Republic Gunship - TCW [R] - Vehicles (Exclusive)

The Republic Gunship can blast the droid army with blistering weapons fire and transport of clone troopers into battle. This aerial attack craft is heavily armed with missile launchers, chin guns, and bubble-shaped laser cannon turrets. Rugged and fast, the LAAT/i (Low-Altitiude Assault Transport/infantry) vessel is a Republic workhorse, seeing extensive combat throughout the Clone Wars.

Republic Gunship vehicles are nothing new in the Star Wars toy line. Since 2002, we have almost received one each year since and Hasbro has graciously made each one different from the next. Not only does this give collectors options, it also creates a nice diversity in collections if you “collect them all”. In 2009 during the Season 2 red phase of The Clone Wars line, Hasbro decided to attack the next gunship in the form of the popular "Crumb Bomber" that has made frequent appearance throughout the television series. But instead of just rehashing the same old vehicle, Hasbro made pretty awesome enhancements that are (for now) exclusive to this released. And with each year that we got a new Republic Gunship, the price jumped exponentially too. Released in the beginning of October 2009, the Toys R Us exclusive Republic Gunship was extremely expensive. And they are certainly quite a few new features with this release, but we don’t think it warranted the ridiculous $69.99 – $79.99 MSRP (depending upon where you live). Price has been a bone of contention in The Clone Wars [F/S1]/Legacy Collection lines and Hasbro seems to be intent on keeping prices up in the rafters. The price didn’t seem to affect the sales of this vehicle however and this is really good for Hasbro and not great for us as it proves to Hasbro they can command these prices. We don’t want to say that the new buzzes and whistles make the price hike worth it, because they don’t. But the improvements are extremely relevant and it is great to know that Hasbro is always thinking about how they can improve their products. And this vehicle is now significantly improved. But let’s find out what makes this latest version of the Republic Gunship so special.

This Republic Gunship is officially called the "Crumb Bomber". And it appeared in multiple episodes of The Clone Wars television series. The “bubble turrets” on the wings have been made to look less like “bubble turrets”. Since Hasbro released a more accurately scaled turret in the Battle Packs series, they clearly wanted to distract the collector to overlook these. And these updates work fairly well. They do blend into the wings much better know. The clear plastic is no longer there. The vehicle’s two top missile launchers are completely retooled. They now roll out from the vehicle that each house a chamber to fire rounds like a machine gun. It is an amazing enhancement and it makes us wish our older Republic Gunship vehicles had this feature. They are the same size as the older models and give much more play value and look better too. The rear of the vehicle has the same gun sticking out from it, but the rappel line and hook have been removed and the tooling looks much cleaner as a result. But perhaps the most noticeable differences are on the body of the vehicle. This TRU exclusive Republic Gunship comes with new doors below the cockpit. There is no longer just open space. And these narrow and tall doors work with the new side doors and make a very sleekly contoured vehicle. The side doors are now whole and completely encloses the contents of the inner vehicle completely now. There are no spaces anywhere. It looks lovely and it is really something special to have a new Republic Gunship with so many different (and much improved) features. The unfortunate thing about this is that many will miss out on all of these great enhancements that to the insane retail price. Many collectors do have a ceiling and it has been hit. Prices need to come down quite a bit. For those who love Easter eggs, the Aurabesh text on the nose of the vehicle reads "Laugh This Off".

The paint job looks fantastic and we absolutely love the monkey-lizard logo. A character that looks identical to Salacious B. Crumb is holding a missile in a threatening manner which makes it immediately reminiscent to the “gremlin” stories of World War II (as heard talked about in the movie Gremlins). There isn’t too much decoration beyond this, but the simple coloring allows the logo to stay prominent and your eyes are immediately drawn to it. The lines of the vehicle are very clean and the tinting in the pilot’s canopy is just awesome. Even the insignificant details like the button on the newly sculpted doors and the realistic color blocks throughout the vehicles body show that no detail was spared to make this vehicle as best as it could be. For those of you looking to store a speeder bike in this vehicle, you’ll be happy to know that you still can as Hasbro decided not to tweak anything inside the back of the vehicle. We hope that some Episode II and Episode III movie accurate Republic Gunships are next to utilize this enhanced sculpt. It is world’s better than any gunship we have received to date and many collectors prefer the move vehicles over those that appear in The Clone Wars television series. But it is interesting to see all the various gunships that did appear in The Clone Wars. In the 2008 line we got an exclusive Republic Gunship from Walmart which was affectionately called Lucky Lekku. While that was a cool ship too, it simply doesn’t compare to the upgrades made on the "Crumb Bomber". If you’re lucky enough to get an opportunity to purchase the Crumb Bomber Republic Gunship, we highly recommend picking it up. But this has become impossible to find at retail now, very similarly to the "Lucky Lekku" Republic Gunship that was released as a Walmart exclusive. Your collections will not be complete without this one though.