OTC AT-AT Driver

Another sculpt from quite a few years ago that’s aged well. As one could expect, he doesn’t feature the insane amounts of articulation a newer figure does, but the sculpt for this figure is unhampered by such complexities. For a pilot, the simplicity goes a long way in improving the figure’s overall look.

The AT-AT Driver hasn’t seen many sculpts over the years, the most recent being the Legacy version from 2009. On the surface, that figure would seem more attractive for its added articulation and removable helmet, but those features weaken the definition of the sculpt, making this one far more attractive visually. With the swivel elbows and wrists, this version can do really all the posing he needs.

This version has been sold a lot since he came out in 2006, and can be had cheaply today. To me, this is the kind of figure that makes collecting Star Wars toys fun. It’s an old figure, but it’s satisfying, and that’s what makes it fun to go back and discover.

Kenner Bespin Security Guard

Bespin figures are kind of addictive: the more I get of them, the more I want. It’s an interesting world portrayed in Empire Strikes Back and part of what gives the film an edge over the other two original trilogy movies. The Bespin Guard strikes me as being very memorable in the ESB, being the guys who actually carried Han to the Slave-1.

The original Kenner figure accurately represents their cool uniforms fairly well. He seems to lack the beard the actor on the card featured, coincidentally making him more resemble Charles Bronson. In that way I think that actually makes him cooler, but it’s still kind of odd. The figure comes with the blaster used for most of the other Bespin figures, I feel this one was a bit overused, but fortunately it isn’t a bad gun. He also features an attractive yet fragile gold paint application, I’ve had to repaint it on two of mine, but fortunately the color doesn’t seem hard to match.

It’s also really interesting that Kenner seemingly thought this design was important enough to be worth making again as a second figure, who was black and an entirely different sculpt. I’ll profile him another day, but he definitely adds something to this figure, in the way that it helps both feel individualistic.

Vintage Collection Darth Vader (VC-93)

For me and my collecting, I really just don’t need a ton of any one character. It really depends; certain characters like Luke, Leia and Han wore a bunch of interesting costumes, so that’s different. But characters like Darth Vader who for most of the films looked practically the same, I really only need one good version of.

Naturally, this isn’t the best Darth Vader that will ever be made, nor is it the worst. It’s a good toy that fits my needs as far as Darth Vader goes. His cape is a little on the simple side, and he doesn’t feature an unlit light-saber, but that kind of stuff can easily be overlooked for other reasons. The ball-jointed hips he features adds so much more, and on a figure that needs those dynamic, dueling poses it goes a long way. The sculpt and details are also really good on this one, and that coupled with the articulation is really what made this figure worth getting.

Still though, at the end of the day it’s just another Darth Vader figure among so many. The new Black Series figure looks pretty good from what I’ve seen of it, but with this figure I definitely don’t need it. They’re both good in their own ways, so are some of the older Vaders, but again, one good Darth Vader is all I need. It’s not got anything to do with Darth Vader himself, it’s just that collecting as a hobby gets very dull once you’re in the cycle of buying the same thing over and over again.

TVC Naboo Royal Guard

A lot of the Phantom Menace themed product released for TVC really fell flat. Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan for example are just repacks of older figures, and with an entire line of TPM figures out at the same time, I really can’t see what place these had in TVC. Many of these aren’t really bad figures, but they just don’t stand out, and the line was priced too highly for figures like that. I would like to almost say the episode one stuff is really what killed the Vintage Collection. But in a costly line with the worst distribution I’ve seen from Hasbro, that wouldn’t be totally true. Either way, it is true that these were some slow movers, and sure fire clearance fodder to boot, the Naboo Royal Guard falls into that.

The Royal Guard comes off somewhat forgettable to me, as a figure released in a flood of Phantom Menace product, but he is fairly nice when you take a deeper look at him. The sculpt is pretty good, I like his blaster a lot too, and the character serves an interesting purpose to me. That is, for being a soldier unique to Naboo, he helps develop his planet in a way like the Bespin Guard do for theirs. It adds a little more life to him than something like a species that could end up anywhere; he’s doing a job and wears a uniform for it. In that way, the figure sort of tells a story in a way others don’t always, though maybe that’s giving this one too much credit.

So with that said, this is a pretty cool figure in my eyes, but the bad is that there isn’t much to him. You get a figure, a helmet and a blaster for ten bucks. It seems like with other figures they were able to toss in just a little more to make them feel worth it, but this guy doesn’t have anything like that. You can find this guy now for a lot less than retail now, I’ve even seen them as low as three dollars. For that much, it’s hard to pass up a fairly cool figure like this one, but he definitely isn’t up to par with the rest of the line.

Clone Wars Nikto Guard

The Clone Wars toys just aren’t figures I’m inclined to collect, mainly due to their animated aesthetic. Despite that, the sprawling depth of the line has made for some figures even I am interested in, the Nikto guard being one of those choice figures. This guy doesn’t stand out too much around normal Star Wars figures despite the aesthetic. Much of the angular styling is lost on him, as the Nikto are normally portrayed with edgier faces. You’re left with a figure that fits in a collection of Clone Wars toys, and one of normal Star Wars toys, and that’s something I can appreciate.

This one comes in fairly stark colors for what I’m used to for one of Jabba’s henchmen. It’s not a bad thing, as I think it helps distinguish him from the rest. He comes with a sniper rifle, blaster, bag, and a hood type thing that all look pretty good with him. I wish the riffle were made of a harder plastic, as I don’t imagine it will hold form too well, but that’s a minor gripe.

One thing I don’t understand about many Clone Wars figures, like this one, is their lack of knee articulation. It’s another minor gripe, but I do have to wonder why so many figures chose to skip over this area from the series.