This is a little something, I found interesting on WIKIPEDIA:
Kenner Products was a toy company founded in 1947 by three brothers, Albert, Phillip, and Joseph L. Steiner, in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States, and was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located.
Kenner introduced its popular Girder and Panel building sets construction toy in 1957, the Give-a-Show projector in 1959, the Easy-Bake Oven in 1963, the Spirograph drawing toy in 1966, and the Starting Lineup sports action figure collectible line in 1988. It was a pioneer in the use of television as a medium for advertising toys across the United States, beginning in 1958.
In the early 1960s, Kenner introduced its corporate mascot, The Kenner Gooney Bird, which would be used in both its company logo ("It's Kenner! It's fun!") and TV ads, in both animated form and puppetry. (One commercial was produced by Muppets creator Jim Henson) The Bird was phased out by 1974.
The company was purchased by General Mills in 1967.
In 1970, General Mills merged its Rainbow Crafts division into Kenner Products, bringing Play-Doh into the Kenner product line.
Kenner Products obtained the rights to produce Star Wars action figures and playsets for the Star Wars trilogy from 1977 through 1985. After Kenner acquired the license to produce Star Wars toys when the Mego Corporation rejected it in 1976, Kenner popularized the 3.75 inch action figure that became an industry standard that continues to dominate the action figure toy market. Kenner also produced toys related to the popular 70s TV series The Six Million Dollar Man. In 1981, Kenner belatedly entered the diecast toy car market, with a short-lived range called Fast 111's.
One of Kenner's most highly acclaimed[citation needed] lines was the Super Powers Collection. These action figures were based on the famed superheroes of DC Comics. What made the line so successful was that the characters were modeled almost exactly from the style guide of the company; and also, each character performed some "action." For example, if Superman's legs are squeezed, he would throw a punch.
This set was produced from 1984 to 1986. In 1990, the company unleashed the Dark Knight Collection which was the first of their many lines based on the Batman character. This initial set was created to capitalize on the phenomenal success of the cinematic version of the character.
In 1985, General Mills spun off its Kenner and Parker toy divisions to form Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. Kenner Parker was acquired by Tonka in 1987. Under Tonka management, Kenner Products was reconstituted as a division.
Tonka (including Kenner) was purchased by the toy company Hasbro in mid-1991. Hasbro closed the Cincinnati offices of Kenner in 2000, and Kenner's product lines were merged into Hasbro's.
Oct 29, 2008 8:21 PM | Report Abuse reply
I miss the KENNER name. I know that Hasbro figures are "Better" so to speak, but I like the basic figure and weapon concept. When was the last time a Kenner figure had a hard time standing up on a flat surface? Hasbro figures sometimes won't even stand WITH a stand!
Oct 30, 2008 7:30 PM | Report Abuse reply
Hey Syphodiaz thanks for sharing. Its like a walk down Memory Lane :^)
Oct 31, 2008 8:40 PM | Report Abuse reply
Your welcome Sith Overlord,
I thought it was in keeping with the collecting topics, since Kenner/Hasbro Toys are the Majority of what we collect.
Nov 2, 2008 6:26 PM | Report Abuse reply
That's right Syphodiaz, never FORGET our ROOTS.
Catch up with you later...
Nov 4, 2008 3:39 AM | Report Abuse reply
Does anyone know where I can find some pictures of the Kenner factories? I'd like to see what the corporate office looked like too. I can just imagine all the stuff that was thrown away back in the 80's after Star Wars died down. I bet there were THOUSANDS of weapons and parts. All in some landfill out there now. Maybe we can send a search party out to find where they took all the "trash" and dig it all up! It was the 80's after all, so it's not like they got recycled! LOL
Nov 4, 2008 8:32 PM | Report Abuse reply
Ive heard stories of what happened when Kenner went belly up with the over run stock, they still had on hand.
Everything from they donated it to Organizations that gave the stuff away to kids at Christmas, to one big landfill dump of the stuff, employees were allowed to take what they wanted of it home.
The designers took what they created home, most notably the Rocket Firing Bobba Fett Prototypes and thats how the REAL ones ended up eventually in collector hands.
I had even heard that during that time in Ohio they were still burning trash and that one collector had saved some cases of POTF Stuff that was about to get torched along with the Tin cans, and used baby diapers.
Nov 4, 2008 8:52 PM | Report Abuse reply
Ew...used baby diapers...and a special POTF "Dagobah dirty" R2D2...smells like authentic swamp gas, with "mud" smears and all.
Nov 5, 2008 9:35 AM | Report Abuse reply
You never know, some of this stuff might be found. I read a story where they found a HUGE landfill of old Atari 2600 games. All MINT, Still sealed in factory packaging. They made a deal, bought them all for like a dollar a game, and dug them up. Sold them online for like 3-5.00 each and made a killing!
Nov 5, 2008 6:50 PM | Report Abuse reply
Here is a question for Kenner that will probably NEVER find an answer.
Dear Kenner,
Why didn't you ever correct the color of Luke Farmboy OR Luke Bespin Lightsabers to BLUE? Clearly in the movie you can see that Luke has a BLUE saber untill Return of the Jedi, in which he has green? The only version of Luke that came with a blue saber was the initial release of the Luke Jedi figure. Why? You finally give him a blue saber, only to change it to the correct color of green later in the run. Why didn't you ever go back and change the other figures?
Mar 18, 2009 7:15 PM | Report Abuse reply
DJ121, my 2 cents worth...
Changing the incorrect lightsaber colors and updating the early ones e.g. Original Luke Skywalker's and Bespin Luke's wasn't on their priority list. Although a simple substitution with Ben's Lt BLUE L/Saber and Jedi Luke's 1st Version Lt BLUE L/Saber would have done the trick.
The question that Kenner would probably never find an answer to is WHY they never produced these prominent characters :
1) Han Solo in Stormtrooper Disguise
2) Grand Moff Tarkin
3) Figrin D'an and the Nodal Modes
4) Sandtrooper
5) Rebel Fleet Trooper
6) The BANTHA
as they have had the opportunity to do so when they released the "pin sized" head Luke in Stormtrooper Outfit and Imperial Gunner for the POWER OF THE FORCE line????
Apr 4, 2009 5:35 PM | Report Abuse reply
MY GOD I bet that figure would have been ugly! LOL can you imagine Kenner trying to make a Slave Leia back in the 80's????
Either that or it would have been one of the BEST figures Kenner ever made!
Apr 5, 2009 8:27 PM | Report Abuse reply
Hey Darth Father looking at your Avatar Image brings another UNPRODUCED Vintage Star Wars Kenner figure that should have been made :
8) Darth Vader with Removable Helmet
- well Kenner was successful in making removable Helmets for their ROTJ Leia Boushh disguise and Lando Skiff Guard disguise, why not Vader with a removable Helmet for their last hurrah POWER OF THE FORCE line?
Apr 7, 2009 7:27 AM | Report Abuse reply
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