Dude, Where’s My Starfighter?

Vehicles are right at the heart of what makes the 3.75" scale so awesome. And while our world-building scale does appear to be strengthening after the recent dark times, Hasbro has been struggling to give us the vehicles we need to help fulfill our wishes. While we have been getting slowly increasing numbers of almost always incredible figures along with a definite uptick in playsets and environments, The One True Scale won't reclaim its rightful place at the top of the Star Wars collecting food chain unless we get more vehicles.

It's understandable, though frustrating, why this is. Vehicles are expensive to produce, come in large boxes that take up valuable shelf real estate, and retail for a dollar amount that seems to scare off a lot of collectors. Retailers have generally been hesitant to support this part of the line, and only seem to do so once or twice a year, and usually with a repaint of an existing mold. By my count, we've only gotten 3 newly sculpted vehicles at retail since the rebirth of TVC: the Imperial Assault Tank, the Tatooine Skiff, and the Imperial Troop Transport. We did get The Khetanna and the Razor Crest, but those were, of course, HasLab specialty items. Whether it is Hasbro, retailers, collectors, or some combination, vehicles have not been nearly as readily available as they need to be for TVC to return to something approaching its former glory.

So let's just take a "quick" look at the most recent 25 TVC characters that have been released over the past few months, and see how many of them are asking, "Dude, where's my starship?"

VC200 The Emperor: The Imperial Shuttle has been released a few times in modern times, but only as a repaint of the Kenner mold, and never in TVC. It seems to pop up often in conversation of most wanted OT vehicles, and there is even a push for a new sculpt. Size and cost (major obstacles to almost any vehicle) would make it a HasLab, or at least a Pulse exclusive, candidate, unless some retailer was willing to take on the risk. But with the release of VC200, re-release of VC105 Royal Guard, several iterations of awesome Stormtroopers available or coming soon, and of course the imminent ROTJ 40th, a proper Imperial Shuttle is even more relevant than perhaps at any point in recent memory.

VC201 Darth Maul (Mandalore): Yes, this Maul is a late Clone Wars version, but that detail aside, he could really benefit from having his old ride, the Scimitar, or as the cool kids call it, The Sith Infiltrator. As with the Imperial Shuttle, we have an existing vehicle, but rather than bring that badly underscaled vehicle back, Hasbro should consider a resculpt. The original was an exciting release, but I think fans would be disappointed if it was simply put out as a straight repack. An update is warranted.

VC202 Ahsoka Tano: Like Maul, this version is from the end of The Clone Wars. I don't really associate Ahsoka with a particular vehicle. She did have a Jedi Starfighter in the Legacy Collection, but that was meant for her days as a Padawan. We can probably allow this figure to stand on her own, and not feel like we're missing anything.

VC203 Offworld Jawa (Arvala-7): Along with The Imperial Shuttle, here's another oft requested resculpt of an existing mold. It's been so long (2004/2005) since the comically undersized sandcrawler was released in the Original Trilogy Collection, that some collectors stooped to purchasing black market fraudulent bootleg imitation forgeries made by Disney. Shame! You know who you are! Anyway, appearing in a major "battle" scene with the Jawas and Din Djarin, and then again later sporting a krayt dragon skull, it seems it's about time for a shot at an all new vehicle as a proper setting for the eating of sooga.

VC204 Antoc Merrick:. Well, Hasbro did this one perfectly. We got the mustachioed man included with his ride. Well done!

VC205 Lando Calrissian: We do have a recent Millennium Falcon, so we should be good to go here.

VC206 IG-11: OK, here we go. IG-11 rode a stolen Imperial Speeder Bike into Nevarro City, much to the delight of Grogu, and of fans watching The Mandalorian. Hasbro already has a fantastic sculpt out there to work with, the Toys R Us exclusive 2012 version. That sculpt should be re-issued promptly, and painted in variants that work for the ROTJ 40th, as well as The Mandalorian. Let's do this already.

VC207 Teebo:. He doesn't ride. He walks. Like a boss. And no, let's not even entertain the idea of a modern release of the stupid Ewok Battle Wagon.

VC208 Captain Rex (Bracca): Rex isn't really known for his actions in any particular starfighter or starship, but his expert piloting of a blue Republic Y-Wing helped bring a thrilling and emotional end to The Clone Wars series. In fact, he rescued Ahsoka in theater Y- Wing, and both rode it to the surface of the planet where they buried the remains of their former brothers. Rex still had the keys during his appearance in The Bad Batch. Hasbro produced an outstanding version back in 2009, and a blue (501st?) repaint of the ship would be a welcome addition to my own collection.

VC209 Captain Grey:. Never saw his ride. That's okay. He doesn't even have an acceptable modern version of his Jedi General, nor does her Padawan exist (as a child or as an adult).

VC210 Captain "Ballast" (Howzer):. Never saw his ride, either. Cool character, though.

VC211 Elite Squad Trooper:. Here's an interesting one. These troopers, under the command of (the unproduced) Crosshair, were deployed via Nu-Class Attack/Transport Shuttles. We actually have this from The Clone Wars "Shadows of the Dark Side" line, in Republic colors. A repaint of this vehicle in Imperial gray would be kind of cool, but we'd need Crosshair, along with more accessible Elite Squad troopers, since this one was only obtainable in the $60 Amazon multi-pack.

VC211 The Mandalorian and Grogu (Maldo Kreis): Ignoring the numbering issue, Hasbro has provided us with the excellent HasLab Razor Crest. We just need Frog Lady and her egg capsule at some point.

VC212 ARC Trooper: These guys famously deployed into battle on Hypori in the Republic Gunship painted as the fearsome Rancor. This vehicle now costs $42M on Ebay due to the recent frenzy over these Tartakovsky figures. While I don't know if that particular paint scheme is the best option for a new release, the Republic Gunship is an iconic prequel-era vehicle that many collectors would like another chance at obtaining. There were no fewer than 7 versions released from 2002-2012, and that last one was actually in TVC packaging. But a new sculpt with modern paint technology and some better collector-friendly features would be as close to a sure-fire hit as you can have.

VC213 ARC Trooper Captain: "Not Fordo"'s return to TVC (albeit without the alternate helmet and gear) was a nice surprise. So along with VC212, this just provides further support for the need to have a new Gunship.

VC214 Barris Offee: Barris did fly a blue and purple starfighter in one episode of TCW during the awesome Umbara arc, but it probably didn't make enough of an impression to warrant a toy release. Hasbro certainly has a nice Delta starfighter mold available to repaint if they ever did decide to go this route.

VC215 Luminara Unduli: Even less prevalent than Offee's starfighter, Luminara's never appeared on screen, although a green and white version of her Delta-7 does exist in canon via the X-wing miniatures game card.

VC216 Battle Droid: It's been a minute since we've had the AAT at retail. Not sure if there's much demand, but the existing sculpt is nice, although it does contain some less than ideal play features.

VC217 Aayla Secura: Aayla's Eta class starfighter was referenced in a comic book, and was shown only being "borrowed" by Obi-Wan Kenobi. The vehicle's paint scheme was released in the TAC line in 2007, but probably doesn't warrant a re-release.

VC220 Imperial Death Trooper: While this release was specific to The Mandalorian, we saw them deployed in Rogue One on Scarif in the awesome TIE Reaper. That's a vehicle that would be cool to have, although it's debatable if it would be a good seller. For the record, the Death Troopers also rode in Krennic's Delta class T-3c shuttle, but since we have no Krennic, that's probably not even in the conversation. I'll take the Reaper, though!

VC223 Lobot: Lobot had no ride, and Lando didn't even think to give his friend a lift out of Cloud City on the Falcon. Oh well.

VC224 Bib Fortuna: While he didn't have a personal ride, he certainly looks awesome on the Khetanna.

VC225 The Mythrol: Even this guy had a speeder. It was similar in style to Luke's from ANH, but was definitely a more "modern" upgrade. The Mythrol used the speeder to transport Mando, Cara, and Karga to the Imperial facility on Nevarro. It was later found destroyed, to Mythrol's chagrin, as the heroes escaped in the Trexler 906 Armored Marauder...wait, so Mythrol gets us a vehicle two-fer. We need his personal speeder, and the Maruauder! To be fair, the Marauder would be a retool of the Troop Transport, so there's that.

VC226 Bo-Katan Kryze:. Her ship, a Kom'rk-class fighter/transport, appeared in The Clone Wars, Rebels, and The Mandalorian. Since we now know we are getting her Nite Owls crew, it seems only fair that this cool ship gets made. These transports were even in the Resistance fleet that gathered at the end of The Rise of Skywalker.

VC227 Kuiil: This guy rode a blurrg. Where is our blurrg, already? This is bordering on criminal.

So there you have it. This is just looking at the most recent 25 figures. Several ships exist and could use a re-release or repaint, others exist in inferior form and need an upgrade, while still others don't exist at all (including Kuiil's blurrg). Some of these are glaring omissions from our collections. If this were 2008, we'd probably have access to almost every one on this list, but in 2022, it's a mighty struggle. Here's to the importance of vehicles to 3.75" collecting, and the hope that Hasbro finds a way to make them a significant part of the line again.

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