JediDefender.com Forums
Collectibles => Vintage Kenner => Topic started by: Nicklab on December 24, 2017, 12:30 AM
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Have Netflix? Then you really need to check out their new series about toys, called The Toys That Made Us. The first episode in the series covers a topic near and dear to us all: STAR WARS!
The inaugural episode in the series chronicles how the toy license for Star Wars was initially shopped, and how a relatively small company like Kenner was able to negotiate the rights to produce Star Wars toys. It features interviews with many former Kenner execs, some Kenner employees that went on to work for Hasbro, as well as some high profile collectors like Steve Sansweet and Gus Lopez. It's some pretty good stuff to take in. Especially how Kenner let extremely favorable rights to the license lapse in 1986, leading to a renegotiation that changed everything! Check it out.
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Check out trailers at Netflix Original: The Toys That Made Us (https://www.netflix.com/title/80161497).
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Saw the SW episode yesterday and it was a lot of fun.
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The GI Joe episode is really solid, too.
Corman
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I'm surprised on how cheaply Kenner got the Star Wars license. I remember how stupid Hasbro was for not renewing it just prior to Episode 1. It kind of explains the amount of crap we got that year.
The Barbie episode was pretty good too. I didn't know she was based on a German hooker doll. Who the heck gives his girl friend a hooker doll?
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I'm surprised on how cheaply Kenner got the Star Wars license. I remember how stupid Hasbro was for not renewing it just prior to Episode 1. It kind of explains the amount of crap we got that year.
Same here. After seeing all of the companies that rejected the Star Wars license it starts to make sense. But I can only imagine how many people got fired at companies like Mattel and Ideal after it became known that they had passed on Star Wars!
The license renewal / royalty payouts situation is another thing entirely. It seems either like an exercise in colossal stupidity on the part of someone at Kenner for not continuing to send Lucasfilm checks for $10K a year, or one of the most shrewd business moves by George Lucas in telling Kenner that he wanted to "rest the franchise". Because he wound up making a lot more money from the licensing agreement post 1995 than he did in the 1978 - 1986 era.
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I beleive it was Hasbro that dropped tha ball on royalties. I like how they pointed out that the prequels were announced right after that contract ended.
I also thought it was cool that every Millenium Falcon has been designed by one guy.
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It didn't really cover why Kenner started to make Star Wars figures again in 1995. They made it out like Hasbro restarted the line in 1999 for Episode 1.