Nomadscout’s Collection Part VIII

For this next installment, you get to see some things that are bigger than the usual things...

Previous parts can be found here if you missed them or are interested in looking again:
PART I: CIS Droids
PART II: CIS Factions and Leadership
PART III: Naboo
PART IV: Coruscant
PART V: Clone Troopers (Phase I)
PART VI: Jedi
PART VII: Clone Troopers (Phase II)

Hasbro had given us a pretty deep run of items to boost our CIS collections, but it was always going to be the good guys that got the best toys. The Jedi Generals led their Clone Trooper units, and we certainly got plenty of those figures. But nothing separates the 3.75" scale from all the pretenders by its capacity to world build, and vehicles are the backbone of worldbuilding.

The Grand Army of the Republic is well represented in toy form by its ground vehicles. From speeders to tanks to artillery to walking mechanical behemoths, Hasbro gave us plenty to round out the GAR's arsenal.

Small vehicles are generally the most attainable for collectors, as they are the least expensive and take up the least amount of space. For the GAR, we have a bunch of repaints of Biker Advanced Recon Commando (BARC) Speeders. These are mostly recognizable from ROTS as the ones ridden by Clone Marshal Commander Neyo and one of his fellow 91st Mobile Reconnaissance Corps officers during the issuing of Order 66, when they turned on Stass Allie. Hasbro released multiple repaints of the speeder over the years, and a few are shown here. One more is stowed inside the Clone Turbo Tank, which I neglected to include in the shots. Others are repaints which will feature in later installments of Look at My Junk!.

Another small vehicle featured in ROTS is the AT-RT, sort of a smaller one-man version of the AT-ST. A couple of repaints exist of this vehicle as well, to add some variety to your GAR units.

Hasbro also honored the tradition of the old Kenner mini-rigs, representing some toy designs that were usually meant to be imagined as "just off screen." One example is the Republic Attack Dropship, which was a mini-rig version of the Republic Gunship. What you're about to see is extremely rare footage from Banthaskull Studios. Consider yourselves warned: The production values in this short film are nothing short of mind-blowing.




Phew! I'll have what she's having, am I right? Unreal.

Another mini-rig was one that made a couple of forgettable appearances in The Clone Wars animated series. The Freeco Speeder (named such as a contraction of "freezing cold," the environment for which they were built) came with a clone-armored Obi-Wan Kenobi figure. A neat little vehicle, it looks more like something you'd find on a backwater planet in some random guy's garage, rather than some part of the GAR.

Moving up in size, we have a few mid-sized options. Most notably, we've got the Republic Assault Tank. Again, Hasbro gave us several repaints, and a couple of different sculpts. The basic sculpt was repainted a few times, while we also got a pretty nifty remote controlled version, which was similar in size. Later, during the abysmal transition to the Dark Times, the AOTC3D "Yoda" packaged line gave us a smaller, more affordable variant. This one was pretty terrible. It's pretty much just a hollow shell, with no wheels underneath. It's awful, and was part of Hasbro's attempt to murder the hopes and dreams of Star Wars collectors around the world.

Similar in size, we've got the AT-AP's, or All Terrain Attack Pods - also in several paint schemes. These can be seen briefly in a few of the Order 66 shots in ROTS. From TCW, Hasbro gave us the AV-7 Antivehicle Cannon. These toys are pretty neat. The idea is that they roll into position on tank treads, and then deploy the 4 "feet" to stabilize in place while firing. It's a cool toy, and at the time they were available, I picked up 3 of them.

Lastly, in this size range, we have the Republic Swamp Speeder, which can be seen briefly on Kashyyyk in ROTS. It's an odd vehicle, which is somewhat non-Star Warsy to me, and is one of my least favorite toys in the line. Nevertheless, there it is.

Then we've got 3 behemoths. First up is the AT-TE. This massive toy is loaded with play features and electronics, but all of it is well integrated and doesn't reduce it to anything silly or cartoonish. Originally manufactured with weak legs, you could request sturdier replacements from Hasbro. If you check out our review of the AT-TE, you'll see some special features from our friend sambuca, including a DIY solution to the crappy leg problem.

Another huge vehicle is the Clone Turbo Tank. This one also has a ton of play features and electronics that are well integrated. It includes some detachable sections for added display value (the "off screen" type) as well as the aforementioned BARC Speeder "garage."

And finally we have the Republic Attack Shuttle. For the purposes of this feature, which shows the ground vehicles of the GAR, I've "transformed" the shuttle into its alter ego, the Republic Attack Base. This is pretty much just a Hasbro invention to make the otherwise not-so-aggressive vehicle a bit more marketable for the kids. I believe this is 100% a Hasbro invention, and it's pretty well done. When deployed, it's a bit odd, but works as a nice mobile military base for your Clones. You'll see it transformed into its regular vehicle mode later.

So there you have it. Let's see your GAR vehicle collections in the comments!

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