Kenner's Death Star Station

I had this toy - now selling for $750 used on ebay LOL - and remember playing with it in my little bedroom on Arthur Ave. 

But I don't recall playing with it for very long. I was really into Star Wars and the Kenner toys, but this one really occupies only that one brief memory. Looking at the toy now, I think the battle cannon is pretty cool, but the rest of it is rather ho-hum. Yay, an elevator! How exciting!

And need I point out the thing isn't round? The Death Star is a bleeping sphere. From a distance - need I say it? - it can be mistaken for a moon. 

Does this look like a sphere to you? Or any portion thereof? 

It just didn't scream "Death Star" to me. 

BUT . . . 

What I did love about it, what I still love *to this day* was the green rubber monster they included with it. You know, the guy that lives in the trash compactor and dragged Luke into the water? 

Now I don't know where they came up with this design, as all you see in the movie is the neck and head. Maybe it was what George Lucas envisioned, maybe it was made up on the spot by some guy at Kenner. 

 Either way, I did NOT use this as a trash compactor monster. *I* found the overall shape rather reminiscent of Star Trek's Enterprise, and so I used it endlessly, not only for that, but as a generic "space ship" toy. 

And last I looked, this little guy (selling for $80 on ebay as of this writing) is still somewhere in my basement, resting until he is called on again . . .