AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport) - LC - Vehicles (Exclusive)

The All Terrain Scout Transport (AT-ST) walker strides across the ground searching for Rebel troopers. The armored vehicle's blaster cannons and concussion launcher give the walker plenty of firepower, while the height and mobility provide significant advantages during attacks.

The Wookieepedia entry for the AT-ST vehicle starts off with a clever and humorous opening that reads "AT-STs will no longer be deployed on planets with an abundance of trees or other known obstacles such as rock-wielding primitives." This quote comes from the "AT-ST service manuals" found in The New Essential Guide to Vehicles and Vessels and while it is indeed funny, how true it is! The AT-ST was first seen in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, but it was only a mere glimpse and didn’t take up much time in the film (or as much as we had hoped). In fact, the vehicle must have made a poignant statement because it was quickly developed for a toy in the 1981 The Empire Strikes Back line. It was a popular vehicle from the start and George Lucas indirectly made up for its brief introduction in Episode V by having them the main obstacles for the Rebel Alliance in Episode VI during the Battle of Endor. The vintage mold of the AT-ST was slightly retooled (and dramatically repainted) and saw subsequent and different releases in the modern action figure line over time including the 1996 POTF2, 2002 POTJ and 2007 TAC Star Wars toy lines. And while they were all cool for the time, forget everything you think you know about the AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport) and be prepared to feast your eyes on the definitive release (sculpt-wise at least) of it. Hasbro flat out nixed the idea of rereleasing the old vintage mold for another round and built an all-new AT-ST from the ground up. We must immediately express that it is indeed a most incredible vehicle we have seen in a while. Hasbro made so many major enhancements that we never expected to ever be included in a vehicle of this size and we are completely amazed. None of us ever expected a vehicle to rival the articulation of the most super-articulated action figures, did we?

We didn’t realize just how “tiny” the original and rereleased AT-ST vehicles were until we compared it to the new sculpt. Probably a good one and a half times bigger, it is certainly much larger than its ancestor. The new AT-ST can be posed in so many positions and can be manipulated into so many configurations; you may just think you are playing with a Transformers toy instead of a Star Wars toy. (We are not kidding.) It is very impressive to say the very least. We are thoroughly flabbergasted with the amount and level of articulation Hasbro has decided to include for this vehicle. It will no doubt serve as the template for all future AT-ST releases. We have counted 22 points of articulation (give or take one or two) on this beauty so you can imagine that the AT-ST’s movements are essentially limitless. You can spread its legs wide and far apart to recreate it tripping on the logs during the Battle of Endor or you can make it collapse down to roughly the size of a mini rig. What a fantastic capability for a vehicle to be this versatile and add so much play value while still being unbelievably authentic to what was seen in Episode VI. Each “leg” on the AT-ST sports seven points of articulation themselves, while the rest can be found on the head. The AT-ST is simply a perfect vehicle. It also comes with a Return Of The Jedi specific pilot, simply called AT-ST Driver. The driver is nothing new and is a repaint of the figure that came in 2007’s TAC The Battle Of Hoth Ultimate Battle Pack multipack. This time around though he has dark brown hair and his uniform has also been cast (or painted) in a slightly darker color. It makes him new enough in our books, but certainly not of the super-articulated quality we are dying for in our collections. He comes with an Imperial issue blaster that is rendered basically useless if you remove the band attaching it to his hand because he is unable to hold it otherwise. We find this a bit unfortunate, but after all, we realize his major weapon is the AT-ST, the blaster is just gravy. While it is great to get a pilot, we got flustered trying to get him to fit nicely in his seat. This particular figure’s legs go into a wide position when seated and we had to futz with them for longer than we wanted to in order get him to look good in the seat. We hope that when it is time to get our super-articulated AT-ST Driver that Hasbro tests to see if he fits in this vehicle without issues first.

If we were to pick at the AT-ST, we would have wished that more color was applied to its rather bland and dull gray body. It looks a bit too blemish free and clean especially if you compare the paint job 2007’s TAC The Battle Of Endor Ultimate Battle Pack to it. There are some great rust stain patterns on the vehicle, but we think overall it is way too faint (in our opinion). Don't get us wrong, there are certainly a lot of marks on this vehicle, but it could have absolutely used more (and darker) spots. We suppose we will never be happy when it comes to acceptable paint jobs, so we apologize for our [what we assume are] unattainable standards. Things like extra foliage/grass stains on the AT-ST’s "feet" are just some examples that we would have liked to see get transferred over to this release. No matter, despite these minor complaints, we really couldn't ask for more from Hasbro, we are just being whiners here. Perhaps the biggest improvement on this vehicle besides its massive amount of articulation is the thickness of the legs. While all other previous versions of the vehicle have had unsound and unstable legs, the new AT-ST has legs that are solid as a rock. They are thicker and made of a stronger plastic and there are extra parts that reinforce the utilization of them and it is truly a masterfully engineered product. It would definitely be egregious to pass on this vehicle. And once again, the enhancements are truly astounding. The scale is true to form and the shape of it is beyond the par you would expect. And then there are all the other fine details like a retooled cockpit to hold two AT-ST Driver action figures and flip-up “eye” ports that stay open until you decide to put them down. Another nice touch is the removable chin gun, one made in authentic scale, and another one that has been designed to shoot a missile for the kiddies. Altogether, this Walmart exclusive impresses and satisfies in every way, well, except for maybe the price. At just shy of $44, it seems like another packed in action figure would have made this price a whole lot more palatable. Even so, we hope that this vehicle makes its way into your collections, because we are thrilled with ours!