75298 AT-AT vs Tauntaun microfighters.
My last post featured a desert creature from the very first Star Wars movie, A New Hope.
Today, we have a snow-planet creature from the second movie, The Empire Strikes Back. That's the tauntaun half of this set, which has not one but two microfighters!
The first few minutes of Empire Strikes Back shows the icy planet Hoth, where Luke Skywalker is riding a tauntaun. The creature runs on two hind legs, while its frontal limbs are so short as to look as useless as a T-rex's.
Like the dewback in my last post, a brick-built version of the tauntaun is way more adorable than the real thing on-screen.
Unfortunately, this brick build has almost no articulation where it matters. You can move the tail and frontal paws, but not the head or legs.
There are two saddle clips for holding Luke's accessories: blue lightsaber, white binoculars, and blaster.
I like Luke's torso and helmet a lot. Nice cross-hatch design of Luke's Hoth jacket.
Also nice that his head has two faces. Above is the serious, frowning face.
The second expression is . . . ambigious. Is it supposed to be happy? The open mouth comes off awkward.
Alas, the helmet was perhaps not designed with dual-molded heads in mind. You can see one of Luke's mouths peeking out from under the helmet.
The helmet's visor can be positioned either over the eyes or above.
The second half of this set is an AT-AT, one of Star Wars' most iconic vehicles. Or at least, the most iconic ground vehicle.
An AT-AT (which stands for All-Terrain Armored Transport) may be slow but its armor is supposedly hard to penetrate.
I really enjoyed putting the AT-AT together, more than the tauntaun. And it has slightly more articulation--in the neck and feet.
Our AT-AT driver is a fairly good-looking minifigure, especially the helmet front.
The helmet's back and side is plain, though. And the driver's neck feels rather exposed.
The AT-AT driver comes with the same blaster as Luke's. He also has binoculars, but they're grey.
Both microfighters are adorable. No regrets picking up a sealed set for about 3,200 yen (at the time of purchase, close to the launch price of USD 20 but marked up in Japanese yen).
I ended up liking the AT-AT and its driver a lot more than expected. It was the more enjoyable build of the two microfighters. Even if I planned to sell it, I'd like one more chance to rebuild the AT-AT first.
And that's how it should be with microfighters, I feel: a quick, small build that kids (and adults) can enjoy rebuilding again and again.