Kenner Star Wars Catalogs

If for some odd reason you grew up in the 70's and didn't have Star Wars action figures, chances are you knew someone who did. Star Wars was the event that changed everything, no longer was the action figure standard the Mego 8" body but the smaller 3 3/4" inch size. Kenner was able to snap up the master toy license for Star Wars fairly cheaply. Mego accidently passed (there are several different accounts on how this happened) which is considered one of the companies biggest blunders.

The 3 3/4" action figures were the most popular thing in the Star Wars line, their ability to fit into the vehicles was a great move by Kenner. A lot of people mistakingly credit Kenner as the pioneer of the 3 3/4" formet, that credit goes to Fisher Price whose Adventure People line debuted in 1975. Boba Fett was the new superstar figure being promoted from the upcoming film "The Empire Strikes Back", he was an instant smash even before kids had seen the film. Many of the cantina characters like Snaggletooth and Hammerhead have been renamed by Lucas over the years.

Kenner made top notch play sets for the Star Wars line, my personal favourites being the Deathstar and the amazing Millennium Falcon sets (The Falcon stayed in my room until I was 16 as I recall).

The Tie Fighters had wings that popped off the simulate explosion, ah such happy memories. My remote controlled R2-D2 broke down pretty fast, the remote controlled Sand Crawler is a pricey item.

Kenner left no stone unturned when it came to being the master toy licensor as evidenced by these electronic games and the very sweet diecast ships.

The 12" line of Star Wars dolls was apparently not a huge success, this surprised me to learn because as a kid it seemed everybody knew (self included) had a couple. Boba Fett was the new addition to the line he borrowed a telescopic eye feature from a Kenner favourite the Six Million Dollar Man

The electronic rifles and Laser blasters were just the stuff dreams were made of as a kid. Kenner at one point repackaged the rifle as a Batman weapon in the early ninties. Kenner jigsaw puzzles were so popular that I still find them at yardsales!

Kenner branded their regular toy lines such as Play dough, Give a show and dip dots with the Star Wars logo.

OK it's not Star Wars but I still love the pretty obscure Butch and Sundance line by Kenner, I guess they were hoping that cowboy figures would make a comeback. The line wasn't a success but the well made toys are really a cult hit with collectors.

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