Luke Skywalker’s Snowspeeder - POTJ - Vehicles (Exclusive)

The Rebel Alliance uses heavily modifieed Incom T-47 snowspeeders to defend themselves against the Imperial AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back. These small, dextrous vehicles are highly maneuverable and can evade enemy targeting. During the Battle of Hoth, Luke pilots a snowspeeder with his friend Dack Ralter as gunner. In desperation, the Rebels devise a strategy: to wrap tow cables around the legs of the walkers, toppling them to the ground. But during the battle, Luke's ship is hit and crashes in the path of an oncoming walker. He must rescue his friend or save himself from the approaching doom.

There is one thing you can totally rely on Hasbro for; and that is they’re committed to partnering with the best retailers around to release some incredible exclusives, most notably long-awaited vehicles from the Original Trilogy. Not all exclusives can be perfect, but when the Original Trilogy mixes with an awesome iconic vehicle, the result is almost magical. The Power Of The Jedi line in general refocused its efforts on producing (or re-releasing) amazing products from the Original Trilogy. In fact, they ensured that no less than five Original Trilogy vehicles were part of the line, from various retail chains. One of these exclusives included a first time ever vehicle in 3.75” scale: the eagerly anticipated TIE Bomber. Both the TIE Bomber and Luke Skywalker’s Snowspeeder got reserved for Walmart. Although each have kept a relatively familiar MSRP, Hasbro included some incredible goodness here that might take whatever sting you may feel for paying $29.99 for this exclusive. You should know right off the bat that Hasbro has retooled the previously available 1995 POTF2 Rebel Snowspeeder vehicle. Most obvious, all of the electronics have been stripped out much to the relief as well as some chagrin of the diverse collecting community. We personally are glad to see the electronics go, but we’re empathetic if you found this to be a setback. We’re not certain if we can claim that the 2002 POTJ version has a better paint job than the 1995 version, because both look great. But there are a few enhancements which make the Walmart exclusive better in our own estimation. A new and accurately sized gun has been tooled for the 2002 release and the laser cannon have been cast in solid plastic since no lights are part of the vehicle this time around.

We’re disappointed that Hasbro didn’t retool the cockpit in any way. As you’re more than well aware, the interior of the vehicle is much too large and usually whatever figures you place inside of the cockpit move around and don’t stay in their seated positions. This is especially true when you “fly” the vehicle and turn it in any other angle than a horizontal 180 degrees. This would have been an a great opportunity to give this part of the vehicle a revisiting. However, there are some other nice enhancements that are worth mentioning and worthy updates as well. We’re quite taken with the option Hasbro included here; a removable and replaceable decal that fits perfectly over the front cockpit window. This means that you can simulate the battle-damaged cracked glass it sustained after the vehicle was blasted by an Imperial AT-AT during the Battle of Hoth or remove it to have a pre-battle vehicle instead. The all-new paint job is worth it all in our estimation too. Luke Skywalker’s Snowspeeder is mostly white, albeit with plenty of smoke stains and battle damage, whereas the 1995 version was much too tan. Many of the same features that were included with the POTF2 version have been carried forward here. These include the opening cockpit (which will stay open if you’re patient), retractable landing gear and gorgeous decals that add an inordinate amount of authenticity. Aside from the vehicle still being too big and the over-sized cockpit, we really do enjoy this release of the vehicle. Oh, the rear gun is attached much too loosely. A tighter fit would have been more appreciated. We neglected to mention that.

The pack-in figures are more of an obligatory inclusion than anything else. We have trouble swallowing that Hasbro is insistent on including parts that originate from POTF2 action figures with updated vehicles (and an updated basic figure line). They included the arms and legs from 1995’s POTF2 Luke Skywalker (In X-wing Fighter Pilot Gear), a figure that was really a snowspeeder pilot anyway, with the body from 1998’s POTF2 Biggs Darklighter (also reused for 1999’s POTF2 Wedge Antilles figure from the Rebel Pilots Cinema Scene multipack). While similar, Luke Skywalker also has been given an all-new head sculpt. Interestingly, Hasbro used the Luke Skywalker sculpt from this vehicle release to also create Dack Ralter (a first time offering), so you just don’t get this sculpt once. Both figures are identical in sculpt, save for different head sculpts. And both have unique paint jobs, which means that you can tell them apart from one another. Both figures also have been given all-new separately sculpted (but permanently attached) padded collars. It seems like they went through a lot of unnecessary retooling here that could have been given to all-new sculpts instead. Admittedly, we think the all-new head sculpt of Dack Ralter looks pretty good. But it would have been even better had they placed it on a new body sculpt. Besides, the point of this exclusive is to make Luke Skywalker’s Snowspeeder available again and in a newly refreshed way. Updates to both of the pack-in figures would have been sublime, but the vehicle is enough reason to take attention away from not getting new figures. This is an exclusive to enjoy for sure. Aside from an all-new sculpt, this may be the best offering of Luke Skywalker Snowspeeder we’ll see.