SCOUT TROOPER Speeder Bike
Epic Hero Series Speeder Bikes
Item No.: Asst. G0363 No. G0372
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Basket, bike, blaster
Action Feature: Bike rolls on wheels, blasts apart/crash mechanism
Retail: $19.99
Availability: January 2025
Appearances: The Mandalorian
Bio: Scout troopers were lightly armored comapred to other stormtroopers, which allowed them to move quickly and easily on speeder bikes in a range of environments. (Taken from the packaging)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at Entertainment Earth now!
Click here to buy it at Amazon now!
Click here to buy it at eBay now!
If Hasbro sold this trooper on a card by itself, I think it would be a massive hit. He's not too tall, he has just enough articulation to be interesting, and the Remnant Trooper slightly off-white deco hints at the post-Imperial lack of literal polish seen in plasteel uniform parts. The figure shows no actual mud or dirt splatters, but Hasbro still managed to evoke an aged, decaying era. That's good! The black bits look great, and everything seems pretty cleanly done. Most of the joints move well, but they're not quite as easy to move as the fancier The Vintage Collection figures. It took a few moments to get the legs posed right to stand, but since then he's stayed upright. The detail is pretty good - not like this figure has a ton of fancy greeblies - and it reminds me a lot of what the Kenner 1983 figure could have looked like as a more modern toy. I only wish it had the classic blaster pistol, rather than a Stormtrooper's blaster.As far as bike compatibility goes, the figure isn't perfect. I wasn't able to get his feet on the pedals, his hands on the handlebars, and his butt on the seat very well. If you're willing to let the pedals go, it works pretty well and looks decent. The bike itself looks a lot like the old Kenner toys, down to the vertical handle grips, but there are some big departures. The flaps don't move - but you get wheels! You can zip it along the floor, and then the nose can hit a wall and flip the figure off the bike. It's a pretty cool mechanism, and it's a neat spin on the original toy which exploded as you press down on a pack on the back. This time around it has a big peg on the back, which presently serves no purpose. There's no part in this line which connects to it, although it does match the trooper's back hole.
The bike also has a cannon underneath, plus a cool little side basket for Grogu to sit in. (He's not included.) This makes it a real toy, and a pretty decent one - other than not sitting on the seat as the designers intended, it's good enough and fun enough for me to say I'm glad I got it. Maybe they'll revise the figure or the bike for a Return of the Jedi redeco some day, but until then I like this toy and hope kids pick it up - it's just about five years late for the episode tie-in, a blink to an adult or an eternity to the kids to whom this toy is marketed. I'm seeing a lot of these in Target right now, so you can probably easily get one. Give it a look if you see one on-shelf, because $20 for a pretty posable figure and a bike is a steal when most 3 3/4-inch figures are $17.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Entertainment Earth.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,215: February 13, 2025
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