Star Wars Clone Wars StaRFighter Vehicle - Snowspeeder

Comment: I was going to rate "educational value" as 3 stars, but then I thought, "This is a great lesson in science fiction vehicular design done right!" Five stars!

The scale of this model is extremely close to movie-accurate, as is the coloring. The inside of cockpit is surprisingly well-detailed, and even the area between the seats have little knobs with gold paint on them. The canopy, as another reviewer mentioned, is a clear plastic that is painted (at first I kind of felt like lifting the canopy will scratch off some of the paint, but the paint seems to be bonded right to the plastic). Underneath the canopy there is even a quilted-looking texture painted separately, which really keeps that part from looking flimsy or incomplete. It's tiny details like that that really make this more of a collector's model than a toy, although it's built very sturdy and is certainly tough enough for some rough play.

There's a little access panel that comes off once you remove a section of one of the guns, which I guess would be really cool if you're setting up some kind of diorama and a technician or robot is repairing it, or it gets blasted off by an AT-AT laser blast. I don't really mind it because it's covered and you don't really see it, but as a symmetry-obsessed person, I kind of wish there was another removable panel on the opposite side, but whatever.

The guns are replaceable with sort of a play-action version that shoots plastic missiles - I have no intention of using them, as i like the movie-accurate version, but I just wanted to say that it's nice they're thinking of us 30 year-old collectors by including both versions; I don't care much for parts that can pop out and get lost!

The bottom of the snowspeeder is a bit different than the one seen in the movie. The movie version has a sort of ram-scoop thing on the bottom that really looks amazing, but this version got rid of that. Instead it has a little landing gear foot that comes down, and a couple fins that serve to keep the wing tips above the surface of the table/ ground/ floor. At first I was disappointed that the ram-scoop wasn't present, but they did a really nice job designing this version, and there are a lot of really interesting, angular shapes going on there that seem to mesh pretty well with the overall shape of the snowspeeder, but is obviously of a different design than the rest of the craft (somehow more Playskool-y).

This year is the 30th anniversary of "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Me" -- my entire life I've looked longingly at the original snowspeeder by Kenner and wanted to own it (my cousin owns it in near-mint condition!). It was really hard to find for a reasonable price, as were all original Star Wars vehicles, so I ended up buying the plastic, build-it-yourself models from Revell. These were extremely movie-accurate, and since then I really couldn't get into any of the versions that Kenner or Hasbro has come out with. They've all looked 'cartoony' to one degree or another. NOT THIS VERSION. This is extremely close to the Revell model version that I've grown to adore, and that makes this a really exciting buy for me. As a collector of amazing science fiction vehicles, this has a special place in my collection.

I absolutely recommend this to any Star Wars collector, fan, or science fiction nut, as it's a wonderful example of design anesthetic as well as an instantly recognized and beloved pop culture icon. I found this at (Target*) for about $20! I couldn't believe it! But if you can find it for even $30 or $35 it's totally worth it. Go out and buy it before it becomes really hard to find!

Comment: I'm so glad Hasbro is back to paying attention to the original three movies!

The size is comparable to the old one, maybe a little smaller and less beefy looking in the engines, but it is probably closer to the design of the film model.

The best parts about it are a) a sleek scale size harpoon gun (always hated that old big goofy thing, though they give you that as well - actually fires like the old one - your choice) and b)a super clear one piece canopy - molded in clear plastic with the frame painted instead of the old snap-in windows.

The new canopy is hard clear plastic so this might mean it won't take as much punishment (the old frame was more pliable soft plastic with a break-away window) but it looks better.

You NEED this to go with your new 2010 Imperial AT-AT(see my review) and a Dack figure plus the 2009 Snowspeeder pilot Luke and 2009 removeable helmet AT-AT drivers, and Rebelscum dot com has it that there will be a Hoth version of the AT-ST soon!

With every bounty hunter currently on the shelves and several Hoth and Bespin vehicles, 2010 is truly the year that the Empire Strikes Back!