Mego refused the offer and the license was subsequently picked up by Kenner, a division of General Mills Fun Group.
Kenner's action figure sales, along with dozens of similar licensing deals given to companies that sold everything from clothing to dog food, ultimately allowed George Lucas to finance the next two movie chapters of his saga: The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983).
[4] Although the original Star Wars film had been released in May 1977, Kenner was not ready to satisfy demand for their film-based toys.
Their licensing deal with Lucas and Fox wasn't signed until around mid year, leaving insufficient time to produce stock for the Christmas market.
[7] The box also contained a diorama display stand, some stickers, and a Star Wars fan club membership card.
[8][9][10] By the time the action figures were offered for direct sale in shops, the range had been augmented with a further 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.
Shortages of the toys in the lead up to Christmas 1978 led some to claim that Kenner was deliberately manipulating the market.
[14] In the anticipation of the release of the sequel movie The Empire Strikes Back, Kenner offered its first mail-in promotion, in which four proofs of purchase could be redeemed for a new action figure Boba Fett.
This figure was originally intended to feature a backpack with a firing missile, but this was abandoned due to safety concerns.
[14] Kenner continued to introduce waves of action figures from the sequels and 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).
By mid-1985, the demand for Star Wars merchandise had slowed and Kenner discontinued production of its action figures.
Upon George Lucas's request, this "Blue Snaggletooth" was subsequently corrected to represent the character as actually featured in the movie; and a resculpted shorter, barefoot, red-outfitted figure was released.
Analogous arrangements were in place in Spain with the company PBP/Poch, in France with Meccano, in the Benelux countries with Clipper, in Germany with Parker, in Italy with Harbert and in Scandinavia with Brio/Playmix.
The Vlix figure was prototyped for the Kenner line but never made it past the stage of being mocked up on a card.
[22] As the figures were intended as and generally used as toys, accessories such as weapons and cloaks were often lost or stickers were damaged.
Such items are considered undesirable amongst some collectors, particularly where figure variations centering on differences in accessories has led to a price premium, such as with the double telescoping lightsabers or the vinyl-caped Jawa.
Taking advantage of consumer demand for the toys, manufacturers in some countries released unlicensed, bootleg figures.
For example, some of the figures produced by the manufacturer Uzay in Turkey, are of a high standard and were often cast in unconventional colors with little regard to authenticity.
[28] Kenner, which had been bought by Tonka in 1987 and subsequently by Hasbro in 1991, took advantage of this and, in 1995, released a new line of Star Wars action figures, again under the logo Power of the Force.
[32] An episode of the History Channel documentary series The Toys That Built America has Kenner and its line of Star Wars action figures and playsets as one of the subjects.