Vulture Droid - TCW [R] - Vehicles

Droid starfighters, also known as vulture droids, are sent out in huge numbers to overwhelm Republic forces. They are capable of skillful maneuvers in aerial and space battles, and are armed with blaster cannons and torpedos. On land, they position their wings into stilt-like legs for ground patrols.

The Vulture Droid, whose real name is the Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I Vulture-class droid starfighter, is by design a very cool Separatist droid. Because of its sheer size and scale, Hasbro deemed this to be a better fit for the midsize vehicle assortment in the various The Clone Wars lines. To date, it has been released in every The Clone Wars toy line to date. This is its second appearance as we’re now in The Clone Wars [Red] vehicle lineup. Because this ‘thing’ is a character and not necessarily a vehicle, it has no pilot. It navigates itself via its central control computer, just like any other droid. The Vulture Droid has an arsenal of protection. Armed with a bevy of artillery, the Vulture Droid could also attain speeds of 1200 kilometers per hour. It’s speed seems to be one of its greatest strengths and can rapidly approach its target quickly and briskly. But the Vulture Droid also has four blaster cannons and two torpedo launchers. When the Vulture Droid is not in flight mode, it can separate its wings and use them as functioning legs and walk about the shipyards (or any place really) as needed to get from point A to point B. If you recall, the Vulture Droid wasn’t always this big. A much-too-small version was released in the Revenge Of The Sith line. When compared to 3.75” action figures, The Clone Wars version is much, much closer to accurate scale. The Vulture Droid may be more impressive than you think. But it isn’t perfect. It’s leg joints are not that strong and will easily fall over without proper balancing. But it does have an unprecedented amount of detail and the articulation and features are noteworthy, albeit imperfect.

While the Vulture Droid has made appearances in Star Wars sources as early as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the deco sources this release to the characters seen in The Clone Wars film in addition to subsequent episodes; especially in the “Malevolence” story arc. If you pay close attention, you’ll notice that many Separatist vehicles created for The Clone Wars have been primarily colored in blue. The Vulture Droid is no different. You’ll also find elements of white and white and gray to give the Vulture Droid its personality. The Vulture Droid has very cool patterns and contrasting designs on its body. And the common “alternating white triangle” pattern on the wings looks spectacular. The deco is fabulous. In fact, it’s so good it makes you forget about the droid’s weaknesses for a couple of minutes. Originally an all-new vehicle from head to toe, the Vulture Droid has been designed in a very thorough manner and can actually function and be displayed in your collections just as it did on the big and small screens. Hasbro ensured that they gave this vehicle some additional play value including a double-jointed neck (which allows for awesome mobility), ball-jointed, hinged and swivel wing connectors and extra missile storage on the inside of the wings. As mentioned, this is its third release in The Clone Wars line and we do see differences in some of the deco. It might be difficult to consider this version unique from the past two, but there are obvious differences this time around. “Slight repaint” may best describe its paint job.

As you know, the wings of the Vulture Droid can separate (pull away) from the hull and then split in half to create it’s legs. This gives it the ability to “walk around” more like a humanoid droid. The design is wonderful and although we think the “head” on the vehicle may be a bit too big, it isn’t jarringly oversized. The wings are seemingly affixed with tight joints, but when you attempt to stand the Vulture Droid up you’ll find that they don’t want to hold up its bodyweight all that well. Still you can still achieve some optimal posing and we are happy that a strong plastic was used to help aid in the prevention of bowing legs. Part of the midsize vehicle line, the Vulture Droid is a very fair and modestly priced vehicle. It is a nice chunk of plastic worthy of you $20+ purchase. After getting years of Vulture Droids that were about 75% too small, Hasbro as given us multiple opportunities now to purchase a properly scaled version in The Clone Wars line. It would be awesome if Hasbro could repaint the Vulture Droid in accurate movie colors as well. If we had any suggestions, we would have recommended redesigning the head to make a cockpit (just for additional play features – because that would be screen inaccurate). We are quite fond of the Vulture Droid as it is and it’s the perfect accent to The Clone Wars [Red] line which is seemingly full of repackaged vehicles thus far. We are really craving the stuff in this line and Hasbro is providing so much diversity in the line that our choices are becoming harder and harder to make. This really helps to brew strong interest in the television show.