| Concept Artwork for Unproduced Star Tots Figures | |
| Kenner's attempt at a pre-school line of Star Wars products, the Star Tots toys are among the most interesting of all the planned-but-never-released Kenner toys. The concept behind the toys seems to be derived from Kenner's very successful Tree Tots line, which featured stumpy, non-articulated figures very similar to the prototypes you see here. And, of course, Kenner later resurrected the Star Wars pre-school concept for their Ewok Family line of the Return of the Jedi era. (Click here to see images of toys from both the Tree Tots and Ewok Family lines.)
The two pieces of art you see here represent the figures planned for the line, some of which are visible in prototype form here. But whereas these pieces of artwork represent figures of Han Solo, Chewbacca, Ben Kenobi, Darth Vader, a Stormtrooper and a Jawa, I have yet to see three-dimensional prototypes of these pieces. To my knowledge the only figures known to exist are C-3PO, R2-D2, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. In fact, if you take a close look at the R2-D2 figure depicted in these images, you'll see that it's quite similar to the prototype seen here.
The notion that this aborted line was planned to be entitled Star Tots is supported by the existence of a prototype display, which likely was used to pitch the line, either internally at Kenner or to retailers. Conceptual art of two Star Tots vehicles can be viewed here. Unfortunately, none of the items seen in these photos are known to currently be in existence. These images come from a batch of slides unearthed by Chris Fawcett, web master of 12back.com. |
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| Description by: | Ron Salvatore |
| Photo: | Gus Lopez, Chris Fawcett |
| From the collection of: | Anonymous |
| Country: | United States |
| Film: | A New Hope |
| Licensee: | Kenner |
| Year: | 1977 |
| Category: | Prototypes / Product Concepts |
