One of the saddest sights in 1985, was going into my local toy/hobby shop, and seeing a huge rack of, what in the UK, were 'Palitoy' Star Wars figures. A rack containing every available figure. The shop was offering them at the bargain price of three figures for one Pound. And nobody was buying them. I had a full set, and extras, and, as I was 22 at the time, they were boxed up and put in the loft. I did buy a Millennium Falcon for under £20, that day, and a Han and Chewbacca and one other figure. A return visit a few weeks later, and the figures were all gone. I saw a bloke I knew who worked in the shop, sometime later, and asked him where they'd all gone. He said that a dealer had bought all of the most desireable figures (we all know which ones he means), but the rest had simply been written off, as nobody wanted them. They'd been put in trash bags, and then put in a skip. Somewhere, in a landfill, then, lies a strata of Star Wars figures. Even now, it chokes me up a bit, thinking of it.
I remember in the very late 80's/early 90's (the low point for Star Wars in pop culture) I used to go to the mall with my grandma and there was a kiosk selling vintage Star Wars toys for slightly more than what a retail toy would cost. I bought a fair amount of stuff and opened it to play with. I could probably retire on some of it now if I still had it MOC/MIB. LOL!
Easily one of the most beautiful spaceships ever created. One of my pals in the States helped me bag the Freakin' Abominably Overpriced Schwarz version many years ago.
Hi! I've always liked this bit of behind the scenes lore, didn't know much of what was presented here, and knew I was going to love this as soon as I saw the title card. Thank you!!! 😊
“Return of the Jedi” came out in ‘83. By that time, the MOTU toy line had gained a ton of momentum and the Kenner Star Wars toy-line was facing a very formidable competition, which it didn’t have in ‘77, nor in ‘80. Plus, a kid who was 9 or 10 in ‘77 was a teenager in ‘83 and while invested in the movie, he/she was no longer interested in purchasing the action figures. I had the privilege of spending the ‘83 and ‘84 summers in the States, and I was a rabid Star Wars fan, but by ‘83 the “MOTU side of the Force” had completely absorbed me and I didn’t buy ONE single Star Wars figure
The lack of advertising into and beyond '84 didn't help. I got a Lumat, but never knew of the existence of POTF until I stumbled across them ONCE at a Kay*Bee in 1985 for the obscene price of FIVE DOLLARS EACH, which I refused to pay. Hindsight, eh?
I remember the decade of The Great Star Wars famine. I was five years old in 1985 and I was desperate for NEW Star Wars toys. It was a sad time and it's the reason I collect today.
@@CarlyCatharsis There were also two horrible live action Ewok movies but I'm not counting them either. Not to mention where I lived then, Star Wars toys were scarce at retail starting in 86', and the spin offs weren't on my radar at the age of 6. For me it was a decade of dark times regardless of the tidbits of content floating around.
@@spectorcreative1872 That is an awesome subject. The generations born in the 90's and after don't remember those dark times. For them there has always been a glut of Star Wars toys and media to choose from. After ROTJ the great first age of Star Wars toys came to a rather abrupt end considering the momentum it had built starting in '77. I look forward to your video about that awful time.
@@christopherwieber783 Don't Quite Know How Old YOU Are? But I'm 42 & Was A Kid When The Ewok Films Came Out, So Naturally... My Dad Got Me Quite A Bit Of The Toys Baced On THOSE Films & Animated Series! A Simple Google Search Shows-Off ALOT More Of THAT Collection Then Even My Cousins Had & THEY Had A HUGE Amount Of SW, MOTU, SuperPowers & SecretWars! Whereas I MOSTLY Had SW, ThunderCats, Chuck Norris VS Bruce Lee, GoBots & Rock Lords!
I read about this in a toy magazine ages ago, and love it when new tidbits about it show up! Nifty idea, but without supporting media, it's no wonder it sank without a trace. Heck, they weren't even doing much advertising on TV towards the end of the original line. The one and only time I stumbled across POTF figures "in the wild," it took me completely by surprise, and I didn't have enough money to get one (because they were in a Kay*Bee for FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS).
The Imperial base would have been spectacular. That's the one piece I wish they'd followed through on. To have a "docking bay" for the AT-AT, etc. That would have been a terrific addition to the line.
I could watch videos of 80s concepts that never made it, all day. What could've been!? Such wild ideas, nobody thinks like this anymore, with a comedic principle this stuff would soar i think.
I was a kid during they heyday of Star Wars and my age tallied with the target market; birthdays and Christmas were filled with updates for my collection. Come 1984, my allegiances were shifting toward MOTU which dominated the toy shops here in Ireland. Star Wars, meantime, was relegated to a sideshow attraction. Come 1985, the ‘rare’ final release of figures, (frozen Han, Luke and Han Stormtrooper disguise) were widely available and luckily I picked up a few. In hindsight it’s sad to see that the decline of the original line faded as I grew older, trends growing with me I guess. But those Star Wars years were golden years for me, perhaps the time when I was at my most innocent and happiest. Good memories of a time gone.
I agree as well! It also had Tarkin escaping the Death Star @ the last second, gathering Imperial remnants & a trip back to Tatooine. My wife adds that she thought actual idiots were involved.
I really loved the idea of this line when I first read about it a few years ago. I really wish we'd gotten them. Could have led to a fun clone wars style cartoon series showing what luke and friends did next
I collect star wars too for 40 years. I really love star wars i never grew out of it i seem to have grown into it deeper. I been blessed with two children and years later two grandchildren that keep me reliving my childhood. 😊 at 47 i still get down on the floor and play with action figures and vehicles with the kids. Those times i loose myself into it. I forget about all the problems in my life. I indeed escape to a far far away galaxy. Great video thanks
I would like to see you do a video giving your opinion and thoughts on the price of vintage motu and the collector market today compared to over 20yrs ago. I got most of my complete collection back in mid to late 90s early 2000's. Back then I could buy boxes full of motu at flea markets and yard sales for a few bucks. Ebay was a dumbing ground to buy in bulk then. I remember buying a complete scareglow from a guy on Heman.org forums for $30 and thinking that was a really high price to pay.. now they like $300. I also remember people selling bootleg copies of the complete cartoon series for $80 that had been recorded from home vhs copies and transferred to dvd cause that was the only way to obtain it for years and years. I also remember the pain of having to do money orders for everything we bought on ebay. Buy something, go get a money order, mail it out, wait for seller to receive it, then wait for him to ship your package.. took about a month to get something after you bought it..lol
Very interesting. I am thinking us kids would have been lost without a movie to go with. OT Star Wars has always been one of my favorite things, but the Eternians still would have crushed that extended line. Like how new adventures never would have extended MOTU for me though they did get released. Funny cause I never got the MOTU show, I was happy with the comics and using my imagination for the story part of play. Star Wars would have been who's that and I don't remember this
I loved the he man comics. They where so much darker and grimer then the filmation animation. I got friends into Motu BC of the comics and the read along books records/tapes. Funny story. My mom thought I was a genius BC I could read at 3 BC I could read my " the black hole" book word perfect. She finally figured out what was going on when I read a sentience then went ding ( which was the sound they made to tell you to turn the page."
I wish I could give videos more than 1 like- such an excellent 1 sir! I'm surprised that for the most part none of this lore has been touched in any format. Maybe it's the Mandella effect, but I thought @ some point I saw a mock up display for this line on-line. Would you ever be able to do interviews with any of the other creators/ behind the scenes toy designer people?
I totally admit, when I looked up and saw the I and Ii Thessalonians slide, I forgot which video I was on and thought this was a totally different lecture for a second :p
@@spectorcreative1872 this one time I started reviewing a toy and ended up discussing eschatology. I mean, to be fair, it was a toy of the Whore of Babylon on the Crimson Beast, but still...
I love seeing all the concept figures & vehicles that Kenner were thinking of making!! Very cool. That Luke & Han Solo figures would have been so cool!!
That was a lot of cool stuff! I really think many of these would have great additions, loved early 80s Star wars, but i think as a kid i would likely have cared less, cause i had moved on to things like MotU and GiJoe by then.
It took until the 90's to get a multi media "new" Star Wars adventure with Shadows of the Empire, crazy to think that during the dry spell there was an alternative idea.
Well their was the AMAZING SW radio drama. So worth listening to. And Star Tours. Don't forget about Star Tours! Oh and the Ewok movies with the oatmeal guy.
@@spectorcreative1872 Star Tours did eventually get toys. I guess I was positing on at the time fully Canon, huge blitz of varying product. I loved the Zahn books, and the West End Games RPG stuff, Shadows was meant to be huge, but I will relent I think it was overstepping it's huge output of content. Fun figures and a great N64 game tho!
I didn't have ANY starwars toys as a kid in the 80s.... Yeah I know, but i made it out ok, i had some motu, and neighbor kid had cool stuff and i had a couple cousins too that had SW figures. I did have a bootleg of the original 3 movies, but i was little and had no idea it was a bootleg. Loved it, watched it until it broke.
One of those designs did become an Expanded Universe toy. Dark Empire borrowed an emperor's guard design from that potential toy sequel. Then said design showed up as a toy in the 1990s based on that comic book.
In 2018 they actually made a Snow/Desert Speeder in Lego form as a Target exclusive TFA era Jakku Sandspeeder in a Tan/Khaki deco with the weird fins added.
I caught a brief glance of a banner on a box which said "Expanded Universe." Have you ever done a rundown on Star Wars toys released based on the EU books not on the films?
I was born in 1970 so buy the time Star Wars hit theaters in 1977 iwas old enough to understand the movie and old enough for more mature toys than just tinker toys and blocks. My favorite time was Christmas cause I always got a ton of Star Wars toys all the way up to 1985. By then I'm 15 and ready to do other stuff anyways. I still have every Star wars Toy I've every gotten. I still have every blaster, staff, laser rifle bow caster and any accessories i even sent away for
An idea for an episode. With the already apparent issues with Origins. “What would you do if you were completely in charge of the property/brand?” The toys, cartoons, etc...
@@spectorcreative1872 You’re in that great position to where you actually have the wisdom, experience, passion, and so forth to legitimately explore the question. In Lou of inexperienced and wishful thinking of your average fan.
I so seriously hope u are actually aware and can feel in every fiber of ur being how amazing u are to some of us out here who otherwise wound never have known so much of what u are sharing here on ur channel! I had so much respect and admiration for u back during ur motuc run and then felt like something bad went down and we weren’t able to get the whole story for ethics and legal-type business reasons. But always hoped u never felt short ended or dealt a bad deal or anything. But with how u are are using ur powers here on this Chanel, I feel like the entire world and all it’s secrets in the portion of it that are based on the knowledge and imagination of what could have been and what might still be are at my fingertips and are mine to participate in after all my years of suspecting there was lord to so many things and just never being able to know any of it and that is literally all because of u l, u grand magnanimous noble and giving kind sir!! I am so thankful for all u do and am always going to consider myself a toy guru fanboy and loyalist for the rest of my days!!!
I know the money is in selling things that came from a movie, but I’ve always enjoyed getting concepts and characters from expanded universe or video game sources, it creates a lot of freshness in what you can do. Dash Rendar wasn’t a mind blowing character, but putting him into an adventure when I was a kid meant everything was new again, in a way, thanks to his presence.
Maybe the POTF2 R5-D4 was intended to be the Artillery Droid (the desert coloured prototype with missiles). Kenner seemed to have borrowed some of these concepts in POTF2. I already mentioned that there was a Deluxe Figure assortment planned in 1986 that was clearly the inspiration behind the Deluxe Figures in 1996-1997. We did get the Skyhopper in The Power of the Force 2 in 1997 also. Again I wonder if as Kenner was behind The Epic Continues, they applied some of those concepts to The Power of the Force 2 as if they said ‘Oh we’re making Star Wars toys again? Well we know what we should do’.
I'm a huge fan since I've been a kid of the Original Trilogy & the Action FIgures! This was a great vid as always, it's too bad the line never carried on like they had intended.
I was still so into Star Wars when I went away and I really wanted it to continue. And a few years later when I started seeing the expanded universe novels coming out I was just incredibly happy about that and if they would have continued releasing figures based on the expanded universe and the role-playing game stuff I think they probably could have did well continuing the toys though it surely would not have been the draw that the movies had but if they would have continued you know using that and maybe providing like a kids comic in the figure with it or something I think that would have been the way to go. But I was in 7th and 8th grade when the song Trilogy and Jedi Academy trilogies came out and I was like using the fingers I had to try to reproduce those scenes and story lines and make my own character to fit in those stories. So I would have been great to have would have been awesome to have more action figures coming out. I had to deputize some GI Joes into being new Star Wars characters
I always thought the HISS would make a great Jawa vehicle. I'm about three-fourths done with a Jawa HiSSS (Hi-Speed Scout Sandcrawler) custom, made from a modern Arctic HISS. Might make a HiSSS II (Hi-Speed Strike Sandcrawler) out of the movie-style HISS for Wittin's militia.
@@scockery Yes! I remember that, now that you mention it! It had a hand-cranked winch on the top of the cab for pulling Snowspeeders onto the flatbed, and was intended for Hoth-style play!
What killed Star Wars in the toy world was the General Mills decision to pull out of the Toy Market at the end of 1985 selling to a management buy out which ended in the company being renamed Kenner-Parker and it would have kept going thanks to the films doing well on the home video market and were starting to be shown on TV
Just think about it . . . If they'd capitalised on the Ewok telemovies, we could've had a blurrg toy three and a half decades before "The Mandalorian." Speaking of, WHERE'S OUR VINTAGE COLLECTION KUILL AND BLURRG, HASBRO?!!
So the T-16 Skyhopper was intended for the 1986 extension and was released, yet the TIE Bomber was also in development and never materialised in the following Kenner line (The Power Of The Force 2). Even years after hearing about it, it still makes not much sense why the TIE Bomber was not produced until the Star Wars line was under Hasbro in the 2000s. The Rebel Blockade Runner is an interesting foot note in Kenner, as it was originally intended for release in 1984 as part of Return Of The Jedi, and was again proposed for this line as well. Still want the Imperial Outpost, it would have probably been one of the best Kenner playsets if it was produced.
6:47: It went from Kenner to Dark Horse and back to Kenner again. That’s the coolest part of this all in a positive aspect: we actually got one of the unreleased figures technically from Kenner!
I would have liked to know the reason why Kenner’s Star Wars The Epic Continues was turned down by LucasFilm and what had happened during the meeting and negotiations. It’s certainly just as interesting as the other alternative: if Kenner never stopped. Also what if Kenner Products never closed in the winter of 2000? Would the Toy Industry still be a powerhouse or would social media and online shopping still eat into sales and cause a downturn by this point anyway?
ATIC = the AT-M6(the AT-ATs with a gun built into them that knelt before firing) or the AT-TE(the six-legged walkers from Clone Wars) regarding the Skyhopper…you didn’t mention the biggest single thing about it: it’s directly mentioned in the pilot briefing where Luke refutes Wedge by saying “i used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16” when Wedge said firing at the exhaust port couldn’t be done
The Epic Continues is one of the greatest misfires in LucasFilm’s history. If Kenner was given the go-ahead, possibly the Dark Age would have never happened and the Prequels might also have been released around 1997 rather than, or alongside, the Special Editions. Star Wars could have remained a powerhouse is also something to put in consideration if the Kenner line continued but then we may have not got MASK so there’s that too. Despite that, Kenner finally releasing a TIE Bomber (which was still an omission in The Power Of The Force II which is strange as Kenner had its production in mind by 1985), the Escape Pod (which has now been used by Hasbro which is great), The Annihilator (Super Stacked Star Destroyer) and much more. The greatest part of what did make it into the Kenner lines is the Imperial Sentinel. A character Kenner created that was used (repurposed) in the Dark Empire comics which was then released by Kenner in 1998.
@@spectorcreative1872 that would be a great and very interesting topic! Kenner might have ended up making Star Wars much longer. Putting everything into an alternate reality is worth considering! Maybe you should touch on Hasbro if they didn’t decline the $10,000 deal with Lucas on the Star Wars license as well rather than having to pay extremely high royalties.
I was born in 1980 and I became obsessed with star wars at the age of 8 but the toys were only at the flea market as collectors items. One figure with no accessories was $20.
Some of these designs are, to be frank, really dumb. I mean, I get wanting to make more toys and all, but a tank with treads? A "double-star destroyer"? Why not just make the vehicles and characters that were already in the movies? Heck, they could have done something like what G.I. Joe eventually did, and have a Rebel captured/repurposed TIE Fighter, or an Imperial-captured X-Wing...
0:40: “From the same company.” It gets a bit complicated there... (I don’t think Hasbro should be considered as a ‘successor’, as of recent years, or ‘continuation’ of Kenner.)
That Imperial Base would’ve been amazing. I wish HasLab would take this on and try to stay true to the original design. Other than that and the Bantha and Grand Moff Tarkin figure, most of this was kinda disappointing. The At-At with the canon is pretty bad. And the Rebel Blockade Runner was just too small. Still, I wish it would’ve went on.
@@spectorcreative1872 "When two or three are gathered together, there will be a toxic, vitriolic schism" should be the motto of all fandoms, these days.
Those prototypes were, for the most part, obviously cobbled together from extant toys, and not in a particularly aesthetically pleasing fashion. They looked exactly like what they were in the worst way. I'd have rejected that line too. No way in hell would I let one of the biggest selling toy lines in history become the abominations that they cooked up.
One of the saddest sights in 1985, was going into my local toy/hobby shop, and seeing a huge rack of, what in the UK, were 'Palitoy' Star Wars figures. A rack containing every available figure. The shop was offering them at the bargain price of three figures for one Pound. And nobody was buying them. I had a full set, and extras, and, as I was 22 at the time, they were boxed up and put in the loft. I did buy a Millennium Falcon for under £20, that day, and a Han and Chewbacca and one other figure. A return visit a few weeks later, and the figures were all gone. I saw a bloke I knew who worked in the shop, sometime later, and asked him where they'd all gone. He said that a dealer had bought all of the most desireable figures (we all know which ones he means), but the rest had simply been written off, as nobody wanted them. They'd been put in trash bags, and then put in a skip. Somewhere, in a landfill, then, lies a strata of Star Wars figures. Even now, it chokes me up a bit, thinking of it.
In the end we all wind up in the discount bin
@@spectorcreative1872 "Legends last long, but not forever so remember this"
(quote from "All In Together - Professor Elemental")
That's horrible. What a tragic waste
@@spectorcreative1872 how old are you did you hsvd old starvwars tiyscas a kid
Amazing how much of an impact the Kenner line had both at the retroactively on Star Wars
Still under rated!
I remember in the very late 80's/early 90's (the low point for Star Wars in pop culture) I used to go to the mall with my grandma and there was a kiosk selling vintage Star Wars toys for slightly more than what a retail toy would cost. I bought a fair amount of stuff and opened it to play with. I could probably retire on some of it now if I still had it MOC/MIB. LOL!
Yet they cost even more now! Crazy world.
YOU SIR, Are 💯Correct.
Cool video. I remember I bought Bendems because I was too late to get the originals. All I had were my big brother leftovers.
Ah the toy leftovers...
One of my favorite vehicle designs in the SWU has always been the Llambda Class/Imperial Shuttle.
Mine too! I still regret I didn't get the Re-release at Target ten years ago.
Easily one of the most beautiful spaceships ever created. One of my pals in the States helped me bag the Freakin' Abominably Overpriced Schwarz version many years ago.
Hi! I've always liked this bit of behind the scenes lore, didn't know much of what was presented here, and knew I was going to love this as soon as I saw the title card. Thank you!!! 😊
I am so glad you took the time to watch!
“Return of the Jedi” came out in ‘83. By that time, the MOTU toy line had gained a ton of momentum and the Kenner Star Wars toy-line was facing a very formidable competition, which it didn’t have in ‘77, nor in ‘80. Plus, a kid who was 9 or 10 in ‘77 was a teenager in ‘83 and while invested in the movie, he/she was no longer interested in purchasing the action figures. I had the privilege of spending the ‘83 and ‘84 summers in the States, and I was a rabid Star Wars fan, but by ‘83 the “MOTU side of the Force” had completely absorbed me and I didn’t buy ONE single Star Wars figure
Yes a lot of folks had moved on to He-Man and Transformers by then
@@spectorcreative1872 and G.I.Joe as well
I was still buying the toys well into my late teens. Sadly my parents gave them away when I was in the Army. I was 9 in 77, good guess, lol.
@@TheCheshireMadcat ha! My comment then was spot on for you, my fellow brother in arms!
The lack of advertising into and beyond '84 didn't help. I got a Lumat, but never knew of the existence of POTF until I stumbled across them ONCE at a Kay*Bee in 1985 for the obscene price of FIVE DOLLARS EACH, which I refused to pay. Hindsight, eh?
I had that R5-D4 figure and just assumed that the missle feature was just their way of showing his bad motivator shoot out the top of his head.
That's really funny, and actually makes complete sense 😄😅😂
Oh that is awesome. I am going with that from now on
I remember the decade of The Great Star Wars famine. I was five years old in 1985 and I was desperate for NEW Star Wars toys. It was a sad time and it's the reason I collect today.
I"m working on a video about that!
It Was Actually 1987-1993, As There WERE Ewok & Droids Figures Baced On Stand-Alone Films & BOTH Animated Series!
@@CarlyCatharsis There were also two horrible live action Ewok movies but I'm not counting them either. Not to mention where I lived then, Star Wars toys were scarce at retail starting in 86', and the spin offs weren't on my radar at the age of 6. For me it was a decade of dark times regardless of the tidbits of content floating around.
@@spectorcreative1872 That is an awesome subject. The generations born in the 90's and after don't remember those dark times. For them there has always been a glut of Star Wars toys and media to choose from. After ROTJ the great first age of Star Wars toys came to a rather abrupt end considering the momentum it had built starting in '77. I look forward to your video about that awful time.
@@christopherwieber783 Don't Quite Know How Old YOU Are? But I'm 42 & Was A Kid When The Ewok Films Came Out, So Naturally... My Dad Got Me Quite A Bit Of The Toys Baced On THOSE Films & Animated Series! A Simple Google Search Shows-Off ALOT More Of THAT Collection Then Even My Cousins Had & THEY Had A HUGE Amount Of SW, MOTU, SuperPowers & SecretWars! Whereas I MOSTLY Had SW, ThunderCats, Chuck Norris VS Bruce Lee, GoBots & Rock Lords!
I read about this in a toy magazine ages ago, and love it when new tidbits about it show up! Nifty idea, but without supporting media, it's no wonder it sank without a trace.
Heck, they weren't even doing much advertising on TV towards the end of the original line. The one and only time I stumbled across POTF figures "in the wild," it took me completely by surprise, and I didn't have enough money to get one (because they were in a Kay*Bee for FIVE WHOLE DOLLARS).
Yeah amazing to think Star Wars just evaporated from retail back in the day
Its ok Scott, you can say Han would have been a "Star Lord". He sort of always was. OT OG
Yeah, but he doesn't get to date Gamorea.
@@spectorcreative1872 We are Ravagers, we have a code
@@spectorcreative1872 Princess Leia was a nice consolation :)
The Imperial base would have been spectacular. That's the one piece I wish they'd followed through on. To have a "docking bay" for the AT-AT, etc. That would have been a terrific addition to the line.
Yeah and very "Endor" too.
100% agree! Should’ve been in The Power Of The Force 2!
I could watch videos of 80s concepts that never made it, all day. What could've been!? Such wild ideas, nobody thinks like this anymore, with a comedic principle this stuff would soar i think.
It was a golden age of toy design
The Double Decker Destroyer. Twice the warship, triple the 'D'!
How I see it too
For a double dose of that interstellar force projection/pimping
I bought a Mogo Beefhead custom figure off ebay a couple years ago, looks good with my other creatures
Way to go!
Interesting.Always love seeing this kind of stories!
Many more to come. Feel free to share with others. It helps the channel a ton
@@spectorcreative1872 I will ! :D
I was a kid during they heyday of Star Wars and my age tallied with the target market; birthdays and Christmas were filled with updates for my collection.
Come 1984, my allegiances were shifting toward MOTU which dominated the toy shops here in Ireland. Star Wars, meantime, was relegated to a sideshow attraction.
Come 1985, the ‘rare’ final release of figures, (frozen Han, Luke and Han Stormtrooper disguise) were widely available and luckily I picked up a few.
In hindsight it’s sad to see that the decline of the original line faded as I grew older, trends growing with me I guess.
But those Star Wars years were golden years for me, perhaps the time when I was at my most innocent and happiest. Good memories of a time gone.
Woah, that Han Solo Starleader sketch looks a lot like the uniforms you could get in Knights of the Old Republic. EDIT, the videogame series.
Maybe it inspired that series
Why? Why does every idea for a sequel to the original trilogy seems so much better than what we actually got? Why?
Ummm, because what we got was created by a spread sheet? czcams.com/video/-iK2xxMpwU0/video.html
@@spectorcreative1872 wholeheartedly agree
I agree as well! It also had Tarkin escaping the Death Star @ the last second, gathering Imperial remnants & a trip back to Tatooine. My wife adds that she thought actual idiots were involved.
Because I think they actually cared about story, back then.
Probably because it never had to go beyond "cool sounding idea" into actual execution.
I really loved the idea of this line when I first read about it a few years ago. I really wish we'd gotten them. Could have led to a fun clone wars style cartoon series showing what luke and friends did next
What could have been!
I collect star wars too for 40 years. I really love star wars i never grew out of it i seem to have grown into it deeper. I been blessed with two children and years later two grandchildren that keep me reliving my childhood. 😊 at 47 i still get down on the floor and play with action figures and vehicles with the kids. Those times i loose myself into it. I forget about all the problems in my life. I indeed escape to a far far away galaxy. Great video thanks
Part of what makes toys so magical!
I like the canon we do have overall, but NGL this would have been cool to see.
I still want to as well!
I would like to see you do a video giving your opinion and thoughts on the price of vintage motu and the collector market today compared to over 20yrs ago. I got most of my complete collection back in mid to late 90s early 2000's. Back then I could buy boxes full of motu at flea markets and yard sales for a few bucks. Ebay was a dumbing ground to buy in bulk then. I remember buying a complete scareglow from a guy on Heman.org forums for $30 and thinking that was a really high price to pay.. now they like $300. I also remember people selling bootleg copies of the complete cartoon series for $80 that had been recorded from home vhs copies and transferred to dvd cause that was the only way to obtain it for years and years. I also remember the pain of having to do money orders for everything we bought on ebay. Buy something, go get a money order, mail it out, wait for seller to receive it, then wait for him to ship your package.. took about a month to get something after you bought it..lol
I can certainly add this to the list! Thanks for the topic idea
....just sitting here looking at squid head upside down for the first time ! :) Now i have to buy a beefhead custom lol !!! BTW Great videos !
I still want Hasbro to make this figure, maybe as a con exclusive or something
Very interesting. I am thinking us kids would have been lost without a movie to go with. OT Star Wars has always been one of my favorite things, but the Eternians still would have crushed that extended line. Like how new adventures never would have extended MOTU for me though they did get released. Funny cause I never got the MOTU show, I was happy with the comics and using my imagination for the story part of play. Star Wars would have been who's that and I don't remember this
One can only wonder
I loved the he man comics. They where so much darker and grimer then the filmation animation. I got friends into Motu BC of the comics and the read along books records/tapes.
Funny story. My mom thought I was a genius BC I could read at 3 BC I could read my " the black hole" book word perfect. She finally figured out what was going on when I read a sentience then went ding ( which was the sound they made to tell you to turn the page."
@@michaelhoule2134 The Black Hole movie book was so much better than the movie. Would love to see that redone sometime
Lego made a Sandspeeder relatively recently, and it looks a bit like that prototype.
I'll need to check that out!
10:55 - thought I heard you curse for a second. Haha had to rewind to catch the Dr Evil reference.
I only curse in Yiddish
“Agatha Prime?” Whatcha smokin’ during your editing, Spector?
Honestly, I am just snorting glue and paper clips.
@@spectorcreative1872 Maybe he's a fan of murder mysteries?
Even the image you show in the video says 'Atha Prime' lol
ATHA Prime. A bit distracting, but props nevertheless for an informative video.
@@spectorcreative1872 Ow.
Great video and as someone that was born in ‘82 it’s great to hear from someone else that experienced the SW dark times at toy stores.
Oh those dark times were dark...
Love it. Cool. Collection
We aim to please!
I wish I could give videos more than 1 like- such an excellent 1 sir! I'm surprised that for the most part none of this lore has been touched in any format. Maybe it's the Mandella effect, but I thought @ some point I saw a mock up display for this line on-line. Would you ever be able to do interviews with any of the other creators/ behind the scenes toy designer people?
Well many more to come! Topic suggestions always appreciated too
Loved getting Star Wars action figures when I was a little kid! I enjoy collecting them again as an adult. :)
And that is why we adult collect! More here: czcams.com/video/6NYGvLkAVag/video.html
I totally admit, when I looked up and saw the I and Ii Thessalonians slide, I forgot which video I was on and thought this was a totally different lecture for a second :p
That is why I always keep my finger on the place I am in the script. Otherwise I start doing Othello.
@@spectorcreative1872 this one time I started reviewing a toy and ended up discussing eschatology. I mean, to be fair, it was a toy of the Whore of Babylon on the Crimson Beast, but still...
ATHA Prime and Mark Boo-Dreaux lol, but cool to see some of these awesome lists of what was to be. I wish they would have made some.
Well everyone knows English is only my first language. I can't be expected to pronounce everything wrong.
It's Mongo, not Mogo. Says so right there on the package.
Yup. And it's Atha Prime not Agatha Prime lol.
My ability to pronounce things is limited. English is only my first language
I love seeing all the concept figures & vehicles that Kenner were thinking of making!! Very cool. That Luke & Han Solo figures would have been so cool!!
That tank tread vehicle reminds me of a G.I. Joe vehicle. :)
I'm sure their is a connection. Toy companies model themselves after each other all the time. Also, Tanks, look like Tanks
That was a lot of cool stuff! I really think many of these would have great additions, loved early 80s Star wars, but i think as a kid i would likely have cared less, cause i had moved on to things like MotU and GiJoe by then.
If it could have only kept going
That A Prime design is actually from an unused Ralph McQuarrie concept sketch. It was one of the potential designs for the Emperor's Royal Guard.
I mean it failed as a brand from TFA to TRoS you can’t still find the figures in stores like ollies and 5 below
Oh I do enjoy a good deal run at our local 5 and below.
These all look awesome! lol
Wish we could have gotten them!
It took until the 90's to get a multi media "new" Star Wars adventure with Shadows of the Empire, crazy to think that during the dry spell there was an alternative idea.
Well their was the AMAZING SW radio drama. So worth listening to. And Star Tours. Don't forget about Star Tours! Oh and the Ewok movies with the oatmeal guy.
@@spectorcreative1872 Star Tours did eventually get toys. I guess I was positing on at the time fully Canon, huge blitz of varying product. I loved the Zahn books, and the West End Games RPG stuff, Shadows was meant to be huge, but I will relent I think it was overstepping it's huge output of content. Fun figures and a great N64 game tho!
I didn't have ANY starwars toys as a kid in the 80s.... Yeah I know, but i made it out ok, i had some motu, and neighbor kid had cool stuff and i had a couple cousins too that had SW figures. I did have a bootleg of the original 3 movies, but i was little and had no idea it was a bootleg. Loved it, watched it until it broke.
When toys break it is the saddest day of all
I'm a kid of the buff variety of figure and the special edition movies
They used the Solo-Flex
@@spectorcreative1872 haha ha
Imperial Base? Dang! They could've made a Return of The Jedi edition Deathstar Space Station 2 which kids would've bought up! :(
I'd have gotten one!
One of those designs did become an Expanded Universe toy. Dark Empire borrowed an emperor's guard design from that potential toy sequel. Then said design showed up as a toy in the 1990s based on that comic book.
Oh yes! I love that we got a figure of it
In 2018 they actually made a Snow/Desert Speeder in Lego form as a Target exclusive TFA era Jakku Sandspeeder in a Tan/Khaki deco with the weird fins added.
Yup, Lego has filled in a lot of gaps!
I caught a brief glance of a banner on a box which said "Expanded Universe." Have you ever done a rundown on Star Wars toys released based on the EU books not on the films?
A video no, but with those comic packs Hasbro did crank out a lot.
I was born in 1970 so buy the time Star Wars hit theaters in 1977 iwas old enough to understand the movie and old enough for more mature toys than just tinker toys and blocks.
My favorite time was Christmas cause I always got a ton of Star Wars toys all the way up to 1985. By then I'm 15 and ready to do other stuff anyways. I still have every Star wars Toy I've every gotten. I still have every blaster, staff, laser rifle bow caster and any accessories i even sent away for
Nice. Worth keeping
An idea for an episode. With the already apparent issues with Origins. “What would you do if you were completely in charge of the property/brand?” The toys, cartoons, etc...
I've thought about that...
@@spectorcreative1872 You’re in that great position to where you actually have the wisdom, experience, passion, and so forth to legitimately explore the question. In Lou of inexperienced and wishful thinking of your average fan.
That *is* a great episode idea. I would love to hear those opinions and analyses.
I so seriously hope u are actually aware and can feel in every fiber of ur being how amazing u are to some of us out here who otherwise wound never have known so much of what u are sharing here on ur channel! I had so much respect and admiration for u back during ur motuc run and then felt like something bad went down and we weren’t able to get the whole story for ethics and legal-type business reasons. But always hoped u never felt short ended or dealt a bad deal or anything. But with how u are are using ur powers here on this Chanel, I feel like the entire world and all it’s secrets in the portion of it that are based on the knowledge and imagination of what could have been and what might still be are at my fingertips and are mine to participate in after all my years of suspecting there was lord to so many things and just never being able to know any of it and that is literally all because of u l, u grand magnanimous noble and giving kind sir!! I am so thankful for all u do and am always going to consider myself a toy guru fanboy and loyalist for the rest of my days!!!
wow your kind words are amazing. I am so grateful thank you. Please do share these videos with others online, it helps the channel a ton!
I know the money is in selling things that came from a movie, but I’ve always enjoyed getting concepts and characters from expanded universe or video game sources, it creates a lot of freshness in what you can do. Dash Rendar wasn’t a mind blowing character, but putting him into an adventure when I was a kid meant everything was new again, in a way, thanks to his presence.
Oh me too. Shadows was amazing and I read all the incarnations.
Great video. Love Mongo Beefhead. Wish we got the base.
All this stuff is really cool.
@@spectorcreative1872 did the video but i think you did it better 👍🏻
Maybe the POTF2 R5-D4 was intended to be the Artillery Droid (the desert coloured prototype with missiles). Kenner seemed to have borrowed some of these concepts in POTF2. I already mentioned that there was a Deluxe Figure assortment planned in 1986 that was clearly the inspiration behind the Deluxe Figures in 1996-1997. We did get the Skyhopper in The Power of the Force 2 in 1997 also. Again I wonder if as Kenner was behind The Epic Continues, they applied some of those concepts to The Power of the Force 2 as if they said ‘Oh we’re making Star Wars toys again? Well we know what we should do’.
I wouldn’t count that theory out
The one thing I would have loved that you didn't mention was the double cockpit tandem X-Wing
I actually left out a few deliberately since other sites have done similar videos so fans will learn something new from others
I'm a huge fan since I've been a kid of the Original Trilogy & the Action FIgures! This was a great vid as always, it's too bad the line never carried on like they had intended.
If only it could have!
I was still so into Star Wars when I went away and I really wanted it to continue. And a few years later when I started seeing the expanded universe novels coming out I was just incredibly happy about that and if they would have continued releasing figures based on the expanded universe and the role-playing game stuff I think they probably could have did well continuing the toys though it surely would not have been the draw that the movies had but if they would have continued you know using that and maybe providing like a kids comic in the figure with it or something I think that would have been the way to go.
But I was in 7th and 8th grade when the song Trilogy and Jedi Academy trilogies came out and I was like using the fingers I had to try to reproduce those scenes and story lines and make my own character to fit in those stories. So I would have been great to have would have been awesome to have more action figures coming out.
I had to deputize some GI Joes into being new Star Wars characters
Mark Hammil was playing with Star Wars toys in Star Wars before Star Wars toys existed.
Thank the Maker.
That is an awesome point! Love it
Woah - I think I have the SW Miniature of Agatha Prime's design.
Maybe you do!
@@spectorcreative1872 yeah, they made a mini of those guards.
The Rebel tank is mildly reminiscent of a HISS tank.
It is!
I always thought the HISS would make a great Jawa vehicle. I'm about three-fourths done with a Jawa HiSSS (Hi-Speed Scout Sandcrawler) custom, made from a modern Arctic HISS. Might make a HiSSS II (Hi-Speed Strike Sandcrawler) out of the movie-style HISS for Wittin's militia.
@@Beedo_Sookcool That's awesome. Are you gonna post pics anywhere?
The tank tread vehicle was an unproduced Kenner design from years before in the Empire Strikes Back line, as some sort of snowspeeder recover vehicle.
@@scockery Yes! I remember that, now that you mention it! It had a hand-cranked winch on the top of the cab for pulling Snowspeeders onto the flatbed, and was intended for Hoth-style play!
What it must've been like in those brainstorming sessions!
One can only imagine!
What killed Star Wars in the toy world was the General Mills decision to pull out of the Toy Market at the end of 1985 selling to a management buy out which ended in the company being renamed Kenner-Parker and it would have kept going thanks to the films doing well on the home video market and were starting to be shown on TV
Point taken!
I just discovered the “Final 17” and now I see this?
Pretty much how the world works.
"Without Another Movie After;
"Return Of The Jedi"? Guess You
Forgot About: "Caravan Of Courage" &
"Battle For Endor" Then?!
I didn't forget, just trying to block them out
@@spectorcreative1872 So
You Are An Ewok Basher!
Interesting... Guessing You
ALSO Despise Berbils in
ThunderCats As Well?
Just think about it . . . If they'd capitalised on the Ewok telemovies, we could've had a blurrg toy three and a half decades before "The Mandalorian."
Speaking of, WHERE'S OUR VINTAGE COLLECTION KUILL AND BLURRG, HASBRO?!!
So the T-16 Skyhopper was intended for the 1986 extension and was released, yet the TIE Bomber was also in development and never materialised in the following Kenner line (The Power Of The Force 2). Even years after hearing about it, it still makes not much sense why the TIE Bomber was not produced until the Star Wars line was under Hasbro in the 2000s. The Rebel Blockade Runner is an interesting foot note in Kenner, as it was originally intended for release in 1984 as part of Return Of The Jedi, and was again proposed for this line as well. Still want the Imperial Outpost, it would have probably been one of the best Kenner playsets if it was produced.
Imagine if the original line never ended!
“Atha Prime” looks like Nilo Rodis-Jamero’s alternate design for the Emperor’s Guard for Return of the Jedi.
Yup and I added some extra letter to his name. oops
5:45 whaaat?! The plot for the sequal trilogy is very similar to this proposed new vilian's back story!
Well it is out there...
Probably already stated, but Atha Prime's skiff deally definitely looks inspired from the Microman/Micronauts Mobile Exploration Lab.
Vey interesting observation!
6:47: It went from Kenner to Dark Horse and back to Kenner again. That’s the coolest part of this all in a positive aspect: we actually got one of the unreleased figures technically from Kenner!
I would have liked to know the reason why Kenner’s Star Wars The Epic Continues was turned down by LucasFilm and what had happened during the meeting and negotiations. It’s certainly just as interesting as the other alternative: if Kenner never stopped. Also what if Kenner Products never closed in the winter of 2000? Would the Toy Industry still be a powerhouse or would social media and online shopping still eat into sales and cause a downturn by this point anyway?
The last of the Clone Masters.
The VERY last
ATIC = the AT-M6(the AT-ATs with a gun built into them that knelt before firing) or the AT-TE(the six-legged walkers from Clone Wars)
regarding the Skyhopper…you didn’t mention the biggest single thing about it: it’s directly mentioned in the pilot briefing where Luke refutes Wedge by saying “i used to bulls-eye womp rats in my T-16” when Wedge said firing at the exhaust port couldn’t be done
Such a weird time for Star Wars. Kenner’s biggest thing ever was slipping away. It was okay, because it made room for Transformers!
I sure did. MOTU as well. And Silverhawks. Don't forget Silverhawks!
@@spectorcreative1872 ha ha! Silverhawks indeed!
@@spectorcreative1872 in terms of cartoons, Silverhawks was the best.
The Epic Continues is one of the greatest misfires in LucasFilm’s history. If Kenner was given the go-ahead, possibly the Dark Age would have never happened and the Prequels might also have been released around 1997 rather than, or alongside, the Special Editions. Star Wars could have remained a powerhouse is also something to put in consideration if the Kenner line continued but then we may have not got MASK so there’s that too. Despite that, Kenner finally releasing a TIE Bomber (which was still an omission in The Power Of The Force II which is strange as Kenner had its production in mind by 1985), the Escape Pod (which has now been used by Hasbro which is great), The Annihilator (Super Stacked Star Destroyer) and much more. The greatest part of what did make it into the Kenner lines is the Imperial Sentinel. A character Kenner created that was used (repurposed) in the Dark Empire comics which was then released by Kenner in 1998.
Yeah I think I am going to do a follow up about what might have happened if the line never ended.
@@spectorcreative1872 that would be a great and very interesting topic! Kenner might have ended up making Star Wars much longer. Putting everything into an alternate reality is worth considering! Maybe you should touch on Hasbro if they didn’t decline the $10,000 deal with Lucas on the Star Wars license as well rather than having to pay extremely high royalties.
I was born in 1980 and I became obsessed with star wars at the age of 8 but the toys were only at the flea market as collectors items. One figure with no accessories was $20.
Yeah their was a window and if you were too young or too old SW did pass folks by
R5-D4 came with weapons because of his "Bad Motivator".
Nice explanation!
The blockade runner needs to be a haslab project
Now that I would get!
It was Agatha all along!
Ha! Well played
2:55: Kenner Star Wars: A New Approach. Aka the POTF2 (1995-2000).
80-83 Star Wars 83-85 He Man, 85-87 Mask 88-89 ghostbusters? now i forget, Muscle?
That came from Japan
You left out the 2 seat X-Wing. Weird thing is it was is the same colors as Poe's X-Wing from The Force Awakens...
Yeah I didn't hit EVERY item...
@@spectorcreative1872 currently trying to half ass a 3d model of it
Y’know, somebody could use the concepts from this to make a pretty cool prequel to Dark Empire about Agatha Prime using cloning to revive the Emperor.
It is true...
Some of these designs are, to be frank, really dumb. I mean, I get wanting to make more toys and all, but a tank with treads? A "double-star destroyer"? Why not just make the vehicles and characters that were already in the movies? Heck, they could have done something like what G.I. Joe eventually did, and have a Rebel captured/repurposed TIE Fighter, or an Imperial-captured X-Wing...
Well maybe that is why we never got them!
Tank with treads? Do you mean like the Jawa Sandcrawler? Or the imperial tank on Jedha in Rogue One?
@@Y2Kr4SHM4N hasn’t he even seen how many vehicles in Star Wars have treads?
0:40: “From the same company.” It gets a bit complicated there... (I don’t think Hasbro should be considered as a ‘successor’, as of recent years, or ‘continuation’ of Kenner.)
Point taken
They should have done a star wars cartoon that wasn't droids or ewoks
If only!
Even kenner ideas for sequels were better than the ones that Disney gave us.
I still want that blockaid runner
That Imperial Base would’ve been amazing. I wish HasLab would take this on and try to stay true to the original design. Other than that and the Bantha and Grand Moff Tarkin figure, most of this was kinda disappointing. The At-At with the canon is pretty bad. And the Rebel Blockade Runner was just too small. Still, I wish it would’ve went on.
Yeah at least we might have had one.. la sigh
Transformers was in there somewhere and gijoe
Its all a mix of 80's goodness!
Ah, the good ok days! Back before Darth Force is Politically Corrupted got her hands on the property!
Before the dark times
Lucas was a fool not to keep making Star Wars after Jedi
When has Lucas ever done anything that was not 100% liked by the fans?
@@spectorcreative1872 "When two or three are gathered together, there will be a toxic, vitriolic schism" should be the motto of all fandoms, these days.
I've just noticed Luke is firing a blaster bolt at a Tusken on the Lego box.
I guess race hatred of Sand people runs in the family.
Clearly.
Shame the toyline stop with kenner..
Hasbro transformers still going strong and get plenty 3rd party companies waiting to make them
Could have been cool!
*Atha Prime, not Agatha
Mongo not Mogo...And Atha not Agatha..
Oh come on, you know English is only my first langauge
@@spectorcreative1872 Personally I would really enjoyed a figure called Agatha Prime.
@@TerrickTerran Goes around writing murder mysteries while saying "Literature is the right of all sentient beings."
Why use zoomed in, pixelated pictures?
Cheaper and lazier
@@spectorcreative1872 exactly.
"Agatha Prime?" You mean "Atha Prime".
Well yeah, but only if I pronounce it right
Those prototypes were, for the most part, obviously cobbled together from extant toys, and not in a particularly aesthetically pleasing fashion. They looked exactly like what they were in the worst way. I'd have rejected that line too. No way in hell would I let one of the biggest selling toy lines in history become the abominations that they cooked up.
All good things...
Star Wars The Epic Continues
Coming to a galaxy near you from Kenner®️ in 1986…
Figures:
Mongo Beefshead Tribesman $4.99.
Agatha Prime $4.99. The evil Agatha Prime has created an army of destruction through cloning.
Clone Trooper $4.99. The evil loyal troopers of Agatha Prime that have been created from the cloning technology.
Grand Moff Tarkin $4.99. The enforcer of Imperial rule is back to revive the Galactic Empire.
General Han Solo $4.99. The iconic pilot of the Millennium Falcon has a new look to match his status in the New Republic!
Luke Skywalker $4.99. The last of the Jedi is equipped to fight the new evil.
Vehicles:
Sandspeeder $10.00. The airspeeders of Hoth have been refitted and recoloured to match the landscape of Tatooine.
Landspeeder-XP36. $10.00 New modified Landspeeder with turbo powered engines.
Landspeeder-XP38 $15.00. A new advanced type of Landspeeder for extra distances.
T-16 Skyhopper $25.00. Luke’s desert flying craft used to hunt Womp Rats on Tatooine, wings fold up, cockpit opens up and a missile fires.
Republic Utility Tank. $25.00. The New Republic tank with opening canopy and rotating laser turret.
Millennium Falcon Escape Launch Craft $25.00. Fits into the front of the Millennium Falcon when needed to evade combat. Cockpit opens and side guns rotate.
Advanced Republic Utility Tank $30.00 New Republic tank fitted with giant wheels in place of treads. Cockpit opens up and Mini-Rig fits inside. Mini-Rigs sold separately. For use with most Star Wars®️ figures.
AT-IC (All Terrain Imperial Cannon) $35.00 Cannon rotates and can be positioned. AT-IC opens up to fit 6 figures. For use with most Star Wars figures.
Rebel Blockade Runner $50.00. The ship seen evading the Galactic Empire over Tatooine, complete with detachable escape pod and rotating turrets.
Cockpit opens and figures fit inside! For use with most Star Wars®️figures.
Apex Evader $50.00 Agatha Prime’s evil shuttle with entry ramp and rotating turbolasers.
Annihilator $100.00. Agatha Prime’s ultra double-sized Imperial Star Destroyer with advanced firepower. Bridge opens up to fit 5 figures. Detachable Apex Evader die-cast model, rotating turbolaser turrets and landing bay.
Playset:
Imperial Outpost $100.00. The Empire’s evil super base is equipped with endless arrays of missile launchers and cannons. Open up the central tower to put multiple figures inside and press side button to retract AT-IC loading platform.
©️1986 Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. ©️1986 LucasFilm Ltd.
Agatha lol, I do bope you don't say Martha Vader....
I will now! Ha. Yeah, I screwed up
@@spectorcreative1872
🤣🤣🤣🤣
Why was this rejected?
I think Lucasafilm just wasn't interested in keeping Star Wars going after Jedi. Until they were of course.