Trade Federation AAT (Armored Assault Tank) - SW [TPM 3D] - Vehicles

The marriage of repulsorlift and heavy armor has resulted in formidable floating tanks known as AATs. These assault tanks form the front line of Trade Federation armored infantry divisions during the invasion of Naboo. A crew of battle droids drives the tank and operates the laser and projectile weaponry carried by the vehicle.

2012 will be a year long remembered. Hasbro has finally updated the Trade Federation AAT (Armored Assault Tank). One of the pivotal vehicles from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, its made multiple appearances in the Expanded Universe as well as the successful The Clone Wars multimedia event. Hasbro truly got the design of this vehicle right from the start. The contour of the vehicle, its appropriately scaled size and its features were something that collectors embraced for years. There was one detail however on the Armored Assault Tank that made us cringe. And it was something that Hasbro kept bringing over and over again into the line until now. And in 2012, Hasbro saw the error of their ways and updated the vehicle to make it faithful to what is shown in the cross section diagram (to the best of their ability of course and to what room was available in the vehicle to update). The spring-loaded battle-action feature has been taken out and in its place is a micro-scaled version of the commander center inside the vehicle. It’s beautifully sculpted and excellently decorated. And updated decals make it look even better. This is now the definitive version of the AAT. We’re very proud to have it in our collections too.

The newly designed cockpit area may not be as spacious as you probably have wished for, but there is enough space to accommodate two Battle Droid figures. There is a “captain’s chair” right where the action feature used to be and you can seat a Battle Droid in it. Then the command area in front of it has little to no further tooling, but it complements the newly revised section so nicely. (It becomes more functional if you know what we mean.) The separate parts of the vehicle seemingly fit tighter in place and don’t fall off as easily, especially the “hood” that houses the new tooling. Even the cockpit attachment fits tightly in place. That piece never really stayed on that well, but Hasbro must have tweaked something to make the fit better than ever now. All of the other play features have been carried forward to this release. The AAT still fires the same projectiles while the center cannon rotates around and lifts up and down. Oh, and the same wheels on the bottom of the vehicle still allow it to effortlessly glide across almost any surface. These “old” features are much more appreciated now that we have a useful retooled middle section of the vehicle.

The vehicle’s new paint job is delightful. The Trader Federation AAT (Armored Assault Tank) is very light and it has very nice blaster damage across its hull where the projectiles fire from as well as the nonfunctioning cannons that don’t fire anything. While most of the upper portions of the cannon are a very light tan, the base of the vehicle has darker tan and light brown utilized to decorate its panels. To help decorate the vehicle, an all-new decal sheet has been created and we have to tell you that is does wonders for the vehicle. There are even decals for the bottom of the vehicle. Hasbro has done right by this release of the Trade Federation AAT. The new 2011 TVC Battle Droid (VC78) figures look great in it and can accommodate three of them without any space issues. (But that would have to be in the play mode with the hood off obviously.) Small tweaks like this on longstanding vehicles are much appreciated by the collecting community. Once again, this is absolutely the definitive version of this vehicle (and we’re even including The Clone Wars version in this comparison). While the release of so many Episode I toys is much to the chagrin of many, we have to say that of Hasbro keeps sprucing them up like this that we’ll have little room for complaints.