Skip to main content

Star Wars Power of the Force Red Box Vehicles X-Wing, AT-ST, and Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper




Speeder Bike with Scout Trooper

This was the only one of these three vehicles that my brother and I had as kids. We had two vintage scout troopers so finally having a speeder bike was a big deal. An added plus was that it was the same mold as the vintage line so our original scouts could finally feel the air fog up their goggles. The new scout figure introduced one of my least favorite things about the new Power of the Force line: wide stance, bending knee figures. They just look awkward off of their vehicles and besides the speeder bike, no one else could ride unless they had similar legs. Say what you will about the vintage vehicles and beasts but the trap door mechanism made it possible for most anyone to ride. Thankfully, like I mentioned, this was a vintage mold so we didn't face that issue YET.











AT-ST

My best friend had the AT-ST so I never felt the rush to go buy one. Though, if it had been in stores longer I probably would have. Return of the Jedi was my favorite Star Wars movie so recreating any part of that film was my thing. Also, this is the perfect time to talk about the AT-AT/@-@ debate. I never heard it referred to as an @-@ until I heard Kevin Smith talking about them. The @-@ name doesn't click for me, especially knowing there are AT-STs. Would you call them @-'stis'? Either way, I always referred to AT-STs as Chicken Walkers. I'm not sure where that term originated or where I first learned it. Maybe from old Star Wars resource books? I used to get every Star Wars book that I could from the Library in that time before the Star Wars renaissance so it's very likely that that is where I picked it up. Anyways, I love this vehicle. The stomping action feature is neat but I never used it. My only complaint is that it can't hold two figures. 











Sorry, Chewie


X-Wing

Holding this toy gave me real joy. Seriously. Like a 5 year old on Christmas. I never even expected the rush of emotions that came over me when I wooshed this thing through the air. And when I say woosh, I mean woosh. It was almost a guttural reaction. I was making sound effects and everything. It just felt natural to do so. I'm not sure if it is just the overall design of the toy or the way X-Wings have been implanted in my brain over the years but it was an amazing feeling. Bear in mind that I had a POTF2 Snowspeeder, a Tie Fighter, a vintage Falcon and a vintage B-Wing previously. None of those ever gave me this rush and I was never a huge X-Wing person! Just an amazing feeling and I'm so happy to have experienced it.














Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Imperial Beasts Lot

When the vintage Masters of the Universe line came out, it was an out of the park, smash hit. Other companies wanted in on that MOTU cash so they produced similar toys for children to add to their collections. One of these companies was Imperial and two of their lines were Dragons, Knights, and Daggers and Robots, Lasers, and Galaxies. The box art alone were enough to tell children that He-Man would approve of these toys. Image from  http://mastersofthe80s.tumblr.com/post/147954847359 Image from  https://2warpstoneptune.com/2014/08/20/robots-lasers-galaxies-mammoth-marauder-imperial-1984/ As a kid I had a Mammoth Marauder and I loved it. Over the years, I was left with only the seat. Trying to find it online had proved torturous as fans had discovered their value and I refused to pay $100 for a rubber elephant.  Fate turned a new page for me this week, however, as one Ebayer decided to liquidate his massive collection of Imperial beasts. I decided to g...

Toy Biz Batman Batmobile

 Recently, I learned that the Toy Biz Batmobile was a two seater! Talk about a game changer. I loved my Kenner Batmobile, it had the engine missile, machine guns, and the pop out/rotating fire effect, but it could only hold Batman. As a 1966 Batman devotee, I always wanted Robin to ride batarang so that he could hear lectures about automobile safety as he approached his 16th birthday. It took a bit of searching but I found a pretty good one in $50 range on Ebay. The stickers were included but I decided not to apply them. I love the chrome features over the gold hubcaps on the Kenner Batmobile. The passenger seat is everything for me with this. The gear shift opens secret missile launchers in the front.  The Bat Trunk was an interesting feature. It has a lot of depth, which I guess can be useful for taking criminals to Arkham, or disposing of their bodies. I guess everyone has competing views of the Caped Crusaders thes...

GoBots: Crasher, Sparky, Rest-Q

Let's just get it out of the way. Transformers is the better show, series, story, idea, etc. Hasbro and Marvel just really knocked it out of the park. The action, drama, and depth of the franchise is pretty unparalleled. Honestly, outside of Iron Giant, how many companies made you genuinely sad about the death of a robot. Skyfire and Optimus, we're looking at you. Moving on, I always loved the GoBots toys. I loved their look, their scale, and their articulation. Yes, they rarely came with accessories but they didn't come across as a brick with moving forearms either. Sorry, Hound. And, for better or worse, they almost always looked like their animated counterpart or better. I won't get into Ironhide or Bumblebee because I'm really not try to put down the Transformers. I'm just suggesting that the GoBots definitely had some strengths. They even had playsets and vehicles, which I'll get into later. (How great would it have been to have a pl...

Kenner Silverhawks

Around 1990, my family moved to Indiana, near my mom's hometown. Every so often, we would go shopping at the local mall with my Grandparents. During that first year, we visited Kay Bee Toys and they had a giant lot of Silverhawks that they were liquidating. At this time, neither my brother or I really knew what they were but we were immediately captivated by what we saw. We walked out of the store that day with Quicksilver, Flashback, Mon*Star, Mumbo Jumbo, Buzz Saw, Mo-Lec-U-Lar, and the giant Tallyhawk. Not a bad haul at all!  Even without knowing the backstory, we really enjoyed these figures. My mom was really great at keeping her finger on the pulse of what interested us and always kept an eye out for things that would fit the bill. Not much later, she found a Silverhawks coloring book that covered the story of Darkbird. This book was my first real introduction to the world of Silverhawks. I broke my childhood Quicksilver but kept the other figures in pretty...

Super 7 The Three Terrors

Like many of you, I wasn't too impressed when Super 7 unveiled their Three Terrors figures. There was something off about them and I had just endured the ending of Mattel's side of Masters of the Universe Classics. Maybe I had some action figure fatigue. Either way, I skipped them. I was a fan of the their Curse of the Three Terrors short. It wasn't perfect but I liked the idea of a new ancient faction of undead warriors and their new hidden leader that was teased. The new Savage World Thundercats, however, has really reinvigorated my vintage figure spirit so I decided to finally pick these up. Super 7 has them on their site for $20 apiece. Wow, was I wrong to delay on these figures. First off, I have to give props to Super 7 for how these were packaged. The bubble tears easily away from the card, leaving minimal damage to the art. Once out of package, these guys blew me away. They. Are. Vibrant. The colors really pop on all of these guys, just beautiful. The h...