The file
Kenner didn't have the toys ready for Christmas 1977, so it sold an empty box with a cardboard display and a promise. Kids got Luke, Leia, Chewbacca and R2-D2 in the mail months later, and the 3¾-inch scale was born.
The line ran to 1985 and set the size for every action figure after it. The Millennium Falcon was the box under the tree; the vinyl-cape Jawa and the rocket-firing Boba Fett are the ones that turned into legends.