Imperial Assault Tank Commander - TVC - Basic (VC148)

Celebrate the legacy of Star Wars, the action-and-adventure-packed space saga from a galaxy far, far away, with this collection of premium, highly-detailed 3.75-inch scale figures and vehicles. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)

OK. Let’s understand this. Han Solo (Stormtrooper) and Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard) get relegated to retailer exclusivity, but an alternate Imperial Assault Tank Driver stays part of the mainline? How perverse! We’re not complaining about this. We find Hasbro’s decisions odd sometimes. Clever reuses of existing sculpts are something that all Star Wars collectors should come to accept. If Hasbro tools an ideal protocol droid or astromech droid, wouldn’t you want all of the other droids to be uniform and in scale with each other? The same goes for armored troopers. If the two characters share the same armored parts and only vary by deco changes, we should want Hasbro to make all of the variations as soon as possible to army-build our collections with briskness and expediency. When it comes to Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, it feels like it’s the most popular of the Disney Star Wars films. The story doesn’t veer off from what was established (too much at least) from George Lucas Star Wars, and because of its proximity to the Original Trilogy timeline, many skeptical of the direction Disney has taken Star Wars have embraced most of what the film offers, including fantastic troopers from the Galactic Empire that we love to army-build. The Imperial Assault Tank Commander is a fine addition to The Vintage Collection basic figure line, and it’s always a year-to-the-day apart from its base figure, the Imperial Assault Tank Driver. And while not perfect, Hasbro faithfully recreated the character in super-articulated 3.75” scale, and it’s a character that not even The Black Series [Phase III] 6” collectors have yet.

The Imperial Assault Tank Driver is another “new” figure for their “bean counter” purposes, sadly. But they all-new paint job makes it feel different enough from the first release to feel like a new figure. Let’s refresh our memories about how they made the Imperial Assault Tank Gunner figure. Hasbro took 2016’s TBS [P3] Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader and then retooled the torso. They retooled the figure's torso to make the ball-socket peg for the head sculpt smaller. They retooled the torso’s ball-socket joint to integrate it with the head sculpt of the Imperial Hovertank Pilot from 2017’s RO Jedha Revolt four-pack. It’s quite clever of Hasbro to utilize the head sculpt of a 5POA figure for a The Vintage Collection figure. But you won’t notice the difference at all. We’ve all accepted that Hasbro creates 5POA action figures with incredible tooling, and some of the parts are worth recycling. Now that this figure is released, it’s wonderful to have both the Imperial Assault Tank Driver and the Imperial Assault Tank Commander to interact with the Imperial Combat Assault Tank. Both figures look marvelous when posed driving or walking alongside the vehicle. Plus, with the release of the Imperial Stormtrooper figure, we all can now complete the scenes from Rogue One with all of these characters together. Let’s take a closer look at the Imperial Assault Tank Commander.

As explained, the Imperial Assault Tank Driver is mostly made up of parts from 2016’s TBS [P3] Scarif Stormtrooper Squad Leader figure. The Scarif Stormtrooper has everything fans of super-articulated 3.75” collecting adore: fabulous articulation. We’ve always felt that this sculpt is a work of art. And Hasbro tooled the figure in a way where it is functional and possesses the ability to be positioned in a wide array of poses thanks to the wonderful articulation system it boasts. Loaded with 29 points of articulation, Hasbro enhances their 3.75” figures with swivel thighs, which adds more movement to an already well-articulated action figure. Aside from the swivel thighs and the ball-socket head, the rest of the Imperial Assault Tank Driver contains ball-jointed articulation. These points are in the wrists and hips, which are two areas that often don’t receive this premium articulation. Hasbro also tooled a new belt (when they applied it to the Imperial Assault Tank Driver and carried forward for the Imperial Assault Tank Commander), so that it matches the onscreen character beautifully. The paint operations on the Imperial Assault Tank Commander could be better. They got the shoulder and upper body deco right, but the helmet is still too white and looks mismatched when compared to the onscreen character. A heavier concentration of black detail is required to house and frame the “personality” that is seemingly absent from the portrait as is. Despite this, we’re still in love with the figure.