Imperial AT-ACT Driver - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

The Empire's combat drivers are trained to handle everything in the Imperial ground arsenal, from heavily armed AT-ATs to the more utilitarian AT-ACT walkers.

He was only seen in a “blink and you’ll miss it” fashion, but thanks to Hasbro we already had a good idea what this character looked like, due to the 3.75” action figure Hasbro produced for 2016’s RO Rapid Fire Imperial AT-ACT vehicle. Or was that a fair representation of that character? Thanks to some video on the web, it appears that the truth of this character’s screen accuracy lies somewhere in between the Imperial AT-ACT Driver Hasbro released as a TARGET exclusive and the Imperial Hovertank Pilot Hasbro released as a Toys R Us exclusive (both figures are from The Black Series [Phase III] lineup. In short, if you swap heads on both bodies with each other, it seems that you’ll actually get two characters who either (A) are somewhere left on the cutting room for or (B) actually can be seen, albeit briefly, in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. The short of it is that the TARGET exclusive The Black Series [Phase III] Imperial AT-ACT Driver is a pretty nice action figure, even if we’re not 100% confident Hasbro decorated him accurately. Then again, we don’t see anything below their upper backs, so will we ever know? But from what we can see it does appear that there were some small mix-ups when making this action figure, but it’s probably not enough to deter you from adding one or two or three to you collections.

Remember when we all started asking why Hasbro didn’t make the Imperial Hovertank Pilot that we saw in the publicity stills and early leaks of the film? The TBS [P3] Imperial Hovertank Pilot came with shoulder markings similar to the Shoretrooper officers. Well thanks to the addition of the Imperial AT-ACT Driver, you can pop off their heads, switch them and have two characters that are more in sync to the film than how Hasbro had released them. We think it’s pretty cool that such an easy fix has such successful results, and believe that collectors are going to appreciate these figures’ interchangeability. Imperial AT-ACT Driver is already a kit-bashed figure himself. He comes with the repainted body of the TBS [P3] Imperial Hovertank Pilot as well as the repainted portrait from the Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader (28) released earlier in The Black Series [Phase III] lineup. As you already know, the articulation on these figures is sublime, and you can expect to pose your figure very easily and in very impressive ways thanks to the flexibility the incredible articulation system offers. Our sample however came with very, very loose joints. We don’t know if it’s a chronic problem or not, but our figure has great difficulty maintaining poses because the ball-socket hips are so loose that the figure can’t support itself with just the regular gravitational pull from the Earth. We find this to be a major disappointment.

But what the Imperial AT-ACT Driver offers is an incredible action figure interpretation of an awesome character from the Rogue One: A Star Wars Story film. The figure looks great and aside from our aforementioned loose joint issue, we really don’t have any other complaints. The figure retails for $19.99, which is way too expensive for any action figure, but it’s a standard price for the line. He comes with a blaster rifle which works beautifully with the figure. The Imperial AT-ACT Driver can hold it in both hands perfectly and it looks pretty realistic as well. So, we have a great action figure in 6” scale. Now the question is what do we do with it? Display it on a shelf next to other troopers from Rogue One: A Star Wars Story? Leave it in the box so it doesn’t mix with the rest of your figures? Endlessly and fruitlessly wait for an accompanying vehicle for him to pilot? Obviously the latter will never happen and this is one of the biggest bones of contention of The Black Series 6” line. There is so little you can do with these figures and they don’t offer appropriate play value for kids (in addition to adult collectors). A line like this won’t reach “roaring success” status and it’s the reason why performance of the line is sketchy at best. Distribution is already at a standstill and characters that probably should have never been made have piled up on shelves and we don’t see them moving for anything. Also, most Rogue One The Black Series 6" characters can be found for a fraction of their original $19.99 MSRP. We don’t claim have all the facts, but it all just seems precarious.