Intro by Bret, 4/22/20

Here’s a real treat, folks.  In preparing for this review, I had discovered that the original review from 2008 was quite the contribution made by our good friend and original Banthaskull forum member, sambuca.  Perhaps you’ve seen him around our Disqus comments, under the name sambuca.  (He’s a crafty one.).

Back in ‘08 when this AT-TE was released, sambuca wrote the original (rather enthusiastic) review.  He also had completed a full basic gallery (which we have updated for our more modern standards).  But the reason I’m going with it here is that sambuca did not one, but two special features.  First, he did a “photo novel” to show off the features of the AT-TE, out in the rugged terrain of his desert homeworld of Tatooine the American Southwest.  Then, he followed that up with a step by step tutorial of how to fix a glaring problem with the vehicle.  You may recall that the leg joints were extremely weak, and would slip and slide instead of locking into place, which made standing the AT-TE a major challenge.  Hasbro did offer up replacement leg parts with improved joint stability, but if you missed that opportunity, you can follow his fairly easy guide yourself.

Anyway, without further ado, here is your blast-from-the-past review/photonovel/turorial by guest writer/photographer/handyman, sambuca.

Original Review by sambuca, 8/21/2008

I have the good fortune to own an AT-TE from Hasbro, and let me tell you…

IT IS AWESOME!!!

Not perfect… but awesome nonetheless.

After quite a few years of wishing and whining we have a new, large vehicle.
Pretty much a big, six-legged tank. Some will complain about the scale, but I believe it is
“big enough” and serves fine as the cornerstone for many a diorama.

It comes in a big box, covered with new Clone Wars designs. The pack-in Clone is visible from the front.  It is packed fairly well inside, a bit more care could have been taken with the legs, to prevent leg joint warpage. Harder plastic might have helped as well. There are only a few stickers to apply. The instruction manual included is actually printed in color!

There is a pack-in Clone Trooper, he is just the animated white Clone from the Clone Wars line, but with a red AT-TE footprint on each shoulder.

The six cannons (4 front, 2 rear) pivot left and right as well as some up and down movement. The front four cannons are sort of rigged together so that when one is moved left or right, the other three move simultaneously with it. Unfortunately, the cannons are missiles in this Hasbro venture, so pressing the gray button on top of the round cannon pivot will fire the cannon barrel as a missile. Don’t lose them, you don’t get any extras. They look good, though.

On the front is the cockpit, just enough room for a Clone to stand inside and pilot.  On each front side is a two door hatch that can be opened manually. Inside are seats for four Clones to “drive” the AT-TE. Of course, SA Clones fit, but this is also a great spot to hide some ugly Saga AOTC Clones.  Of course, once the doors are shut, you cannot see them, so you don’t HAVE to put any Clones in there… but you can.

There is the large cannon on top, which seats a Clone Trooper and fires a big missile. Not very far, but it does fire. This is a good time to bring up the electronics on this vehicle. A switch (on/off) controls whether the three AA batteries (not included) power the lights and sound effects.

When you press the light gray button on the side of the cannon, the missile will fire. In addition, if the power is on, lights and sound occur. If the button is pressed briefly, the main cannon light and the targeting screen light will flash, and weapon blast sounds will be played. If the button is pressed and held a moment,
“Fire at will!”
is played, and blasting sounds also play, while the main cannon light and targeting screen flash. The button on the rear of the gun, behind the gunner seat, also provides lights and sound. If pressed briefly, the small cannon light and targeting screen light up, and small cannon blast sounds are played. If held a moment, there is a battle station alarm (beep beep beep beep beep beep beep beep) and the targeting screen lights up. SA Clones can fit in the gunner seat easily. This is an excellent feature of the AT-TE, and the quick fire of the small cannon is one of my favorite sounds on it. I love it. BEEEEOW! BEEEEOW! BEEEEOW! BEEEEOW!

Near the gun are three gray buttons. These provide sound and light effects if the power is on. The far left button can be pressed to make vehicle sounds. It plays for about a half-moment too long, but oh well.  The center button plays one of five phrases, one after another in this order:
“All forward positions are advancing.”
“Approaching droid perimeter. We are undetected.”
“All units fire at will.”
“All units attack.”
“The droid army is in full retreat.”
Kinda cool, I think they are newer animated clips. The far right button is another dual-use button. Press it briefly to light up the targeting screen and play weapon blast noises. Press and hold the button to hear
“All units fire at will”
along with weapon noises and the targeting screen lighting up.

One last button near the three noise buttons controls the rear hatch. By pressing it, two side doors flip open sideways while a large door flips out toward the rear of the vehicle. When it lands, a set of stairs are presented.  These stairs allow the Clones held in this section covered by the doors to exit the AT-TE. If the power is on, a hatch-opening noise plays, which on my AT-TE, 90% of the time, will be synched up to match with the hatch opening.  Then the phrase “Move out, let’s go!” is played. Very cool feature, especially when the sound matches up with the hatch motion. Inside this hatch you can cram many Clones. There are footpegs enough for 14 Clones. Two of them serve as rear gunners, the other 12 stand at attention in 3 rows of 4 each. The Clones are separated by handrails that can be removed, allowing for a bit more storage space. There are weapon racks in the hatch as well, that hold pistols, small rifles, and long rifles. Really, you can cram almost anything into the hatch, provided you can get it to close. Some Clones, such as Rex, are a bit tallish, and the hatch door may smash the antenna on the helmet depending on where Rex stands.

Six mighty legs this tank beast has, but… Hasbro fouled out here. There are 12 total leg joints, and that means 12 possible points of failure. The dark grey plastic tabs that plug into the holes, well, they are sometimes too soft and bent from being crammed into the package. This results in leg joints where the leg does not wish to stay in. Sometimes it is one leg, some unlucky fools have found six bad legs. I myself had three. Note I said “had.” [See the guide above this review for complete instructions!]

Another note concerning the legs, included are little wheels that you can put on the feet of the AT-TE. Then it can
rock and/or roll! They fit into the little hubs on the bottom of the feet, although on mine, some do not stay in,
they would rather fall out. I prefer the feet minus the wheels.

Here is a story in pictures showing the AT-TE responding to a call for help from a Clone squad. Many features are displayed, including the cannons, Clone positions, rear compartment hatch, and leg articulation.

OVERALL SCORE: 9 out of 10 Bantha Skulls

It would have been a perfect ten, if not for the gimpy soft plastic leg joints. Now that I’ve fixed mine,
I would give my AT-TE a ten, however. An excellent large vehicle, the AT-TE plays well on its own,
or with a full complement of twenty Clone Troopers inside. The lights and sound effects are
authentic to the Clone Wars feeling this vehicle is supposed to provide, and all the action features are great.
If you do not own this already, get one. A hundred dollars is a big chunk of change, but in my opinion the AT-TE delivers.

Bantha Skull Exclusive AT-TE Special Feature:
Quick Fix for the loose leg joints! - by sambuca

Here is a guide for fixing these abominable leg failures yourself:

Supplies needed: 1/4” air conditioner water hose, 1/4” thick paintbrush (estimated, most taper), knife.

1) Take some of the hose and insert it tube style into the middle of the tabs on the dark gray leg joint.
2) Cut the hose to leave only a small bit of tube, cutting it to be flush with the end of the leg joint.
3) Take the paintbrush and jam it inside the hose, pushing until you bottom out into the dark gray leg joint. This may not work at first, the end of the brush may not be thick enough. If it is too thin, cut off the thin part of the brush stick and try again.
4) The goal is to fill the hose with a thick piece of brush stick, which will fill the gap in between the dark gray plastic tabs, forcing them out, making them work as they should. So keep trying until you have a suitable chunk of stick in there.
5) Once you have the brush firmly in, pull out the entire piece, you should have a hose end on the brush, with a tiny bit of space at the end of the hose that fits back into the leg tab.
6) Cut off the brush right at the edge of the hose. This may fly off like crazy, so be prepared.
7) You should now have a little tube plug, mostly filled with paintbrush stick.
8) Push the plug back into the leg joint it was created in, pushing it all the way in.
9) You should now have a functional leg joint, press it into its matching leg hole, now it may seem tough to do, the new plug in the leg joint is going to make it tough, but force it in tight and you will now have a much better, stronger, far more functional leg joint than before.

NOTE: Once the leg is assembled to the tank with the plug inside the leg joint, the leg will be far more difficult to remove than normal, so you may not want to use this fix method if you plan on frequent disassembly of your AT-TE. There is a chance you could damage the leg joint tabs or matching holes during removal, as the joint is now so very tight. I haven’t personally broken any of mine, and I have taken the joints back apart just to see if I could. But you know that feeling you get when you are messing with an articulation joint, and it’s like “wow, this might be about to break”... well, I got that once or twice disassembling those leg joints to show in the pictures. Just saying be careful, I guess. If you plan on displaying the AT-TE and not disassembling it, I say go for it.

As you can see, I have had to do this on three of my 12 leg joints.