Collecting the Galaxy: AST-5

Back in 1984 Kenner was set to retire their Star Wars line. The movies were done and kids were losing interest in the toy line. But one of the last releases they had came with "mini-rigs" for kids to play with.

The idea was to offer families who couldn't afford the bigger vehicles and playsets (like my own) to use these less affordable ones with their action figures.

And I have to admit, it worked. At least for my mom. She bought a few of these for us back in the day. That's why this week, I've decided to bring to you the entire mini-rig collection that is a unique piece of Kenner's "Expanded Universe" you could say.

The first one I wanted to talk about is the Armored Sentinel Transport. Supposedly to be used with Jabba and his gang, though none of these were shown in the movie, the transport functioned along land and air making easy access around the deserts of Tattoine.

As you can tell by the picture on the box, there wasn't much to these mini-rigs but as a kid, you were free to use your imagination.

More on Kenner's toy line tomorrow!