One of the earliest knock off figure cases was
The Star World figure case. It was made in 1977 by the Tara
Toy Corporation from NY. It's a vinyl case that can store up to 12( 24 and 48 figure versions also are out there) figures in
its thin, blue vacuformed plastic trays .It even says on the front that you can store your Star Wars figures in it:
And just to solidify the cheesy and blatant attempt to cash in on Star Wars, the graphics of a female or drag queen Vader, with obvious R2-D2, C-3PO, Chewbacca and Stormtrooper rip offs do the job nicely.
Tara Toys didn't stop there. They also made the Space Case. The graphics aren't as blatant towards SW, but they still were
going for the SW audience with their product:
Just like the Star World case, the Space Case came in 12, 24 and 48 figure storage capacity. Shown here is the 48. it has 4 of the trays stacked up inside. Just like the Star World case it mentions that it holds Star Wars and Shogun Warriors.
Tara Toys made one more case (That I'm aware of) with SW imagery and connotations of using for SW figures. This was geared towards kids playing with either or SW and GI Joe toys. The generically named "Action Figures Collectors Case.
The light saber and pseudo R2 droids give you that SW space saga feel w.o crossing those ohh so tedious intergalactic copyright laws. Well played Tara Toys, well played indeed. Unlike the previous 2 from Tara Toys which have both been found in 3 different figure capacities, i''ve only seen this one in the 24 figure capacity size.
Tara Toys didn't have the market cornered on knock off figure cases, Baroco Enterprises in Greenwich CT, also made their own version of the Space Case. Showing our Star Wars like heroes being stalked by a green tentacle armed alien.
It's construction, and figure trays are almost identical to the Tara Toys cases. It also mentions that it's "Suitable for Star Wars warriors, explorers and other space figures"
We can't leave out retail giant Sears in their quest to make an extra dollar here or there off of parents that didn't want to spend the extra $on a Kenner figure case (honestly as a child I would rather have had more figures and a fake case, than fewer figures and an official one) The Space Figure Case, also holds 24 figures and has blue vacuform plastic trays. I wouldn't be surprised if Sears had farmed the manufacture of this quality item out to Tara Toys.
Also available from Sears in Canada as shown here in their 1981 Christmas catalog, on the same page as the Kenner SW offerings :
The Cryotron figure case. It's one of the nicest figure cases I've ever seen, more and better pictures of it once I have permission from
the photos owners, or acquire one of them for my own collection.
Just like the Star World case, the Space Case came in 12, 24 and 48 figure storage capacity. Shown here is the 48. it has 4 of the trays stacked up inside. Just like the Star World case it mentions that it holds Star Wars and Shogun Warriors.
It's construction, and figure trays are almost identical to the Tara Toys cases. It also mentions that it's "Suitable for Star Wars warriors, explorers and other space figures" 
