Okay, so I used to be a pretty hardcore toy buyer and I don't mean just as a kid. I still remember a time in high school (1989-93) where my friends and I could pretty much keep track of everything Star Wars related that was out there because frankly, believe it or not, there wasn't a ton. Then 1995 hit and the "Power of the Force" line of all new Star Wars action figures hit the shelves. I was addicted and now in college with the free time to dart off the Sonoma State campus and hit up a nearby Toys R Us at least a couple times a week. When Episode 1 came out, I bought them all and it was good. But also really sick.
Since then I've matured and moved into being pretty selective about my toy/Star Wars purchases. I've given myself a limit of only things that fall into either Yoda or Scout Troopers. I bit on a couple of the Mighty Muggs, but other than that my wallet has been pretty silent. That is until Comic Con.
While in San Diego I spotted the new Galactic Heroes (those adorably cute Star Wars figures that are part superdeformed, part vinyl style kids toy) display and of course, my eye immediately went to the chunky AT-AT near the top. In collector land, the new gigantic 3 3/4" scaled AT-AT has been getting Star Wars nerds in quite the tizzy, but I just don't have the room for stuff like that. Although, that was at SDCC as well, and it is bad to the ass. But the little AT-AT was so neat and could find a home on my desk pretty easily. It screams, "adopt me!!"
Did you know if you look at Target.com they will tell you where stuff is in stock? Yep, and so I headed off to a nearby Target and made my purchase of the Heroes AT-AT as quickly as possible to avoid my usual fiscal responsibility override. It is so cool.
My justification is that it comes with a Speeder Bike so it totally fits into my Biker Scout collection! Shut up, I know they're rewriting history and that there were no speeder bikes on Hoth, but it's a valid justification for my purchase so zip it! Here's a couple pics of the speeder bike with AT-AT Driver figure:
The box art is pretty nice, blending the traditional look and feel of the vehicle with the more "cutesy" aspects of the Galactic Heroes line. The bottom has a big Star Wars logo (seen above), while the sides have a nice rendering of the "Walkers" in action on Hoth. Here's the side view and the back panel with all the feature descriptions:
Lights and sounds!! Lights and sounds!!!
Opening the box, the first thing I noticed was the familiar plastic ties had been replaced with twine, twine that is easily cut with my scissors of toy freedom!! Hold on little buddy, I'll have you out in no time! It is a pretty simple piece of plastic, and the packaging reflected that which also makes the AT-AT easy for young children to open and assemble without much in the way of adult supervision.
The assembly was as easy as snapping the legs into place and putting a couple of cannons on the AT-AT's head. The legs are billed as "poseable" but only move along one joint and are numbered to fit into corresponding slots on the main body. And the front left leg seems to be locked into a permanent "looking for a snowspeeder to step on" mode, leaving the toy to balance on three legs. Here's some more pix of leg assembly and posing:
The pain in the ass was the battery installation. They don't really point out where the battery compartment is in the instruction sheet, just showing a, as I figured out, rather unfortunately flat 2-D view of the compartment and screw. After violating my new AT-AT in its interior compartment, I finally noticed the screw I was looking on the underside at the rear.. or, his butt.
Now my new Imperial Walker was ready to plod across the snowy plains surrounding the Rebel Base on Hoth!! Among its rebellion crushing features include the aforementioned speeder bike which snaps into place in the belly of the beast, a cockpit, firing front canons, and a secret hatch for that jerk Skywaler to toss in a thermal detonator.
All in all, it is pretty frickin' sweet! I love the Galactic Heroes line but up until this point I only had a two pack of Yoda and a Clone Trooper in my possession. Now? Now I want to find the snowspeeder set so this baby has something to step on! Well, besides Jeero that is!
The cats were also curious, but as you can see from the video below, they were no match for the Empire's truly unique and twisted idea of military weaponry.
Overall rating: excellent! The size makes it easy to fit into even the most picky collections and with lights and sounds, this AT-AT holds up against his much bigger cousin. The price wasn't horrible at $40 (especially when compared to the big one's $100 plus price tag), although it is one of the more expensive Galactic Heroes vehicles they've made. I remember what it was like when I got my vintage AT-AT (ROTJ box) as a kid under the Christmas Tree and I can imagine little ones feeling that same sense of awesome if you get them one, but grab one soon, I can imagine these becoming scarce as collectors grab them up. Nice work Hasbro!
Thank you! I was looking everywhere for the battery compartment. I've never been unable to find a battery compartment before - and the 2D drawing looks so flat, and that screw is so far off to the side almost under the leg that I just totally missed it and went to Google. So thank you for posting this!
Posted by: ender | 09 October 2010 at 12:11 PM
Absolutely!! Finding that damn compartment was so frustrating, the "instructions" were useless. I felt like I was failing some ultimate toy test and silently being judged by the unseen toy gods! Glad I could help!!
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 09 October 2010 at 12:33 PM
You rock! I was going crazy trying to find that blessed battery compartment as my son was anxiously awaiting use of his new birthday present. Thanks so much!!!!
Posted by: Busy Mom | 17 October 2010 at 10:43 AM
Thank you for posting this information. I spent nearly an hour looking for the compartment. I nearly returned it to the store before finding your post.
Posted by: D | 21 November 2010 at 03:24 PM
We couldn't find that damn battery compartment, either! I love the internet... haha, thanks for posting this! :)
Posted by: Jennifer | 22 November 2010 at 07:54 PM
Seriously, it is Christmas Eve and my husband has been trying to find the battery compartment for the past hour. He was getting so frustrated! Then I had the thought to look it up on the internet and found your posting. THANK YOU! You saved our Christmas!!!!
Posted by: Melinda Fowlks | 24 December 2010 at 11:25 PM
Melinda, it is Christmas morning and I just saw your post as I wake up to start breakfast and it has made my morning. I am so glad that A) I am clearly not the only one who spent a long time looking for the battery, and B) that this post has helped so many especially parents getting toys ready for kids in the morning. Merry Christmas to everyone and thank you for stopping by my blog!!
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 25 December 2010 at 06:31 AM
Thanks for your post. It's Christmas morning and like the others, we were looking for the battery compartment!
Posted by: M | 25 December 2010 at 07:18 AM
Michael: you just made a 5 1/2 year old boys' 2 days...after 4 adults trying to find the battery compartment from Christmas morning til 12/26 afternoon, your blog solved the crisis..Many Thanks!
Posted by: deborah | 26 December 2010 at 01:16 PM
Haha! So funny Deborah! I can picture everyone around the table dissecting the poor AT-AT! I actually just looked and noticed I had well over 3000 hits on this post yesterday so we are not alone! So many people looked this up I actually just sent an email to Hasbro with the stats and a link so maybe they will rethink they're instruction sheets in the future. Hope your boy is having a ton of fun with it!!
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 26 December 2010 at 01:55 PM
Add us to the giant "THANK YOU" for this post!!!! Our boy is a happy AT-AT er! at last!!!
Posted by: Laura | 26 December 2010 at 02:54 PM
Thanks for the battery compartment! You've made my 4 yo (and 40 yo hubby) happy!!!
Posted by: JT | 26 December 2010 at 04:44 PM
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! My four year old has been waiting patiently for us to find the battery compartment. He loves your YouTube video as well!!
Posted by: Shannon | 26 December 2010 at 06:34 PM
Thank you so much! A pediatric oncology patient went without his meds tonight because 2 of the nurses were helping me search for that damn battery compartment. It took 5 adults, 2 screwdrivers &, finally, internet access to solve this one, so thanks again from Childrens Hospital in New Orleans.
Posted by: Virginia | 30 December 2010 at 06:51 PM
Holy smokes! Well, if silly blogs weren't meant to help out a children's hospital, what good are they!! I hope all the kids had a wonderful Christmas and all my best to the staff out there in New Orleans!!
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 31 December 2010 at 05:42 PM
Once again, thanks for pointing out where the battery compartment is located! I gave this to my kids for Christmas, and after seeing your review today (almost a MONTH later!!!), the kids (and their dad....) are finally playing with a fully-functional AT-AT!!!
Posted by: Jaash | 22 January 2011 at 07:02 AM
oh, thank goodness for Google! (which led me to you) I really didn't think I was THAT technically challenged - so glad I'm not the only one who couldn't find the battery compartment.
Silly me, looking where the power on/off switch was.
THANK YOU!
Posted by: Jesser | 25 January 2011 at 07:35 AM
A month!!! Holy smokes! I'm happy you can finally take down that shield generator.
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 25 January 2011 at 07:51 AM
Don't worry, the only person technically challenged is the one who wrote the instruction sheet! As of this morning, I am closing in on 50K hits on this post, so we are definitely not alone.
Posted by: Michael Hawk | 25 January 2011 at 07:53 AM
50K + 1 hits. You are definitely not alone. Now if I can find the flippin' small screwdriver LOL I've got two batteries in my pocket with nowhere to go!! Thanks especially for the pictures - once you said the batteries go under the butt I was in better shape, shuddering because I was planning to take the head apart!
Posted by: LeoEtc | 17 February 2011 at 07:11 AM
Thank you!! Like everyone else, I looked for the battery compartment for way too long!! I still have to buy a small enough screw driver to fit in the tiny space given for the screws. At least I know what to unscrew now! Thanks, again.. I really did not want to return my son's favorite birthday gift:)
Posted by: January | 23 July 2011 at 05:07 PM
OMG!! You are a life saver! It's taken 2 adults with roughly 12 years of combined college education and 3 hours to figure this out! I KNEW it was in the ass somewhere! What crappy instructions - THANKS hasbro! Thank you! I thought my husband was going to have a cardiac arrest he was so frustrated! You rock!
Posted by: Jen in TN | 05 August 2011 at 05:50 PM