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Kenner Star Wars Toy Commercial - 1978

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Star Wars Micro Machines promotional poster art by Ralph McQuarrie (Galoob, 1996-97)

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Star Wars

Shadows of the empire Kenner special (1996)

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A host of 'Star Wars' advertisements from magazines published in the late 70s and early 80s. 'Star Wars' toys, games and tie-ins have become the most profitable franchise merchandise ever sold. There was a time when 'Star Wars' merch was inescapable. It was everywhere. Ubiqituous. Of course, no one thought that would happen. After 'American Graffiti' became a hit (it became one of the most profitable movies ever made), Lucas was afforded greater leverage over the pre-production of 'Star Wars'. Most of the profits he got from 'American Graffiti' went into the pre-production of 'Star Wars'. He created Industrial Light and Magic, hired artists to help create the aesthetics of the original film, and eventually waved his directing salary in favor of receiving greater control over the production of 'Star Wars' (plus any sequels) and over all the ancillary rights of the film. One of those ancillary rights was merchandise. George Lucas sought out toy makers like Mattel and Mago to produce toys in advance of the release of 'Star Wars', only to have company after company turn him down. Lucas eventually cut a deal with Kenner (then a division of cereal maker General Foods) for a flat fee of $100,000 per year, indefinitely. "The designers knew they wanted to make toys of the spaceships, but the usual 8- or 12-inch dolls would make that impossible, so they instead created 3 ¾-inch plastic action figures that would become the new industry standard."

The crazy thing is, Kenner didn't expect the popularity of 'Star Wars' and that means they didn't anticipate the demand for 'Star Wars' toys. They ended up selling a kind of IOU to customers, what they called an ‘Early Bird Certificate Package’ which could be redeemed later for four 'Star Wars' action figures. Given that popularity, between 1977 and 1978, Kenner sold $100 million worth of 'Star Wars' toys. As of me writing this very truncated history of 'Star Wars' toys (for no real reason), the merchandise makes around $3 billion a year. The one thing I do remember as a wee lad was mailing out for an early version of the Boba Fett action figure before the release of 'The Empire Strikes Back' in 1980. I was one of the fortunate kids who actually got a figure in the mail while other kids received an apology letter promising them a figure ASAP (one of my friends was a recipient of one of these cards). That Boba Fett figure was the only surviving toy from my childhood and I had it up until 2014 when it disappeared one day never to be seen again. Where did it go? I have no idea. The world's an impermanent place and all things are transitory (I should note, before I go, our culture's entire economy being predicated on producing an insatiable appetite for consumerism is collectively killing us. Just saying.)