Mini-Rigs
Mini-Rigs were a special category within Kenner's lines of toys for both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. These smaller toy vehicles were sold at a cheaper price than the standard-sized vehicles due to their reduced dimensions. In addition to the Mini-Rigs, Kenner also put out three Body-Rigs.
These toys, whose original designs came from Mark Boudreaux, were conceived as vehicles that would be "just out of view" within the films. Later on, some of them appeared in the Expanded Universe. The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia calls the PDT-8 Personnel Deployment Transport a "mini rig", even though that term was not applied to any other vehicles like it in the fictional stories.
Toys
- Wave 1 - 1981 - The Empire Strikes Back MLC-3 Mobile Laser Cannon MTV-7 Multi-Terrain Vehicle PDT-8 Personnel Deployment Transport
- Wave 2 - 1982 - The Empire Strikes Back CAP-2 Captivator INT-4 Interceptor
- Wave 3 - 1983 - Return of the Jedi AST-5 Armored Sentinel Transport ISP-6 Imperial Shuttle Pod
- Wave 4 - 1984 - Return of the Jedi Desert Sail Skiff Endor Forest Ranger
Sources
- " Tales of Phantom Toys " — Star Wars Galaxy Magazine 2
- " Scouting the Galaxy: Just Trying to (Action) Figure It All Out " — Star Wars Insider 30
- " Pick a Card, Any Card: Making Movie Magic at Decipher, Inc. " — Star Wars Insider 31
- Star Wars: The Action Figure Archive
- Offscreen, but Not Forgotten: Mini-Rigs, Body-Rigs, and Other Kenner Vehicles on StarWars.com (backup link)