Scout Walker (AT-ST) - TVC - Vehicles (Exclusive)

The Scout Walker (AT-ST) has made another reappearance in the Hasbro toy line. But this time its arguably the best way to get. Hasbro has indeed made some improvements when compared to the original 2009 LC AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport) Walmart exclusive and the one that was included with 2010’s SW [SOTDS] Attack On Hoth TARGET exclusive. But then it seem that there were some inadvertent shortcuts taken as well which kind of makes the point of this vehicle being upgraded moot. Perhaps we’re sending you down a wrong path and giving you the wrong impressions here already. Let us restate things a bit. Hasbro has indeed released the best looking AT-ST vehicle for your collecting with the 2012 TVC Scout Walker (AT-ST) Kmart exclusive. But, the vehicle falls short because the points of articulation (and this baby is loaded) are looser than ever which really makes posing the thing a bear. We hope you appreciate the photos that we managed to secure for our photo gallery, because we can’t tell you how many times the stupid thing toppled over in the middle of our photo shoot. It was maddening to say the least. (See what we go through for you guys and gals?) But perhaps more maddening than our photography experience is the fact that Hasbro released what could have potentially been the end all AT-ST vehicle for our respective collections, yet it fails in the light that it’s not as perfect as it needs to be.

Does the packaging save this vehicle? Probably. Perhaps the answer to that question is even “yes”. Hasbro knows that the older collectors eat this stuff on and they’re banking they’ve tugged hard enough on our heartstrings to do a Jedi mind trick of their own and empty our wallets willingly. And let’s face it, we’re certainly weak-minded with Star Wars toys. The box artwork is stupendous. It it everything we want to look at and absorb and imprint into our minds. Vintage reproductions of the original vintage Kenner packaging from long ago never looked better, even if the scenes on the box are movie inaccurate. It’s especially nice to see them use the modern The Vintage Collection figures in their box art dioramas, especially the Darth Vader (VC93) figure. Why we like seeing that figure on the box art is because back between the years of 1978-1985 we only received one Darth Vader figure from Kenner and we used it for every play scenario possible. It’s almost as if Hasbro is possibly recreating that fact for us even though they have plenty of Return Of The Jedi specific Darth Vader figures they could have used instead. But we love it for the homage paying alone, despite the possibility that this wasn’t even the intention. With classic packaging looking this great and a popular vehicle that we love to see over and over again, this should be a win for everyone, but again, it isn’t perfect and could used a few more good tweaks before we can deem it as definitive.

We have compared both the 2009 LC AT-ST (All Terrain Scout Transport) vehicle and the one from 2010’s SW [SOTDS] Attack On Hoth exclusive and we have to say that the 2012 flavor has the weakest points of articulation. They’re especially unstable in the shoulder and hip areas which is very frustrating and completely annoying. The potential fixes should have been relatively easy to remedy. The Scout Walker (AT-ST) does however have a beautiful paint job. Hasbro managed to mimic the deco of an actual AT-ST from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi (see our reference image to see what we mean). The “nose” scare has been replicated perfectly. The gray is probably as exact as we’ll ever see in the Star Wars line. Previous versions have been too light or too orange (or just off-color in general). But now we have a real steel gray that looks unbelievably amazing. The cool details like the “eye” ports and the opening top hatch have been carried forward and the cockpit houses two AT-ST Drivers (or Ewoks if the spirit moves you) with enough room to seat them comfortably. We know that many of you aren’t going to like the “almost” solid brown feet. Hasbro attempted to recreate the Endor terrain on the Scout Walker (AT-ST) vehicle. While we appreciate the effort, it looks more like the vehicle is wearing booties or dress shoes and it does look off quite a bit. The paint job shown on the outside of the box is the way Hasbro should have executed it, but unfortunately it seems that a more solid look was cost effective for Hasbro’s budget. (What a shame.) The Scout Walker (AT-ST) still looks good despite this and we still feel it’s the best offering to date, but it needs micro-managed attention to perfect the things that are in need of more help.