The Star Wars merchandising machine was slow to start, as many companies were a bit sheepish to push products to market quickly for an unproven movie, in a hit or miss genre. While those that Lucas had given licenses to were dragging their heels on getting items on the shelf. The bootleggers and 2nd tier toy companies were striking while the iron was hot, with knock offs and space themed toys that were almost Star Wars being rushed to the shelves to line their pockets. The first items to hit the shelf were of course knock off light sabers. The most famous of them being "The Force Beam", which was essentially a flashlight attached to a tube of glow in the dark plastic. There were many others, also to be shown here.