The vintage toy line of Star Wars produced by KENNER between the years 1977 and 1985 is a milestone in the history of toy collecting and an essential part of pop culture. These little plastic figures allowed fans of all ages to recreate the epic adventures of the original Star Wars films.
Rise and Fall
In just a few years, KENNER went from being a small toy company in Ohio to becoming the largest selling action figure company in the world.
Each figure came with its own weapon or accessory and was sold in distinctive bubble and card packaging. Fans of Star Wars soon began collecting these figures, and the toy line quickly expanded to include a wide variety of supporting characters.
What made this collection truly special was the attention to detail and passion that KENNER put into the production of the figures and the wide variety of movie characters that had their own figure.
In addition, scale model vehicles and spaceships were launched, allowing fans to recreate epic scenes from the movies.
KENNER’s action figure collection reached its peak in 1983 with the release of “Return of the Jedi”. This line included characters and scenes from the third film of the original trilogy. With this line, KENNER completed its representation of the original trilogy of Star Wars.
However, two years after the release of the third film and with no more films in sight, in 1985, KENNER announced that it would stop producing Star Wars due to declining demand. This announcement marked the end of an era in Star Wars toy collecting.
Despite its discontinuation, the Star Wars by KENNER left a lasting legacy in the world of toy collecting. These figures and toys continue to be highly valued by collectors around the world.
The latest figures
After many years of overwhelming success and seeing the reduction in sales of figures, KENNER decided to launch a last batch of figures, yes, for fear of getting their fingers caught and not selling enough, these last figures were produced in a much smaller quantity than all previous ones.
The last 17 figures produced as part of the collection are today the most expensive and desired pieces by collectors, since there are far fewer units on the market than the rest of the figures in the collection. These figures are popularly known as “The Last 17” and are as follows:
Over the years these 17 figures have continued to rise in price on eBay and other second-hand sales platforms, and it is possible that we have in our childhood toy box a small treasure.