Looking Back on the Madness of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Toy Line, 25 Years Later
In May 1999, Star Wars hadn’t been in movie theaters for nearly 20 years—well, new Star Wars, at least; the Special Editions had returned a few years prior. But the galaxy far, far away was about to explode with the arrival of The Phantom Menace. And actually, a few weeks earlier, the explosion had already begun, in pretty much every store and toy aisle across America and beyond.
Technically, the fervor had kicked off the year before with a mail-away campaign for the first Episode I figure, a mysterious Jedi Master—and later, an even more mysterious, skeletal battle droid and their STAP speeder hit shelves as part of a sneak preview program. But things reached a fever pitch on May 6, 1999: at midnight across the U.S., stores opened to hordes of fans eager to get their hands on the merchandise for a brand new Star Wars movie, for the first time in 16 years.
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The Phantom Menace first left its mark the year before it hit theaters and toy shelves. Anticipating the launch of the brand new toy series, Kenner—now owned by Hasbro—began a mail-in campaign where fans could swap in proof of purchase from six Star Wars figures in exchange for the first action figure from the new movie: Mace Windu, contained in a special preview box, with a blue lightsaber that he would never actually wield in the film.
The Sneak Preview: STAP and Battle Droid
Things heated up on store shelves too: among the current figures in Kenner’s revived “Power of the Force” line—which had returned in 1995, 10 years after Kenner’s classic, revolutionary Star Wars toy line first came to an end—a new preview emerged. Boxed similarly to the Mace Windu promo, this deluxe pack included the brand-new Battle Droid, as well as a floating STAP speeder vehicle. “Coming to a theater in your galaxy summer 1999!” teased the packaging.
Midnight Madness: May 6, 1999
The actual Phantom Menace toyline wouldn’t release until that same summer. At midnight on May 6—two weeks before the movie hit theaters—stores across America opened at midnight for the first of what would become regular “Midnight Madness” events for future Star Wars films. The fervor was historic, as fans raced to grab anything and everything they could from the new movie. One such fan was our very own bright-eyed and bushy-tailed Germain Lussier, whose midnight haul you can see above!
The Toys: The Basic Figures
The Phantom Menace figures retained the same 3.75" scale as the original Star Wars action figures and Hasbro-Kenner’s revival did. However, it ditched the latter’s “Heroic” sculpt that was championed at launch in 1995, giving characters more dynamic fixed stances and beefed-up, muscular appearances that made Luke Skywalker look a bit more like He-Man.
With over 30 characters from the film releasing in just a handful of months, the new figures were an evolution of the same kinds of toys that had launched with the first Star Wars. Boasting a similar size and improved articulation, better paint jobs and more accurate likenesses, the Phantom Menace figures set the stage for what would come over the next decade-plus of Star Wars action figures.
The Toys: CommTech
The figure line also introduced a new technology: CommTech. A small translucent device that came with every basic figure, the CommTech chip was designed to act as both a base for the figure and as an electronic element. Scanning the chip with a reader (sold separately) shaped like Qui-Gon Jinn’s commlink device from the film, the chip would activate sounds and recorded lines of dialogue based on whichever character it belonged to. CommTech made its way back into the toyline beyond Phantom Menace, letting fans hear dialogue from the Original Trilogy too.
The Toys: The Playsets
It wasn’t just action figures, either. A carry case for the toys in the shape of R2-D2—inspired by the C-3PO carry case of old—could open up into a playset of its own inspired by the Theed Palace generators Darth Maul, Qui-Gon, and Obi-Wan dueled through in the film’s climax. That itself heralded two more actual playsets inspired by the duel: a Theed Hanger and Generator Complex that could be connected together to create both the hanger doorway and the sprawling gangways of the palace’s interior.
The Toys: Blasters and Lightsabers
Beyond the figures, Kenner also released electronic role play weapons for kids to do battle with—like a Trade Federation blaster rifle, or a very familiar-looking “Tatooine” blaster that was a modified re-release of the Han Solo blaster pistol Kenner released for the “Power of the Force” line. And there were, of course, lightsabers, including Darth Maul’s iconic double bladed lightsaber, which could extend to five feet in length.
The Toys: The Queen Amidala Collection
Although action figures and weapons were seen as the traditional purview of “boy’s toys,” The Phantom Menace came for everyone’s wallets. Aimed at young girls, the Queen Amidala Collection offered a series of 12" dolls focused on Padmé and her many looks throughout the film—including play features like realistic hair to braid and style, or a handmaiden disguise.
The Toys: So, So Much More
This is just the tip of the iceberg, too. The toy line included vehicles, deluxe creature sets, plush toys, electronic sound FX figures and handheld games, “movie motion” statues that could be spun to slash and hack with lightsabers, and so much more. And of course, Kenner was not the only toymaker releasing products for Phantom Menace. The movie was everywhere, from zany fast food tie-ins, to video games, to micro machines, and everything else you could imagine.
The Phantom Menace’s Toy Legacy
It’s hard to say that any other Star Wars toy launch since has reached the frenzy that Phantom Menace’s did. The closest equivalent, the 2015 launch of The Force Awakens merchandise, is the only that has held a candle to it, and even that could never reach both the sheer pervasive presence or merchandising might Phantom Menace represented.
It wasn’t just scale, either: Kenner’s Episode I figures would pave the way for the next generation of Star Wars toys, evolving the line beyond its nostalgic roots across Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, and beyond into the Legacy and Vintage Collections, with better likenesses and more and more articulation. Even when Hasbro, now having fully subsumed the Kenner brand, launched the first ever six-inch Star Wars figures in 2013 with the Black Series, the legacy of those toys lived on—even if we got to the point that now, 25 years later, it’s crazy that Hasbro’s idea of a “Retro” Phantom Menace figure is a replication of those classic ‘70s Kenner toys, rather than the line that kicked the movie’s hype into overdrive.
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