Speeder Bike With Biker Scout - TBS [P2] - Six Inch Figures (Deluxe)

Chased by Rebels, biker scouts race their speeder bikes through the Endor forest. The biker scouts weave at breakneck speed through the trees, trying to outrun the Rebels so they can warn the shield generator station of the enemy's presence.

"Call for help! Go!"

Would “pleasantly disappointed” be too much of an oxymoron to describe The Black Series 6” Speeder Bike With Biker Scout Deluxe set, so much that it wouldn’t make sense? We find the opposition in those words bewildering as well, but maybe that’s because the release of this long-awaited set is just that: bewildering. Presented at 2014’s New York Toy Fair during their wonderful new product reveals, Hasbro began showing us little signs here and there that The Black Series 6” scale was taking front and center stage. A great piece to open up the new Deluxe format with, the Speeder Bike With Biker Scout made some fans so happy that they shrieked with glee in the audience during the reveal. (Yeah, I am calling you out Justin!) So now six months from its announcement at NY Toy Fair, the Speeder Bike With Biker Scout (along with Jabba The Hutt) have been making their way to shelves as the first two releases in this format. There is no denying they look fantastic in the packaging, but we began to feel a little bit melancholy when we removed the Speeder Bike With Biker Scout set in particular from its box. It’s not without merit, so please don’t take the downtrodden mood the wrong way. It’s just that we expected to be wowed by the contents, and we just aren’t. The Speeder Bike With Biker Scout opens up this new Deluxe format and we had super high hopes for it, but some things need to be ironed out or Hasbro has to get things completely in check before the next ones go into production.

Let’s talk about what is bothering us the most. Quite frankly, we are not happy with how the Biker Scout turned out. It has a wonderfully fantastic sculpt, and the paint job is remarkably excellent. For example, it has a few spots of rust/dirt accumulating in the chest area and well as a good portion of his boots. And the gray storage pockets stand out from the rest of the uniform. Clearly all of the deco aspects of this character are firmly in place which is a great thing. But the quality of the plastic used to manufacture the figure and its shooting accessory are very disappointing. We’re not sure if Hasbro needed to produce a more rubbery type of material for the Biker Scout so that he could effortlessly straddle his Speeder Bike or not, but it has greatly hindered the aesthetics of the character. Greatly. The Biker Scout feels wobbly and unsure of itself when you pose him off of the Speeder Bike. It’s almost like a baby deer or calf trying to take its first steps. That’s the interpretation of the posture that comes to our mind and it doesn’t make us happy. The Biker Scout also feels like he has been “stretched out” from sitting on his bike, but thankfully his joints return to their normal shape over time. (But what is the long term damage of this?) What outraged us the most was simply placing his blaster pistol in his hand to take a picture and the plastic is so cheap that the trigger guard broke awake from the rest of the gun. That is maddening. Hasbro evidently has some quality control issues to tighten up before releasing a ton of figures in this sub-line in our opinion.

So, we probably sound like Debbie Downers to you, but all is certainly not lost. The Biker Scout is an excellent figure and can be posed in a variety of ways thanks to his hyper articulation. He can attain most poses that can be seen in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi as well as a ton of other “off-screen” stylistic positions as well. And how can anyone complain about how he looks steering the speeder bike? We hope that Hasbro has plans to package him singly in the basic 6” lineup because this will be a figure that Star Wars collectors everywhere would love to army build. Another reason to consider this set is for the Speeder Bike of course! We have little to no complaints against this larger-scaled vehicle. It looks fantastic, it’s properly colored and it has rigidity that we were concerned might be lacking due to the softness of the Biker Scout figure. It comes with a triangular clear ball-socket display stand that plugs into the bottom of the Speeder Bike. The stand comes with three ball-sockets (one of each side of it), but you’ll find that you’ll be using the primary one most because it offers the best balance. The Speeder Bike comes with very few features and/or articulation, but the rear flaps move up and down and the lower cannon rotates. If we’re honest, we do love the Speeder Bike With Biker Scout Deluxe set, it’s just that we had hoped to be wowed by it. It’s a well done piece, but it isn’t perfect and for $40 we are expecting perfection (or near perfection). We still hold our heads high with anticipation for what’s coming, but Hasbro has to lock down the quality a little bit more tightly.