The_Kenner_Cameo_Chronology

Here at the Kenner Cameo Chronology, it is our goal to provide a guide for every time a Kenner (and Hasbro) concept or design has been showcased, outside of the action figure line, in Star Wars collectibles, publishing, animation and so on. The reason for this guide is simple, over the last almost four decades Star Wars action figures have become a popular nostalgic touchstone for many designers, sculptors, artists and directors and here is where we want to pay tribute to their work. Now this timeline is a constant work-in-progress and therefore if you know of a Kenner (or Hasbro) cameo not presented here and would like to see it featured, simply let us know on either our social feeds or by sending an email to 4LOMKUSS@gmail.com.

Before we begin, we would like to acknowledge Tim Veekhoven and his “Offscreen, but Not Forgotten: Mini-Rings, Body-Rigs and other Kenner Vehicles” as inspiration for this guide. His amazing work at StarWars.com is a major highlight of the official site and if you are an action figure fan and haven’t read all of his articles you are missing out!

And finally, for those who are looking for a list of actual Star Wars action figures appearances in film and television then you’ll want to check out our Star Wars action figure filmography, “Lights! Camera! Action (Figure)!”

From4-LOMtoZuckuss.com Presents

The Kenner Cameo Chronology

– 1979 –

Imperial Troop Transport

Image courtesy of Miketarkin.com

Image courtesy of Miketarkin.com

Marvel Comic’s Star Wars #31 featured the story “Return to Tatooine” where the Imperial Troop Transport was used by the Empire on the desert planet.  This is the first, of what will be many appearances, of the ITT outside of the figure line.

– 1982 –

Millennium Falcon

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This cameo occurred on the cover of the 1982 Atari 2600 game “Star Voyager” by Imagic. The cover art is clearly based on Kenner’s version of the Millenium Falcon and thanks to a recent gaming expo, the actual model which was referenced in the art has surfaced.

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– 1983 –

Millennium Falcon

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On June 12th, L. Neil Smith’s novel Lando Calrissian and the Mind Harp of Sharu saw release and featured a cover by artist William Schmidt. The cover clearly features a Kenner Millennium Falcon design as obvious by the enlarged cockpit and stumpier design.

– 1985 –

Ewok Battle Wagon

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On November 9th, the episode of Star Wars: Ewoks animated series entitled “Wicket’s Wagon” featured the Power of the Force line’s Ewok Battle Wagon. In the cartoon Wicket looses his newly created battle wagon to his rivals the Duloks.

– 1996 –

Millennium Falcon, X-Wing Fighter, Slave 1 (Boba Fett’s Ship)

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In 1996, Topps produced trading cards for Shadows of the Empire and this 90-card set was entirely painted by The Brothers Hildebrandt. One can tell by the detail and portions of these ships that the Hildebrandts for many of their cards used the vintage action figure toys as reference. For more on these, “In 1996 Kenner Ships Ruled the Card Art Modeling World

– 2006 –

Imperial Troop Transport

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In the Dark Horse Comics one-shot, Boba Fett: Overkill, a trio of ITTs were depicted being deployed on the Imperial world of Troska.

– 2009 –

Imperial Troop Transport

ITT

In the fourth series of Topps’ popular Star Wars Galaxy trading card line, the ITT made an appearance that was an exact depiction of the Kenner toy down to its orange “Sound Control” buttons.

– 2011 –

Millennium Falcon Cargo Handler & Mini-Fighter

The Millennium Falcon Owner’s Workshop Manual (Haynes) by Ryder Windham, Chris Reiff and Chris Trevas gives you a detailed in-universe look at a couple of vehicles associated with the famous Modified YT-1300 Corellian Freighter.

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 This Kenner Cameo may not appear to be too familiar at first glance as it is based on a concept Kenner originally had for their follow-up line to their 1985 Power of the Force line. In the Haynes Manual this vehicle is renamed the F-LER (Freight-Loading External Rover) and finally given a proper place in Star Wars canon.

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In addition to the Cargo Handler’s inclusion they also looked at the massive Millennium Falcon vehicle/playset that was released in 2008’s The Legacy Collection. This BMF (Big Millennium Falcon) included a Mini-Fighter which shot from the side of the two and half foot ship. Haynes rechristened this Mini-Fighter as the YT-XC and described that it, “became popular with pirates and smugglers, who did not hesitate to add blaster cannons and concussion missile launchers that transformed the craft into a miniature starfighter.” For more on these “Kenner Cameos Present: The F-LER & The YT-XC

 – 2013 –

Walrus Man

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On January 5th, the episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars titled “Missing in Action” debuted. The episode appeared in the fifth season and was part of a four episode story arc featuring D-Squad (a team of astromech droids featuring R2). As D-Squad enters a town on the void like planet of Abafar, they pass a nameless Aqualish dressed in the familiar Kenner blue and orange.

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 – 2013 –

“Blue” Snaggletooth

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On September 29th, the episode “Revival” began Star Wars: The Clone Wars’ fifth season. In the episode which centers around the Nightbrothers Maul and Savage, Obi-Wan begins his search the Sith by chatting up a Snivvian Space station Superintendent by the name Morlimur Snugg. Snugg wears what now can be classified as a pilot uniform but long time collectors will recognize his outfit as belonging to the Sear’s exclusive Cantina Adventure Set Snaggletooth.

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– 2014 –

Stormtrooper Blaster

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Hasbro’s toy line Star Wars Command depicts the Kenner Stormtrooper blaster on its Imperial Officer figurines. For more on this see “New Hasbro Toys use Vintage Kenner Designs!

– 2014 –

Hammerhead

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On the final page of issue #4 of Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars: Rebel Heist comic book features a clear nod to Kenner’s Hammerhead in his blue grandma swimsuit. For more on this, “The Spinner Rack is Back

– 2014 – 

X-Wing Fighter

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On the cover of issue #18 of Brian Wood’s Star Wars title appears an X-Wing which by all accounts should be very familiar to both vintage and modern Star Wars action figure collectors. Pictured to the right of Chewbacca’s head is none other than a Kenner action figure version of the X-Wing Fighter.

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It’s Kenner origins are obvious due to its shorter fuselage, depressed R2-D2 dome (which causes the S-Foils to open) and shorter laser cannons. This mold was originally produced in 1978 and has seen multiple repaints and remolds in both the Kenner and Hasbro lines over the years.  The particular paint scheme on this version hails from 1995’s The Power of the Force 2 Electronic X-Wing Fighter. For more on this “Kenner X-Wings in Star Wars #18

– 2014 –

TIE Fighter

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The TIE Fighter featured on the animated series Star Wars Rebels includes a smaller wing design and larger cockpit which mirror the dimensions of the vintage version of the Imperial spacecraft.

– 2014 –

Stormtrooper Blaster

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This design for the Star Wars Rebels series includes elements lifted from Kenner’s original Stormtrooper figure blaster in the addition of the cooling fins which were not found on the screen used E-11 blasters.

 – 2014 –

Imperial Troop Transport

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Debuting in the fourth episode of the Star Wars Rebels animated series, the Imperial Troop Transport or ITT became part of Disney’s official and rebooted canon.  The vehicle which was a Kenner original design in 1979, reappeared 35 years later with some slight modifications.

– 2014 –

Hammerhead

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During the first season of Star Wars Rebels, sharp-eyed viewers discovered that Kenner’s Hammerhead could be found in the background of numerous episodes including the “Empire Day” and “Fighter Flight”.

 – 2015 –

Luke Skywalker

Action Figure Variant

On January 14th, Marvel reentered the Star Wars comic world with its record setting Star Wars #1. The first issue featured over 100 variants and one of the most popular was the amazing cover by artist John Tyler Christopher is a great tribute to Kenner’s vintage packaging.  The image of the figure itself has more of a modern sensibility yet still retains the vintage 5 points of articulation. For more on this, “Marvel & Hasbro – Could There be More to Come?

Marvel has continued to release an Action Figure Cover Variant every month. For a complete database of every cover released to date see our Marvel’s Action Figure Cover Checklist.

 – 2015 –

Imperial Troop Transport

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The new era of Star Wars published by Marvel Comics came full circle as they have continued what they started in 1979 by placing the ITT in their comic books. In Star Wars issue #3, Imperial Troop Transports can be found as part of a battalion that attempts to take on Han and Leia who are piloting a captured AT-AT.

 – 2016 –

Yoda

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In mid-January, Starwars.com released a trailer for the second half of Rebels Season 2 which featured a glimpse of Yoda’s appearance in the episode. This was followed by an interview with Dave Filoni where he admitted to basing the Jedi Master’s animated design on Kenner’s figure.

 – 2016 –

MLC-3

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This Kenner vehicle was featured in the comic story found within the Star Wars Rebels Magazine published by Egmont UK Ltd.  In issue 17, Kanan and Ezra attack a couple of AT-ATs while piloting the mini-rigs. Credit and thanks to Adam Giles AKA The Scavenger UK for the heads-up and images.

– 2016 –

Power Droid

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Random House Kids began releasing a new series of Star Wars Little Golden Books. The book entitled “Star Wars: I Am A Droid” written by Christopher Nicholas and illustrated by Chris Kennett featured a vintage Kenner Power Droid.

– 2017 –

MLC-3 & MTV-7

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Both the Mobile Laser Canon 3 and the Multi-Terrain Vehicle 7 can be found in the mobile app Star Wars: Force Arena.  Each of these Kenner mini-rigs are options for players to use as light tanks in the combat game.

– 2017 –

Millennium Falcon

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Marvel’s Han Solo #1 features a variant cover which clearly took its design from Kenner’s vintage vehicle/playset. Credit and thanks to Jad Bean of JadBean.com for discovery.

– 2017 –

Sand People

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In a cost-saving move for the episode “Twin Suns” of Star Wars Rebels, the creators chose not to give Tusken Raiders their classic robes and instead paid homage to the Kenner action figure design featuring even the quasi-open handed grip!

-2017 –

Dewback

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Courtsey of the Sandcrawler Podcast

In the Season 3 episode of Star Wars Rebels “Twin Suns”, Kenner’s “smiling” Dewback made an appearance on Tatooine as the Obi-Wan’s transport to the Lars Homestead.

– 2018 –

Loads of Vintage Figures

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Spencer’s offered this officially licensed backpack which features vintage Kenner action figures from 1977 to 1985. Figures from all four main vintage lines are represented.

– 2018 –

Snaggletooth

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A new Halloween-themed book titled Are You Scared Darth Vader? by Adam Rex includes a custom head shot of the author depicted as a Kenner Red Snags.

– 2019 –

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This cover features Vader’s Imperial Shield which was first seen included with 2005’s Force Battler Darth Vader figure.

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– 2020 –

In Season 7 of The Clone Wars, four classic Kenner cantina aliens can be found in the background throughout Ahsoka’s Level 1313 arc, episodes 5-8.

– 2020 –

On November 25th, Star Wars: Squadrons released new “paint job” skins that are “inspired by the classic Kenner Products toys.”

And Many More to Come!