Here's a retro toy that's not a proper action figure, but is definitely retro: it may be older than some of you reading this! From Kenner and 1980, Star Wars: the Empire Strikes Back Diecast Twin-Pod Cloud Car!
I had a ton of Star Wars figures and vehicles through Empire, being "too old" to keep getting them when Return came out. I know I had a Cloud Car and pilot, but while I still have my figures, I don't know where my ships or Death Star went. (It's not a huge hole in my soul--just a dent.) But I still have this one, although I have no recollection when or how I got it--it must have been a gift, but I wish I remembered from who.
It might not top a lot of wish lists, but I appreciated the Cloud Car: in my imagination, it reminds me of WWI observation planes, not an air-superiority fighter. Against TIE Fighters, a Cloud Car Pilot would have to be his best, and damn lucky...Plus, for my little kid hands, this was about the perfect size to mimic one of those double-blasters from the Black Hole.
The Cloud Car is almost entirely orange--it's the hunters' safety vest of Star Wars ships. There is a little paint on the pilots, and I want to say their helmets are a different shade of redder-orange. The canopies do not open, but the landing gear does extend.
A quick search found a little history: the Cloud Car was Series 3, with the admittedly cooler Snowspeeder and Slave I. And the Cloud Car isn't displayed as prominently in my collection as the Series 2 Diecast Millennium Falcon, which is face-rockingly super-cool and I'm seriously considering being buried with it. The Cloud Car, is merely neat.
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