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Kenner was an American toy manufacturer and was particularly for his Star Wars - action figures known.

history

The company was founded in Cincinnati , Ohio in 1947 by brothers Albert, Phillip, and Joseph Steiner. The company name is derived from the local Kenner Street , where the original office building was. In 1958, Kenner was the first company to advertise toys on television .

In 1967 the company was taken over by General Mills and in 1985 it was merged with Parker Brothers , which also belongs to General Mills . After Kenner Parker Toys Inc. was sold to Tonka in 1987 , Kenner became the property of Hasbro in 1991 when Hasbro acquired Tonka. Until 2000, Kenner was continued as a separate brand in the Hasbro Group. The company also produced Star Wars video games in the 1980s.

Success with action figures

Kenner became famous for the production of the first generation of Star Wars characters from 1977–85. Later, 1986–1991, The Real Ghostbusters figures were also made.

Today the Star Wars figures are popular collectibles that can sometimes be worth hundreds of euros. The most expensive figures known today are the original boxed Anakin Skywalker, Jawa "Vinyl Cape", and the Vlix, only released in Brazil. There are also countless foreign packaging variants: Pali Toy from England, Glasslite from Brazil, Clipper from Holland, Takara from Japan, Parker from Germany, Harbert from Italy, Top Toys from Argentina, as well as Lili Ledy from Mexico and Meccano from France, which are just as extreme can achieve high prices. Increasingly, however, prices depend on the condition of the original packaging and prices for a figure in perfectly preserved packaging can be many times higher than the price for the same specimen with slight defects. The Action Figure Authority (AFA) sometimes rated such figures with 95 out of 100 points, which indicates a high collection value.

In addition, Kenner has brought out other action figure series. The figures for Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves were distributed to match the film of the same name with Kevin Costner and were partly made from the old molds of the Star Wars figures. It was noteworthy that although the Robin Hood action figures were made to be played with, some of them were equipped with clothing made of real fabric. Other extensive series in addition to the Star Wars products were MASK , Aliens , Strawberry Shortcake , Predator , Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park . The action figures from the cartoon series Batman , Batman Forever , and Batman & Robin were mostly characterized by the fact that they were very detailed. Figures and vehicles from the MASK series for the animated series of the same name were also published. Many of the vehicles were able to transform. Kenner worked with Parker Brothers on this project .

Position within Hasbro

Hasbro has been producing the new editions of the famous Star Wars characters since 1995, but only until 2000 under the Kenner name. Hasbro launched the so-called Original Trilogy / The Saga Vintage Collection in 2004/2006 and 2007. These figures are new forms, i. H. remodeled but packaged on cards that match the originals from the 70s and 80s. As a special figure there is a George Lucas in a Stormtrooper outfit, which you only got if you bought all the vintage figures from 2006 (Greedo, Sand People, Luke X-Wing Pilot, Han Solo in Trench Coat and Biker Scout). To date there are hundreds of figures and spaceships in thousands of different packaging variations.

literature

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