Tauntaun - Vintage Star Wars

I'm in Florida for a couple of days on a school trip. A group of Middle Schoolers from my work are involved in a national Environmental Science Symposium. So in honor of that, I was trying to find a toy with a Florida connection among the stuff I have pre-photographed on my laptop. The vintage Tauntaun is the best I can do. The connection is a bit odd, but it is two fold. I was born in 1982 so I didn't own any Vintage Star Wars toys as a kid that came new in the package. Everything I had was bought used from comic stores and yard sales. My sister bought me my Tauntaun at a giant flea market we went to with my Grandparents one time when we visited them in Florida. In addition to that I remember looking through my Grandparents' photo albums and seeing a picture of my cousin Richard opening a brand new Tauntaun for Christmas in 1980 or '81. He grew up in Florida and still lives there today.

There were a lot of cool beasts in the vintage line, but the Tauntaun was the only one I had as a kid. As mentioned before he came into my collection used and without his saddle or reigns. There is a trap door on the Tauntaun's back that allows a figures legs to go inside. The saddle had molded legs attached to it which gave the illusion that these figure with limited articulation could ride the animal. You can also see from this photograph that my Tauntaun's body is fairly yellowed.

Luke on patrol

There were two different versions of the Tauntaun. One had a solid hard plastic belly like the one pictured below and the other had a soft belly with a slit in it. The soft belly allowed kids to stick an injured Luke inside the Tauntaun to keep him warm until Han Solo could put up the shelter.

The Wampa's victims

The old Tauntaun has lots of great details and tons of play value. Well done Kenner!