Vulture Droid - TCW [B] - 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 torpedoes. On land, they position their wings into stilt-like legs for ground patrols.

The Variable Geometry Self-Propelled Battle Droid, Mark I (Vulture-class droid starfighter or even more simply Vulture droid) was a droid created and utilized by the Trade Federation. Interestingly, although classified as a starfighter, the vehicle has no pilot and navigated itself via its central control computer. The vehicle has four blaster cannons and two torpedo launchers. Armed with a bevy of artillery, the droid could also attain speeds of 1200 kilometers per hour. And when the vehicle was not in flight mode, it could separate its wings and use them as functioning legs and walk about the shipyards as needed to get from point A to point B. For years we received the Vulture Droid as a much too small deluxe figure. About the same size of a 3.75” action figure, fans knew that they weren’t the right size, but we just weren’t sure just how off the scale was. Hasbro remedied this issue with the release of The Clone Wars Vulture Droid. A vehicle/droid that is more impressive than you may think, its level of detail and amount of articulation will definitely put a smile on your face. Not only do you get plenty of it, but it also has great functional articulation as well. There is nothing more frustrating than being given a vehicle that's intended to articulate yet doesn't.

While the Vulture Droid has made appearance in Star Wars sources as early as Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, this Hasbro toy is based on the vehicle seen in The Clone Wars film as well as multiple episodes including the Shadow Of Malevolence episode. The vehicles created for The Clone Wars have been primarily colors in blue and the Vulture Droid is no different. 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 you know, the wings of this droid can separate (pull away) from the hull and then split in half (boy, what is it with Separatists and splitting limbs?) to form “legs” so that it can walk around like a “normal” droid. The design is wonderful and although we think the “head” on the vehicle may be a bit too big, it is not sore on the eyes.

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 good news is that the wings are fastened with tight joints and this allows for optimum posing capabilities and we are happy that a strong plastic was used to help aid in the prevention of bowing legs. Part of the mid-size 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 a properly scaled one 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. Although this droid has no pilot, we think it would have added that extra play value it needed. But if they did indeed add this, it wouldn’t be able to house a figure, so maybe we take back our suggestion. Still, we love the Vulture Droid as is and it is the perfect accent to The Clone Wars line which seems to be taking over retail. We are beginning to crave the stuff and an all new interest level too. (Editor's Note: The Vulture Droid has also been released in The Clone Wars [Red] "red" line look in addition to The Clone Wars [Shadow Of The Dark Side] "dark skies" line look.)