When the toys were released for Force Friday 2015, it was not necessarily clear at that time, but it is now known that some of the items in the TFA line never made it into the film.  Some were probably just early sketches or marketing ideas, while some were filmed and had made it to some stage of pre-production, but missed the final cut.

In this case, the First Order Snowspeeder was actually from a scene cut from The Force Awakens.  The unfinished clip can be found here.  Thrilling, eh?  It would have been cooler if this toy was released with a note on the box that said “Deleted Scene” or something like that.  But most likely, it was too late for Hasbro to do that, even if they were interested, which they probably weren’t.  So this vehicle wasn’t on-screen, but it’s better than a Hasbro invention.  “Deleted scene” ranks higher than “just off screen”, which would indicate that it was imaginary.*  It’s definitely canon, though, because it’s a playable vehicle in Battlefront II.

So, now that we have that out of the way, how is it as a toy?  It’s dull, but it’s not terrible.  I’ve written that vehicles are one of my favorite parts of collecting the line, and they rarely disappoint, in my opinion.  Except for a few bad cases here and there, the worst that can happen is that you just get a bland ride.  That’s the case here.  It’s a solidly built toy.  No mushy plastic, or warping pieces.  It looks hefty, it can seat 2 figures, and has a rotating (and removable) cannon that fires projectiles.  It also has a manual landing gear to stabilize the toy on the shelf when you’re not zooming it around your Starkiller Base diorama like Randy is always doing.  (He makes “pew pew” noises when he shoots the canon.)  The cannon is the only action feature, so it’s kinda lame, but as a bonus, the canon is removable and can perform as a standalone weapon.  I do appreciate that the vehicle has a similar aesthetic to the First Order Atmospheric Assault Lander which was seen at the beginning of the film.

The snowtrooper officer figure that comes with the speeder is just a basic snowtrooper with an orange pauldron.  Other than the color of the pauldron, it is identical to the snowtrooper officer figure that comes in the Snap Wexley 2-pack.  There are slight paint variations on the chest details between the three figures, but this doesn’t appear to be an intentional thing, and is probably due to different factories being involved.  The pauldron is removable, if you want just a basic trooper.  Unfortunately, as in all 3 cases, there is no holster or “hip notch” for the included blaster.

The figure fits okay into either seat, and the hands grip the controls nicely.  The figure can man the canon from a standing position within the vehicle, or from a standing position when the canon is removed.  Either way, the figure holds the weapon grips solidly.

With this speeder and 3 Snowtrooper variations, it seems Hasbro went all in on the First Order forces defending Starkiller Base.  Most of this just never made it to the film.  As collectors, we’d probably rather see more aliens or pilots.  But, it may all turn out for the best, as it appears Rian Johnson may make good use of Snowtroopers in The Last Jedi.  We’ll find out in 11 days if these figures end up being relevant.

It’s pricey, retailing for $30 originally.  It’s not exciting, and wasn’t in the film.  It comes with a figure that just barely qualifies as unique, if you’re into that.  It looks good on the shelf, and for kids (or Randy) not bothered by the lack of features, it’s probably a solid toy in which to zoom your figures around.

*EDIT:  Thanks to 80sRobot who pointed this out in the Disqus section below, this vehicle was actually in the film for a few frames, here and here.