General Vehicle Discussion Thread

[Jayson]

That looks pretty lame... It needs some serious weathering. I'm almost glad Hasbro has gone away from weathering these new vehicle. It makes them so much easier to pass up.

I hear you. Since they dropped the weathering application to their vehicles a while back I dropped the vehicle/walker line, save for the CW Obi-Wan JSF.

[jedi_master_sal]

Wel, I'm both delighted and a little disenheartened by the TX-130.

I've been wanting this vehicle for a few years now since seeing it in the video game.

The weathering issue is but one thing. I do recall the bottom "wings" for lack of a better term (maybe outriggers?) being angled. If so, Hasbro could have easily created jointed wings instead of making this flat.

I'm still buying it though. Once I get it and open it up to thoroughly examine it, I'll make up my mind if I'm going to get more than one.

There is a BLUE version of this from a later video game that I fully expect Hasbro to reissue at some point. I think Hasbro would take license to make a gunmetal grey Imperial version too. Not sure if I'd by the blue version, but almost positive on the Imperial version depending on deco.


Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

[iFett]

Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

huh?

[Jayson]

Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

huh?

The packaging insert "Transforms" into a diorama on the new packaging vehicles.

[iFett]

Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

huh?

The packaging insert "Transforms" into a diorama on the new packaging vehicles.

Duh...I wasn't even looking at the boxed pics.  Silly me.

That looks pretty lame... It needs some serious weathering. I'm almost glad Hasbro has gone away from weathering these new vehicle. It makes them so much easier to pass up.

I agree, but this is Hasbro....give it time.  They'll get your money eventually.

[Jesse James]

I'm sorta curious to see the tank next to a figure.  It could be to-scale or horribly underscaled.  I'm just not sure... 

Expect repaints methinks.

[Keonobi]

I'm sorta curious to see the tank next to a figure.  It could be to-scale or horribly underscaled.  I'm just not sure... 

Not exactly a side by side comparison, but in the otheR Site's Toy Fair coverage there are two pictures that offer some size comparison.

First a clone trooper and his speederbike:

http://www.rebelscum.com/TF2009/Hasbro1/image14.asp

(Notice the clone is roughly the same height as the from the front of the seat to the back of the bike...)

Now the TX-130

http://www.rebelscum.com/TF2009/Hasbro1/image10.asp

The same speeder is on the left of the picture.  Notice how much bigger the tank is than the bike?  I don't know whether that is quite to scale per Battlefront and other sources, but I think the tank will be a pretty good size.

[Jeff]

Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

The fold-out dioramas on these ships (almost all of the new ships will have this feature) will work exactly the same way as the Indiana Jones vehicle inserts did (if you bought any of those).  Basically, what you see on the bottom/front of the box (the yellow sky with the gunships) is what the "diorama" looks like.

I'm sorta curious to see the tank next to a figure.  It could be to-scale or horribly underscaled.  I'm just not sure... 

Jesse, the tank is similar in size to the AAT:
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3534/3305899788_0f23242f5d_o.jpg

[iFett]

Be nice if we could have gotten a pic of the insides that convert to a diorama.

The fold-out dioramas on these ships (almost all of the new ships will have this feature) will work exactly the same way as the Indiana Jones vehicle inserts did (if you bought any of those).  Basically, what you see on the bottom/front of the box (the yellow sky with the gunships) is what the "diorama" looks like.

Well at least we're getting something extra for the higher prices.  Wish the same could be said for everything else.

[Jesse James]

Interesting.  Thanks Jeff and Keonobi for the pics for some comparisons...  The AAT's underscaled by a margin, but the Republic tank is small I believe, in everything I've ever seen it in.  It's to be faster/agile by comparison.  At least that was how it was portrayed in the old CLone Wars video game for X-Box.  It's more like an armored speeder than a "tank". 

It's interesting...  I'm going to guess it's probably underscaled by a bit though.  It looks like it is made to be a 2-seater inside, which doesn't seem probable for a $20-ish toy.  Too bad if it's too small.  It looks like a nice sculpt.

[Hobbie]

The ARC-170, physically, reminds me of an Avenger Torpedo Bomber...  That's just physically though.  It's a light bomber/torpedo plane that saw a lot of use in the Pacific.  Also 21st made a 1:18 one of these, their largest plane they ever did IIRC.  I have one, hanging from the ceiling, and it's about the overall size of the new Millenium Falcon if not a bit wider. 

The ARC-170 could also be compared to the German Junkers Stuka Divebomber which was another prominent plane in WW2, especially the earlier years of the war.  Also a 1:18 plane 21st made.

The Avenger plane they made is just insane.  It was $75 originally and kind of uncommon.  Ironically I got mine half off because WM never put them out before Christmas, and just blew them out then.  Very dumb considering how uncommon they were.  Here is one deco of it:



There's a crew of 3 and it came with all 3 figures to boot...  Very cool.  The wings folded for storage on the carrier, and so does the toy.  The torpedo/bomb bay opens and has a removable torpedo...  It's sick, really.

I agree, not to derail the topic, but it is fun to look at the real-world counterpart to the inspiration of many of the ships from Star Wars...  From a customizing standpoint I love to draw parallels between real-world armor/vehicles into Star Wars vehicles.  It's the trademark that, to me, makes Star Wars models unique and interesting.  There was a bit of that lost in the prequals at first that Lucas got back to in the latter films.  E1 lacked it tremendously though, going with more a classic car look...  I didn't care for that as much. 

This is pretty funny, since actually it was the *Y-Wing* fighter that was based on the design of the TBF!  Colin Cantwell, who was the concept model maker for the first Star Wars movie said that George specifically told him that he wanted one fighter to be a light bomber type, and to base it on the Avenger, with a rear facing gunner.  (And the original model also had a third crewman in the belly).  I think it's neat that the new CW Y-Wing goes back to that design more.

[Jesse James]

Yeah I know the Y-Wing was based on the Avenger, but I always thought it had more Stuka to it than Avenger...  The 3 crew in particular always didn't jive with the YW.  It's "job" in ANH was definitely more in tune with the Avenger but it wasn't a big clunky ship like the Avenger more or less was.  The YW is listed as a Fighter-Bomber which is definitely not the Avenger's role.  Then again that doesn't seem to mean much, and more the way they look seems to be more what ties them together.

By the way, the Black Widow definitely looks a lot more like the ARC...  I don't know much about it (I don't think it was a particularly common plane during the war.  Not that I'm aware of anyway), but the resemblance is striking to say the least.  Right down to almost every detail...  It's a different use/designation than the ARC I guess, though really the ARC's "uses" weren't explored much in the movie either.

I wasn't sure about any of the ARC's design.  I don't have much material on prequal ships unfortunately.   That Black Widow pic really shows that ship's roots though, for certain. 

Concept sketches for the XW, which ultimately turned up as the Z-95 Headhunter, have an interesting similarity to bubble-top fighters of the allies I find.  I get a Mustang/Spitfire, or even P-47 feel to that design that didn't really totally translate to the X-Wing's final design, but still are a little more noticeable in the Z-95.

[Hobbie]

It is remarkable how the P-61's center section is virtually identical to the ARC's.  Even the gun pod on top looks just like an astromech!  I'm sure its not a coincidence, as I believe the P-61 was a heavy, long-range nightfighter.

[Nicklab]

It's remarkable how similar the ARC-170 is to the P-61.  Even down to the crew compliment!

Hobbie's correct about the P-61.  It was designated as a night fighter.  It sounds odd now, but most WWII aircraft weren't equipped to fight at night.  The P-61 had onboard radar so that it could track enemy bomber formations and attempt to attack them from behind.

It's really not so far-fetched to think that the designers would draw from WWII aircraft for inspiration.  George Lucas made use of WWII aerial combat photography for what we've come to call animatics when he conceptualized the space battle for A New Hope.

[Brian]

I figured I'd post this here since it primarily ties into Clone Wars, but I'm wondering if we're going to see anything else from the "deluxe" vehicle line?  I don't think from any of the leaked information and/or DCPI numbers, that anything has been mentioned for this line outside of the already released Y-Wing Bomber and ARC repaint.  Do you think this line is a goner, or we just haven't heard anything quite yet?