Chris Georgoulias and Luis Galvez presented this panel on the final day of
Star Wars Celebration, taken everyone back to a time when Kenner toys were being made in toy factories around the world.
While many toy companies around the world distributed Kenner's vintage
Star Wars figures, not all had their own production facilities. Kenner, Palitoy and Lili Ledy were three that did, and were the focus of the panel.
The process for creating the toys via injection molding was briefly described before pictures of the production line from Kenner were put up, showing assembly and packaging for the X-Wing, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, the Death Star Space Station and the Battle-Damaged TIE Fighter.
Moving on to Palitoy, images were shown of the Millennium Falcon on the assembly line, a reference board for showing sticker placement, the AT-AT head being assembled, blister packing figures and cardbacks being placed in the press.
For Lili Ledy, the headquarters were in Tlalnepantla, Mexico, where Alejandro Becerra was the Quality Control Director and judging by the pictures, he was clearly a
Star Wars fan! A series of images then showed parts of the production process:
- Injection molding
- Torsos directly out of the mold (Weequay)
- Painting an arm using a paint mask (Bib Fortuna)
- Painting figure heads (Boushh)
- Painting figure parts and limbs (Admiral Ackbar)
- Various pieces painted and drying, as well as touching-up (Admiral Ackbar and Logray)
- Piles of limbs after painting (Logray, surrounded by bags of unpainted limbs)
- Sorting and inspecting painted figure parts (Biker Scout)
- Assembling limbs into the torso using a wood press (Biker Scout)
- Seating the torso halves together in a press (Biker Scout)
- Sonic welding fixture (Biker Scout)
- Inspecting and cleaning the figures Ben Kenobi)
- Sewing fabric capes (Squid Head)
- Trimming threads on fabric capes (Bib Fortuna)
- Helmets ready to be packaged (Boushh)
- Compression Test (Death Squad Commander)
- Pull-testing the head/neck and arms (Imperial Commander)
- Torque (twist) testing the neck (Death Squad Commander)
- Inspection - pass through for small parts
The final set of photos was from the packaging and distribution:
- Vac-forming bubbles/blisters from a roll of plastic
- Sealing the bubbles to the cardbacks (Return of the Jedi (79-back)
- Kenner-branded figures made by Lili Ledi with Made in Mexico markets (e.g. Lumat)
- Packaging vehilces (CLM-3 aka MLC-3)
- Cases of toys packed in the factory
- Lili Ledy Truck
The Star Tot given out at this panel was Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard Disguise), sponsored by Luis, Josefina & Luis Jr. Galvez.
