A question for the Star Wars book I’m writing: Kenner stock.

Simply Sci-fi said:

Very useful information.

Landspeeders complete with Kenner box and opening hood (there was no sound effect) do turn up over here, which might have been imported outside of Palitoy, if the company had its own mould.

I have just taken a close look at my Kenner Princess Leia Boushh. It has an identical bubble to the first Palitoy variation bubble. http://www.freewebs.com/mrpalitoy/rotj65acardback.htm It seems that it was assembled and carded by Palitoy.

The Kenner versions I have spotted on Google all have bubbles with massive rims which extend way over the logo.
http://www.starwarstoymuseum.com/princess-leia-boushh.htm

Is this a new variation; Kenner figure and card but Palitoy bubble? Could prove to be interesting. When I next visit my collection in storage I'll take a close look at all of the Kenner bubbles.

Craig.

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The Hong Kong factories liker Kader etc took orders from all over the world. Kenner/Palitoy were their clients who they produced toys for.
So the same factory floor knocked out both Palitoy and Kenner, hence the same kind of bubbles being used, matching punch types on the cards etc.
There were a wide variety of different bubbles used by all the various factories producing carded figures, which is why, especially later on
when more factories were involved, you see a larger variety of different bubbles being used for the same figure/card variation (ignoring Toni and his iron on jobs obviously).

cheers Jason

I had a the palitoy box landspeeder as a kid, and was confused by the kenner copyright on the landspeeder.



Jason

mr_palitoy said:

The landspeeder was a kenner mould that was sent to the Coalville factory in the UK, they couldnt change the mould so the Kenner copyright stayed.
If the factory that produced Kenner landspeeders had sent those to the UK, then they would have had sound effects etc.

cheers Jason

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As I don't own a Kenner landspeeder I can't check if it's the same mould as the Palitoy one but one has a bonnet that opens so I'm guessing there are two moulds. Do you know why Kenner produced two different moulds for the speeder or was it just one altered in some way?

Palifan said:

mr_palitoy said:

The landspeeder was a kenner mould that was sent to the Coalville factory in the UK, they couldnt change the mould so the Kenner copyright stayed.
If the factory that produced Kenner landspeeders had sent those to the UK, then they would have had sound effects etc.

cheers Jason

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As I don't own a Kenner landspeeder I can't check if it's the same mould as the Palitoy one but one has a bonnet that opens so I'm guessing there are two moulds. Do you know why Kenner produced two different moulds for the speeder or was it just one altered in some way?

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I think the Palitoy one was modified from the Kenner one so there were less parts to cast and assemble which would make them cheaper to make.

Jason

Makes sense, trust the Brits to look for the cheaper way to do something and as they were just toys it's not like anyone would have any interest in them 36 years later......

We got a poor deal in the U.K with all three Star Wars play sets, with them featuring none of the internal functions that the Kenner ones did. The Palitoy versions were one sheet of moulded plastic with sheet of cardboard underneath. The pivoting device that was meant to make figures move was a joke.

Palitoy probably thought that the complex innards that turned figures and knocked them over was a kind of over-kill. No other competing boys' toy had complex working features except for Airfix's Micronauts and they were like Kenny Baker squaring up to Peter Mayhew.

I had an American Batman comic as a child with this advert inside.
http://onceuponageek.com/2009/11/18/star-wars-toys-from-kenner-1979/

I assumed that the Palitoy versions were the same until I became a more experienced collector. I'm glad I didn't pester my parents to buy one in the 1970's!

Craig.

Very Informative thread guys!
Looking forward to the book Craig! 8)

I grew up in London and as i've said many times before on here, i only remember Kenner stuff. All the MOCs i ever got were Kenner and i had an ATST which was Kenner. If i did get some Palitoy stuff when i was a kid it would have been the non logo Palitoy MOCs. The first time i ever saw a Palitoy logo was 4 years ago when i started collecting.

Dark Sith Lord said:

Very Informative thread guys!
Looking forward to the book Craig! 8)

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After I posted I was wondering why the 'Palitoy brigade' where being quiet, then I came back and Bingo!!!

As expected reams and reams and reams of Palitoy info. These guys are on the ball :wink:

PGowdy: Great memories. Roughly 50% of my childhood Star Wars collection was Kenner branded but I did not realise (as it has become clear now) that Palitoy had been sent the Kenner packaging in place of its own.

The Scout Walker and Rebel Transport were released by Palitoy with its own branded ROTJ boxes in 1983 before the film came out. As soon as the film hit, it seems that Palitoy released all of the new Jedi vehicles/play sets including the AT-ST in Kenner packaging.

Some figures were also released with Kenner card backs, suggesting that Palitoy was sent these ready for assembly along-side the cards designed for the U.K market.

I still suspect that Palitoy was sealing its own unique bubbles on the Kenner cards it received, with my Boushh being an example. Does anyone have carded Kenner figures that were bought in U.K shops but have Palitoy exclusive bubbles? I'll check out my own collection the next time I visit it.

Craig.

Great info Jason, never heard of that factory in HK but it makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is why Palitoy would start printing cards and sealing bubbles onto loose figures from 1982 (date of 45b backs?) That would cost money for the sealing machines (possibly they has machines for the Action Force line?) especially as General Mills shut the factory in 1985.

I always thought that the Made in Hong Kong on the Palitoy cards referred to the figures inside the bubbles - the trilogos all have Made in Hong Kong even though they put together in Europe. What've noticed from using Kenner cards to help reseal some of my Palitoy cards and there are subtle differences between the two (e.g. colour tone, bubble position) - okay some of the Kenner cards could've come from different factories, but I dunno!)

Pete: I can't believe that you hadn't seen a Palitoy logo until four years ago! Lots of dodgy toy shops importing Kenner stuff in London methinks! I first saw the Kenner logo in 1983 with the ROTJ line and was miffed at where Palitoy had gone!

We have all seen the footage of Palitoy sealing their own bubbles. It would not make much sense in employing a company to seal figures on to cards when the equipment is to hand at Palitoy. Someone could be paid next to nothing to feed the machine. Shipping would be a hell of a lot cheaper if Palitoy was just sent the figures, pieces and backing cards.

The Kenner carded figures were probably all sealed by Palitoy except for a few that were imported from the U.S.A by market stalls, etc.

I managed to photograph my Princess Leia Boushh. I have not come across a Kenner bubble like that one. The Kenner ones seem to all have very wide bubble rims. I seem to remember a sticker saying that the vehicles were not available in the U.K but my memory is a bit foggy.

What does everyone think?

Craig.

theslider said:

Great info Jason, never heard of that factory in HK but it makes sense. But what doesn't make sense is why Palitoy would start printing cards and sealing bubbles onto loose figures from 1982 (date of 45b backs?) That would cost money for the sealing machines (possibly they has machines for the Action Force line?) especially as General Mills shut the factory in 1985.

I always thought that the Made in Hong Kong on the Palitoy cards referred to the figures inside the bubbles - the trilogos all have Made in Hong Kong even though they put together in Europe. What've noticed from using Kenner cards to help reseal some of my Palitoy cards and there are subtle differences between the two (e.g. colour tone, bubble position) - okay some of the Kenner cards could've come from different factories, but I dunno!)

Pete: I can't believe that you hadn't seen a Palitoy logo until four years ago! Lots of dodgy toy shops importing Kenner stuff in London methinks! I first saw the Kenner logo in 1983 with the ROTJ line and was miffed at where Palitoy had gone!

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Maybe they werent geared up to produce the acttion figures in the early days, or it became more economical to produce them later on? We have video of the sealing machines at Coalville so know it happened. When they started with palitoy 45b they also did german general mills esb 45 back (same card front) and also clipper esb 45 back.

That fact that the unused cardbacks that Toni got only start with 45b backs this up, or we'd have seen dodgy 45a/41a/b/c, 30b/30a/20/12a/b etc, and we havent.

cheers Jason

Maybe they werent geared up to produce the acttion figures in the early days, or it became more economical to produce them later on? We have video of the sealing machines at Coalville so know it happened. When they started with palitoy 45b they also did german general mills esb 45 back (same card front) and also clipper esb 45 back.

That fact that the unused cardbacks that Toni got only start with 45b backs this up, or we'd have seen dodgy 45a/41a/b/c, 30b/30a/20/12a/b etc, and we havent.

cheers Jason[/quote]

Possibly - I think the Action Force line only started in 1982 I think (My knowledge of Action Force is sketchy, was it a unique Palitoy line or was it a GI Joe (Kenner) line therefore they could've been packaged in HK.

As you said we have video evidence of cards being sealed at the Coalville factory in 1982

RE: TT I would've thought that the dodgy cards only exist as they were left over stock when then GM shut down the Palitoy factory in 1985 (i.e they'd got rid of 12/20/30/41 back cards by then), though it does make some kind of sense as the only dodgy TT carded figures are logo less (which perversely wouldn't make any sense as that means Palitoy would've had their logo'd card printed overseas and yet they'd print their own cards without logos! - although there must've been some big sea change within GM and the licensees around 1982 hence logos disappearing from cards.)

If some ex-Palitoy employee could confirm this (re sealing of figures on cards) would be very helpful.