Also, I have all my old mini-rigs out in the garage somewhere too. One year for my birthday (that same year?) my mom baked a cake and stuck a mini-rig and a Twin Pod Cloud Car Pilot on top of it. Funny, the things we remember. But yeah, real quick Kenner went from “things that were only in the movie a minute” to “things that weren’t in the movie at all”.

@StephenB: See? The Rebel Transport really DID protect the rebels from attack!

@Charles: You goof … too funny. :)

Other than that, I got nothin’.

As for the Rebel Transport, it’s the fin of the shark. The shark itself didn’t get jumped, in toy terms, until those little things called “Mini Rigs.” They were the little vehicles that held *maybe* two figures, barely. They were interesting designs, but nothing that really smacked of Rebel or Imperial tech… because they were never in the movies to begin with.

Most of the really good vehicle toys came from the first two movies. Even the playsets weren’t as interesting by the time you got to ROTJ. Ewok Village? It’s a giant treehouse! I think that was the last playset I got prior to the new stuff in the ’90s.

There is a strange bright spot though. Years later while I was in college, the Rebel Transport saved most of my Star Wars collection. Someone broke into my grandma’s lake house and stole a bunch of stuff. I had stored some of my old toys and things at the house. While they wiped out my classics illustrated comic collection, tv, Darth Vader carrying cases, a few vehicles, numerous unopened Rubix type items (the snake, the orb, Chuck E Cheese rubix cube), they left the Rebel Transport. I had stored almost all of my figures in the Rebel Transport. It was always easier to throw them into the transport than it was to put them back in their proper spots in the cases. Thank you Rebel Transport. I owe you one and will never replace you with an AT-AT.