Star Wars Droids Mini-Rigs

“When their vintage Star Wars reign was drawing its last breath, Kenner released three vehicles that were never seen in any of the movies because they were based on their appearance in Droids and Ewoks.”

–Tim Veekhoven, “Offscreen, but Not Forgotten: Mini-Rigs, Body-Rigs, and Other Kenner Vehicles”

I’ve made no secret of my love of Kenner’s Star Wars Mini-Rig vehicles from the eighties (see “The Genius of Kenner’s “Star Wars Collection” Mini-Rigs”). These small vehicles, designed by Kenner’s toy makers and not the Lucasfilm artists, were intended as Star Wars vehicles that were “just offscreen” during the movies. For the purposes of today’s article I’ll assume you’re completely familiar with the classic Mini-Rigs; if not please see my earlier article.

Star Wars Droids Mini-Rigs

1985’s Kenner Droids series included only three vehicles, but two of them were Mini-Rigs which makes everything better, right? And the designs were as incredible as we ever could have hoped, with two spaceships that look like perfect continuation of the earlier Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi Mini-Rig toys.

• Side Gunner Vehicle – First up is the Side Gunner (see theswca.com and Action Figure of the Day), a strange contraption that . . . well, it lives up to its name and has a gun on the side. And it can carry two action figures (most Mini-Rigs were designed for one figure, so this one is special) meaning kids could load the toy up with figures and fly into battle.

  One fantastic feature of the Droids toys is that Kenner used original artwork for the packaging instead of the photography covers they had used prior to the new Star Wars lines. Unfortunately, the artwork on the box front isn’t some of the greatest Star Wars artwork ever created so we will have to look away before we begin laughing at the art.

  But even with the strangely bad artwork on the box I can say that the toy itself is a fairly cool design. Not one of the greatest of the Mini-Rigs Kenner produced between 1981 and 1985, but definitely worthy of being part of that special subline of Star Wars vehicles.

“Not appearing in any of the films, the minirigs were fairly inexpensive vehicles made to carry one character. They were done to provide more play value at a lower price than the larger vehicles.”

–Steve Sansweet, The Star Wars Action Figure Archive*

• ATL Interceptor – Of the two Mini-Rigs produced for Kenner’s Droids series the ATL Interceptor (see the swca.com and Action Figure of the Day) is clearly the cooler of the two toy designs. Folded up the ship is a compact, cockpit-like vehicle that seems to be missing some parts . . . but swing out those forward maneuvering foils and things take on an entirely different feel!

  And as if the look of the toy wasn’t enough to make us happy this little ship even has a backstory in the real world! According to theswca.com, the ATL Interceptor started life as a Star Wars: Return of the Jedi toy vehicle design with concept artwork identifying it as a Death Star Defender. Fantastic!!! The concept art is fun and knowing that Kenner found a way to save this design makes me all warm and happy inside.

Want!!!

As my collection of Mini-Rigs — both vintage and modern — continues to grow these two Droids Mini-Rigs are huge gaps that need to be filled. The Side Gunner looks to be the easier of the two toys to find, so no doubt I’ll have that in my hands long before I find an ATL Interceptor for sale at a price I’m willing to pay. But I am searching — eBay saved search is set! — and if any of you see an ATL Interceptor please be sure to yell at me and point me in the right direction.

And we won’t even talk about the Power of the Force Body-Rigs and their lack of availability . . .