Post by Garvy on Aug 11, 2005 16:44:35 GMT 8
here is another review:
Hasbro Star Wars Republic Gunship
Introduction
The Republic Gunship was first released by Hasbro towards the last quarter of 2002.
Off the bat, let me say that holding this MIB and feeling the sheer weight of it was a positive sign. I bought my first gunship (the Clone Wars Command Gunship) in New York several years ago and I still recall how weighed down I felt carrying it while walking in the city.
Call me old fashioned, but I love "heavy" toys! I actually wanted to begin assembling this over dinner at a restaurant but I decided otherwise!
Assembly and Sticker Application
Once removed from the box, one will immediately notice that there are a lot of parts! The bigger parts that constitute the major portions of the ship are easy enough to handle but there are a lot of weapons parts, bombs, etc, which will probably be better left put aside until the ship itself is assembled.
Assembly itself is very easy as most of the parts just snap on. However, like every labor of love, I would recommend that one take time in putting this together. Applying the stickers can be a bit troublesome. Some are quite tiny, and the adhesive is slippery so that once you think you've applied it in the right place, the sticker suddenly shifts position and is out of place. I suggest that for the smaller stickers, just use a pair of tweezers. However, for those with slender and dextrous fingers, this shouldn't be much of a problem.
Toy Design and Features
Once initial assembly is completed, one of several first things you can be sure to say is, "she's big!". The assembled gunship is quite sturdy as well. No flimsy construction to complain about here. These attributes make this particular toy quite heavy. Thankfully, Hasbro engineered a play "handle" at the top rear right between the wing assemblies, to aid in carrying this baby around.
Topside Carrying Handle
Design wise, the Republic Gunship looks to have derived some design elements from the Soviet-made Hind helicopter. The dual c0ckp|t and the missile emplacements on the wings support this initial impression of a lot of people.
Ok, now let's do a sweep over the ship. The forward section of the ship has two forward guns, very much like chin guns. The barrels themselves actually fire although if you're expecting some high powered projectile, these tend to just flip flop to a short distance once fired.
Swiveling and firing chinguns
The thingypit can fit two figures, ideally the AOTC clone pilots. There is also a small section close to the thingypit, a corrider of sorts where one can probably pose two figures comfortably in battle ready positions! However, this section lacks the foot pegs to secure the figure so if you bank the ship abruptly, be prepared to rescue your troopers that have jumped overboard and gone AWOL.
Pilot compartment (for 2 figures)
Next we come to the ship's open cargo/troop transport area. The cargo/troop area is decently spacious so you can cram a squad of clone troopers in there. Given the average height of the clonetrooper figures, they stand tall enough so that their heads are clearly seen below the lowest part of the door arch.
Gunship side openings -- troops ready!
A drop platform is integrated to land your Clones for a lightning attack and there are foot pegs generously distributed on the platform so they'll stay standing up. A switch at the ventral rear of the ship allows one to drop this section out from the bottom of the hull, allowing for interesting play sequences! One does have to "drop" the platform close to a designated surface. If its too high, even with the pegs, some of the figures are still likely to fall.
Troop "drop" platform
For the gunship, there are at least two add-ons that are directly compatible with it.
First, there is the AOTC clone trooper pilot that comes with a gunpod/ball turret that attaches to either side of the ship. Since the gunship requires two pilots anyway, one gets the ball turrets as welcome extras.
Gunpod add-on (comes with Saga Clonepilot)
I will take this opportunity to make a sidenote. The gunpod/ball turret accessories are not made of clear plastic and they’re only about a third or a fourth the size they need to be to fit a clone trooper gunner inside them. That, I have to say, is one of my major disappointments, moreso since the ball turrets included on the Gunship wings are excellently crafted. One may argue that had Hasbro made gunpod/ball turrets that could fit a gunner that these would tend to be oversized and may show scale disproportions. I have seen customizers use clear plastic Christmas balls and the results were fantastic! The ideal here would have been for Hasbro to have made the clone pilot a deluxe figure with a ball that he could actually fit in, to be attached to the gunship! Oh well......
The rear of the cargo/troop transport area is another interesting topic of discussion as we move to the next potential add-on feature: the deluxe clone trooper with Speeder Bike. The gunship's cargo bay is specially designed to accommodate the speeder bike. Please note that the speeder bike I refer to is the red one, the vintage version or the POTF2 speederbike. These will fit perfectly. There is the clone wars speederbike (colored light gray) with some big missile launcher whose main body will fit just right but the front detachable portion (where the speeder steering vanes are) is an odd fit. You can refer to the pics and judge for
yourself.
Saga Collection speederbike (red) - a perfect fit!
Clone Wars Collection speederbike (grey) - notice the sterring vanes that stick out!
Among the coolest features of the gunship are the side doors. By means of two side panels hinged on interior arms, one gets simulated pneumatic/hydraulic doors that open via a button on top of the vehicle. These side panels slide backward in a smooth, semi-slow motion to reveal the full cargo/troop transport area. Very nice touch! A small detail, but nicely done! The doors also have little pegs so you can rack up a couple of bombs on each door.
As we move to the wings, there are several interesting details. There are ball turrets on each wing. These are fanstatically done with clear domes and visible mechanics inside each ball!
Wing mounted ball turrets
Under each wing, there's also a bomb rack with room for four bombs. Unfortunately, to drop the bombs, one has to manually flick the bombs off. It would have been a trip if Hasbro had engineered a bomb dropping mechanism but its sadly lacking. It’s a good extra nonetheless.
Underside of wing
Under each wing, closer to the main fuselage, there are "hidden" cargo compartments. Its my guess that Hasbro may have had plans for the Gunship to be electronic as the bays look like battery compartments. Again, packing this thing with weaponsfire, idling and flyby sounds (similar to the Millenium Falcon) would have been great! It makes one wonder if Hasbro will rectify that with future releases of the gunship. Until then, one can use the compartments to store extra weapons, or anything else that will fit in there.
On the top rear section of the ship, by the wings, there are two large firing cannons. The firing mechanisms on these leave much to be desired. I found that the missiles for this launcher were too long and heavy. As such, when fired, the missiles just drop to the floor a measly distance from the cannon muzzle. I can only assume that Hasbro made it like this as a safety precaution for small children.
At the rear of the ship, there are a pair of grappling hooks.
Gunship rear with turret, grappling hooks and cables
It’s a great idea in the sense that it can add a lot of play value by letting one tow smaller vehicles or having the clone troopers use these for Marines' style deployment and extraction! There are some drawbacks though. First of all, the strings are too long! This problem could be likened to the harp00n and towcable of the snowspeeder. Not having learned from that limitation, Hasbro still hasn't found a way to use a winch or other retracting mechanism. Secondly, and related to the first problem, I know that a lot of collectors are also annoyed by the fact that the black rope doesn't spool neatly. I've heard of people actually using a prod to force the ropes into holes at the rear to hide them completely.
Clonetrooper rapelling!
Lastly, there's a turret of sorts on the rear. It’s a relatively small piece and tends to pop out, so pay attention to it lest it get lost. It doesn't really do anything, so I categorize it as one of those small "accent" pieces.
Known Variations
To date, there are three variants of the gunship.
The first is the AOTC version. It’s a fair representation of the actual AOTC gunship in Saga Collection packaging. I think we more than adequately described it above.
The second is the Command Gunship.
Released in mid-2003, the Command Gunship is a repaint. Though it is by no means a major departure from the older gunship, there are some subtle differences that I would categorize as improvements. At first glance the differences look to be cosmetic but surprisingly, I also found that there are improved weapon launchers on this one.
The paint scheme is almost identical to the original except that the colors were switched! New colors, like black, are now in use. There are also some new markings on the hull showing the Gunship's destoyed targets.
Sadly, like the earlier version, there were no extras packed in with this such as the pilots with gunpods.
Packaging-wise, it comes in Clone Wars packaging which I found to be more striking and attaractive compared to the Saga packaging.
Again, it's nothing new, but there were at least some noteworthy improvements. Ultimately, I tend to like the overall look of this version among all the three versions! You may scoff and say that if you have one gunship, why buy another if its just a repaint. Well, for those who want to build up a Grand Army of the Republic, this is a great step in the right direction!
Lastly (as of now), we have the ROTS version.
Its now 2005, 3 years since the release of the original gunship but alas, this is basically another repaint. All the features remain the same. I cannot comment though on the launchers as I barely played with this version before I sold it (had other priorities)!
Paint-wise, the coloring was a departure from the previous two versions. Instead of the base white used on the last two, the base color on the ROTS version is a drab grey with yellow and red accents. From the look of it, I'd say that the color of this version would be best suited for the Kasshyk scene of ROTS. The colors on this tend to indicate a move towards a more camouflaged look. I can tell you that I have a good feeling that this version would look great with the AT-RT driver and the Commander Gree figure due to come out!
Recommendation
Overall, I think this is perhaps the 2nd-3rd largest toy prequel vehicle released by Hasbro and ranks among the better ships of the line for SW toys.
Hasbro looks to have put a lot of time and effort designing this baby! I can tell you that it does live up to its name. Its armed to the teeth, packed with guns, bombs and missiles. On top of that, it serves as a great troop transport with room for two pilots, a squad of clone troopers and a speederbike to boot! To some extent, it reminds me of an old huge, highly accessorized GI Joe helicopter!
Its big, bulky and displays very well, a great toy, with lots of playability. It’s a definite must-have! If you can find it at 3k and below, buy it!
Note: Thanks to Kiko of PTK for providing reference pics of the loose ROTS gunship!
Hasbro Star Wars Republic Gunship
Introduction
The Republic Gunship was first released by Hasbro towards the last quarter of 2002.
Off the bat, let me say that holding this MIB and feeling the sheer weight of it was a positive sign. I bought my first gunship (the Clone Wars Command Gunship) in New York several years ago and I still recall how weighed down I felt carrying it while walking in the city.
Call me old fashioned, but I love "heavy" toys! I actually wanted to begin assembling this over dinner at a restaurant but I decided otherwise!
Assembly and Sticker Application
Once removed from the box, one will immediately notice that there are a lot of parts! The bigger parts that constitute the major portions of the ship are easy enough to handle but there are a lot of weapons parts, bombs, etc, which will probably be better left put aside until the ship itself is assembled.
Assembly itself is very easy as most of the parts just snap on. However, like every labor of love, I would recommend that one take time in putting this together. Applying the stickers can be a bit troublesome. Some are quite tiny, and the adhesive is slippery so that once you think you've applied it in the right place, the sticker suddenly shifts position and is out of place. I suggest that for the smaller stickers, just use a pair of tweezers. However, for those with slender and dextrous fingers, this shouldn't be much of a problem.
Toy Design and Features
Once initial assembly is completed, one of several first things you can be sure to say is, "she's big!". The assembled gunship is quite sturdy as well. No flimsy construction to complain about here. These attributes make this particular toy quite heavy. Thankfully, Hasbro engineered a play "handle" at the top rear right between the wing assemblies, to aid in carrying this baby around.
Topside Carrying Handle
Design wise, the Republic Gunship looks to have derived some design elements from the Soviet-made Hind helicopter. The dual c0ckp|t and the missile emplacements on the wings support this initial impression of a lot of people.
Ok, now let's do a sweep over the ship. The forward section of the ship has two forward guns, very much like chin guns. The barrels themselves actually fire although if you're expecting some high powered projectile, these tend to just flip flop to a short distance once fired.
Swiveling and firing chinguns
The thingypit can fit two figures, ideally the AOTC clone pilots. There is also a small section close to the thingypit, a corrider of sorts where one can probably pose two figures comfortably in battle ready positions! However, this section lacks the foot pegs to secure the figure so if you bank the ship abruptly, be prepared to rescue your troopers that have jumped overboard and gone AWOL.
Pilot compartment (for 2 figures)
Next we come to the ship's open cargo/troop transport area. The cargo/troop area is decently spacious so you can cram a squad of clone troopers in there. Given the average height of the clonetrooper figures, they stand tall enough so that their heads are clearly seen below the lowest part of the door arch.
Gunship side openings -- troops ready!
A drop platform is integrated to land your Clones for a lightning attack and there are foot pegs generously distributed on the platform so they'll stay standing up. A switch at the ventral rear of the ship allows one to drop this section out from the bottom of the hull, allowing for interesting play sequences! One does have to "drop" the platform close to a designated surface. If its too high, even with the pegs, some of the figures are still likely to fall.
Troop "drop" platform
For the gunship, there are at least two add-ons that are directly compatible with it.
First, there is the AOTC clone trooper pilot that comes with a gunpod/ball turret that attaches to either side of the ship. Since the gunship requires two pilots anyway, one gets the ball turrets as welcome extras.
Gunpod add-on (comes with Saga Clonepilot)
I will take this opportunity to make a sidenote. The gunpod/ball turret accessories are not made of clear plastic and they’re only about a third or a fourth the size they need to be to fit a clone trooper gunner inside them. That, I have to say, is one of my major disappointments, moreso since the ball turrets included on the Gunship wings are excellently crafted. One may argue that had Hasbro made gunpod/ball turrets that could fit a gunner that these would tend to be oversized and may show scale disproportions. I have seen customizers use clear plastic Christmas balls and the results were fantastic! The ideal here would have been for Hasbro to have made the clone pilot a deluxe figure with a ball that he could actually fit in, to be attached to the gunship! Oh well......
The rear of the cargo/troop transport area is another interesting topic of discussion as we move to the next potential add-on feature: the deluxe clone trooper with Speeder Bike. The gunship's cargo bay is specially designed to accommodate the speeder bike. Please note that the speeder bike I refer to is the red one, the vintage version or the POTF2 speederbike. These will fit perfectly. There is the clone wars speederbike (colored light gray) with some big missile launcher whose main body will fit just right but the front detachable portion (where the speeder steering vanes are) is an odd fit. You can refer to the pics and judge for
yourself.
Saga Collection speederbike (red) - a perfect fit!
Clone Wars Collection speederbike (grey) - notice the sterring vanes that stick out!
Among the coolest features of the gunship are the side doors. By means of two side panels hinged on interior arms, one gets simulated pneumatic/hydraulic doors that open via a button on top of the vehicle. These side panels slide backward in a smooth, semi-slow motion to reveal the full cargo/troop transport area. Very nice touch! A small detail, but nicely done! The doors also have little pegs so you can rack up a couple of bombs on each door.
As we move to the wings, there are several interesting details. There are ball turrets on each wing. These are fanstatically done with clear domes and visible mechanics inside each ball!
Wing mounted ball turrets
Under each wing, there's also a bomb rack with room for four bombs. Unfortunately, to drop the bombs, one has to manually flick the bombs off. It would have been a trip if Hasbro had engineered a bomb dropping mechanism but its sadly lacking. It’s a good extra nonetheless.
Underside of wing
Under each wing, closer to the main fuselage, there are "hidden" cargo compartments. Its my guess that Hasbro may have had plans for the Gunship to be electronic as the bays look like battery compartments. Again, packing this thing with weaponsfire, idling and flyby sounds (similar to the Millenium Falcon) would have been great! It makes one wonder if Hasbro will rectify that with future releases of the gunship. Until then, one can use the compartments to store extra weapons, or anything else that will fit in there.
On the top rear section of the ship, by the wings, there are two large firing cannons. The firing mechanisms on these leave much to be desired. I found that the missiles for this launcher were too long and heavy. As such, when fired, the missiles just drop to the floor a measly distance from the cannon muzzle. I can only assume that Hasbro made it like this as a safety precaution for small children.
At the rear of the ship, there are a pair of grappling hooks.
Gunship rear with turret, grappling hooks and cables
It’s a great idea in the sense that it can add a lot of play value by letting one tow smaller vehicles or having the clone troopers use these for Marines' style deployment and extraction! There are some drawbacks though. First of all, the strings are too long! This problem could be likened to the harp00n and towcable of the snowspeeder. Not having learned from that limitation, Hasbro still hasn't found a way to use a winch or other retracting mechanism. Secondly, and related to the first problem, I know that a lot of collectors are also annoyed by the fact that the black rope doesn't spool neatly. I've heard of people actually using a prod to force the ropes into holes at the rear to hide them completely.
Clonetrooper rapelling!
Lastly, there's a turret of sorts on the rear. It’s a relatively small piece and tends to pop out, so pay attention to it lest it get lost. It doesn't really do anything, so I categorize it as one of those small "accent" pieces.
Known Variations
To date, there are three variants of the gunship.
The first is the AOTC version. It’s a fair representation of the actual AOTC gunship in Saga Collection packaging. I think we more than adequately described it above.
The second is the Command Gunship.
Released in mid-2003, the Command Gunship is a repaint. Though it is by no means a major departure from the older gunship, there are some subtle differences that I would categorize as improvements. At first glance the differences look to be cosmetic but surprisingly, I also found that there are improved weapon launchers on this one.
The paint scheme is almost identical to the original except that the colors were switched! New colors, like black, are now in use. There are also some new markings on the hull showing the Gunship's destoyed targets.
Sadly, like the earlier version, there were no extras packed in with this such as the pilots with gunpods.
Packaging-wise, it comes in Clone Wars packaging which I found to be more striking and attaractive compared to the Saga packaging.
Again, it's nothing new, but there were at least some noteworthy improvements. Ultimately, I tend to like the overall look of this version among all the three versions! You may scoff and say that if you have one gunship, why buy another if its just a repaint. Well, for those who want to build up a Grand Army of the Republic, this is a great step in the right direction!
Lastly (as of now), we have the ROTS version.
Its now 2005, 3 years since the release of the original gunship but alas, this is basically another repaint. All the features remain the same. I cannot comment though on the launchers as I barely played with this version before I sold it (had other priorities)!
Paint-wise, the coloring was a departure from the previous two versions. Instead of the base white used on the last two, the base color on the ROTS version is a drab grey with yellow and red accents. From the look of it, I'd say that the color of this version would be best suited for the Kasshyk scene of ROTS. The colors on this tend to indicate a move towards a more camouflaged look. I can tell you that I have a good feeling that this version would look great with the AT-RT driver and the Commander Gree figure due to come out!
Recommendation
Overall, I think this is perhaps the 2nd-3rd largest toy prequel vehicle released by Hasbro and ranks among the better ships of the line for SW toys.
Hasbro looks to have put a lot of time and effort designing this baby! I can tell you that it does live up to its name. Its armed to the teeth, packed with guns, bombs and missiles. On top of that, it serves as a great troop transport with room for two pilots, a squad of clone troopers and a speederbike to boot! To some extent, it reminds me of an old huge, highly accessorized GI Joe helicopter!
Its big, bulky and displays very well, a great toy, with lots of playability. It’s a definite must-have! If you can find it at 3k and below, buy it!
Note: Thanks to Kiko of PTK for providing reference pics of the loose ROTS gunship!
keeping the site active as a place to dump info for easier backtracking. 