Death Star Scanning Crew (Imperial Officer/Imperial Technician) - TVC - Special Action Figure Sets

The Millennium Falcon is captured by the Death Star. A scanning crew checks the ship for crew or Droids, while an Imperial officer monitors the investigation.

The power of the Original Trilogy works wonders in so many ways. But when it comes to store exclusives, it seems to have an even stronger effect. Star Wars toys that are seemingly not that impressive look so much better thanks to their roots (and let’s not forget about their packaging either). How many collectors believed they would see a completed scanning crew in quasi-vintage-styled packaging? And who would have believed that traditionally struggling Kmart would be the retailer of choice to get them? One thing is true and that is Kmart knows and understands collectors. This is something that Hasbro has even admitted on more than one occasion and Kmart is a place that they will continue to work out more upcoming and exciting exclusives. But until those future “unannounced” exclusives come our way, there are still plenty of others that should be enjoyed in the meantime. The Death Star Scanning Crew set is the accompaniment to the Imperial Scanning Crew set. You may be surprised to know that there is a decent amount of newness included in this set. That’s saying quite a bit since everything here is a repack or repaint with every little all-new tooling. And one whole figure is essentially a repack of a figure from four years ago.

Imperial Technician is a repaint of 2009’s LC Imperial Scanning Crew (BD32) figure. Both the figure and the lower portion of the scanning box have been repainted. The figure has been redone to a lesser extent, but you’ll probably be slightly shocked when you see the all-new paint operations given to the lower half of the scanning box. It really looks like it was completely redone. The Imperial Technician is essentially unchanged save for a few small updates. For example, his skin color is lighter and we’re noticing different nuances in the color gray used for his uniform. Most of us probably didn’t need to see this figure get a re-release, but it appears that Hasbro has done some better research and has now ensured that the color scheme is just perfect this time around. The reissue of the accessory works incredibly well with the new parts included with the Imperial Scanning Crew set. We mentioned once before that we can’t believe Hasbro held out this long on getting this piece out to collectors. But the extremely long four year wait has paid off because we truly have an amazing miniature replica of a very important background piece in the storyline in Episode IV. You’re going to love it.

The surprise of the set is the included Imperial Officer. Not only does it give us a near-definitive update to the 1981 vintage Kenner Imperial Commander action figure, it is the first time we’re getting Pol Treidum in the basic figure line. Some may be quick to point out that his costume isn't exactly the same as this character in Episode IV, but we believe whatever is missing is just an error on Hasbro's part. After all, this was the only lieutenant to have any dialogue with Stormtrooper TK-421, a figure in the other Scanning Crew two-pack. There is no conclusive proof that this is meant to be this character, but we’re nonetheless almost 100% confident that the Imperial Officer in this set is indeed meant to be Pol Treidum, the man who famously uttered “TK-421, why aren't you at your post? TK-421, do you copy?” Between the reddish brown/auburn hair and the correct ranking badge designation, who else could it be? This figure utilizes the body sculpt of 2009’s TLC Captain Needa (BD 40), a sculpt that we’re honestly not at all thrilled with, but seems to do better justice in this set than it did for Captain Needa. The outfit is now cast in black and because Pol Treidum didn’t wear gloves, Hasbro has painted the “gloves” in flesh color to remedy this. Sadly, the hands and portrait don’t match perfectly. But the head sculpt is done very well which sort of forgives its imperfections. What's more, the head sculpt of the Imperial Technicians fit nicely on the Imperial Officer's body, so you can create a unique army of Imperial Officers easily and quickly. The Death Star Scanning Crew set is fantastic, but remember you need to get both sets to get the most out of them.