Tag Archives: star wars

Jul 21 2010

Star Wars: Super Deluxe AT-AT Walker by Hasbro, Part 1

Back when I was a young lad, there was an independent toy store downtown. I can clearly remember the day I peddled my bike down there and was confronted with that massive box containing the brand new AT-AT Walker from The Empire Strikes Back. Keep in mind that it was rendered a lot bigger by the fact that I was so young. Even if I had the $50 that it cost, no small sum in that day, I could never have gotten it home, and so that toy became the main focus of my attention until Christmas came and I found it under the tree.

Naturally, that AT-AT got beaten up pretty bad over the years. I would later replace it with a POTF2 one and again with the TRU exclusive, Endor Walker, both of which I sold off a few years ago when money and storage space were getting tight. I rarely ever have seller’s remorse when I unload stuff, but in that case I sure did. I’m not sure if it was because it was a favorite toy as a kid, or because it was from my favorite scene of any of the Star Wars movies, but I knew I’d have to get one again at some point. Thankfully, Hasbro answered the call with the release of this ridiculous behemoth. Right now my only regret is that I don’t have the old, puny one for some comparison shots.As many of you may know, I am not an active Star Wars collector anymore, but when I liquidated my collection, I kept certain things, and every now and then Hasbro unleashes something new that I just can’t resist.

The box was waiting on my doorstep when I got home from work, and man was it huge. When I ordered the BMF Millenium Falcon, it was shipped to me in the manufacturer’s case box, but the AT-AT came with that box in a bigger box with added packing. A little quick work with a trusty razor blade and soon I was confronted with the toy’s true box in all its glory.


Its a real shame I can’t keep the packaging, because it really is nice. I love the colors, as well as the cut-out windows that show off the included figure and speeder bike. The artwork on the front is fantastic (although I could have done without the image of the Clone Trooper on my Original Trilogy toy), and the back panel shows a photo of the toy and calls out its many features. Its just the sort of thing that will get kids drooling in the toy aisles. Hasbro really knows how to design superb packaging when they want to, and this box is clearly proof of that.

Unfortunately, as with the Millenium Falcon, the toy requires some assembly steps that really can’t be undone, and as big as the box is, once you have this thing together, its too big to go back inside for storage. I suppose I could flatten it out and slide it behind something, but in the end I’ll probably just wind up chucking it.

That’s not to say the AT-AT is tough to assemble. Basically all you have to do is connect the front piece of the hull and head and then snap on the legs and feet. There’s also a bag of parts, some of which are optional. There aren’t all that many stickers, and even most of those are optional laser blasts. You can easily have this thing out of the box and ready to go in just ten minutes or so. Also included in the package is a repack of the recently carded AT-AT driver figure, a speeder bike, toy catalog, instruction sheet, and sticker sheet.

The AT-AT requires three AA batteries, and I highly recommend putting them in last, lest you want to be triggering off all sorts of sounds while you’re cobbling the beast together. You’ll also need a philips screwdriver to open the battery panel, and there’s a well concealed on/off switch under the hull, which was conealed well enough that I thought my AT-AT was broken after I put the batteries and was getting no sound.

The legs on this AT-AT are very similar to the original Kenner toy, in that they possess powerful ratchet joints in both the upper legs and knees as well as the ankles. They can be loud and annoying when you are posing the legs and you have to use a good deal of force to work them, but its a good trade-off to making sure that your AT-AT won’t be collapsing due to loose joints after a few weeks of play. I’m happy to say that this is one sturdy toy. But then for a hundred bucks it certainly should be!

The sculpt is really amazing and far more proportional to the actual studio models. Keep in mind this is still a toy, built primarily with play value in mind, so its not perfect, but its still far closer to the old Kenner toy. Externally, the head features the most improvements, especially in the protruding viewport (which is clear, red tinted plastic), and the actual rubber used for the neck. The cheek lasers are actually firing missiles, but the missiles look enough like guns so as not to ruin the effect. The chin lasers are similar to the older Kenner toy, in that they light up and can be made to alternately fire by working a control on the bottom of the head.

The hull has some weathering spots, but on the whole its fairly clean. Thankfully Hasbro didn’t attempt to add snow or mud effects, so you can use this AT-AT to invade any climate-specific planet in the Star Wars universe. The extra stickers that I mentioned earlier are there if you want to add more laser scorching and battle damage.

I will say that the struts connecting the inside of the legs to the feet seem a bit out of place, and they tend to disconnect when fiddling with the feet, but you can leave them off if you so choose. The inner “claws” on the feet can also interfere with each other if you have the Walker’s legs straight up and down. It seems better to pose it with each leg slightly forward or back. The feet are also hollow, so you can simulate crushing your figures (I recommend Ewoks or Jar Jar Binks) with glee!


Next time, we’ll look inside and I’ll get into the various features, electronics and we’ll see just how many figures this thing can actually hold!

May 15 2010

Star Wars 30th Anniversary Collection: Hoth Patrol Battle Pack by Hasbro

I’m really not supposed to be buying Star Wars stuff until the new toys start hitting in August. Yeah, there was Zuckuss, but I rationalized him as a one-time slip up to a promise I made myself. Well, here’s another slip up, because the clearance price of $12.48 for a Wampa, Tauntaun and Luke figure seemed like too good a deal to pass up. Now, after the fact, it became clear that my excitement over great value blinded me a bit in the store, because when I got this set home and opened it up, it didn’t seem like such a great deal anymore. I don’t necessarily regret buying it, but its all in all its a pretty shabby assortment of toys.

As mentioned, the pack consists of a Tauntaun, Wampa and Luke Skywalker in Hoth gear. The package is standard for the 30th Anniversary Collection with a TRU Exclusive sticker on the window. It features a large window that shows off the figures nicely and has a cool ice cave motif inside that makes them look really nice in the package. The box is also very collector friendly as you can just slide out the tray and pop out the figures, and put them back again without tearing anything up. There’s surprisingly few rubber bands holding them in, and even without them, the figures fit snugly in place.

We’ll start off with the Wampa, because he is without a doubt the best thing in this box. He was originally issued back in the 2004 Saga Collection as a single carded Ultra Class figure. Despite being a bit long in the tooth (ha ha), his overal sculpt and articulation still hold up pretty well. His fur has lots of sculpted details and he even has pads on the bottoms of his feet. His shoulders and hips have rotating joints and he’s double jointed in the torso to give him the ability to twist a bit. His head will also turn, although not all that much. Hasbro may have gone a little overboard with the paintwork when dirtying this guy up, as he looks a tad too yellowish, but that may just be me. The blood around his mouth is a nice touch, though. The Wampa comes with a joint of meat and his right arm can be pulled off to simulate Luke’s barbarous lightsaber attack on this poor, harmless animal.

Moving on… the reuse of this Tauntaun is quite simply inexcusable, as its the one from the Power fo the Force 2 collection. Yeah, he’s stamped 2003, but I remember this sculpt and I know better. That’s right, folks, Hasbro reached all the way back to 1997 for this toy, and unfortunately it really shows. The sculpt isn’t horrific, but it looks really soft and dated. If Hasbro was insistant on reusing this mold, they probably could have saved it with better paint, but no such luck. The paint work is equally dated and has that grey, heavy handed wash that looks just terrible and yet characterized so many of the POTF2 toys. Even the white “snow” speckling on it doesn’t look good. The bit and harnass are separate and removable, and in case you’re wondering, he doesn’t have the split belly feature. This beast is a passable place holder if you are completely without a Tauntaun or are hoping for an updated release around the corner, but otherwise, you can do much better. I should note, that it is vastly improved if you happen to own a Hoth Luke that is capable of properly riding him. And that brings me to…

Luke Skywalker in Hoth gear. The sculpt on Luke actually isn’t bad at all, but this figure was a really poor choice for this pack because he doesn’t have the sculpting or articulation that would allow him to sit on the Tauntaun. Seriously, why would you include a mount and a rider in the same package that weren’t made to be used with each other? You can actually get Luke to sit on the Tauntaun, but you have to bend out his legs and force him on and it doesn’t look at all natural. His articulation is not only dated, but weird. He has this crazy, primitive joint in his neck that allows him to look up and down, but looks really strange. He has universal joints in his shoulders, rotating joints in his hips, but that’s it. Luke comes with a lightsaber and a useless pair of goggles that he cannot even wear. Wow. You can also remove the scarf hanging off his hat, but why? Unlike the other two figures, I can’t place this Luke anywhere, so if you can, please help me out. I’m pretty sure it isn’t the 2004 Saga Luke that was meant to go with the Ultra Class Wampa, but then I could be wrong. It just seems like a real oddball figure.

The original retail on this set was $24.99 and I’m sorry, but at that price, this set was a rip off. I do realize that these Battle Packs are designed by Hasbro to give them an outlet for cashing in on older stock. Its also a pretty good way for kids and new collectors to get toys that are otherwise not on the shelf anymore. But here’s another good way to do that: Ebay. Even still, Hasbro could have done much better when making the selections for this one. Actually the whole set would have been vastly improved with a more context appropriate Luke. At the clearance price of $12.48 its a little better. The Wampa alone would probably sell for close to that nowadays, but anything more and it would be stretching it.

May 1 2010

Star Wars Legacy Collection: Zuckuss by Hasbro

All in all I’ve been pretty good about keeping my vow to kick collecting Star Wars. In the past couple of years the only Star Wars toys I’ve picked up were the Legacy Millenium Falcon and a set of figures I found clearanced at Ross. This year, I knew I’d be slacking back on that a little bit because of some of the great stuff shown off at Toy Fair. I know I will be picking up most of the vintage carded figures, that marvelous AT-AT (already pre-ordered), and a few other things. So, its probably that sense of impending doom that has made me spend a little more attention to what’s in the Star Wars section of the toy aisles these days. As a result, on my last trip to Toys R Us I spotted Zuckuss on the pegs and decided I needed him. They were doing a “buy one get one half off sale,” so I also picked up another figure too, but we’ll save that one for another time. Among the odds and ends that I kept when I sold off my Star Wars collection were the bounty hunters, so adding an updated Zuckuss to that cadre seemed like a good idea. I should note they also had two really sweet looking Force Unleashed multi-packs. I was really tempted, but maybe next time.

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Since its been a really long time since I last bought a carded Star Wars figure, this is my first experience with the new packaging. Overall, I like it. Its clean, compact and it shows the figure off very well. The position of the character art and name on the package makes it fairly easy to look through the pegs to see who’s hiding. The back panel has a little blurb on the character and a window to see what Build A Droid part you’re getting. My Zuckuss came with a leg for a figure which I am certain I will never, ever complete. Oh yeah, Darth Maul’s mug is stickered on the package. Jesus, does he have to get his picture on everything?

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The last time I owned a figure of this character it was the vintage Kenner release back when he was called 4-LOM (and 4-LOM was called Zuckuss). I remember he was a mail away figure and when I got him I had no idea what role he was going to play in the movie so I played with him as if he was a good guy. Little did I know that not only would he be a villain, but he’d only have about two nano-seconds of screen time. Of course, since then, there’s been a shit load of backstory retconned to this guy in comics and novels and everything else.

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Hasbro has continued to get better and better with many of their Star Wars figure sculpts. Zuckuss here is definitely on par with the quality of figures that were being released in the premium VOTC line several years back. The insectoid head sculpt is excellent and has two hoses that run from his breathing appartus on his backpack. I was delighted to find that I could unplug the backpack as well as the hoses from his face. Actually, I think he might die without that, so I put it back on pretty quickly. His robes are mostly sculpted in plastic, although he does have a softgoods skirt. Yes, that creates a disconnect between the plastic and cloth, but I still dig it as it frees up the leg articulation. I particularly like the fact that this figure represents the character’s short stature.

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The articulation on this little guy is excellent. He has ball joints in the shoulders, elbows and knees. His legs are jointed at the hips and his ankles are hinged. He also has a swivel cut in his waist and his head is ball jointed. For an extra that just stood in the background of a short scene, you can finally let your imagine run wild and make Zuckuss the action star that he was born to be!

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Zuckuss comes with his blaster carbine and… what?? Where’s the stand? I seriously cannot believe that Hasbro stopped putting figure stands in the packages. Obviously, I’ve been away for a while, but this to me is a no brainer. They have the molds made, how much could it cost to stamp those things out? I don’t even care if its personalized. Luckily I have plenty of generic clear disc stands lying around, so Zuckuss need not go standless, but seriously, Hasbro, bring back the stands.

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I’m coming to grips with the fact that collecting Star Wars figures is something that was seeded into me at such a young age and had such a profound effect on my childhood that I will never be free of it. Zuckuss here is a great example of that. He’s little more than window dressing in the movie and yet I love this figure so much. He’s just a badass little bug dude that is ready to pursue his quarry across the universe. What does he do with his all the bounty money he earns? Does he drink fine booze and smoke expensive cigars? Does he buy expensive cars and bug-hookers? I don’t know, but between this little figure and my warped imagination… by god, I’m going to find out!

 

 

Mar 23 2010

Star Wars: Legacy Collection Joker Squadron Figures by Habsro

Ok, so sometime around three years ago I gave up collecting Star Wars figures and toys and sold off most of my collection. It was a decision that was partly motivated by me needing space (I wanted to convert my spare room into a library) and partly because I needed the money. But it was still a conscious effort to cut off Star Wars rather than the other toy lines I collected. I guess my main reasoning was that it had just gotten so out of hand. I had bookcases upon bookcases lined with loose figures, and more and more of those figures were based on characters I barely knew. Some of the EU figures I didn’t know at all and a growing number were coming from the Prequel movies that I really didn’t have a lot of enthusiasm for.

I did keep some items, like most of the figures for my Imperial army and some of the ships that I really liked, mostly from the Original Trilogy. I still have fun taking a look through some of the new Star Wars stuff that comes out, and I’m open to pick up a piece now and again, but the truth is that in the last three years or so, the only Star Wars toy that I’ve purchased was the Legacy Millenium Falcon. That is until now.

I was poking around Ross’ Toy Graveyard today, you know the horribly kept area in the back where dead toy lines go to rot. From time to time I’ve found some good stuff back there for good deals and today I was following up on a lead that they were starting to get in some of those GI JOE Assault on Cobra Island sets. I didn’t find any of those, but I did find this Joker Squad set for $14.99 and I decided, “what the hell… why not.” It does go with the Imperials that make up the remains of my collection and I did actually read the Legacy comic that these figures are taken from (it was only Issue #4 and thus early enough in the series that I hadn’t quit on it yet). And considering this thing sold for more than twice that over at Entertainment Earth, I just couldn’t resist picking it up.

The packaging is nothing special, but it does a nice job of displaying the figures, and best of all it is 100 percent collector friendly. You just open the side flap and slide out the tray. The only thing holding the figures down are those clear rubber bands, so a quick snip snip and you can get your figures out and return them to the tray with no worries. It also has a sticker denoting that it is a Limited Edition Entertainment Earth online exclusive. Now, if only Ross hadn’t cemented that friggin price label right to the window of the box. Grrrr.

If you haven’t read Legacy #4, I can’t really recommend it, unless you’re a crazy serious Star Wars junkie, and if that’s the case, you probably already did. Its ok. Its interesting in that it covers another Civil War within the Empire, this time dealing with renegade Stormtroopers defecting to support another Emperor pretender. The characters are all cliche war movie schlock. You’ve got Anson Trask, the “noob” that joins the squad right before the suicide mission; Harkas the hard-ass sargeant; Hondo, the silent type; Vax the scrounger; and Jes Gistang, the Squad’s token female, who for some non-sensical reason is in charge of the heavy gun, despite being the smallest of the bunch. There’s also Lord Maleval, a Sith Lord sent to go with the Squad and make sure they take out the 908th Division’s base.

The set consists of the five members of the 407th Division’s Joker Squad along with Maleval. Now keep in mind, as five of these figures are Stormtroopers, the set reuses the same body four times. The fifth is the now infamous first female Stormtrooper figure, Jes, for which Hasbro was generous enough to provide a unique, body sculpt and a new belt. She also comes with the “big gun” she used in the comic. The other troopers all come with their standard blasters and Hondo comes with his vibro knife. The only other difference among the Stormtroopers bodies is Sgt. Harkass has yellow stripes on the arms of his armor, which I didn’t remember him having in the comic, but when I dug out my copy to check… yep, there they are. These figures use the same rubbery removable helmets as the Legacy Collection Stormtrooper with Jango Fett’s face.

The head sculpts are all new and unique. Naturally, each member has a really unique look about them to distinguish them as separate characters, at least with their helmets off. Which begs the question, how the hell do they keep from shooting each other when fighting other Stormtroopers? In the comic, both factions of Stormtroopers look exactly alike. Either way, the head sculpts are all good, although Hondo looks exactly like Luke Skywalker.

Lord Maleval is a really cool figure, even if he looks like the product of Darth Maul raping a Quarran. The coolest thing about this figure are his robes. Besides having a skirt around his legs, he has a massive flowing cape and hood, and the bottom of the cape is lined with a bendy plastic wire that not only weights it down but lets you pose it a bit. Its one of the cooler things I’ve seen in a Star Wars figure in a while. Maleval also comes with his lightsaber and his electrified whip.


All in all, this is a nice set and it brings something rather unique to my collection of Imperials. The question of it being a “Limited Edition” is pretty dubious, as it was released quite a while ago and Entertainment Earth still seems to have plenty left. All in all, I think the biggest problem with this set was the initial price. Sure $39.99 doesn’t sound like a lot for six exclusive Star Wars figures, as its actually less than these would have sold for on individual cards. But when you consider this sets heavy reuse of parts, it just seems way overpriced. They could have at least thrown in a copy of the comic for people who didn’t read it.