Takara
Original Japanese toy licensee, Takara, is really one of the key Star Wars licensees of all time. Whereas most Star Wars toy producers simply released re-hashes of American Kenner product, Takara put a lot of effort into designing unique, highly-innovative toys. And their Star Wars line was huge, encompassing everything from electronic toys, to role-play items, to action figures in 4 different scales. Some of the company's more innovative items included a small R2-D2 that "walked" when wound up, a lightsaber with a nifty color-change feature and a super-detailed R2-D2 toy that could be made to spit disks via remote control. Takara only produced toys tied to the original Star Wars, however. By the time of The Empire Strikes Back, the license had passed to Bandai's sub-division, Popy.

See Also:
Takara 8" Carded Chewbacca Figure
Takara 12-Back Darth Vader with Variation Head
Takara Light Saber with Color-Change Disks
Takara Die-Cast Darth Vader
Display Bin for Takara Wind-Up R2-D2

Description: Ron Salvatore