| Luke Skywalker Unproduced Ceremonial Outfit | |
| The piece you see here was part of an important find of prototypes relating to Kenner's 12" action figure line. As you've probably already figured out, the figure is a standard 12" Princess Leia, first released in 1978. But the outfit is something else entirely. Obviously, it's meant to represent the spiffy outfit Luke is seen wearing at the end of the first Star Wars film, when he and Han get their medals.
All of the pieces shown on this page are parts of either a "Photo Sample," made for photography purposes, or a "Quote Sample," made to send to Kenner's vendors for cost estimates and production guidance. The outfit you see on the doll above is the photo sample.
An image of this photo sample--adorning a production Luke doll--by Tomart. Until recently, that photo was the only piece of evidence proving that the outfit had indeed been created. Fortunately, these pieces Todd has came with a glossy print of the original file photo, the same one published by Tomart. It can be seen above. The outfit Todd has may or may not be the one shown in the photograph; indications are that it probably is the same. As the outfit was found, it was loose, without a doll to display it on. It was also missing its original accessories, which included a holster and black boots. The holster is the same that was packaged with the production Han doll, so finding one wasn't a problem. As for the boots, they came packaged with Kenner's International Velvet, which was produced around the same time as was this prototype. We were told by the designer of these outfits that these were the boots used on the prototype outfits, and indeed, the Luke Ceremonial in the above Kenner photo appears to possess the International Velvet footwear. So Todd found a pair to go with his figure. Interestingly, the International Velvet boots seem to have served as the basis for those packaged with the standard Han Solo 12" figure. Although the Velvet boots are shorter in the toe than the Han versions, the stirrup-like detail around the heels and ankles is exactly the same.
The story behind this outfit and its counterparts (which also can be found on the Archive) is fascinating. Apparently, Kenner was planning on releasing mid-priced outfit/accessory packs for their line of Star Wars 12" dolls, much as they had for their extremely popular Six Million Dollar Man and Bionic Woman lines. To present this concept to Lucasfilm for approval, several conceptual outfits were created. They can be seen in the photo above. Disco was popular at the time, and the oufits reflected its glittery aesthetic. Lucasfilm, however, had different ideas of what these outfits should look like. They asked that the colors be toned down and the metallic fabrics be eliminated. Also, that goofy "disco ghost" outfit on the far right was nixed entirely. But the rest went through some modifications and were eventually ok'd for release. You can see the conceptual counterpart to this Luke figure towards the left of the photo. Obviously, its jacket was modified considerably, its fabric changing from a gaudy gold color to a much more neutral tan tone.
Still, Kenner wasn't too happy with the sales of their 12" Star Wars figures and the planned outfit packs were cancelled before going into production. But before they were cancelled, plenty of work went into producing "Quote Samples" for the purpose of determing production costs. , as well as patterns, so that overseas manufacturers could reproduce the prototypes exactly. These samples include a fully-finished prototype of the outfit; patterns, so that Kenner's vendor could reproduce the prototype exactly; and several specification sheets. Above you see the patterns for this outfit, complete with hand written identifications.
The above five pieces of paper are the spec. sheets included with the quote sample. The information included here would have allowed the manufacturer of these oufits to know exactly what types of fabrics to use. They include samples of the materials used for the outfit, as well as reference to an identical fabric used to make an earlier Kenner product.
Here's the prototype that was included with the quote sample. It's basically the same as the jumpsuit on the above photo sample. It's tagged for the purpose of identification.
Finally (if you're still reading), here's the envelope the sample material came in. It has the name of the oufit written across the front of it. And the fact that it's a Kenner envelope makes it all the nicer. Any way you cut it, these outfits are a major find of unproduced Star Wars toys. It's especially nice to know that they were approved for production by both LFL and Kenner, and cancelled only after their development was almost entirely finished. This outfit certainly must rank among the most special things in Todd's collection, and thanks have to go to an anonymous collector and Gus Lopez for tracking it down. To see the design of the blister card that would have been used to package this outfit, click here. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Todd Chamberlain |
| From the collection of: | Todd Chamberlain |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1980 |
| Category: | Toys / Action Figure Related / Large Size Action Figures |
