In 1976, the MEGO Corporation was offered the chance to make action figures for Star Wars before the movie came out next year, but they refused that deal and it haunted them for years until they closed forever in 1983. The license would be subsequentially picked up by Kenner and the rest is history:
Summary[]
Star Wars: A New Hope was the first film in history to successfully market toys based on the movie and George Lucas would use those fund to finance the next two chapters of the Original Trilogy. However, Kenner was so overwhelmed by the film’s positive reception and high demand for toys that they sold an “Early Bird Certificate Package” which included a certificate that could be mailed to Kenner and redeemed for four Star Wars action figures: Luke, Leia, Chewbacca, and R2-D2. By the time the action figures were offered for direct sale in shops, the range had been augmented with eight more figures (Darth Vader, Obi Wan, C-3PO, Han, et cetera) and the rest is history. Kenner would keep pumping out Star Wars toys and vehicles after each movie and cartoon until 1985 when the demand for Star Wars merchandise had slowed and Kenner discontinued production of its action figures until 1995 when they began the Power of the Force line which featured updated sculpts and more characters. Kenner would be ultimately purchased by Hasbro in 1991 and closed in 2000 with their product lines merging into Hasbro who continues to manufacture Star Wars action figures. But they have not completely forgotten about Kenner as they reused their name and original packaging for their 2010-2019 Vintage Collection and many of the original 70’s figures have popped up in pop cultural entertainment (Poltergeist [1982], E.T. The Extra Terrestrial, The Simpsons, Argo, Toy Story 4, This is Us) along with being the subject of documentaries (Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys and The Toys That Made Us). [1] Though with every product that Kenner released throughout their prime, there have been a few that slipped through the cracks:
Prototype Differences[]
As with most “lost media” content that is usually a lost pilot for a successful TV series or test footage of a renowned film, let’s take look at some of the prototypes of Kenner figures that looked a lot different from the final project and are no longer existing. I won’t cover every single difference or prototype as I may save them for the photo gallery, but I’ll just list some of the bigger highlights.
— The mockups for the first ten figures were created using repurposed molds from the Fisher Price Adventure People figures as they each have the same pose except for R2-D2 who was his own original model. The figures were shown once to Kenner executives, but didn’t quite catch on.
— In one toy catalog that featured a photo of the original 10, right next to a mock-up of the Tusken Raider was an all-black Stormtrooper who was said to have been an earlier version of the Death Squad Commander and was later shown in a commercial with a concept model of the TIE Fighter, implying that he was supposed to be the pilot. Another all-black Stormtrooper model known as the Blackhole Stormtrooper was believed to have been planned for the 1979 wave and presumably based off a faction seen in an earlier Marvel Star Wars comic book from the 1970’s. [2]
— The Millennium Falcon vehicle was also going to be a lot slicker and more like a playset with the Holochess table coloured orange instead of blue. Looking on the back carding for figures released during The Empire Strikes Back series reveals a much earlier version of the AT-AT Walker which was way whiter and looked a lot slicker compared to the final product.
— One of the original plans for the figure cardbacks in 1977 were to have a “disco-style” star background with different colours for each set. The Tomart’s Price Guide for Star Wars Collectibles book from 1997 reveals several different card samples made during Kenner’s Return of the Jedi line when they toyed around with changing the logo style along with using the movie’s original title “Revenge of the Jedi.” It wasn’t until focus group tests and children voiced their opinion on the original ESB logo looking better and they stuck with the logo we know of today. [3]
— For the prototype figures made during the 1978/79 wave, “Walrus Man”/Ponda Baba and “Power”/GONK Droid looked a lot more like their movie counterparts while the “Death Star Droid”/RA-7 was a kit-bash between C-3PO’s body and a Gigantics mantis head. [4]
— One of the more mysterious Kenner figures is a prototype of Luke Skywalker in some sort of robe that a lot of people are split on what its supposed to represent. Some say this was an Expanded Universe version of Luke where he became a Jedi Knight and was to be made after the Power of the Force line. Others believed that this was supposed to be him wearing the gown he had on near the end of Empire Strikes Back where he watches the Millennium Falcon take off from the Medical Frigate. Blueprints for the figure show that you could place another cloak on the already robed figure and a colorized version showed the robes looking very similar to Ben’s outfit which led some people to believe that this was for a young Obi Wan Kenobi line. However, an advertisement for Return of the Jedi photos that appeared in a Macato (the British/French version of Kenner) toy catalog was the mysterious Luke Skywalker figure in the front row with brown robes and a hooded black cloak. Another clue that this was supposed to be Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker is that the blueprints for the robed Luke had a slightly bent arm on his right side and while the final figure was a lot different, the official Jedi Knight Luke had some slightly bent arms on both sides. This would’ve been based on his appearance when he first walks into Jabba’s Palace as he takes out the Gamorrean Guard and demands Bib Fortuna for his master to see him. Oddly enough, the Jedi Knight Luke figure appeared in a Swedish catalog where he was wearing a black cloak yet the Royal Guard had no red cape around his torso. And going back to the British/France catalog, it appears that the Klaatu figure who appeared in the photo was originally named Woof. [5]
— The Jabba the Hutt prototype made during Return of the Jedi’s production had much more colour that really resembled his appearance in the movie and was planned to come with some frog snack accessories. [6]
— Near the end of their 1980’s waves, Kenner planned to do rehashes of earlier figures by giving them a nice metallic wash on them. Some of the figures chosen as test subjects were the Emperor’s Royal Guard with a shiny red helmet and the TIE Fighter Pilot with a shiny gold torso and helmet. Neither of these versions were released due to George’s strict “no merchandise gimmick” rules. [7]
— For the final line they released in the 1980’s, Power of the Force was supposed to comprise of every single Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi action figure released up to date as apart of one big series which would also come with special edition engraved coins. But because the line didn’t sell well, the series was cancelled and these are all the 24 figures that were never added: Luke Skywalker (Hoth Outfit), Imperial Snowtrooper, Ugnaught, 2-1B, Boussh, Lando in his Jabba disguise, Dengar, 4-LOM (mislabelled as Zuckuss), IG-88, the original Princess Leia, Prune Face, Bespin Lando, Boba Fett, Tusken Raider, F-X1, Cloud Car Pilot, Bossk, Bespin Luke, Imperial Royal Guard, and Greedo. Some of their cardbacks can be found online, though only a few have the figures/coins still inside and many of them use different images compared to their original packaging. [8]
Star Tots[]
“Star Tots” was Kenner proposed in 1978 as a pre-school line to target some of the younger Star Wars fans at the time. Using the same molds from their successful Tree Tots line, this line would have featured many of the characters (Ben, Luke, Leia, Han, Chewie, Jawa, R2, 3PO, Stormtrooper, Vader) realized as stumpy non-articulated figures with happy faces on them. There were also vehicles made to come along with them like Luke’s Landspeeder and an X-Wing Fighter. Some concept art exists online and some of the models made it into model stage, but the idea was ultomately scrapped. However, Kenner would revisit this idea with the “Ewok Tree House” set from the Return of the Jedi line that literally reused the same playset from Tree Tots. [9]
C-3PO Walkie Talkies[]
Kenner wanted to capitalize on the walkie talkies craze in the 1970’s by giving it a Star Wars overlay. But rather than make something simple like a communicator for the Rebel fleet or Stormtroopers, they made a walkie talkie that looked exactly like C-3PO and didn’t even come with an R2-D2 shaped counterpart. It was able to clip into your pants belt. Production came as far enough with a finished model and box art featuring a child actor using it, but was eventually shelved and never seen from again. The only traces of it that people were able to find include the blueprints, spec sheet, Kenner’s designer notes, and wooden mold. However, in a 1990 Toy Shop magazine issue, Doug Cochran of Tampa, Florida put up an advertisement featuring several Star Wars toys and prototypes for sale with one of them being the C-3PO Walkie Talkie in its box. Who bought it and where it is now is still is a mystery. [10] The idea of C-3PO and R2-D2 walkie talkies were somewhat rectified by Jolliebee during the release of Attack of the Clones in 2002. [11]
“Rocket Firing” Boba Fett[]
In 1978, Joe Johnston was hard at work on designing a character set to appear in the first Star Wars sequel [The Empire Strikes Back]: a Super Trooper with all-white armour who would be named Boba Fett. On April that year, the Kenner toy company created a 12-inch concept art of the character for its upcoming “Large Size” action figure. Later, an all-white test costume for Boba Fett was designed for a screen test outside George Lucas’ home on June 28th where it was worn by “ESB” assistant film editor, Duwayne Dunham. Flash forward to August, Kenner releases its January/February 1979 toy catalog featuring a Boba Fett action figure with rocket firing action and a guarantee that it would be free if you buy 6 Star Wars figures. Two months after 20th Century Fox filed an action figure patent with the US Trademark Office and Boba Fett made his first public appearance at the San Anselmo County Fair (his first on-screen appearance was “The Faithful Wookiee” segment of the infamous Star Wars Holiday Special), an actor wearing the costume was sent by Lucasfilm to the Kenner office in Cincinnati for a modelling session that helped create the upcoming 12 inch action figure with one of the taken photos slapped on the box art for his “flamethrower” pose. [12] Kenner was also in the process of developing a smaller prototype for a Boba Fett that was a kitbash from several of their other Star Wars figures: Stormtrooper arms, Death Squad Commander’s legs, C-3PO’s torso, and even Raider’s rocket-launching arm mechanics from the Mattel Shogun Warriors line. During the release of Kenner’s second Star Wars series, Kenner advertised a “Free Boba Fett Action Figure” with “Rocket Firing Back Pack” on the back of the figure cards. At least two test versions of Boba Fett were made including the “L-slot” version which was triggered by a light sideways tab done to prevent accidental firing and the “J” slot version which had an easier “pulling” mechanic, but the extension would break and potentially fly into someone’s eyeball. The latter is the closest we got to the final figure, but neither test designs passed Kenner’s safety standards and the “rocket firing” plans were scrapped long before the infamous “Battlestar Galactica Missile Crisis” of the 1978 Christmas season. [13] However, it is worth noting that Robert Jeffrey Warren’s death certificate and the judge who ruled the case his family filed against Mattel wrongly labelled the missiles as coming from a “Star Wars toy” which may have put further pressure on Kenner during Boba Fett’s development. [14] In fact, when New York Toy Fair rolled around in February 1979, all that was shown of the figure was an empty cardback. The figures were still mailed to the children who had pre-ordered them, but now came with a note informing them about the necessary changes and that they are welcome to send back the figures if they are unsatisfied with the “spring-loaded jetpack” taken away. Any release of Boba Fett afterwards was straight to retail and no other products of his would incorporate the projectile gimmick. However, on 2010, Hasbro released an exact duplicate of the original Kenner Boba Fett that finally came with a “firing” jetpack missile feature and in true vintage fashion, along with the packaging, was a mail-away exclusive. As for the original prototypes, the L-slot version sold for $60,000-80,000 at a Prop Store of London and LA auction in 2020 [15] and a fully painted version owned by a guy named Robert ( which he said was displayed in the 1979 Toy Fair) once tried to sell it to Rick Harrison on Pawn Stars. [16] While we’re on this topic, the large scale Boba Fett figure from 1980 was planned to have not just three rockets that fire from his back, but hand darts that shot from his wrist gauntlet along with an LED sticker on his chest that made sound effects. The reason these features did not make onto the final product were for three financial reasons: 1) The large scale figures did not sell well. 2) They cost a lot to produce. And 3) They cost stores a lot of money just to distribute them. One version got very far into development and had its own box sample where it showed up in a 1996 advertisement fetching for $700 dollars, but its unknown if anyone ever bought it. On a slightly unrelated note, Kenner designer Tom Troy painted a mockup version of the Boba Fett figure which had much more detail and movie accurate colouring, but the company’s management team seemed to like the less designed version as that version became the final product. [17]
Holiday Special Action Figures[]
As infamous as the Star Wars Holiday Special was, it may surprise you to hear that there were plans to make action figures based off the characters. Once the entire universe reacted very negatively to the whole ordeal, Kenner cancelled their whole plan without a whimper and here are just some of things that could have been. Drawn and conceptualized by Kenner employee Tom Troy in September 1978 was a figure of the Sea Serpent from the “Faithful Wookiee” segment that would have been similar to the Patrol Dewback where the mail-away Boba Fett could ride on it. The drawing indicates that he would’ve been able to control it using a “mind harness,” but was never evident in the cartoon. It is unknown if any actual prototypes were created for this thing. And last but not least, we have *sigh* Chewie’s family. Itchy and Malla were literally retools of the standard Chewbacca figure with Malla having greyer hair around his face and Malla being a lot tanner with some “additions” to her chest area. Lumpy, given that he is a child, was built around a Fisher Price action figure which is evident by his right arm having a bent pose unlike the others (to be fair, those may have been mockups and had they actually gone through with these figures, they would’ve at least had a higher level of quality regardless of where they came from). All of these figures were “mercifully” cancelled and aside from Boba, the only technical Holiday Special figure that Kenner released was red Snaggletooth (his canonical name is Zutmore).[18]
R1-64 Action Figure[]
One of the more unknown produced figures from Kenner Star Wars is R1-64, the large Sandcrawler droid that can be seen in the background during the scene where Luke buys R2 and C -3PO. It was featured in Star Wars Insider 92 from February 19th 2007 as part of an article named “The Toys That Never Were” penned by Chris Fawcett. The page states that it was built using kit-bashed prototypes and only one model was ever made. It was slated for a 1979 release and received a remake by Hasbro sometime later, but the original prototype will never be seen again. [19]
Gyroscopic Lightsabers[]
In 1978, Kenner released an inflatable version of the iconic lightsaber weapon that kids could use to reenact Obi Wan’s duel with Darth Vader, but they weren’t very reliable as they would easily pop and came with patches you had to place on it in order to stop the air from leaving it when punctured. During their development on The Empire Strikes Back line, Kenner wanted to correct their mistakes by making a battery operated lightsaber called the “Gyroscopic Lightsaber” which made a buzzing humming sound as the blade would spin around, giving it a much more realistic effect. Ironically, this how the lightsabers were first constructed during filming for A New Hope. Concept art shows two versions of this product with one having a donut shaped circle in the middle of the hilt while the other had it placed at the bottom. This would house the electronics needed for the toy while the handle would house the batteries. Two models were shown at the 1979 Toy Fair, packaging was ready for shipping, and even a retail store display was finalized. However, the “Gyroscopic” lightsabers were scrapped probably due to budget concerns as Kenner decided to go with the “Force” lightsabers which while an improvement over the “inflatable” versions, utilized no electronics and instead had an air shaft which relied on humming noises that sounded nothing like the blade clashes in the movies. [20]
Video Game Consoles[]
One item that never made it past the mock-up stage was the Snowrider which was supposed to be a device that when a child sat down on it, it would project images of a TIE Fighter that would allow them to feel like an X-Wing pilot engaging in dog battles with it. One artwork shows it as a blue race-car like vehicle with a “SCC-42” designation while the other looks much more closer to the Snowspeeder from The Empire Strikes Back. The latter design was the more preferred one by Kenner as it received a rough styrene mock-up with the front projector changed to a video screen, but the product may have been too ambitious for its own good as no full-size versions were ever made. Parker Brothers, who is tehcnically a Hasbro subsidiary, wanted to make a “virtual reality” game during Return of the Jedi’s release known as “Death Star Battle.” It would have came with a Rangefinder that you’d hold up to your eyes and be able to see the attack on the Death Star II. Though since the Virtual Boy or VR games had yet to take off, no doubt it would’ve been just a series of clips and images pulled from the film What its purpose was and how it worked is anyone’s mystery as the game is now lost forever. [21] Kenner also planned on making some handheld games for The Empire Strikes Back where one has you play a Rebel pilot in his T-47 Snowspeeder taking on five Imperial Walkers, another puts you in the place of Han Solo as you navigate the Millennium Falcon through an asteroid field., and the other let you experience Luke Skywalker’s Jedi training with Master Yoda on Dagobah. But due to the failure of their handheld electronic Football game in 1980, all that remains of their existence are pieces of concept art. [22]
Large Scale Figures Series 2[]
For the large size Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia action figures, Kenner had plans on releasing different sets of interchangeable clothes that each of the dolls could wear as this was a similar gimmick they did with their Six Million Dollar Man line. Leia’s accessories included a non-Hoth Arctic outfit, a flight outfit jumpsuit and “Western poncho” which reek of the 70’s. Luke’s accessories, on the other hand, included the jacket he wore during the Yavin ceremony along with his medal, X-Wing jumpsuit with helmet, and a weird non-canon suit that had him wearing a jacket with sunglasses on. There were also plans to do a second series of large scale figures right around The Empire Strikes Back’s release date with planned figures of Luke and Leia in their Bespin outfits, Han Solo in his Hoth parka, and Landa Calrissian who each had their box packaging ready. One interesting thing to note is while Lando did have a head that matched the likeness of Billy Dee Williams, the original mockup for him was a Parker Stevenson figure from The Hardy Boys line covered in blackface. Series 2 never came out due to the large scale figures not selling well along with being very expensive to produce. And with the exception of Boba Fett who had a lot of different features in the original prototype (LED sound effects, fireable hand darts and more jetpack missiles), the only large scale figure from Empire Strikes Back was IG-88. Though the unreleased figures are safe within the hands of Gus Lopez who runs the Star Wars Collectors Archive association. And while we’re on the subject of large scale figures, the original mock-up for the Chewbacca figure that was released in 1979 reused the Bionic Bigfoot model from Kenner’s Six Million Dollar Man line.
Mini Rigs and vehicle prototypes[]
Mini Rigs was a subtheme first introduced in the ESB line that was basically Kenner’s way of making smaller and cheaper vehicles compared to the bigger and more expensive ones. While George Lucas normally had issues with the company making products based off concepts that were present in any of his films, he gave this series a free pass as he felt they still looked like something from Star Wars. The series was a modest success, though during the pitching event that George Lucas signed off on, there were six prototypes built for display and never seen again. The PT-D8/Droid Personal Transport was a shuttle meant for C-3PO and R2-D2 with its exhaust engines and landing gear taken directly from the diecast Y-Wing. One prototype which has no known name appears to be a chair meant for Princess Leia with four moveable legs linked by rods. The Mobile Laser Cannon 3 mockup meant for Han Solo was built using parts from the Radio Control Sandcrawler. Chewbacca’s vehicle which was dubbed the “Stareen” appears to be a riff on the X-Wing Fighter with some of its stickers lifted directly from the original playset. Luke Skywalker had two vehicles with one resembling a tread tank that some say was transformed into MTV-7 and the other was a straight up dirtbike that reused the Millennium Falcon’s gunner chair. One prototype that was shelved when the series got cancelled was a mini cargo ship that would attach to the front gap of the Millennium Falcon. Kenner planned this as a way of enticing kids to buy the other set along with encouraging those who already had it to buy it so theirs will feel complete. Though given that the playset was made seven years ago and re-released with very little modifications, they probably didn’t take into account of how it would fit or work with the ship. Ironically, the idea of the Falcon having a front shuttle was made canon in Solo: A Star Wars Story.
While we’re on the topic of “off-screen vehicles,” one of the more recognizable Star Wars toys is the Imperial Troop Transport which was released in 1978. It’s play features include compartment doors to hold the figures and drivers, six compartments on the side to hold troopers and prisoners (who haf a special mask that could placed over their heads), turret cannons, and a button that would play some electronic sounds from the movie. The prototype mockup was going to be a lot more different with a quasi-set of laser cannons and a wedged exterior that looked like the Snowspeeder’s cockpit (some of the parts were used for the X-Wing playset). The set was advertised to have a “droid compartment” feature, yet no droids were included in the final product. However, a test shot of the original Troop Transport reveals a black astromech droid with blue eyes similar to R2-D2, meaning that the back of the vehicle was originally meant to house an Imperial R5 unit. No official reasons have been given as to why the droid was never released with the final Transport. One theory suggested that Lucasilms didn’t agree on account of “no black astromech droids seen in A New Hope” as it wouldn’t have been until Return of the Jedi when we saw the fully black R2-Q5 aboard the Death Star II. And while one astromech droid can be briefly seen roaming the Death Star hallways in Episode IV, it was a white unit with red stripes and a chrome silver head. The theory doesn’t really hold much water since the Troop Transport was also not in the movie either, though it was made canon years later for episodes of Rebels and The Mandalorian. The most likely reason as to why it wasn’t included was budget concerns as while the black Imperial droid may have looked a cheap reskin of the R2 figure, keep in mind that the Imperial Troop Transport had a talking play feature which already costed lots of money to produce. The black R2 figure has not been since then. [23]
Made during The Empire Strikes Back’s development was a rather odd vehicle known as the Hoth Tow Truck which may have looked it was recycled from the G.I. Joe line, but was actually an original mock-up. The tank would’ve come with defensive turret guns and a wrench that could tow a Rebel Snowspeeder (the vehicle’s original prototype was used forthe photo demonstration) which it would proceed to carry on its back and take it back to the Echo base.
Planned for the Return of the Jedi line was a small yet really neat mockup of the Blockade Runner first seen in the opening of A New Hope. It would’ve had several play features like an opening cockpit, manually operated laser cannons, an escape pod for the droids, a moveable radar dish that can accommodate for one action figure, and battery operated engine lights. Reasons as to why this was never made is unclear, but some say it was due to the original Kenner line losing its charm and costing too much to build. It may have ended up in a landfill or hiding in storage. It was reconsidered for “The Epic Continues” line, but it went nowhere either. [24]
Micro Collection[]
Somewhat of a precursor to Galoob and Micro Machines, the Micro Collection was a rather short lived series that first debuted in 1982. The overall premise was a series of scaled plastic playsets with miniature metal figures based on prominent environments from the Star Wars films including Hoth, Bespin and the Death Star. Each component could be played with individually or combined with its companions to create a larger play environment. Also produced were three small spaceships with a battle damge feature and pilot figures (X-Wing, TIE Fighter, Snowspeeder) along with a Millennium Falcon playset. The line never really had a chance to grow due to the release of Return of the Jedi which greatly eclipsed it and was subsequently cancelled. Some of the sets that made it to prototype stage were the Bespin Torture Chamber, Hoth Bacta Chamber, Generator Attack with an AT-ST and Wampa Cave, Jabba Dungeon Boiler and Throne Rooms, an unproduced Slave I vehicle, and blueprints also exist for Death Star Escape and Compactor playsets. [25]
Yarna d’al Gargan action figure[]
Despite a majority of these characters only appearing on screen for a few seconds, many of the wonderful and colourful aliens present in Jabba’s Palace were given action figures for the original Return of the Jedi line and right before Power of the Force neared its end in 1985, Kenner wanted to make a figure of one more character prominently seen in Jabba’s Palace. But instead of someone more memorable like Oola; one of the first Twi’Leks to appear in any Star Wars media with her fate being eaten by a Rancor, they settled on Yarna d’al Gargan: a female Askajian who can be seen in the “Lapti Nek” sequence, was played by Claire Davenport who previously worked with director Richard Marquand in his music biopic Birth of the Beatles, and is infamous for having six breasts (outclassing the three-breasted lady from Total Recall seven years later). That alone is what lead to the figure’s cancellation as Kenner felt she was too inappropriate for children, despite prototype models and a POTF mint coin sketch already being made. The original plans are missing to this day, but Yarna Gargan was finally given an action figure by Hasbro as part of The Legacy Collection in 2008. She may have not sold well to the casual audience, but she holds somewhat of a novelty for hardcore fans. [26]
Power Welder and M.A.S.K. Figures[]
In 1994, Kenner unveiled the Power Spark Welder Gun which allowed kids to wield their own custom vehicles with the product in question. To get more kids attached to the idea, Kenner turned in to some of their big guns to help them out like G.I. Joe, Legends of Batman, and of course: Star Wars. To promote the 1995 revival of their action figure line, Kenner tried to mingle Star Wars into some of their Power Spark products with a buildable X-Wing Fighter that came with figures of R2-D2 and a nameless Rebel pilot (not the same scale as their 90’s figures. It came with a trigger button that when activated, would cause R2-D2 to spin around when placed in his compartment. The other set was an AT-ST Walker that came with an Endor base, two Ewoks, and an AT-ST Driver. When the gun was connected to the walker, it would shoot a spark and the head would turn from left to right. Kenner decided to cancel these products in 1995 and the prototypes were never seen from again. [27] This wouldn’t be the only time that Kenner tried to incorporate Star Wars into one of their other themes as in 1985, one of their newest toylines was M.A.S.K.: a media frnachise about an underground task force known as the Mobile Armored Strike Kommand and a criminal organization called V.E.N.O.M. (Vicious Evil Network of Mayhem) who engage in a war between each other. Alongside an animated television show, comics and video games, it spawned a toyline and Kenner hoped to mix that one along with the Star Wars figures to rejuvenate interest in the latter line. Despite the M.A.S.K. figures being smaller than your average Star Wars action figure, a Kenner designer decided to toy around with a Hondo action figure and used it for a Darth Vader prototype which lead to a planned “revival” of the Star Wars line that would be around the same scale as M.A.S.K., but would feature knee joints. Another developed prototype that was presented to the boss of Kenner was Luke Skywalker in his X-Wing outfit and would have came with a cheaper, scaled down X-Wing fighter. But because of declining sales and no further movies being developed at the time (aside from Disney’s Star Tours ride which opened in 1987), the line was cancelled on the spot. [28]
Droids and Ewoks[]
In 1985, two cartoons named Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks were produced by Canadian animation company Nelvana who also did work on the Holiday Special’s animated segment after George Lucas saw their earliest production A Cosmic Christmas on television. Ewoks lasted 25 episodes while Droids had only 13 in total plus a special. Kenner produced some toylines to coincide with both shows featuring action figures that came with gold minted coins like Power of the Force and some vehicle playsets. Along with becoming very rare to find, a planned second series for each show ended up getting scrapped. Starting with Droids, their line would’ve had Kleb-Zellock, Mon Julba, Jessica Meade, Governor Koong, Gaff, Mungo Baobab, Admiral Screed, and Vlix who has a reputation of being the rarest Star Wars action figure of all time due to only being released by Kenner’s Brazilian distributor; Glasslite. [29] Kenner also had a plan of producing “companion droid” figures that would be packaged alongside pre-existing figures as a way of selling even more money. For instance, C-3PO would come with a buffer so kids could buff the GO Droid, R2-D2 would have a hovering sled that could carry him over terrain, Vlix would have come with a hammer-looking droid, Jann Tosh would’ve come with a small droid, and several other companions include a treadmill droid and a giant one with a cape on it for Kez Iban. Only a few kitbashed wooden prototypes exist for some of these sets. It’s unclear if these guys were planned from the start or if they would have been moved to a Series 3 as they were not carded for the Series 2 prototypes. [30] One of the Droids prototypes that have been found is the White Witch vehicle made to go with Thall Joben and Jord Dusat who now belong to Gus Lopez. Ewoks Series 2 has a lot less scrapped content compared to Droids, but the figures that would have been in that series include Chituhr, Weechee Warrick, cartoon versions of Chief Chirpa and Paploo whose proto cards came with B Wing pilot coins, Bondo, and Morag the Witch. [31]
The Epic Continues[]
In 1986, Kenner submitted a planned extension of their “Power of the Force” line to Lucasfilms which would feature all new characters and vehicles stemming from a plot line Kenner created themselves. The story concertned the genetics master Atha Prime, ruler of Dark Worlds, who had been freed from exile following the “death” of Emperor Palpatine. Striking at the Rebel Alliance, he was forced to do battle with Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, and the Mongo Beefhead Tribesmen of Tatooine. Meanwhile, Grand Moff Tarkin, who had evaded death at the Battle of Yavin, had returned to take control of the Galactic Empire. Many of the figures and vehicles were inspired by elements from the film and ideas took shape in concept art and prototypes. Concept art shows modifications or extrapolations of existing figures like Han Solo who had a more heroic attire and Luke Skywalker who became a full fledged Jedi Knight. Many of the newer characters were kit-bashes from pre-existing figures: The Mongo Tribesmen for instance used the “Hammerhead” Ithorian’s arms, a modified version of “Squid Head” Quarren’s head, and a “4-LOM’s” (actually Zuckuss) chest harness. When creating Atha Prime, Kenner used a slightly modified redesign of Nilo Rodis-Jamero’s Emperor‘s Royal Guards concept with a modified staff and headpiece. Earlier versions of the Clone Troopers were designed to accomodate Prime and the designers planned to make their Grand Moff Tarkin action figure as a rectification for not including him in the original line. A variety of droids were also proposed for the line including a black Imperial Sentry droid, three Imperial Attack Droids, and the feminine Blue-Four pilot droid who served Atha. For new vehicles to go along with the line, Kenner created a variety of prototypes and designs based on/inspired by the craft seen in the original trilogy with some of them categorized into two price ranges: “low priced vehicles” and “deluxe vehicles.” Veteran Kenner designer Mark Boudreaux, who originally brainstormed this series, kitbashed several vehicles like a “Tandem X-Wing” that was inspired by “lumbering WWII airplanes” with negative colours, another cargo shuttle that would attach to the front of the Millennium Falcon, The Annilhator: a set of two fused Star Destroyers that served as a command base for Prime’s army along with a base to attach his personal vehicle: The Apex Invader, a rendition of Joe Johnston’s original TIE Bomber, and pre-existing X-Wing fighters. For land vehicles, the designers formulated two classes of Landspeeders: the XP-36 and XP-38 which where first mentioned in A New Hope. The latter only exists as concept art, but the former made it into model stage with booster engines on the top making it stand out. While it’s unclear what significance the XP-36 would’ve had, the XP-38 was meant to be Luke’s personal vehicle for the series. A Snowspeeder model was repurposed into the Sandspeeder which would be used for desert terrain missions. One toy that was nearly produced was the the Scout and Retrieval Vehicle, which could carry damaged X-wings and airspeeders. An earlier version of the toy had been released with the original films, but Kenner's new version was presented two ways: as a slightly modified version of the original vehicle, with new stickers, and a heavily modified version, presented as concept art. The All Terrain Ion Cannon Walker would have used the same model as the original Empire Strikes Back toy, but with the back and its top sheared off in exchange for a large ion cannon. Alongside the revival of the X-34 Landspeeder and Snowspeeder, new land vehicles include the Imperial sniper fighter and a realized version of the T-16 skyhopper which was only first seen as a miniature model in Luke’s garage in A New Hope. One of the more ambitious sets was a single playset known as the Imperial Outpost whose concept art depicts pre-existing elements like the gun tower from the Death Star Space Station playset along with the Endor landing platform and bunker complex from Return of the Jedi. Along with the return of the Tarkin, a Bantha figure was proposed as the long-awaited mount for their Tusken Raider figures and made it as far as the model stage. Kenner presented their sketches and photos to Lucasfilms along with figure proposals from pre-existing films and the animated series. This may have implied that Kenner also wanted their plotline to be accompanied by a third animated show. Notes were also made for two otherwise undocumented vehicles: the Rebel stinger fighter and DS-2 droid skimmer. While Lucasfilms appreciated the effort the toy company went through, they were no tready to pursue coordinated attempts to flesh out the Star Wars galaxy beyond the films. In 1986, Kenner’s Star Wars toy line was put on indefinite hold for the time being and no more post-ROTJ content was made until Tomothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire was released in 1991. Much of The Epic Continues’ content was retconned, long before Disney bought out Lucasfilms, but some of its ideas made it into a few Expanded Universe stories. [32] Along with Tarkin and the Bantha finally getting their own toys many years later, Atha Prime would receive a homage figures by Hasbro in 1998 due to being reused for the Dark Horse comic series and the Sandspeeder would even receive an official LEGO set in 2017. In 1996, Kenner would also have a shot at another Expanded Universe story that took place after The Empire Strikes Back, but before Return of the Jedi. Known as Shadows of the Empire, the plot introduced Rebel ally Dash Rendar who aids the heroes in their attempt to liberate the frozen Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt. Meanwhile, Darth Vader continues to search for his son, Luke Skywalker in an attempt to convert him to the Dark Side while crime lord Prince Xizor tries to kill Vader in an attempt to replace him at the side of Emperor Palpatine. Made to reinvigorate interest in the franchise ahead of the theatrical Special Editions along with several other merchandise (video games, comic books, et cetera), Kenner produced a series of action figures that tied in with their revived Power of the Force line which featured newer character and vehicle deisgns along with remakes of older characters. Among some of the ships introduced in this series was the Virago, a StarViper-class heavy attack platform starfighter which was the personal vehicle for Xizor. Planned developments for this toys were as far as a presentation board used to inform toy buyers about their upcoming plans, a styrene mockup that was revealed in The Secrets of the Shadows of the Empire book, and a rough sketch for box packaging. The Virago was likely planned for a Series 2 of Shadows of the Empire action figures, but was quickly cancelled due to the first series having a reputation of not selling well and becoming “pegwarmers.” [33]
CommTech Series 2[]
While there haven’t been much cancelled or unreleased Hasbro Star Wars products I could find, let’s talk about their CommTech wave from 1999. Made to coincide with the release of The Phantom Menace, Hasbro released toys with CommTech technology, which was developed by British company called Innovision Research & Technology. Using a special player/reader manufactured by them, it would allow people to play voices and sound effects from the Star Wars movies thanks to Radio Frequency technology and the sound data being stored on chips that doubled as action figure stands. This allowed people to use a special player/reader to play voice phrases & sound effects from the Star Wars movies. The sound data was stored on CommTech chips which doubled as an action figure stand. When the chip was swiped over the CommTech reader, it would electronically transmit & play the data sounds stored on the CommTech chips. This offered a very interactive play experience, though it was renamed to CommTalk in some countries due to trademark conflicts. Early concepts of the chips were referred to as DataTalk and were coloured red with a hole made to keep them organized on a ball chain while figure stands included foot sole pegs along with the Rebel insignia. There were plans to release a second generation of CommTech chips that would utilize a larger Winbond chip and feature “Twice the Speech” which would potentially extend both “Power of the Force” and “Episode I” lines.These chips would’ve been included with newer & reissued figures and designed to be compatible with the original 1999 CommTech Reader. Unfortunately, Hasbro cancelled the 2nd generation CommTech chips all together and moved onto another line known as “Power of the Jedi.” Much of the technoogy was replaced by a “Jedi Force File” and only a few second generation chips made it far into development. A few of the prototypes still exist and they would have taken an oval shape instead of the rectangular bases from 1999. Along with re-released of Qui Gon and the Naboo Royal Guard, CommTech chips were made for the Gungan Warrior, a Tusken Raider (Sniper), Battle Droid Security, Nute Gunray (Hologram), Coruscant Guard, Mas Amedda, Obi Wan Kenobi (Jedi Cloak), R2-D2 (Battle Damage), Sabe (Queen’s Royal Decoy), Jar Jar Binks (Tatooine version), Anakin Skywalker (Mechanic), Shmi Skywalker, Sebulba (Boonta Eve), Boss Nass, Fode & Beed, Chewbacca (Derjarik), Obi Wan Kenobi (Jedi Knight), and Jek Porkins. All of their card samples and CommTech chips can be found on the Prototype Archives along with the ripped audio files set to go along with the chips. [34] Some of the figures that were considered yet never prototyped for this series include Ketwal, Wald with Droid, General Ceel, Kitster, Quarrens, Plo Koon, Ben Quadineros, Pit Droid, Daultay Dofine, Lott Dodd, Hologram Darth Sidious, and several more re-releases.
HasLab Pulse[]
During the New York Toy Fair on February 17th 2018, Hasbro announced that Jabba the Hutt's Sail Barge (the Khetanna) from Return of the Jedi would be the first HasLab crowdfunded project as part of their revival of the Vintage Collection toyline. The rules of the campaign stated that the barge would move into production when it reached its minimum backing goal of 5,000. The campaign was a rousing success, and reached a final stated number of 8,810 orders that were released in March 2019. Part of the set were two 3.75" figures of Jabba the Hutt and Yak Face, the latter on a retro Power of the Force style card with a collector coin and exclusive drinking glass accessory. [35] On September 25th 2020, the second HasLab Star Wars project to be announced was based on the Razor Crest starship from the first two seasons of The Mandalorian on Disney+ with add-on incentives including an escape pod that was never used in the show, a clear display stand, four carbonite victims for criminals with huge bounties on their heads, an exclusively-scaled version of the Child with his hover pram, and a cardback Offworld Jawa Elder with Mudhorn egg. By November 9th, at least 28,132 backers reached the intended limit of 6,000 and $349.99 were funded into making it. [36] The website states that it would shipped in an estimated release date around early 2022, though there was some slight controversy regarding Season 2, Episode 6 "The Tragedy" when Moff Gideon's starship destroys the Razor Crest. At least many of the people who funded the Hasbro model took to social media to express their dissatisfaction as Hasbro often coordinates its toy plans with creative personnel from Star Wars shows and films during the developmental phases to ensure accuracy, which led some irate collectors to believe that the company knew of the ship’s fate in advance and used this crowdfunding campaign for money laundering. [37] Even though the ship has yet to release or ever will, that didn't stop Hasbro from trying their hand at a third HasLab project, this time, for the 6" 'Black Series line and would've been based on the Rancor beast from Return of the Jedi. [38] It was first hinted at during a livestream on July 16th 2021 and was officially announced in August with the campaign launching in fall that year. [39] The prototype render was first shown on October 22nd 2021 and would've been the largest figure released for The Black Series with a height of 42" (106.68 cm) wide and 17" tall (44.45 cm), and would cost $349.99. It would've also had 45 points of articulation and drool accessories to fit in the mouth. [40] The stretch goals, revealed one after the other for each day, was a "Power of the Force"-style cardback figure of the Gamorrean Guard for Tier 1, [41] movie-inspired bone accessories and a backdrop display of the Rancor's underground cage for Tier 2, [42] a figure of Salacious B. Crumb for the third stretch goal, which used the same mold as the one from the SDCC 2014 box-set, though with a Kenner-style cardback and articulated legs; [43] and a brand new figure of Malakili the Rancor Keeper as the fourth stretch goal; but only if the target was hit by the campaign deadline (December 6th 2021) and if it were met, the project would begin shipping in spring 2023. [44] But when that day arrived, Hasbro found to their disappointment that the project did not reach enough backers in time and due to this occasion, the HasLab Rancor will not be continued. Reactions to the cancellation and lack of success with the deadline was met with criticism on social media, with many fans suggesting that if there was an additional day, especially after announcing the Malakili figure that would go with it just days before, that deadline would have been met. [45] What also didn't help were some backers pulling out of funding due to disastisfactinos they had with the project and fans asking for other characters like Oola instead of re-using Gamorrean and Crumb molds from several years ago.
Gallery[]
References[]
- ↑ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenner_Star_Wars_action_figures#List_of_Kenner_Star_Wars_action_figures
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfCrV-JVBsE&t=38s
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fqfXw9MvQlY
- ↑ https://youtu.be/UgTLfHKicbY?t=1187
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZPmxWUfyNE&t=87s
- ↑ http://theswca.com/images-conce/concept-jabba.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G-qlXBhErY
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t7OXdF1hggk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p5rnsZiyhJc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNLYbAY31hI
- ↑ https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32826380143.html
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjKeBsqCqlE
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzg-aeTOKDM
- ↑ http://theswca.com/textf/toydeath.html
- ↑ https://usm.propstoreauction.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/249/lot/58546/?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F249%2F%3Fpage%3D5
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zk3QsTrOlLc&list=LLzfGbAhEAeQcJBiZEfHbevw&index=1341
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K89_qusKhhw
- ↑ http://www.starwarsholidayspecial.com/swhs-old/merchandise/prototypes.htm
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2HvjoOPcoc
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB9CCcwgTDo
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5xmZ7GUg28
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KrtIUu0V07M
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdPP4qJ2IEk
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWTzbTDwQSs
- ↑ http://theswca.com/images-toys/micro/
- ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Yarna_d%27al%27_Gargan
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OnOAzFYlhw
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oLAp-dXoOcY
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7_l-3iHK5I&list=PLgDdCCCVdydYn23RY28CVTEgKNisAYSbA&index=28
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIIRKuRo0MY
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Go4AvLfZ1EE
- ↑ https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/The_Epic_Continues
- ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0AwnAxD8hw
- ↑ https://www.prototypearchives.com/commtech-guide
- ↑ http://www.rebelscum.com/Jabbas-Sail-Barge-Khetanna-Hasbro-Haslab-Vintage-Collection.asp
- ↑ https://hasbropulse.com/products/star-wars-the-vintage-collection-razor-crest
- ↑ https://insidethemagic.net/2020/12/hasbro-razor-crest-controversy-rwb1/
- ↑ https://www.starwars.com/news/haslab-the-black-series-announce
- ↑ https://www.starwarsnewsnet.com/2021/08/hasbro-announces-haslab-star-wars-rancor-campaign-will-kick-off-this-fall.html
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/10/22/hasbro-launches-enormous-rancor-star-wars-the-black-series-action-figure-as-its-latest-haslab-project/
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/11/05/hasbro-reveals-more-details-about-haslab-star-wars-black-series-rancor-including-first-stretch-goal-tier/
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/11/15/hasbro-pulse-reveals-second-stretch-goal-for-star-wars-black-series-rancor/
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/11/21/hasbro-reveals-more-details-about-haslab-star-wars-black-series-rancor-including-third-stretch-goal-tier/
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/12/01/haslab-rancor-malakili-black-series-figure/
- ↑ https://www.laughingplace.com/w/news/2021/12/07/haslab-rancor-fails-to-meet-backing-goal/