In 1976, the Star Wars action figures license was presented to the Mego Corporation, the predominant business in action figures during the 1970s. Yet, Mego declined the proposal, and Kenner, a General Mills Fun Group branch, took on the license.
In 1977, the Hollywood blockbuster Star Wars made history by being the first movie to have toys generated from its characters and vehicles. Its success was so great that director George Lucas could finance the following two chapters of the film, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), with the revenue. However, Kenner, the company in charge of manufacturing the toys, had to overcome a challenge in the form of George Lucas not wanting to provide designs of the characters and vehicles because he was afraid other films and television shows would copy them.
Since they could not produce sufficient products for the lucrative Christmas season, they provided an "Early Bird Certificate Package" that included a voucher that could be sent to Kenner and exchanged for four Star Wars action figures. The first four figures released were Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, and R2-D2. The package also contained a diorama display stand, stickers, and a Star Wars fan club membership card.
By the time the action figures were offered for direct sale in store, eight figures—C-3PO, Darth Vader, Stormtrooper, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Han Solo, Jawa, Sand People, and Death Squad Commander—bringing the total number of figures in the initial release to twelve. These were supplemented later in 1978 with several vehicle and playset accessories, the J.C. Penney exclusive Sonic controlled landspeeder and the Sears exclusive Cantina adventure playset, which introduced four new figures.
Three of the four figures that were first brought out in the Sears Cantina set were released for individual sale, and a variant of the fourth, with a further four figures later in 1978, bringing the total number to 20.
Demand for the action figures and accessories was such that Kenner needed help to fulfill demand. In addition, shortages of the toys in the lead-up to Christmas 1978 led some to claim that Kenner was deliberately manipulating the market. Nevertheless, Kenner's Star Wars toy sales in 1978 reached 40 million units, accounting for a revenue of $100 million.
In expectation of the movie The Empire Strikes Back is released, Kenner provided its first mail-in promotion, in which four purchase proofs could be exchanged for the Boba Fett action figure. Initially, the figure was designed to have a backpack with a firing rocket, but this was not implemented due to safety considerations. This type of mail-in promotion was made available until 1984.
Sales in 1979 again topped $100 million. Kenner continued to introduce waves of action figures from the sequels. In 1984, the year following the release of the movie Return of the Jedi, the range totaled 79 unique character designs (not including the retired versions of R2-D2 and C-3PO).
In 1985, the figure range was renamed Power of the Force, in which a further 15 figures were released. In addition, two different Star Wars action figure lines were released based on the animated series Star Wars: Droids and Star Wars: Ewoks. The Droids range comprised 12 figures (two of which were identical to figures from the main Star Wars line), and the Ewoks line comprised six figures.
By mid-1985, the demand for Star Wars merchandise had slowed, and Kenner discontinued production of its action figures. After that, however, Kenner would produce the new line of Star Wars toys, which began in 1995.
Cheers,
Hophead Jon
(a genuine human)
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