Canto Bight Police Speeder - SW [TLJ] - Vehicles

Anyone attempting to escape the law on Cantonica had best move fast, as the police force of Canto Bight has at its disposal these swift, lightweight pursuit craft.

Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi is not a reboot of Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. The Canto Bight Police Speeder is not the new (Twin Pod) Cloud Car. The Canto Bight Police Officer is NOT the new Bespin Security Guard (or even the Cloud Car Pilot for that matter.) You must un-see what you have just seen. OK, let's stop being politically correct about The Last Jedi for a moment. While the Canto Bight Police Speeder is not a direct rip-off to what we all saw in Episode V, you can't help but make broad sweeping stroke generalizations about all of the “familiar” things just in the toy line and trailers (both teaser and official). Anyone can see the direct links between The Empire Strikes Back and The Last Jedi at this point. Maybe that’s part of a genius marketing plan, but it could mean that we’re in store for more of the familiar this December. Rehashing the same old things may ultimately be disconcerting to fans, but hopefully, it’s all part of the plan to “fool” fans and turn the story around completely. We’ll prepare ourselves for the worst. But it would be nice to be proven wrong this time. That said, let’s look at the Canto Bight Police Speeder. Honestly, it may be one of many ridiculous things we have seen in a Star Wars film, but that’s just an opinion. They look like mini rigs more than anything else at the moment.

You can see them in the stills released to Entertainment Weekly, and they don’t look like they can do much of anything. Time will tell, however. Maybe these vehicles have high speeds and can accomplish impressive calisthenics, but none of that is known until the film’s release. As a toy, the Canto Bight Police Speeder isn’t terrible and DOES function a whole lot more like a mini-rig than a ”mid-size” vehicle. It does come with some basic articulation including rotating wings and adjustable cannons. The handlebars and console are articulated and allow the vehicle to transfor into a couple of unique styles. What we’re trying to say is that the Canto Bight Police Speeder is more complex than it appears. You have to play with this vehicle to appreciate it. But you will find out that it does come with a couple of surprises. The paint operations are reminiscent of old 80s Dixie Cups or fast food soft-drink cups from no-name food joints, and you’ll even see something that looks a lot like TARGET’s logo on the wings too. The seating area and console cleverly interact with one another and the pack-in pilot, the Canto Bright Police, sits nicely in place to control this vehicle's movements and actions. The Canto Bight Police Speeder is a simple vehicle, for what it is it’s very well done.

The Canto Bight Police pack-in figure is a generic member of the Canto Bight Police Department. In fact, the initials CBPD are inscribed in Aurebesh on the figure’s helmet. In all honesty, it’s about one of the worst figures Hasbro has produced to date. It has a terrible “leaning tower of Pisa” lean to it, and it is difficult to correct this drastic slant no matter how you try to pose him “out” of it. This figure looks like the Episode VIII version of the Bespin Security Guard from Episode V. In fact, his blaster pistol alone looks like a direct rip of the weapon used by the Cloud City Wing Guard in The Empire Strikes Back. How can anyone NOT connect the dots here? Even the close-fitting aspects of the costume are reminiscent of the security forces seen in Episode V. Our sample doesn’t hold his blaster pistol very well, and his other hand (the right one) is in an awkward “fisted” position which makes it impossible to utilize for weapon handling. We believe with a little more care to the tooling of the figure that we would have had a higher regard for this toy release, but the not-so-great Canto Bight Police pack-in figure bogs this vehicle release down for us quite a bit. Hopefully, their role on Episode VIII’s “Bespin” planet will be a worthy addition to the film because right now we’re not so sure if this was a worthy release for the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] toy line.