The Kenner company had already established a foothold in the toy market by the mid-1970s, thanks to the success of Play-Doh and the Easy-Bake Oven. But they truly took over the market once they gained the rights to produce the now-legendary line of Star Wars action figures.

The license for the figures was initially offered to the Mego Corporation in 1976; Mego was the leader in regards to action figures during this period of time, but they refused the offer, and so the license was picked up by Kenner. Kenner ended up being wildly unprepared for the response to the film and the following high demand for the figures and were unable to build stock in time for that holiday season. Instead they created an “Early Bird Certificate Package” which could be mailed to Kenner and redeemed for four figures.

By the time the line was offered for direct sale, there were 12 figures in total in the set. The line was later supplemented by vehicle and various other themed playsets. By the end of 1978, Kenner had sold more than 40 million units for a total revenue gross of $100 million. Sales continued at this pace for several years, thanks to the releases of The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, though demand diminished after the final film and Kenner discontinued production of the figures by 1985.

New interest kicked in by the mid-1990s, however, thanks to the rerelease of the films and the Star Wars Special Edition. In 1995, a new line of figures were released under the brand “Power of the Force,” though were easily distinguishable from older sets. These ran under the Kenner brand until 1999, but were rebranded as Hasbro at that point (Hasbro had bought out Kenner in 1991).

Though Kenner was closed by Hasbro in 2000, the figures continue to be highly collectible by fans and are still referenced in contemporary media. In 2014, a documentary was made about the history of Star Wars action figures, called Plastic Galaxy: The History of Star Wars Toys.