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Sandcrawler

Coheteboy is back tonight with a great guest review of the new Sandcrawler from Hasbro.  Let's hear all about it, CB! 

Hasbro has been producing Star Wars toys for nearly a decade now and technology has vastly improved since then. The Star Wars action figures released today (Vintage Original Trilogy Collection, for example) are ten times better than the primitive days of "Power of the Force 2". Unfortunately for the consumer, vehicles have often taken a step backwards with the rehashing of older molds to look new. Sometimes it works, like the AT-AT and the Millenium Falcon but not with the Sandcrawler. Hasbro has proven to us that they CAN make great new vehicles from scratch (the new X-Wing, Landspeeder, Slave 1 come to mind), but of course it's difficult when you need to bring in X amount of dollars for it to be worth making. Granted, this is a vehicle with no action sequences and no weapons, making it that much harder of a sell. 











Here's a hypothetical question though... if Hasbro actually TOOK the time to make the best possible Sandcrawler and packed them with great "new" figures, would more collectors and kids alike be willing to shell out the money for a vehicle that contains no action sequences from the film? I think it would be a gamble but my answer is "yes". If done right, this is something that could have been fairly successful, since it is far from it in this form.

The Sandcrawler does come with three action figures, which certainly helps convince many collectors to make the plunge (RA-7 and two Jawas), but all three are repainted figures without any accessories. Is this Sandcrawler worth the money? Let's find out...

Packaging - ***1/2
Hasbro has provided a lavish and attractive box for the Sandcrawler to be displayed in. With windows on the front and sides, you can get a glimpse of the vehicle very clearly. The figures are aligned in front of the vehicle, which looks nice but probably wasn't smart. One look at the figures and the ridiculously out of scale sandcrawler will cause many to reconsider making the purchase. The back of the box is full of color and details the ins and outs of the vehicle you are purchasing. Overall, a pretty nice display that doesn't require removing it from the box to fully enjoy it. 

Actually, it's probably the BEST way to enjoy this one.

Sculpting - Sandcrawler *** 1/2; RA-7 *** 1/2; Jawas ***
Despite the incredibly small scale, the Sandcrawler is beautifully sculpted. All the cracks are there, every nook and cranny, it just looks amazing by itself. It's as if it rolled out of the screen and into your room, and then then Rick Moranis shrunk it with his shrinking machine.

One complaint about the sculpt of the Sandcrawler is minor but pretty big, so I guess they didn't nail EVERY nook and cranny after all... there's a huge chunk of vehicle missing on the bottom of the vehicle between the treads. It just leaves for a humongous gap when looking at the vehicle from the side, making it appear even smaller than it is. And with this vehicle, you need as much illusion as you can get!

Onto the figures, RA-7 is the silver droid originally released as the "Death Star Droid" in the vintage figure line. This is essentially a repaint of the POTF2 Death Star Droid but with cheaper plastic. It doesn't have the cool shiny paint but the sculpt is still pretty good. No real complaints as far as sculpt goes. 

The two Jawas looked great when they were released in 1996 but they look really outdated in 2004. The OTC line released newly painted versions of the same Jawas so it's a shame that the Jawas in this set aren't repainted as well. 

Paint - Sandcrawler *** 1/2; RA-7 ***; Jawas ** 1/2
The sandcrawler is surprisingly very well detailed... or at least it appears that way. There's a lot of different shadings and weathering applied to the exterior and it looks fantastic. The inside on the other hand is all pretty plain. 

The Jawas look pretty much identical to their 1996 release but with probably a different shade of brown. If there IS a change in color, it's not too noticeable. 

The RA-7 droid, which as said above is just a repaint of the POTF2 Death Star Droid looks a lot more yellow than it should but looks decent enough. It would have been great to see the better plastic used so it would have a more metallic finish. 

Articulation - **1/2
This only applies to the figures, obviously, and after seeing all the new Vintage figures with plenty of articulation, it's rather disappointing to get figures that were released almost a decade ago. RA-7 has the standard 6 points of articulation and the Jawas have three each. 

And if you really must know, there are 4 moving parts on the Sandcrawler. Two of them are the doors on the exterior, one is a sliding door for the storage area, and lastly there's the elevator that moves up and down, though not easily. 

Accessories - *1/2
As if a out of scale vehicle and rehashed figures weren't enough, you now have two Jawa figures without ANY accessories. The one thing that this set DOES come with shouldn't even be counted as an accessory since it's only a ladder that attaches to the SandCrawler's door. And yes, that IS a score of half a star.

Fun Factor - **
Once you get passed the issue of size, is this vehicle still fun for the kids? No, not really. This vehicle is a poor example of a "toy". Sure it comes with three figures but what can they do? Stand around? The vehicle comes with absolutely nothing to keep the figures occupied, other than to stand around and look at each other. 

Aha! But the Jawas can drive the sandcrawler can't they? Well I suppose they could stand in the driver's area, but without any wheels on the bottom of this vehicle, you really can't roll this sucker around. 

And the elevator, well, you can't even fit R2-D2 into it. That's a pretty disappointing accessory in its own right if only Jawas can fit.

Value - **
I bought this vehicle for $43 shipped to my door and I still think it's overpriced. Yes, it is an exclusive and there weren't that many made, but I'm not joking when I say that I'd be happy to shell out more money if this vehicle was a little more perfect. $10 of this vehicle can go towards the figures you're getting, but that still leaves $33 of a box that does not roll or do anything else. Not very fun at all! Here's an instance where the electronics feature may have enhanced the play value of this vehicle.

Overall - **1/2
Boy, what a disappointment. I don't expect toys to be completely in scale with the figures, but all I want is something close enough! The sandcrawler, if it existed, should be far bigger than the AT-AT. Meanwhile, the AT-AT toy towers twice as high over this baby sandcrawler. Also, for a tank-like vehicle to not be able to roll around on its own is a travesty. This could have been a really cool toy but Hasbro botched it up. I know how costly it could be to create new vehicle molds, but when you're going to do a cheap small version of it, it better be the best cheap small version ever! 

Perhaps a few other droids would have made this a worthy buy, but at this current form, I'd rather not have this Sandcrawler take up space in my room. After all, all I really wanted was the RA-7 droid, but in retrospect, it's not worth $43. 

SCORE RECAP:
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpt - Sandcrawler *** 1/2; RA-7 *** 1/2; Jawas ***
Paint - Sandcrawler *** 1/2; RA-7 ***; Jawas ** 1/2
Articulation - ** 1/2
Accessories - 1/2 *
Fun Factor - ** 
Value - **
Overall - ** 1/2

Where to Buy - 
I picked up my Sandcrawler at SouthernIsland.com for $37.99 but they appear to be completely out. I also saw these at Hot Topic for $66 each.

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Figure from the collection of Coheteboy.

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