In the years between Star Warsfilms, Kenner had to get creative to keep fresh product on shelves. Sometimes this meant plundering the deep background for new characters and vehicles, and other times meant inventing all-new ones; but their most innovative and least-discussed strategy was retooling scene-specific versions of existing products. For their 1982 wave of The Empire Strikes Back product, this took an odd — and oddly morbid — form: a tauntaun with a slit in its stomach, capable of sheltering a Luke Skywalker action figure from the cold. On paper, the gross-out action feature checks many design boxes for the manufacturer: it has a unique action feature, it enhances an existing play pattern, and it naturally compliments other figures. Best of all, it enabled Kenner to reuse their existing tauntaun tooling, putting a “new” figure on shelves without having to invest in sculpting it from the ground up.
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The open-belly tauntaun was introduced two years after Kenner’s initial tauntaun figure, automatically making it the rarer of the two versions. Less were produced, and by the time it hit shelves, many kids already had a tauntaun. Kenner’s hope was that the new action feature would encourage repeat sales, but one has to imagine that many parents wouldn’t be swayed by the argument of “but this one is supposed to be dead so I can stick Luke Skywalker in it.” However, that’s exactlythe kind of scene-specific detail that the Star Warsaction figure collecting community prizes, and when that community emerged in the following decade, the open-belly tauntaun became a sought-after variant. Early next month, Heritage is set to auction an AFA (Action Figure Authority)-graded 80 Near-Mint sample of the figure, still mint in box. With its packaging proudly advertising the toy’s “Open Belly Rescue Feature” alongside a brightly-colored photo of the toy in action, the boxed tauntaun is a perfect display piece.
Why This Tauntaun Represents Everything Collectors Love About Kenner Star Wars
Many of Kenner’s most creative Star Warsofferings come with the note that “they could never make this today.” In the seventies and eighties, Star Warswas a less rigidly controlled intellectual property, and Kenner could take greater artistic license with its products. Usually this meant reimagining or inventing corners of the Star Warsuniverse. In the open-belly tauntaun’s case, it meant a toy that it’s genuinely surprising they were able to sell kids. Even on the box, it’s explicit that the open-belly tauntaun is a dead animal, and the way kids are meant to play with it is by putting an action figure inside it so that they don’t die of exposure to the elements. The packaging invites you to “Relive the Rebel Alliance searching for Luke Skywalker … and Han Solo saving Luke’s life.” It’s a grisly moment as it plays out on screen, and it’s bizarre that someone at Kenner watched it and came away with the idea that “we could make a toy of that.”
It brings to mind the “Jabba’s Dungeon” playset Kenner went on to produce for Return of the Jedi,which lets kids recreate Jabba’s droid torture chamber. Toy collectors laud Kenner for their precedent-setting commitment to “world-building,” with the scope and scale of their Star Warsline encompassing virtually every scene and setpiece from across all three films. Items like the open-belly tauntaun are that world-building concept taken to its logical extreme. It’s both exceedingly scene-specific and in questionable taste, almost feeling like a parody item akin to these “Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru” customs. The customs depict the burned skeletons of Luke’s aunt and uncle, and really, don’t seem that much more gruesome than the real tauntaun’s “open belly rescue feature.” Said Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru customs sold for more than seven hundred dollars back in 2014, a tangible example of Star Wars‘ fans morbid sense of humor.
The Surprising Modern Legacy of Kenner’s Grossest Star WarsToy
The gradual shift toward Star Warsas a collector-oriented toy property gave Hasbro an excuse to pay tribute to the open-belly tauntaun in 2003 — and they somehow made it worse. Hasbro included a slit-bellied tauntaun retool in the Toys R Us exclusive “Battle of Hoth” multipack for their Star Wars Sagaline, and in the interest of screen-accuracy, it came with intestines. Hasbro’s open belly tauntaun came with clip-on guts, able to be fastened to the tauntaun figure, enhancing the realism of Han Solo slicing open the dead animal. The guts are on fully display with the packaged sample, prompting an initial reaction of “what is that?” followed by squinting and likely grimacing. To date, this is the only figure Hasbro has produced paying tribute to the Kenner original. Given Disney’s emphasis on Star Warsas a family-friendly brand, it doesn’t seem likely another will be produced any time in the near future.
More recently, defunct retailer ThinkGeek advertised a “tauntaun sleeping bag” as an April Fool’s Joke in 2009. Its inner lining was patterned after the animal’s guts, and its zipper was sculpted in the shape of Luke’s lightsaber. The response was unexpected: many fans said they would actually buy one, if offered. ThinkGeek obliged, producing the sleeping bag in 2020 as part of their line of Empire Strikes Back40th Anniversary product. It was a strong seller, and commands a premium price on the secondary market. The Kenner open-belly tauntaun is worth an average three to five hundred mint in box; more than twice the value of a mint, standard tauntaun. Currently, the Heritage auction sits at a price of one hundred and fourteen dollars with more than two weeks left to bid. Its high-grade condition will likely drive the auction higher than average, as it is the third-highest grade sample on record through the AFA.
What’s your favorite weird Star Warstoy? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!
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