Over the weekend, I did some sniping at Hasbro’s Force Awakens 3 3/4″ line, or more specifically at one particular toy, which should have been an easy success for Hasbro, but turned out not so good. Holy shit, Hasbro, how long have you been making X-Wings for? And most of them up until now have been pretty good. Sheesh! Anyway, lest you thought that meant I wasn’t getting into the smaller scale line, I’ll re-assure you that I already had a lot of this stuff ordered. And yes, while I did cancel Poe Dameron’s X-Wing, the rest of the stuff is still either here or on its way. Today I’m opening up the Assault Walker and Stormtrooper Sergeant.

With so many ho-hum packages from Hasbro in the toy aisles these days, I have to give credit where credit is due, because this one is a fantastic piece of work. It’s got all the color and excitement that toy packaging should have. There’s some amazing artwork on the front with laser blasts and explosions and Kylo Ren staring at you from the corner with his lightsaber and holy shit, this makes me want to tear open this box and start playing. The box is almost fully enclosed with just a little window for the action figure. It’s also got that J-hook on the back flap so it can hang on a peg or sit on the shelf. The back of the box has actual pictures of what you’re getting and the whole thing is totally collector friendly. Ah, but as pretty as it is, I’m still going to shred it and pitch it. Let’s start with the figure…

The Stormtrooper Sergeant figure appears to be only available in this set and I’ll confess that was what made me buy it. He isn’t even included in the Amazon Exclusive Troop Building Pack. That having been said, he’s basically just a First Order Stormtrooper with a black pauldron, which is removable by just popping off his head and slipping it off. I really dig that, because now I can have either the Sergeant or just a vanilla trooper.

The plastic on this figure feels great and the paint, what little there is of it looks pretty good. There’s a little slop here and there, but most isn’t noticeable when not scrutinized by the camera. Even the gun managed to retain the white paint apps that we saw on the larger 6-inch Black figure and it still tabs into his leg for storage. I was expecting something that felt cheap, but I’d say the quality is in line with the regular Star Wars figures and better than what we saw with Rebels. Of course, the five points of articulation are still the order of the day and to some people that’s just unacceptable.

The Assault Walker, which I’ve opted to call the AT-AW, is extremely reminiscent of the AT-RT released in the Revenge of the Sith line. It’s a one-person vehicle that will almost certainly not be actually in the movie. That’s cool with me, I’ve enjoyed the whole off-Screen toy idea ever since Kenner’s Mini-Rigs and this thing definitely gives me the same warm and fuzzy vibe. That having been said, this thing is super tiny. When I pulled the cardboard tray out of the box, the first thing I noticed was they could have easily fit two of these in there.

There’s no walking gimmick or anything like what we saw with the AT-RT. This toy is as simple as it gets. The legs are hinged at the tops and again at the ankles, but not in the middle, with ratchets that are strong enough to hold it up. Frankly, I’m surprised we got ankle hinges because the Scout Walker from Rebels didn’t even have those. The chin gun can rotate left and right, and the handle bars fold down so the Stormtrooper can grip them. Interestingly enough, he doesn’t actually sit in this thing. Nope, he stands in it.

The sculpting is actually pretty good. There’s plenty of detail all over the place and even the paintwork isn’t too bad. There’s no actual paint on the body or legs, but the front armor piece and the feet are dark green with some yellow accents and there’s even some jungle camo on the armor plate. Yup, if you look on the side of the box, there’s an emblem that identifies this as part of the Jungle Mission Collection.

At $20, I’m a little conflicted on this set. The figure is pretty good, so long as you’re willing to pretend it’s 1977 again and there’s no such thing as elbows and knees yet. Frankly articulation on these figures isn’t a huge deal to me and in some cases, I can appreciate that these 5POAs can stand up better and straighter than, let’s say some of the heavily articulated early Marvel Universe stuff. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t prefer the limited articulation, but as long as the sculpt and paint is there, I can live with it. As for the Walker, it manages to toe the line between being a goofy and credible design. I could easily see one of these things animated into the backdrop of a scene and not think twice about it. And if you consider that the figures are selling for between $7.99 and $9.99 when you can find them, then I guess the vehicle isn’t a terrible value. If I were a kid, I’d have fun with this thing. As an adult collector, it looks OK standing on the shelf. Mostly, I’m just happy to have the Stormtrooper, especially considering the going rate for them on the scalper’s market is about the same as this one with the vehicle.