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ne of the most dynamic and exciting scenes in Star Wars, Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi involves Luke and Leia on the planet of Endor. Their mission is to destroy a station generating a planet-wide shield that is guarding the new Death Star as it is being constructed.
The landing party encounters a quartet of Imperial stormtrooper scouts on speeder bikes. Chewbacca dispatches one immediately with his crossbow blaster, and Han Solo deals with a second. But two escape. Luke and Leia hop on one of the speeders to chase down the two escaping stormtroopers before they can send a message to their base for help.
What follows is one of the most exciting high-speed chases ever filmed as Luke and Leia try to take out these troops as they weave and twist at ridiculously high speeds through an ancient forest of huge trees.
For years now, Star Wars fans could play with these hover bikes in the format of Hasbro's 3.5" figures. But this year, fans can play with or display a 12" Luke Skywalker on his stolen speeder bike, thanks to Hasbro and Target stores.
Last year, Target introduced a 12" Imperial scout on his speeder bike, and this year they have re-released the bike with Luke Skywalker, in his Endor gear. Together the two would make for an amazing display.
The bike measures about 24" in length, and is highly detailed, including a swiveling blaster cannon, pivoting handlebars and positionable foot pedals. The rear exhaust flaps also pivot up or down. The bike includes a removable imperial poncho strapped to the back. The unit can be placed on two clear plastic legs for display.
Luke is an articulated 12" figure wearing a realistically styled poncho, helmet, and clothing underneath. He comes with a glow-in-the-dark light saber. The energy blade is removable, and the saber hilt can attach to Luke's belt.
An exclusive with extras
The speeder bike is a beautifully detailed replica of the movie vehicle, complete with cables, lifting rear engine flaps, tilting and pivoting foot pedals, tilting handlebars and a rotating front gun. All of the details are functional and enjoyable.
The bike's paint is minimal, but effective—brown body with some airbrushed work to indicate staining on the bike. The rest of the bike is unpainted black plastic. The control console has buttons and switches painted in black, white and red.
The Luke Skywalker figure is a standard Hasbro Action Man-type body with a very good likeness of Mark Hamill. The helmet is nicely detailed and fits him well. Luke's right hand is molded in black to give the appearance of a leather glove covering his robotic prosthesis.
While the Action Man body has good arm articulation, the legs lack vital rotation at the knee and ankles, which is standard on Hasbro's GI Joe bodies. Also, while the head can rotate, it cannot tilt up. So in practical display, Luke can only stare down at the control panel as he flies. Perhaps it's time Hasbro switched their Star Wars 12" figures over to their new highly articulated GI Joe body.
But one of the most impressive things about the figure is that underneath the nicely designed camouflage poncho, Luke has on black pants, a black shirt and a brown vest, which he is seen wearing throughout the film. Some toy manufacturers would deem this extra clothing unnecessary when the figure is fully covered in an overcoat of some kind. This is a nice, unexpected addition.
When mounted on its leg stands, this toy makes for a highly impressive object for display, but the real fun is had when you remove the legs and fly the thing around the room. All you need is your imagination.
While the figure could use some obvious and fairly easy improvement, the star of this set is of course the speeder bike, and a star it is. I can say very little negative about it. It's a joy to hold and behold. — Sean
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