‘The Prince of Play': North Texas man created iconic toys that shaped childhoods of millions

“May the Fourth be with you,” get ready to hear that a lot this Saturday as the annual celebration for fans of all things Star Wars.

To celebrate, Heritage Auctions is taking bids on an extremely rare prototype of a Star Wars action figure of the character Boba Fett which is expected to sell for more than $250,000.

The man who created this toy and thousands of other iconic toy lines lives here in DFW: Jacob Miles, affectionally called The Prince of Play.

Miles’s office in Grapevine is a treasure trove filled with rare action figures from Star Wars and toys like Care Bears and Pound Puppies.

But he’s not just any collector – Miles created these toys more than 40 years ago.

“I was Santa Claus to all my nieces and nephews,” Miles told NBC 5. “Because I make toys.”

Miles grew up in the housing projects of Cincinnati, Ohio, where a program for at-risk kids enabled him to graduate from the University of Cincinnati with an engineering degree.

He started working with aircraft and machine tools but always wanted something more.

“It wasn’t happening enough, if you will,” said Miles. “There wasn’t enough energy around it.”

In the 1970s, Miles found his calling working for manufacturer Kenner Toys. Ideas for toys would be pitched to the company, and it was his job to bring them to life.

“You’ve got to bring it out, you’ve got to make them love it, you’ve got to touch the heartstrings,” Miles said.

Throughout his career, Miles created classic toys like Strawberry Shortcake and the Six Million Dollar Man.

He was also part of the team that met with a young director named George Lucas, who had an idea that would become one of the most iconic franchises of all time.

“We sat there, we looked at the script, and we decided to fund the movie,” Miles said.

Miles built the Star Wars spaceships and action figures that millions of kids grew up with.

He also tapped into a market the toy industry wasn’t meeting at the time.

“I created my own toy line called Cultural Toys,” Miles said.

Miles started his own company aimed at bringing more diverse toys to shelves, earning recognition for his efforts to let Black and brown kids finally see themselves in the toys they were playing with.

Today he’s still hard at work creating new toy lines.

Miles’s wife calls him The Prince of Play, saying he’ll never grow up – or stop bringing kids’ dreams to life.

“It was always tremendously rewarding to see the stuff that you traveled the world to make, on the shelf,” Miles said. “And it’s just amazing to me, like you said, that it’s still impacting people.”