Usually produced as either promotional or collectible memorabilia relating to Star Wars, the cards can depict anything from screen still imagery to original art.

An avid collecting and trading community of these cards and sets exists worldwide.

In 2007, the official Star Wars website hypothesized that this was caused by a part of the suit that had fallen into place just as the photograph was taken.

In 2015, Topps created the Star Wars Card Trader app for iPhone, iPad and Android.

Harry N. Abrams published three books collecting the art of Star Wars trading cards and stickers; the first volume, featuring the original movie's cards, was published in 2015, followed by the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi volumes in 2016.