It’s the Imperial Speeder from Rebels!  Here’s another nice effort from Hasbro.  A small vehicle, with decent features, and an acceptable pack in figure that, most importantly, is not another Kanan or Ezra.  Simple, but well designed toys like these are what made the line great back in the day. 

We recently reviewed Ezra Bridger’s Speeder.  This is a retool/repaint of that set.  Ezra’s speeder was actually this same model, a 614-AvA, by Artech Repulsor Company.  He apparently acquired a surplus model, and then repainted and modified it.  This version is the Imperial issue model.  The pilot is labeled as an AT-DP driver, so you can use him to go along with that vehicle as well. The vehicle seems to be based on a Joe Johnston sketch, while the AT-DP pilot is based on the look of the Ralph McQuarrie Snowtrooper.  Neat!  Say what you will about Filoni, he has a way of bringing some esoteric Star Wars history to “life” in these animated shows.

The bike is based on Ezra’s, which debuted in the TFA line and was itself repacked in the RO line.  This version is painted in a gray Imperial scheme.  The paint is sharp, and a nice contrast to Ezra’s.  The handlebars and foot pedals adjust so that adult-sized figures like this pilot or shorter kid-sized figures like Ezra can both fit comfortably.  The speeder has a storage hatch in the back, so that the pilot can store his gun and whatnots.  That same “clip” exists on the underside of the speeder, which was intended for hidden storage of Ezra’s lightsaber, but in this case doesn’t really do the driver much good.  I tried to see if you could snap the blaster into that clip, but it doesn’t work.  Besides the paint scheme, there is one additional feature alteration. The Imperial speeder has a large, missile-firing cannon on the left side of the vehicle.  The spring-loaded missile fires pretty well.  The driver could try to shoot down Ezra, but he would fail because, hey, it’s Ezra.

The pilot is different from the single carded basic Rebels line AT-DP.  This s a decent sculpt, and is painted with some crisp lines.  The helmet is a nice nostalgic design, as mentioned.  The figure has standard 5POA, and the joints are enough so as to allow the figure to assume a seated position on the speeder, while gripping both handlebars.  The driver can hold the blaster tightly, although he has no holster.  I guess that’s what the storage bin is for. 

I gave Ezra’s speeder a 6.  It would have scored higher if the figure was SA and had an additional accessory, as well as if the price was a bit lower.  $20 is good, but $15 would be ideal.  The same applies to this set.  It gets an extra boost because we get a figure that’s not Ezra, but at the same time, the character was released once before, so it’s not as exciting as it could be.  The addition of the side cannon might be a plus or minus, depending on your point of view.  I’ll stay consistent, and give this a 6 as well.  It’s a nice addition to the line, but as usual, there were a bunch of other options that we could have asked from Hasbro instead of this.