Bantha Concept Art: Can you imagine what the commercials would have been like? "Bantha!....Bantha, Bantha, Bantha!!"

Of course, Kenner never did make a Bantha toy for their original Star Wars line, a tragedy which they later made up for with their fine POTF2 effort. This Bantha concept art, part of a Kenner presentation of post-Power of the Force toy ideas, depicts the Tusken Raider mount just as we always envisioned it, and proves conclusively that the toy made it to at least the early conceptual stages.

It is interesting to note that this drawing dates from around 1985, some 8 years after the last Bantha appeared in a Star Wars film. Apparently, Kenner's ideas for a line extension were not focused solely on non-movie concepts, such as Atha Prime and his Clone Warriors, but took in favorite characters and creatures that had not previously been released by Kenner. This Bantha illustrates the latter, as does the presence in the presentation material of Grand Moff Tarkin.

Much of the information regarding the Bantha concept, as well as the existence of other unproduced conceptual material, was first brought to light by collecting guru, Steve Sansweet, who covered these concepts and prototypes in issue #2 of Star Wars Galaxy Magazine.