images, six behind-the-scenes photographs and a concluding checklist. These forms represent different editorial parts of the same release. Their printed card codes continue from Series 2 rather than duplicating the earlier Star Files and Starcraft numbers.

Star Quotes and Movie Facts

Series 3's numbered-card backs use Star Quotes drawn from both the original Star Wars film and The Empire Strikes Back. Its behind-the-scenes photographs retain Movie Facts text on the reverse. These differences distinguish the final series from Series 2's Star Quiz and Series 1's story summaries. A sourced front/back pair is more useful for identification than an isolated image of a recognizable scene.

Two puzzles on the last 22 sticker backs

The final 22 stickers use green backgrounds and the letter-framed portrait approach. Unlike the first two series, there is no additional group of eleven die-cut portrait stickers. The reverse sides form two separate picture puzzles, with imagery of the Millennium Falcon in an asteroid field and Yoda on Dagobah. These are arrangements of existing sticker backs, not extra checklist entries.

Existing full link coverage, with attribution

The structured archive has front and reverse URLs for all 88 numbered base cards and all 22 stickers. The catalog previously listed 88 front images because it did not count the sticker photographs. Corrected coverage is therefore 110 linked fronts and 110 linked backs, without acquiring any new images. All entries retain externally hosted source addresses and the practical possibility of missing or changed remote files.

Last-series numbering and documentation

The StarWarsCards.net index and the esbirrios base-card and sticker galleries document this smaller final installment. They provide the base codes, sticker codes, picture formats and descriptions of reverse-side text. The evidence supports the set's scope and linked scans. It does not establish manufacturing quantities, market prices or image-reuse permission. Suspected variants require an exact physical identifier and a separate reliable source.

• StarWarsCards.net checklist
• esbirrios.com card front and back gallery
• esbirrios.com Series 3 sticker fronts and backs

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