Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys Page #4
One of the big challenges with
the first "star wars" movie,
and working on
the very first one
was the lack of documentation
for the movie.
They had not
photographed every costume,
the models weren't shot
from every direction.
People that did
the set designs,
We would use some photographs,
and interpolate
into our own turnarounds,
our own side and front
and back views.
The lack of reference material,
or the inadequate reference
material that kenner had
is probably responsible
for some of the...
the more famous, um...
Screw-ups known
in the "star wars" line.
For instance, the original
version of snaggletooth
which was designed for the sears
exclusive cantina play-set
was a large blue figure
with silver go-go boots.
(Dance music)
Lucasfilm decided
they didn't like that.
When the figure actually
appeared in stores,
it was a much shorter
figure in a red outfit
with hairy feet.
All you really saw
in the film was his head.
So, you know, how big he was
was kind of up to conjecture.
(Salvatore) When lucasfilm got
more in the business with kenner
and everything
became integrated,
they would actually send props
out the kenner,
and they had to be
kept in a locked cage.
So you really saw the toys
get better and better
in terms of design
as the line went on.
You can walk through
the history of an item
by looking at the pre-production
stages for that item.
It's kind of neat
to be able to go,
"look, here's
a whole progression
of how this thing was created."
Here we have several prototypes
which reveal quite a bit
of information
into how a figure
was developed at kenner.
First of all, we have
the original wax-sculpting,
and that is the actual
3d art for the figure.
The wax is specially formulated
to hold a lot of fine detail.
Next we have a hard copy,
which is made by taking molds
off the sculpt
a two-part urethane material.
Often, some of those
hard-copy figures
will be painted so that
the designers at kenner
can use them in photography
or to test different
paint schemes
the actual production figures,
which you see an early
example of here,
are made by sending
a hard-copy figure
over to the orient
where they make a tooling master
that's used to cut
the final steel tools
that are made to make thousands
of these things.
One of the challenges
was the lightsaber.
(Lightsaber whooshes)
We were trying to figure out
how do you make
a lightsaber happen
without electronics
because we didn't have
anything that small.
I was a big proponent of a...
of the spring-loaded device
that would allow it to pop out.
Unfortunately, our friends
in the cost department
would not allow us to
spend three cents on a spring,
and it was a more difficult
product to manufacture.
I had the model shop
put a monofilament
down the arm of the figure
and it would come out
through his hand...
through the hand
and curl up
into a nice curlicue.
And ultimately, you know...
(Buzzing)
that was it.
(Boy) Now I know
the force is with us.
(Salvatore) The regular Luke
had a lightsaber in the arm
that slid out one time.
The earliest versions
had one that slid out
and then telescoped out
a second time.
So the early-bird set
is known for having that
early-bird Luke that has
the double telescoping
lightsaber.
These are all four-inch
darth vader prototypes.
What's notable
about a lot of these
are, of course, the double
telescoping sabers.
This particular example
is a prototype stage of that
at the very tip is
what we call the mushroom tip
because it has a small disc.
And the idea was that
it would give the person
that was manipulating
the inner saber,
like, you know,
something to grab onto
to help extend it.
(luttrull)
I think kenner really
bottled lightning
with those figure.
It's hard to explain
why these toys
became so important
to so many kids,
but they did.
(Sharp) The card-backs
to me were as neat
as the figures,
even as a child.
Not only did you get
the figure,
but you got
this big color image
of that character in the movie.
That was sort of
part of the toy.
When I was a kid, I don't think
finding a beat up card
would have been
acceptable to me
because you want to rip
through a fresh card.
You want to rip through
a fresh card.
I, nowadays, look for figures
that are in the best condition.
I wanted to be reminded of
actually seeing these figures
for the first time
at the toy store.
This is a early
conceptual sketch,
kind of the rough-out ideas
for the "star wars" packaging.
You see that the top
has the pyramidal logo
which you see in some early
"star wars" products.
It kind of looks
like it's "star wars"
fading into the background.
Some commentary
about the racetrack
piping around the figure,
which did make it's way
into the final product.
You'll see also that there's
a star behind the figure
rather than a rectangle,
a colored rectangle.
Obviously,
as things moved along
in the design process,
it got more
to the traditional look.
The distinctive double
silver-piping
is around the side.
The distinctive logo,
it's not the pyramidal
logo anymore.
Here, it looks though
like they're using
the hildebrandt Luke and Leia
rather than as
a small design element,
as the main card art.
It looks like this is,
like, an idea
for a unified card art
across the whole line.
Whereas the final
figures would have had,
if it was a darth vader
figure, you know,
has a picture of darth vader.
Kenner, unlike
any other toy line,
put at the back of the package
"collect all 77!" Or 65 or 92.
And really no other toy lines,
even though I was into
lots of other toys,
were really like that.
You know, they continued
to build
on the back of those packages
this idea that you could
get 'em all.
You could kind of see
where that would come from.
Like, hey, we have a line here
where you're not gonna want
your favorite character,
you're gonna
want every character.
It was...
It was like egging you on.
The back of the card-back says,
you know, "collect all 92."
It doesn't ask you to,
it tells you to.
You'd get,
kind of, this anxiety
if you don't have them all.
And that stayed with me
all through my childhood
collecting these things,
you know?
I can remember that's
how kids used to keep track.
You'd keep a spare card-back
around your house.
All the action figures
were pictured on the back,
and when you got one,
you'd "x" it off.
I would construct
lists of ones I wanted.
I actually constructed lists
of ones I didn't want.
So, you know, if I sent my dad
to the store for an ig-88,
he better not come home
with, you know, a bespin guard
or lobot or one of
those poor guys.
I remember, you know,
sitting in the toy aisle
with my brother, looking over
the back of the cards,
looking for figures that, um...
Did they have them yet?
"Return of the jedi," they had
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"Plastic Galaxy: The Story of Star Wars Toys" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 23 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/plastic_galaxy:_the_story_of_star_wars_toys_15970>.
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