Recently, I’ve been picking up a few things from Stan Solo’s Etsy store to pepper about my vintage Kenner Star Wars display case. Most of these purchases have been figures, but when some like minded collectors pointed me to his Ubrikkian Speeder, I had to pick one up. This spherical vehicle had a cameo in A New Hope and quite frankly I always thought it was just a massive droid. Some further research indicated it was in fact a Speeder and according to some sources, I guess it was supposed to be Greedo’s Speeder. Either way, Stan Solo made one to fit the Kenner figures, and we’re going to check it out now!

The toy comes in a small but faithful recreation of a Kenner style box. You get some shots of the toy along with a mix of figures, both original Kenner releases and some of Stan Solo’s custom work. The box looks great and inside the toy comes sandwiched in a clear plastic clamshell. There’s no assembly required!

Here’s the Speeder out of the box and ready for action! Let me say straightaway, that this is not a toy that requires a whole lot of pictures, because it’s mostly just a symmetrical sphere, so shooting one side is more or less the same as the others. It has four bubble-like windows made of smoked blue plastic, which show the inside of the craft, so long as there’s a strong light source behind it, some crisp markings between the windows, a ribbed band running along the lower hemisphere, some cut-outs around the top hemisphere, and a stubby antenna. The production quality on this toy is absolutely fantastic. I’m not even going to qualify that by saying it’s good for a custom or third-party toy, but it would even hold up as an official release. I’m not sure how it was produced, but there are no unfinished surfaces that you often see with 3D printed toys, instead everything is smooth and solid. The white plastic is bright and fresh and the paint and printing is crisp and sharp.

The bottom base is cast in gray plastic, and the vehicle sits on a disk supported by narrow posts. In some of the reading I did, one article suggested that the entire body lifted up to reveal the seats and once the driver and passengers sat down, the body would lower down on top of them. That’s a neat idea, and even if it is canon, it’s a little sophisticated to reproduce in a simple toy like this, so instead it hinges open to allow access.

The hinge has some decent friction, so it’ll hold at a 90-degree angle, or you can open it all the way and rest the top half on the ground, but a modicum of care is recommended for the antenna. Some articles on this Speeder suggest that it held three, with the seats surrounding a central column. As for the toy, it has two seats laid out next to each other. Kenner was known to play fast and loose with some toy designs to make them work, and so this design definitely gives the toy that old Kenner charm. The seats are ribbed for comfort, there are stickers with controls on the outer chair arms, a shifter in the center column, as well as the outline of a storage hatch, or perhaps another console sticker that was never placed, and you get two stickers for the dashboard monitors.

The Speeder comfortably fits two normal sized Kenner Star Wars figures. Wookies have to walk, and Hammerhead ain’t getting his big feets in there. Luckily Greedo fits, although I do have to lean him forward a bit so his antenna clear the hatch. If you put him in the right seat, his gun-holding hand can even grasp the shifter knob.

There’s a second hatch that can open on the top of the vehicle to see inside, or perhaps for occupants to make a fast escape.

At the time I’m publishing this review, Stan Solo still has this Speeder for sale on his Etsy Store for $122. Yes, it’s a steep price for a simple toy, but it’s a professionally made piece and a unique example of a retro-style toy we never got. It’s loads of fun to play around with, and it looks amazing in my Kenner Star Wars display case, mixed in among the authentic vintage releases. It certainly elicits a lot of double takes, and comments like, “I don’t remember them making that!” I hope we get some more releases like this one!