Twin Pod Cloud Car
The Twin Pod Cloud Car (TPCC) is the guardian of Bespin’s Cloud City. They are featured in ESB “escorting” the Falcon to its’ landing platform.Kenner decided in the 80’s that this would make a good toy, and turned its’ brief appearance into a vehicle for action figures. Appearance: Well, it looks like a Cloud Car. The scale and features have been Kennerzied. For a vehicle we only see at a distance, it’s not bad. The design hasn’t really been altered to accommodate any goofy action features. Painting the guns or making them a different color, would have been cool. A new version, I’m sure would have some airbrushing around them. (Yes, Cloud Cars had guns. They fired past the Falcon, remember?) The engine pod leave a little to be desired. For detail there’s a decal on the front and one on the back. A chromed piece or paint inset piece would have been better, but not really the style back then. Fun:Two opening canopies and landing gear comprise all of the action features for this vehicle. Flashing LED’S? Nope. Annoying buzzing sound? Not here. Shooting Missiles? Not a chance. The canopies for this the TPCC are interesting because they are two pieces. The inner clear piece and an outer orange frame piece. I wish the X-Wing canopies were made this way. It looks a lot more realistic. The landing gear are independently movable. There is no switch or lever, just push them in and out. The cockpits are a bit sparse, a simple seat and a sticker for a control panel. A little better than the vintage X-Wing, if you think about it. Overall:This was one of my favorite vehicles as a kid. Sure, I loved my X-wing and TIE fighter, but the Cloud Car held a special place for me. Why you ask? Simple. It held two figures. Not many of the smaller vehicles could do that. If Han and Luke went to some planet to save Leia, this is the vehicle they took. Looking at it now, I really love the fact that they just tried to design a simple vehicle that looked like the one in the movie. No action features, goofy R2 head or moving seat. Just a clean representation of the movie vehicle. One a side note, my Mom had a Canadian Cloud Cloud Car in her closet for a long time. It was still in the box. As a bonus, it came with a Cloud Car Pilot. Hmmmm…..I’ll have to see if I can sneak that by her next time I’m there, if she hasn’t Ebayed it yet. Engineernerd Score: 90/100 |
Category: Star Wars, Toy Reviews