501st Legion Attack Dropship With Clone Pilot & Battle Droid - SW [Y/AOTC] - Deluxe

A 501st Legion attack dropship flown by a 501st Legion Clone Pilot deploys troopers into combat against Battle Droids. Bearing the iconic markings of the elite 501st Legion, the dropship has cannons and chin guns to drill deep into battle zones. The pilot briefly lands with the ship's cockpit rotated into deploy position to drop up to two troopers onto the field before flying back into the air to provide ground support.

What the heck is going on anymore? It’s 2013 and many collectors haven’t even seen 2012’s SW [TPM 3D] Republic Attack Dropship With Clone Pilot Class I set and a new one with an all-new paint job has already been released for the 2013 lineup. The only change for the 2013 Class I sets versus the 2012 sets is 2013 comes with an extra figure and an inflated price tag. This will likely be something that doesn’t faze you or will completely anger you. In an era of kids’ focused toys where articulation has taken a backseat in the line, Hasbro sort of breaks that rule by bringing a well-articulated Clone Pilot from the Revenge Of The Sith Evolutions line and pairs it with a very simply articulated Episode II specific Battle Droid. The packaging looks attractive. The figures are set up in front of a “Battle of Geonosis” backdrop. And Hasbro has worked in some 501st Legion Attack Dropship vehicles right into the scenery to make this Class I set feel like it’s actually from Star Wars Episode II: Attack Of The Clones. We’re quite perplexed on why Hasbro decided to make this part of the 501st Legion, but they did. But you’ll find that this may cause more confusion than necessary.

No matter how you slice it, the 501st Legion Attack Dropship is from the Expanded Universe, specifically a brainchild of Hasbro. It’s intended to be the Mini Rig version of the Republic Gunship first seen in Episode II. We are actually quite fond of this vehicle’s design. But we don’t understand why Hasbro took it so far to the left in this instance. Clone companies and battalions weren’t set up at this point in the Star Wars saga. The clones came right off of the boat on Kamino and dropped into the opening of the Clone Wars at the Battle of Geonosis. So Hasbro is erroneously creating a very non-canon part of Star Wars history with this release. In other words, it’s so far fetched that it’s impossible for this to even be just “off screen” enough to miss it. Can you tell we’re cranky about this particular release? And we don’t know if we should be thankful for the Episode II screen-accurate Clone Pilot that’s been included here. If it’s already fictional (for the Star Wars saga), why not give this clone a few blue color flashes and make it completely ridiculous? But no, it’s a clean repaint of the Clone Trooper (The Clone Wars) figure from the 2005 ROTS Clone Trooper To Stormtrooper [Version 2] Evolutions release.

The included Battle Droid (also specific to Episode II) is not much to write about either. Hasbro took one of the “articulated” Battle Droid figures from 2012’s SW [TPM 3D] Trade Federation MTT (Multi Troop Transport) and colored it maroon to match the droids seen on Geonosis. The figure has a mere five points of articulation including all ball-socket jointed articulation: head, shoulders and hips. The sculpt is fairly decent and is in total scale to the Clone Pilot. As a whole, this set is probably a bargain. It’s rare to get a figure that has as much articulation as the Clone Pilot does in the kid-focused lines anymore, so we are thankful for that. The Battle Droid is also an OK figure here. Obviously the Class I sets are designed for kids to have an “instant battle” but the spirit of this scaled back line just isn’t the same as the classic Kenner vintage era. The Mini Rig line was designed to be affordable to those parents who couldn’t afford to buy their young Star Wars fan an AT-AT or a Millennium Falcon. But in the modern era, the Class I sets are right now more expensive than the Class II vehicles. Does this strike concern in anyone else? We hope the line can sustain itself with these products. We just want to know when adult collectors can expect something for them.