As a kid, I had a ton of Star Wars figures and toys, but like many others, I lost interest in them as Return of the Jedi faded.  In fact, I was not even aware of the existence of the Droids or Ewoks cartoons on TV.  As such, I had moved on to other things as the vintage ROTJ line gave way to POTF.  It wasn’t until I started collecting as an adult in 1999 that I learned that I had missed these things as a kid.  We just reviewed the TLC Battle of the Sarlacc, which contained a repaint of this vehicle.  Even though it was released 8 years later, the included figures were barely any better than the Jedi Luke that came with this one.  As we discussed in that review, the Skiff is a good looking vehicle, and probably satisfied collectors when this one was released in 2000, although it wasn’t particularly easy to find at Target.  By the time 2008 rolled around, collectors who had missed on that release, or were looking for a second skiff to make a full display, got the chance.  However, the mold was definitely long in the tooth.  The vehicle was a bit undersized, the action features were silly and unnecessary, and the whole thing just wasn’t very stable.  It was often an exercise in frustration to get your skiff passengers to stand without falling over like dominoes. 

This skiff is painted very nicely, unlike its successor in 2008.  This version had detailed weathering and convincing battle damage painted with quality and precision.  The TLC release just had some silver blotches and streaks schmeared over it.  That’s right, I wrote “schmeared.”  But other than the paint, everything else has aged rather poorly.  The deck of the skiff is sculpted in such a way that placing all the necessary figures on it is difficult, especially along the sides, which have insufficient and unstable space for a pair of feet to lay flat.  Besides the middle “console”, which takes up an unnecessary portion of the deck, there’s also the spring-loaded ejector floor panel, which even rests at an unfortunate angle, while the side railings give way too easily.  The driver’s station is very tight.  You could fit a regular figure back there (such as VEDAIN!, who is finally coming), but it’s a chore to get poor Pote Snitkin in there.  One driver lever activates the 3 retractable legs, which hold the vehicle up, but leave everything very wobbly.  The other lever extends the plank.  This feature is simply inadequate, as the plank only extends a tiny bit before the edge collapses.  It’s just barely possible to get a figure to stand on the plank without getting dumped by the fragile action feature.  The only feature that works well is the movable rudders, but that’s not much of a feature, frankly. 

The Luke figure that is included is just terrible.  It is a retool of an existing figure, which now includes hinged knees.  This was a totally wasted effort.  As we know well today, knees without ankles are completely useless.  Not sure what they were going for here, but it was an early attempt at upping the ante on articulation, so I guess in someways it was an important evolutionary step. The figure looks nothing like Mark Hamill, it can barely hold the lightsaber, and….well….it pretty much sucks.  Nothing more to say.

The skiff isn’t a lost cause.  Bantha Skull has been calling for an updated skiff for quite some time.  Personally, I wasn’t big on this, because I assumed such a vehicle in today’s market would cost $80-$100, just like the TIE fighter, or the Imperial tank.  I wasn’t interested in paying twice that to replace both of my skiffs. Lo and behold, we are indeed getting a new skiff, for a very reasonable $40.  I’m all in on that, and am very pleasantly surprised that Hasbro came through with a great looking vehicle at a great price.  As for the Luke, he’s been bested many times over, so this is nothing more than a throwaway figure.

If you have this skiff, don’t feel completely compelled to toss it in favor of the new one just yet.  It can still work for your display, at least until the reviews are in and we see the new one first hand.  Also take note that this is a marginally better version than the one that came with the Battle of the Sarlacc set, because of superior paint operations.  But if you don’t have any current skiffs, or if you are looking for a second one, you should probably skip this and get the upcoming TVC one.