Republic Fighter Tank - SW [Y/AOTC] - Vehicles (Class II)

A Republic Fighter Tanks blasts attacking Battle Droids. The tanks are used by Jedi and Clone Troopers but have been specially designed to take advantage of a Jedi's Force-heightened abilities. The tanks have laser cannons and missile launchers to bombard the enemy, and armor that can withstand heavy fire without sacrificing speed or agility.

There are some moves by Hasbro that we just don’t understand. Maybe it’s none of our business or just not in our best interest to know and understand them, but when we see a product like the 2013 Class II Republic Fighter Tank hit the shelves, we can’t help but wonder what they were thinking. In 2009, Hasbro developed a stunning vehicle full of detail and action features that was directly inspired by the Star Wars: Battlefront video game. It successfully fit into The Clone Wars line despite never appearing in the series and it resonated well with many collectors. It was so popular in fact that Hasbro released it in three unique color palettes and even developed it as an electronic toy, the Remote Control Fighter Tank, in the Shadow Of The Dark Side phase of The Clone Wars line. The 2009 TCW [R] Republic Fighter Tank, the 2010 TCW [SOTDS] Republic Fighter Tank and the 2012 SW [TPM 3D] Republic Fighter Tank all share one thing in common: they’re all repaints of the same sculpt. Hasbro had developed an excellent mold for this vehicle and rightfully kept reusing it to bring kids and collectors all the unique flavors of it in the Star Wars toy line.

But something went awry for 2013’s plans and Hasbro saw it fit to reduce the scale of the previously known Mid Size Vehicle assortment and make a “budget” line that would fit better into the budgets of young kids looking to purchase a Star Wars vehicle. The product of that is 2013’s SW [Y/AOTC] Republic Fighter Tank. Hasbro came short of a full circle and went back to the original color scheme of the very first Republic Fighter Tank released to the market. The light gray vehicle with maroon and light green trimmings is one of the most popular designs, but the reduced scale and lack of features will make you wonder if it’s even worth the MSRP. Would you have rather seen Hasbro dust off the original 2009 sculpt again and repaint it in another unique color scheme than to see them waste all-new tooling budget dollars on an inferior vehicle? While efforts are evident that Hasbro tried to squeeze as much detail as possible, the 2013 new sculpt is more limiting than anything else. The small scale works at a disadvantage for us. For example, we found it very difficult to fit our finger in between the hatch and the turret to open the hatch up. And when we did it was hard to pull open. We can’t see a younger Star Wars fan have patience for this.

But that’s not the only problem. The reduced scale now only allows room for one pilot. Sure, it’s big enough to fit one 3.75” Star Wars action figure (that has the ability to sit mind you), but why did Hasbro go through all of this trouble and expend more of the priceless tooling budget on a fine (excellent) vehicle that was already available in their parts catalogue? We have heard the arguments defending this line and frankly we’re tired of hearing them. We don’t care if these are designed for kids or not. Without claiming to know the operations of their minds, we find it hard to believe kids would be satiated with a vehicle that has less buttons and whistles, smaller than previous vehicles in this “scale” and what is essentially a shell of the original mold in both look and feel. If you turn the vehicle upside down you’ll see the hollowness (and quite frankly the cheapness) of the Republic Fighter Tank. It doesn’t even come with wheels. Despite our own chagrin from this newly approached line, we hope it isn’t an epic failure for Hasbro. They have had a rough couple of years in the recent past and we’re not sure if they can withstand another major setback. The new Class II assortment is a disappointment for collectors, so let’s hope the kids don’t bail on it either.