| Kenner Spec Sheet - Imperial Troop Transporter (early mock-up) | |
| What else can you say but that this baby rocks! I'd guess that this was just an early conceptual mock-up of the design and not totally representative of the final form, but many of the functions are present even at this stage. That's an X-Wing toy engine on top and the rest appears to be made of white styrene with bits of model pieces attached which is known as "kit-bashing". I'm guessing the harsh angles were included here because the styrene is in sheets and could easily be cut and glued into prismatic shapes like this. There is a single button on top instead of one for each of the 6 sounds. Who know if this one had a talking unit in it or not. The Prisoner Immobilization Unit is shown on the head of one Stormtrooper although it's not mentioned in the description. Notice they mention what it's movie role was even though that scene was never filmed. The comic book included with the toy went on to describe that scene for kids. It looks as if they were planning on a Landspeeder-type suspension at this point, but I can only guess that they dropped it because of the cost. This mock-up is painted grey, but those are stickers not paint accents. This thing is ultra-cool and has never been seen until now.
This Kenner product sheet is part of a 3-ring notebook containing early photography and descriptions of roughly 30 Star Wars toys. Each sheet has the same format with typed information about the product and a pasted-on glossy photo. Most photos are representations of the toys but they often differed from their released counterparts which makes it quite unique to look at. These were generally mock-ups of sorts created because the toys weren't ready in time for photography and early marketing. This book came from an ex-Kenner model maker who was dilligently tracked down by a collector. Many thanks go out to that collector for helping turn up a piece of history like this. |
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| Description by: | Chris Georgoulias |
| Photo: | Chris Georgoulias |
| From the collection of: | Chris Georgoulias |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Product Concepts |