Star Wars: Micro Galaxy Squadron - AT-ST

It's been awhile since I've featured anything Star Wars related on the blog and I've been sitting on these images for some time. In late 2022 Jada Toys rolled out a new line of small Star Wars toys under the banner Micro Galaxy Squadron. I had her zero about this line before finding them at local retail. I've always had an affection for the AT-ST and it's larger brethren, the AT-AT, so when I saw the old "chicken walker" hanging on the pegs I had to grab it to see first hand what this new line was all about.

When I first picked up one of the small blind box packages for the Micro Galaxy Squadron toys I immediately noticed the shiny gold "Launch Edition" sticker with the Millennium Falcon attached to the packaging. This seems to be a trend now as I've seen several other toy lines use this marketing gimmick to catch the eye of would be customer. I don't think there is anything special about the toys themselves that separates them from the non-Launch Edition that I've been able to notice. In fact, the line hasn't sold that well at my local Walmart so 99% of the toys on the shelves all have this gold sticker.

Out of the packaging and in my hands I got to say that I was impressed. I had purchased a few of the old Mattel Hot Wheels branded ships and vehicles in the past, but these were different. Long time fans may remember the Galoob Micro Machines line and while I never owned any of the Star Wars Micro Machines, I can see why this new line would evoke such memories.

Cast of plastic and standing at roughly 2 1/2" tall, this piece has a good amount of detail sculpted into the vehicle. From the detailing on the top of the hatch to the exposed wiring underneath the cockpit, the toy looks great. It's not as gray as I thought it should be, instead it has a "wash" of black and brown all over. I guess AT-ST is from the battle of Endor and not Hoth. The legs feature 3 points of articulation, hips, knees and ankles. The top half can rotate a full 360 degrees, but mine is very tight and I didn't want to risk stressing the plastic by turning it too much. The front gun pivots up and down while the side mounted gun can also rotate a full 360 degrees.

The hatch on the top of the vehicle opens to allow the included driver to be placed in the cockpit. Even inside there is sculpted detail, which to be honest could have been left out and it wouldn't have changed my already impressed opinion much.

The tiny AT-ST driver stands at roughly 3/4" tall. For such a small figure the detail and paint apps are pretty good. There are two points of articulation, arms and legs. Neither of the limbs move independently of each other. Move one arm and both move, same with the legs.

There is plenty of room inside for the figure to sit, in fact there is too much room as the figure rattles around inside. There isn't enough room for two figures nor is there anything to peg the figure into.

I think Jada Toys has a hit on their hands with this line, despite some of the larger vehicles collecting dust at my local Walmart. Some of the videos I've watched online of the X-Wing and Millennium Falcon look terrific and if I were a bigger Star Wars fan I may be tempted to pick up more vehicles from this line. If you're looking to expand your Star Wars collection, but are limited on space then this new series should be right up your alley.

Hot Wheels Star Wars Starships: AT-AT

These Hot Wheels Starships were never really on my radar until I happen to come across several of them at my local Dollar Tree store. While I'm not a huge Star Wars fan, I've always liked small die-cast vehicles such as Hot Wheels. At a buck a piece, I cherry picked the few that I liked the best.

The iconic AT-AT vehicle used by the Empire has always been a favorite of mine. This was an easy choice to pick up. The body is die-cast metal while the legs are plastic. There is a little give to the legs, but they aren't really articulated. Like many of the ships, it comes with a circular translucent stand that bears the Empire's logo.

Happy Force Friday II!

September 1st, 2017, Force Friday II...or Christmas Day for many Star Wars collectors. Since I don't follow Star Wars toys as much as some, I only became familiar with this day a few days ago. Out of curiousity I did go to Target's website to see which stores around me would be participating in the Midnight launch. I wasn't planning on going, but I was curious. 1 store out of maybe 10 or so in my area was participating.

I strolled into my local Target near the house Friday morning (I really went there to buy a gift card for one of my employees) and when I walked down the toy aisle w/ Star Wars I was met by several adult men shopping the section. There was even a woman that had her husband on Facetime and she was holding the phone up to the different figures on the pegs. What a good wife!

Since images of these toys had made it's way to the internet prior to Force Friday, I had an idea of what to expect on store shelves today, but I do have to say it was nice getting to see these in person. I ended up grabbing a First Order Stormtrooper.

I love the new packaging. The red Star Wars logo really pops on the white blister card backing. Very prominent with the packging is the new gimmick, Force Link. I saw this bracelet type thing ($30?!) today, but it didn't seem like anyone was buying it as the pegs were still full. 

The back of the packaging really doesn't tell you much anything about the character, just an advertisement of how the Force Link gimmick works. Boring. I don't know who some of some of these new characters are so I was hoping to read something about them on the packaging.

After I got home and I was looking at the figure more carefully it dawned on me that this is the exact same figure from The Force Awakens...sans one gun.

I grabbed the one loose Stormtrooper I have from the previous movie and sure enough my hunch was right. Minus the oversized blaster that The Force Awakens version came with, this is the same figure. Even his blaster is the same. At least the extra gun included is regular sized and not that large gun the figure couldn't hold all that well.

I'm not a MOC collector, but dang I'm tempted to not even bother opening this figure now. I already have a loose specimen and besides, the packaging is oh so nice.

Speaking of the packaging, look how much smaller the new cards are as compared to even then the Rogue One releases. The packaging is shorter and not quite as wide as the previous Star Wars toys. I'm sure the Star Wars hoarders will be happy to know that Hasbro has reduced the packaging size so they can fit more toys in their storage unit.

Since the figure is basically the same, I'm not going to bother to open this one...at least for now. However I did review the First Order Stormtrooper from The Force Awakens so take a look at that post if you're curious about the figure itself.

Thanks for dropping by. Stay tuned as there might be more Star Wars posts coming in the near future.

Toys 'R Us: December 21, 2016

I meant to get this posted before Christmas, but you know how the holidays can go. Anyhow, I had to make a quick trip to my local TRU store in Pineville, NC the week of Christmas and I thought why not document my trip if you will. I always get a kick out of those old photos of the toy aisle that you see pop up on the internet from time to time. I thought why not take a few photos of the aisles I was browsing and share them. Remember, you can click on any of the pictures for a larger view.

The dedicated Nexo Knights end cap display prominently at the front of the Lego section. Nothing new here, but the sheer awesomeness of these sets will still attract your attention.

I started my visit in the Lego section like I normally do. I usually gravitate to the City section since that has traditionally been my favorite theme, however the Nexo Knights have caught my attention ever since they were released in early 2016. The good thing about late December is you can sometimes find some of the new sets already out on shelves. This was the case as I found several of the new Nexo Knights themed sets for 2017. If only I had more space and money I'd buy all of these sets!

Across from the Nexo Knights section was the aforementioned City theme sets. I noticed a few new sets, like the Pizza Van, but many of these were sets that have been out for awhile now. Surprisingly I didn't see many of the "Cops vs Crooks" sets I've seen at places like Target and Walmart. The selection was still pretty good, especially if you don't have a Lego store nearby.

The end cap around the corner from the City section was supposed to be spotlighting the new sets, but it had been picked over. I swear that jet and limousine set looks awfully familiar. I keep saying I'm going to buy that construction set w/ the Port-A-John before it disappears from retail shelves.

Being the Marvel van that I am, I didn't bother to take pictures of the DC Super Heroes sets! I should mention that many of the larger Marvel sets were actually on the action figure aisle shelves. Other than one small Captain America set from when Lego first started releasing Marvel sets, I've stayed away. It's not because I don't like the sets, but like other collectors I only have so much money and room for my collections. This new Spider-Man and Ghost Rider set looks pretty cool though.

My wife and I finally caught the new Star Wars Rogue One movie in the theatres as part of our wedding anniversary celebration on New Year's Day. Man oh man was that a great movie! Makes some of these new sets that more intriguing, especially that new TIE fighter.

Before leaving the Lego area, I walked around to where the Mega Bloks were and noticed a few of the classic Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles sets. I've seen the Krang set before, but the Turtle van and Technodrome I hadn't seen before...at least in person. I couldn't believe the $249.99 price tag of the Technodrome however. Guess I shouldn't be surprised as it looks to be similar in size to the Lego Star Wars Deathstar.

After finishing in the building block section, I made my way around to the other side of the store where the action figures were. I first went down the comic themed aisle, looking specifically to see if there were any of the new Spider-Man/Sandman Marvel Legends figures. There was one lone figure of the Jackal, but that was it. The rest of the selection was average fare...Absorbing Man, Ant Man, Juggernaut and Dormammu Build-A-Figure waves. There were a few of the 4 inch figures that I hadn't seen before. The figures of Gamora (Guardians of the Galaxy) and Rage (New Warriors) were particularly favorites of mine. I will eventually pick up that figure of Rage as the New Warriors was the first Marvel title I read when my brother first introduced me to comics in 1990.

Sadly the Transformers section was pretty poor. It had been shopped, but not well managed by the store staff. Do you ever find yourself tidying up the shelves and pegs at your local stores like I do? I couldn't help to put things back in the right spots...I guess it comes from all those years I worked retail while in high school and college. The only new items I saw was the new packaging for Robots in Disguise. They had the new wave of Legends figures, but TRU is asking $8.99 when they can be bought for $5.99 at Target/Walmart. I'm OK with a small mark up, but $3? Come on, man!

What I didn't intend on seeing on this visit was Playmates new Voltron toys. These of course are based on the new Netflix series. I started to watch the new show while on vacation last week, but after walking 6 miles through the streets of Savannah, GA I just couldn't make it very long and fell asleep. I'll have to revisit the show again very soon.

The non-combing lions were present, as well as some figures of the enemy. There was a full set of the combining lions which was surprising...especially after I've heard from others that they have been hard to find. There was 3 of the black lion too. I was tempted, but ultimately held off since Christmas was just around the corner.

The last section I checked out was the "collector's area" that has taken over a part of the R Zone where the video games and other electronics are held. This is where you find a lot of the comic and movie franchise figures. There didn't seem to be a lot of rhyme or reason to the way this area was set up, however there was some cool stuff there. I particularly liked the Funko Dark Crystal figures...always loved that old Jim Henson movie.

Well that about wraps it up. I wanted to take more pictures in the action figure aisles, but being that it was only a few days left before Christmas the store was busy. I was already getting odd looks from other customers taking the pictures that I did, so I just settled for what I had. 

I will make mention that I visit a TRU store in Greenville, SC when I travel for work and it's a much nicer store. It's one of those combined TRU / Babies R Us stores so it's much larger. The video game area usually leaves a lot to be desired, but their Lego and action figure sections are always well stocked. The store also seems to be given more attention than the one located near me.