Kenner’s Star Wars toyline featured in season premiere of The Toys That Built America

October 26, 2022

- Advertisement -

The new season of The Toys That Built America started on 23rd October on the History channel in the US. The first episode titled ‘Masters of the Universe’, yet it is as much, if not more, about Star Wars than Mattel’s Masters of the Universe. With the first half of the episode being almost solely dedicated to the Kenner Star Wars toy line.

Through a series of dramatizations and interviews the episode tells the story of the vintage Star Wars toy line, how Mattel President Ray Wagner passes on the licence, only for his former colleague-turned-rival, Bernie Loomis to snap it up for Kenner.

The second half of the episode focuses on Mattel’s reaction to the success of the Star Wars toyline, first with Battlestar Galactica and subsequently with Masters of the Universe. Along with touching on Kenner’s continued success with toys from The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi.

Tags
The Toys That Built America

SourceHistory Channel

Matt Bell

Matt’s fandom continued to grow even more with the Star Wars resurgence of the 90’s. Reading the Expanded Universe and West End Games supplements, playing the LucasArts computer games and being active in fan groups and forums since the early days of the Internet. Matt began to write his own Star Wars reference books and character guides. Today his collecting focus is on Star Wars literature and items from the 90’s.

- Advertisement -

Counting Down To:

April 2026

mon06apr12:01 AM1:01 AMStar Wars: Maul - Shadow LordEvent starts in

May 2026

fri22may12:01 AM11:59 PMThe Mandalorian & GroguEvent ends in

Event Details

The Mandalorian and Grogu, announced as The Mandalorian & Grogu, is a Star Wars movie that started production in 2024. Directed by Jon Favreau and produced by Favreau, Kathleen Kennedy, and Dave Filoni, it takes place between the events of Episode VI: Return of the Jedi and Episode VII: The Force Awakens, focuses on the adventures of Din Djarin and Din Grogu, and will be a spinoff to the TV series Star Wars: The Mandalorian. The film was announced on January 9 that year on StarWars.com with a conceptual sketch by veteran illustrator Ryan Church, along with an announcement of a second season of the television series Star Wars: Ahsoka. A fourth season of The Mandalorian is also still in development.

On May 7, 2019, Disney revealed their future movie release schedule, including a set of three untitled new Star Wars films, one of which had a scheduled release date of December 20, 2024. The Star Wars Show also reported on the news on May 15. On July 23, 2020, after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was delayed to December 19, 2025. After the start of the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike, Disney shifted their theatrical film release slate, with the film being pushed to its current release date of May 22, 2026. A film directed by Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy occupied this release slot until The Mandalorian & Grogu was announced.

Star Wars Insider 224 revealed the initial film logo was the same as the one for The Mandalorian Season Three. In August 2024, during D23 2024, it was revealed that the film had entered production, and a new logo was revealed, in addition to a teaser that was shown to the audience. In August 2024, Sigourney Weaver revealed that she had joined the cast of The Mandalorian & Grogu.

Alongside the release of the movie, Millennium Falcon: Smuggler’s Run will be updated to include a new mission featuring Djarin, Grogu, Tatooine, Endor and Cloud City, which takes place off camera from the film.