Hyena Bomber - TCW [SOTDS] - Vehicles

The sky darkens as Hyena bombers approach, ready to release their destructive payload. Like vulture droids, these heavy ordnance droid bombers are designed with rotating wings for flight mode or ground attack mode. They carry a mancing range of weapons including concussion missiles and proton bombs. Hyena bombers targeted the Twi'lek cities on Ryloth as the Republic fought to liberate the planet from the Separatists.

The vehicles in The Clones Wars television series are about as diverse and numbered as the clone troopers. Maybe not exactly, but there sure are a ton of vehicle concepts that could easily fit into Hasbro’s mid size vehicle assortment and a spot has been saved for the Hyena Bomber. The Hyena Bomber is one of the larger vehicles in the mid size vehicle assortment so there is definitely some value here for your money. In fact, it’s about double the size of the Republic Swamp Speeder (which just so happens to be in the same assortment) so that should give you some perspective on just how big this "vehicle" is indeed. The Hyena Bomber, like 2009's TCW [F/S1] Vulture Droid, is technically a droid and since it’s pretty huge, it is a great candidate in Hasbro’s vehicle line. This droid vehicle is also known as a Hyena-class Bomber and it seems that quite a few of these droid vehicles borrow the names of earthly creatures to describe them. We don’t see the resemblance to a real life hyena, but we suppose that since hyenas and vultures are both scavengers, the name makes sense in a way because both the Vulture Droid and Hyena Bomber look so similar to each other. They have some sort of familial thing going on anyhow. In fact, they look more alike than not alike. The biggest differences that set the Hyena Bomber apart from the Vulture Droid are the two “heads” and the way the “wings” split in half (as well as many other directions too). Hasbro did a great job in replicating this droid vehicle in toy form and it will be very interactive as it has a decent amount of play features are for the kiddie population. This vehicle almost functions like a Transformer and you'll be surprised at the many configurations you'll be able to pose it.

If you’re a collector, you may like this vehicle for what it is, but it may be hard to swallow if you're not a fan of The Clone Wars. It seems that Hasbro is taking more and more risk with their vehicle selections and this is a very good thing. Remember their stance on finally releasing the gorgeous 2010 SW [SOTDS] Bespin Cloud Car (OK, the Bespin Cloud Car may be a moot point now that they released it) but we hope you see our point. Why all the kicking and screaming, Hasbro when you just end up releasing them anyway? Still, we wonder why they won't take another dip with the Imperial Shuttle as they describe it as “not aggressive” enough. But we digress. Maybe the Hyena Bomber is more aggressive and this is partially why is makes a great candidate for the mid size vehicle assortment. We understand that the Hyena Bomber plays a role in The Clone Wars television series as a force to be reckoned with in the Separatist army and Hasbro has given this vehicle a fearsome presence as a toy. You know how a peacock spreads its tail feathers to look more intimidating when in danger? Well, the same can be said for the Hyena Bomber. Despite there being quite a few other vehicles we and other collectors would love to see first, Hasbro makes it hard to dislike the Hyena Bomber. And since we just got a rather spectacular Vulture Droid in the last couple of years, the Hyena Bomber pairs nicely with it and the comparison of the two sets them apart from each other. The easiest way to express our concern is that very few vehicles in the mid size assortment has any “wow” factor. Maybe we’re expecting too much and we could be way off here, but we wonder if the kids (as well as collectors) will go bonkers over this.

We hope that the great design is appealing but after all, how many times can shooting projectiles be all that engaging? “Yawn!” we exclaim. This should still not be interpreted as a cut down to the excellently designed vehicle. The articulated wings certainly make up for any shortcomings it may have. Again, this doesn’t mean that this isn’t a well-sculpted toy. The paint job is tame, but done very well and the design is nearly flawless. In fact, many of the decorations catch your eye, especially the patterns on the wings. The Hyena Bomber “transforms” and its parts move just like how they do in the television show so we credit Hasbro to some very clever design here. The articulated head has some neat movement to it and when you start breaking down the wings to make them into legs, you’ll quickly realize that quite a bit of engineering went into this to make it work as well as it does. What's more, the articulation in the wings significantly helps it to stand erect in cool and unique positions making superior to the Vulture Droid. We instantly discovered that this extra articulation makes a world of difference to this vehicle and supersedes the Vulture Droid by a lot! Well, maybe not, but we think you get what we mean. Although it’s a bit frustrating to hear Hasbro’s position on amazing vehicles like Asajj Ventress’ ship and even the humongous Jabba’s Sail Barge, getting vehicles like the Hyena Bomber make up for this somewhat. That may be comparing apples to oranges, but we know confidently that the Hyena Bomber pales in comparison to many other incredible vehicles in the Star Wars universe. It should be popular and we hope everyone enjoys it and we hope its sales boosts Hasbro's confidence to bring us some other great vehicles in the Star Wars universe. This is a pretty great vehicle however and it should thrill fans of The Clone Wars!