| Power Sparks X-Wing Prototypes | |
| Aside from the never-produced line of preschool vehicles and figures which was prototyped during the early Star Wars years, "Power Sparks" stands alone as Kenner's only self-contained Star Wars line to have come so far along in terms of development, and yet never reached production.
As is evident from the included images, Power Sparks vehicles were created both in hardcopy and first shot form. The urethane hardcopy pieces are fully hand-created and assembled, and, as you can see in the close up above, quite intricate in their detail. In the cases of both figures and vehicles, the hardcopy pieces were fully decorated with paint and stickers, most likely for use in preliminary photography. The first shots, on the other hand, although they are unpainted, resemble production toys in that they are injection molded.
Power Sparks was a concept based on artificially "charged" toy power tools, which could be used to assemble and superficially power-up small-scale vehicles. Kenner actually released Power Sparks toys, most notably in conjunction with their Batman line, sometime in 1994 or 1995; yet, in the case of the Star Wars line, which was to include both an X-wing and AT-ST, none of the devloped product ever reached store shelves.
The success of the POTF2 line of 4" action figures may have actually contributed to the demise of Star Wars Power Sparks. The Star Wars figures developed for use with the Power Sparks vehicles--Luke as X-wing pilot, R2-D2, AT-ST driver, and an Ewok--were in a very small scale and completely incompatible with the larger POTF2 figures. Apparently, the Batman toys that were marketed under the Power Sparks banner were comparable to Kenner's larger-format Batman line, which might help explain why Batman Power Sparks toys were produced, while those for Star Wars were nixed soon after the first shot stage. Still, the Star Wars figures were quite well done, and, in terms of detail and body proportions, were much more realistic than their early POTF2 counterparts. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Nick Stathis |
| From the collection of: | Joseph Yglesias |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | Power of the Force |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1985 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Miscellaneous Toys |
