It has been a while since I’ve devoted any time to Star Wars figures, and I do have a few
of them to address. So, what better for a Saturday morning than to look at the
Target exclusive AT-ACT Driver from Rogue
One? A repaint of the Scarif Trooper, this figure should make for some
fairly easy conversation.
Who could forget that memorable scene in Rogue One where, for less than a second,
we got an in-cockpit shot of an AT-ACT, the Imperial All Terrain Armored Cargo
Transport, and were treated to our first glorious split second look at its
driver? In true Star Wars figure
fashion, that split second of screen time lead to a toy.
The AT-ACT Driver uses the Scarif Trooper body, which is
kind of surprising, as a dedicated Hover Tank Pilot figure was released last
year. Part of me wonders why the AT-ACT Driver wouldn’t reuse that figure,
seeing as they are both heavy vehicle operators. My rationale for this I reckon
is that the AT-AT Driver is a different armor type than either the standard
Stormtrooper or the Snowtrooper with whom the Driver may be most closely
associated in terms of on-screen appearance. The AT-ACT Driver is really just a
white Scarif Trooper. Or maybe it’d be better to say that this figure is the
Hover Tank Driver body with a white Scarif Trooper head on it, since the AT-ACT
Driver has the same belt as the Hover Tank Driver, which neither version of the
Scarif Trooper has. The figure is like an optical illusion: whenever I look at
it, I see one or the other or both of the figures I’m trying to name as the
base for this one, and each one makes sense, and neither one seems wrong.
That inability to pin this trooper down makes me feel bad,
as does this entire article. I have already spent time on this figure, and this
recent iteration doesn’t do or offer much of anything different. As a Black Series figure, it has some good
and useful joints for posing, and comes with the Rogue One Imperial blaster: the usual one, but with that pod on the
side of the barrel, like a flashlight or targeting piece or something that’s
yet to be explored. The paint on this figure is nice, as it looks different
from and nicer than the Scarif Trooper by virtue of it being white instead of
tan, and is nicer looking than the Tank Driver by virtue of it having paint
details. The white of the armor and the grey on the shoulders in particular
help the figure stand out a little, as it is a nice combination of paint, and
the little red applications on the chest and helmet make this seem a little
more alive. The boots are weathered while the torso is clean, and that’s an
interesting juxtaposition as well.
And that, I suppose, brings me to the main section of this
article, which is whether or not this figure is necessary for a collection. My
initial response to that would be “no,” but I think the AT-ACT Driver is going
to wind up on more peoples’ shelves than we might expect. This figure is a
Target exclusive, and as such, it came with the instinctual fear that it would
be difficult to find or suffer from poor distribution or any of the other
myriad issues that pop up with store exclusive figures. Maybe each store would
only get a single case, so if you weren’t there at precisely the right moment
you’d lose your chance at one forever. So, just as I’d done with a previous
Target exclusive Black Series offering,
I got word that orders were up on their website, and I ordered one. Ah, now I could
rest easy, knowing that, no matter what hardships would befall my fellow
collectors trying to obtain an AT-ACT Driver at a physical location, I was
assured of one. I think it arrived on a Thursday, because my wife and I stopped
at a Target on a Friday, which, in my memory, was the very next day, and found
four of these hanging in the toy aisle. Ha ha, I must have stumbled upon the
toy aisle shortly after a restock, I thought to myself as I twirled my
moustache and adjusted my monocle, thus explaining the availability of this
exclusive figure in such numbers. Then, like two weeks later, at a different
Target, we walked by the toy aisle and saw several pegs of Black Series boxes hanging, several of which were . . . Target
exclusive AT-ACT Drivers. This has been the case at numerous Targets in our
area, even still, a few months after the figures’ release.
This continues a trend among Target exclusive figures, that
being their prolonged availability. Target must get a boatload of these, as the
Rogue One three pack is still easily
found in stores, and on occasion, a The
Force Awakens Poe and Riot Trooper set is still spotted on a shelf. Unlike,
say, Walmart, who apparently really does get a single case of exclusives per
location, Target gets tons of them, making them fairly easy to obtain. They don’t
ever seem to clearance these items though, which I suppose could be the one
real drawback: if you want an AT-ACT Driver, there’s no rush, as supplies are
doing just fine. But, if you’d rather not spend $20 on one, then you may have
to wait quite a while, as that doesn’t seem to fit into Target’s philosophy. I think
the sheer availability of this figure is going to lead a number of people to
pick it up, whether for inclusion in a collection or to customize or whatever. I
think this is a toy that is going to be many peoples’ “I haven’t found anything
in a while” consolation purchase, that kind of “I came all the way to the store
and I’m not leaving without a toy” grab that we all make once in a while. There’s
no mark up on Target’s website, so ordering one of these guys left me with no
negative burdens or consequences, and I didn’t have to pay extra or anything,
and despite the availability of the toy in stores, ordering it online allowed
me to not have to worry that I’d miss out on it. That’s why I’ve ordered the
last two Target exclusives and the Walmart Scarif Trooper online: so that I don’t
have to fret about whether or not I’ll ever find one.
As an Imperial collector, I would say that this figure is
absolutely worth the purchase. I don’t have a single regret about purchasing
one, nor about ordering it online to avoid missing out on it, despite the
ribbing I occasionally get from my wife to that end. I would venture to say
that the AT-ACT Driver is the best use of the Rogue One trooper body, mainly because it combines the visual
interest of the Scarif Trooper and the white armor of the Tank Driver. Pretty much
all of the other Rogue One troopers
have vanished from stores at this point, with only the occasional remaining
Cassians hanging around from what felt like an amazingly brief toy line. This figure is the best looking out of the
three other, non-Death Trooper Imperial soldiers released for the movie, but at
the time of its release, it was the third use of the Scarif Trooper body, or
fourth, if we do count the Hover Tank Driver as being enough of the same to
count as a Scarif Trooper on its own. Timing sort of blunts the enthusiasm for
this figure then, which is a bit of a shame.
However, if you have no interest in this figure at all, I don’t
think I could blame you. Out of all the Imperial troops released for Rogue One, this one feels particularly
frivolous, mainly due to its presence in one second of the movie. While this is
commonplace for Star Wars as a merchandising opportunity, this ended up being
the trooper that made me sit back and say “cool, but unnecessary.” Again, don’t
misinterpret that as apathy or dislike, because it is not. And, in case this
has never come up before, I bought the First Order single packed TIE Pilot, the
regular release not included with the TIE Fighter, because it was lacking the
red strips on the helmet and was, thus, a separate and necessary addition to my
ranks, so it’s not like I’m looking at the AT-ACT Driver and thinking it’s superfluous.
Sheer availability will cause this guy to be in more people’s collections than
not, probably whether they like it or not. I like it just fine, and don’t think
it’s a bad buy, even if it ends up being on impulse.
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