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Kenner Products

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"Kenner" redirects here. For other uses, seeKenner (disambiguation).
Kenner Products
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryToys
Founded1946;78 years ago(1946)
FoundersAlbert Steiner
Phillip Steiner
Joseph L. Steiner
Defunct2000;24 years ago(2000)
FateClosed, properties and brand name sold. Product lines merged intoHasbro
SuccessorHasbro
Headquarters
Cincinnati, Ohio
ProductsAction figures,Die-cast modelvehicles
Parent
  • Independent (1946–1967)
  • General Mills(1967–1985)
  • Kenner Parker Toys, Inc. (1985–1987)
  • Tonka(1987–1991)
  • Hasbro(1991–2000)

Kenner Products,known simply asKenner,was an Americantoycompany founded in 1946. Throughout its history, the Kenner brand produced several highly recognizable toys and merchandise lines includingaction figureslike the original series ofStar Wars,Jurassic ParkandBatmanas well asdie cast models.The company was closed and merged by its corporate parentHasbroin 2000.

History

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Kenner was founded in 1946 inCincinnati,Ohio, by brothers Albert, Phillip and Joseph L. Steiner. The company was named after the street where the original corporate offices were located, just north ofCincinnati Union Terminal.[1]It was a pioneer in the use oftelevision advertisementfor the marketing of merchandise across the United States, beginning in 1958.[2]

In the early 1960s, Kenner introduced its corporate mascot, The Kenner Gooney Bird, which would be used in both its company logo ("It's Kenner! It's fun!") and TV ads, in both animated form and puppetry. One commercial was produced byMuppetscreatorJim Hensonand featured a puppet that would later become theSesame StreetcharacterLittle Bird.The Bird was phased out by 1974.

The company was purchased byGeneral Millsin 1967. In 1971, General Mills merged itsRainbow Craftsdivision into Kenner, bringingPlay-Dohinto the Kenner product line. In 1985, General Mills would spin-off both its Kenner andParker Brotherstoy divisions to form Kenner Parker Toys, Inc.[3]The following year Kenner Parker sold off itsLionel Trainsdivision.[4]

Kenner Parker was acquired byTonkain 1987.[5]Under Tonka management, Kenner Products was reconstituted as a division.[6]Tonka (including Kenner) was purchased by the toy company Hasbro in mid-1991. Hasbro closed the Cincinnati offices of Kenner in 2000, and Kenner's product lines were merged into Hasbro's.[7]

Products and product lines

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One of Kenner's original products was the "Bubble-Matic," a toy gun that blew bubbles.[8]An "updated" version was available at least as late as the mid-1960s. Kenner introduced its popularGirder and Panel building setsconstruction toy in 1957, the Give-a-Show projector in 1959, theEasy-Bake Ovenin 1963, the Electric Mold Master also in 1963, theSpirographdrawing toy in 1966, and theStarting Lineupsports action figure collectible line in 1988.

Kenner Products obtained the rights to produceStar Wars action figuresand playsets for theStar Warstrilogy from 1976 through 1985.[9]After Kenner acquired the license to produceStar Warstoys when theMego Corporationrejected it in 1976, Kenner popularized the 3.75 inchaction figurethat became an industry standard. Kenner also produced toys related to the popular 1970s TV seriesThe Six Million Dollar Manand the 1979 sci-fi movieAlien.In 1981, Kenner belatedly entered the diecast toy car market, with a short-lived range called Fast 111's. The 1980s also saw the release of the "Fashion Star Fillies" line ofmodel horses,a product discontinued by the end of the decade.

One of Kenner's most highly acclaimed[citation needed]lines was theSuper Powers Collection,produced from 1984 to 1986. These action figures were based on the famed superheroes ofDC Comics.What made the line so successful was that the characters were modeled almost exactly from the style guide of the company; and also, each character performed some "action." For example, ifSuperman's legs are squeezed, he would throw a punch. Furthermore, Kenner was able to commission some of the characters' creators likeJack Kirbyfor hisNew Godscharacters andGeorge PerezforCyborgto design the action figures. In 1985, DC Comics named Kenner as one of the honorees in the company's 50th anniversary publicationFifty Who Made DC Greatfor its work on the Super Powers Collection.[10]

One of the more popular[11]action figure lines in the late 1980s was Kenner'sThe Real Ghostbusters,based on the 1986-1991 animated series adaptation of the 1984 feature filmGhostbusters.The toy line debuted the same year as the cartoon and continued production through most of its run. Although the initial releases accurately resembledThe Real Ghostbusterscartoon designs, unlike Super Powers, the toy line very soon stopped attempting to be faithful to the existing source material. Instead, new, original costumes, weapons and ghost characters were designed by Kenner, many of them centered on unique action features, similar to those popularized byMattel's competingMasters of the Universetoy line as well as Kenner's earlier Super Powers toy line.

This idea of basing a toy line on well-known characters but then coming up with original designs that were not based on any published storylines represented a major shift in the design approach to action figure toy lines at the time. In previous years, one major approach to producing toy lines was to base them closely on popular, well-known characters from properties likeStar Wars,Marvel Comics,or DC Comics. The other major approach was for the toy companies to invent their own original characters and then help produce comic books and cartoons that promoted those exact designs (e.g.,Hasbro'sG.I. JoeandTransformersand Mattel'sMasters of the Universe). In a departure from this, Kenner did not have any arrangement to incorporate their new concepts and designs intoThe Real Ghostbusterscartoons or comic books.

This looser approach to the source material of licensed toy lines continued with Kenner's Dark Knight Collection, launched in 1990 and the first of their numerous lines based on theBatmancharacter. This initial set was created to capitalize on the phenomenal success of the cinematic version of the character, releasing vehicles (such as theBatmobileorBatplane) inspired on the highly successful1989 film.Kenner also made vehicles from theBatman Forevermovie (1995).[12]Later toy lines expanded beyond the movie series and took inspiration fromBatman's animated seriesand comic book incarnations. Kenner went on to develop lines centered on Superman and other DC Comics characters as well. As withThe Real Ghostbusters,most of these DC Comics lines incorporated multi-colored costumes, weapons and action features which were not based directly on any existing storylines, although the character names and likenesses were typically drawn from the source material. This design approach to the DC Comics toy lines was continued to a large extent by Mattel when they took over the DC Comics license and produced lines based on the moviesBatman Begins,The Dark KnightandSuperman Returnsas well as theJustice Leaguecartoons. Hasbro, Kenner's eventual buyer, has taken a similar approach with some of their action figure lines, most notably on their 2010 3.75 "Spider-Manaction figure line as well as some of their 2009G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobraproduct.

In 1998, theJurassic Park: Chaos Effectline was released but sales were less than expected. TheNight Hunterseries, the second line of toys based onChaos Effect,was planned for 1999, but was cancelled due to poor sales. TheJurassic Parkseries became more of an annoyance to Hasbro rather than a trademark brand name. Due to this, the overproduction ofStar Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menacetoys, coupled with low sales, forced Hasbro to downsize by getting rid of the Kenner department in Cincinnati. 100 people were transferred and 420 were laid off. Among these 420 was theJurassic Parkdesign team (which also designedBatmanamong other toy lines), who had just started the very early concepts forJurassic Park III.Because of this, Hasbro assigned the toys fromJurassic Park IIIto theirStar Warsdesign team, who scaled the humans to be in size withStar Warsfigures and made the style of the toys similar to the ones fromStar Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones.

In 2010, Hasbro began releasing modernStar Warsaction figures with packaging reminiscent of the original Kenner 1978–1984 Star Wars product line.Star Wars: The Vintage Collectionis composed of new highly pose-able figures, with screen-accurate likenesses. Hasbro had done this twice before, with the 2004 "vintage" Original Trilogy Collection and the 2006–2007 "vintage" Saga Collection but this is the first time that their Star Wars line was entirely dedicated to replica Kenner carded figures.

List of product lines

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Ice Bird with 5 flavor packets

See also

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References

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  1. ^Hirsh, Jeff (2015-12-11)."Kenner Toys: Legendary toy company began in Cincinnati".WKRC.Retrieved2022-05-11.
  2. ^"Joseph L. Steiner, 95; Co-Founder of Kenner, Maker of Play-Doh".Los Angeles Times.May 15, 2002.RetrievedJanuary 1,2017.
  3. ^Adelson, Andrea (5 September 1987)."KENNER TAKES PROPOSAL OF $51 A SHARE BY TONKA".The New York Times.p. 1.Retrieved21 March2024.
  4. ^"Kenner Parker Toys sold its Lionel Trains division".Los Angeles Times.April 16, 1986.RetrievedOctober 28,2012.
  5. ^Content, Contributed (1987-09-05)."TONKA TO ACQUIRE KENNER".Chicago Tribune.Retrieved2024-03-21.
  6. ^"Kenner Accepts Tonka Offer".Los Angeles Times.September 4, 1987.RetrievedOctober 16,2012.
  7. ^Dan (July 28, 2006)."Hasbro and Jurassic Park: Why Things Changed".JPToys.RetrievedFebruary 16,2014.
  8. ^"Kenner History".KennerCollector.Retrieved7 March2012.
  9. ^Suess, Jeff."The Force was with Kenner's 'Star Wars' toys".The Enquirer.Retrieved2022-05-11.
  10. ^Marx, Barry,Cavalieri, Joeyand Hill, Thomas (w), Petruccio, Steven (a), Marx, Barry (ed). "Kenner Products DC Characters Come to Life"Fifty Who Made DC Great,p. 53 (1985). DC Comics.
  11. ^Fitzsimmons, Jason (2022-02-13)."More Kenner Real Ghostbusters Ecto-1 toy concepts revealed!".Ghostbusters News.Retrieved2022-07-27.
  12. ^The TOP 13 Wonderful BATMAN ’89 ToysPosted By Dan Greenfield on Feb 19, 2021, the 13th Dimension
  13. ^Coopee, Todd (29 April 2019)."Banjo-Matic from Kenner (1962)".ToyTales.ca.
  14. ^Coopee, Todd (7 December 2015)."Bubbl-Matic from Kenner".ToyTales.ca.
  15. ^Coopee, Todd (11 December 2023)."Cassette Movie Projector from Kenner 1973".ToyTales.ca.
  16. ^Dreyfuss, John (February 21, 1986)."Buyers Have an Early Adventure in Toyland: Industry Show Previews Talking Teddy Bears, Cuddly Dolls, More Rambos".Los Angeles Times.RetrievedOctober 28,2012.
  17. ^Coopee, Todd (11 March 2015)."Close 'n Play Phonograph".ToyTales.ca.
  18. ^abCoopee, Todd (2 April 2018)."Pistol That Shoots Around the Corner".ToyTales.ca.
  19. ^Coopee, Todd (April 2021)."Hugo – Man of a Thousand Faces".ToyTales.ca.
  20. ^"Battle of the Fun Factories".Time.December 16, 1985. Archived fromthe originalon April 24, 2011.RetrievedAugust 14,2010.
  21. ^Coopee, Todd (8 March 2016)."Milky, the Marvelous Milking Cow (1977)".ToyTales.ca.
  22. ^Coopee, Todd (29 April 2015)."Movie Viewer".ToyTales.ca.
  23. ^Coopee, Todd (6 June 2016)."Play 'n Playback Organ from Kenner (1978)".ToyTales.ca.
  24. ^Alexander, Ron (February 14, 1987)."At Toy Fair, Chatting Dolls and Ghostly Knights".The New York Times.RetrievedAugust 14,2010.
  25. ^Coopee, Todd (May 2017)."Say It! Play It!".ToyTales.ca.
  26. ^Coopee, Todd (5 January 2016)."Sip-Along Sam from Kenner".ToyTales.ca.
  27. ^Coopee, Todd (23 March 2015)."Turn-A-Tune from Kenner (1958)".ToyTales.ca.
  28. ^Coopee, Todd (5 December 2016)."Zippity Speedway from Kenner (1968)".ToyTales.ca.
  29. ^Coopee, Todd (July 4, 2016)."Zoom-Loom Automatic Weaving Machine from Kenner (1968)".ToyTales.ca.
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