Toy "recycling" is a well-known practice in the toy industry. To keep production and tooling costs down, companies will occasionally borrow a figure, vehicle, or accessory from one of their previous lines to repurpose for a new line. Kenner Products, and later Hasbro, were certainly no strangers to this, and consequently repurposed many of the toys from properties such as Six Million Dollar Man, Steve Scout, Batman, and others to become part of their famed Star Wars lines. What's more, in the years since the original Star Wars toys were released, other toy properties like The Real West, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and the Batman movies have borrowed select pieces from our favorite galaxy to be re-imagined as a "sonic neutralizer", a Sherwood Forest, and a "Glamour Gals" stage, among others.

Collector Ron Salvatore recently discussed some of the toys recycled into or from the Star Wars lines as part of the Celebration IV and Celebration Europe collecting panels taking place last summer. Here is an overview of that panel...

There are two reasons why a toy company might want to recycle an old toy design. First, they don't have to incur any of the costs associated with tooling (creating the molds, etc), and second, there is a fast turn-around to get the product to market. Designing and creating a toy can take up to a year, and developing the steel tooling to produce the toy can be extremely expensive. Add to this the elevated risk of merchandising a movie in the first place -- success is hard to predict and the movie may not be in the public eye for long -- it becomes clear why many toy manufactures have taken this shortcut to market.

Believe it or not, there's a certain set of collectors who enjoy rooting out examples of recycled toys, especially those associated with a high profile line like Kenner's vintage Star Wars series. It's the thrill of discovery that drives them, as some of the rarest and oddest items were recycled. What's more, they can provide insight into the economics of the toy industry at the time (were they cutting corners, or stepping up to produce new product?) and even offer clues into the production process itself.

As many fans and especially collectors know, there was very little Star Wars product available when the film first hit in the summer of 1977 -- licensees such as Kenner Products came in relatively late to the game, meaning no new molded toy products would be ready for months -- actually, the next year. So, bowing to pressure from consumers, Kenner pulled out some of their old molds and began stamping them out with the Star Wars brand slapped on them.

Examples of products Kenner had previously released but were re-imagined Star Wars-style include the Dip Dots painting set, Playdoh, the Give-A-Show Projector, and others. The Star Wars hand-cranked movie viewer used the same mold as that of previous properties, but carried Star Wars footage in the interchangeable cassette.

Six Million Dollar Man's electric toothbrush was designed to allow users to see the "bionic" inner workings in the handle, which vaguely resembled a lightsaber hilt. Voila! Instant lightsaber toothbrush after the interior cardboard graphics were replaced with Star Wars art. Kenner changed up the interior graphics for their Empire and Jedi versions, and finally re-sculpted the handle for an Ewoks version in 1984.

Kenner's Six Million Dollar Man "CB Headset Radio Receiver" was magically transformed into a Star Wars AM Headset radio loosely resembling the ones worn by Luke and Han during the Star Wars gunport sequence from the movie. Kenner simply replaced the CB transceiver with an AM receiver, altered the color of the plastic, and slapped on some Star Wars stickers.

Like the CB fad of the '70s, vans were also featured prominently in the toy lines of the day. Kenner's SSP vans don't seem a likely candidate for the Star Wars line until you realize Star Wars-styled vans were getting plastered all over custom van magazines in 1977 and '78.

Admittedly, one of the laziest reissues from Kenner when it came to repurposing older toys was the X-wing Aces Target Game. Based on the earlier Aerial Aces Target Game, the reissue sported Star Wars graphics and a Death Star backdrop but kept the old World War I --style machine gun with signature drum magazine on top. Because of the relatively small investment Kenner made in the Star Wars version of the toy, they didn't really need to worry if it didn't become a strong seller -- which it wasn't. Because so few were sold, it has consequently become quite a rare item today.

For Kenner's early Star Wars 12-inch figure line, Leia's body was borrowed from Dusty, a doll representing a teenage girl with a line of changeable clothes. If you ever wondered why the Princess Leia doll had a comb, you can thank Dusty -- some inspired Kenner employee decided if it was good enough for a sprightly young girl on earth, it's probably good enough for a planet-hopping galactic princess as well.

The accessory-sharing didn't stop there, either. The 12-inch Luke figure borrowed Steve Scout's grappling hook, 12-inch Han borrowed boots from a doll based on the movie International Velvet, and goggles from The Six Million Dollar Man were slated for a 12-inch Han in Hoth outfit, which sadly was never released. Other toys based on prior Kenner releases included the Princess Leia Utility Belt, which featured a faux walkie-talkie modeled after a similar piece included with a Batman belt set.