Clone
Pilot (Republic Gunship)
Another Clone Pilot SWTF
has been released, and this time it transforms into a Republic Gunship.
As you'd expect from a toy from this line, the vehicle mode is pretty much
spot-on perfect. The proportions are pretty much exact when compared to
how it looks in the movie, and there are no robot extras to speak of. (Well,
if you look all the way back inside the hangar, you can see the bottoms
his feet, but that's REALLY minor and you can't see them if you aren't
looking for them anyways.) The color scheme of off-white and dull maroon
is rather boring, but it certainly doesn't clash, and SWTFs are supposed
to be movie-accurate as opposed to having exciting color schemes anyways,
so I can't fault the toy designers for that. And like all SWTFs, the toy
does have quite a few paint applications, even if the chalky light gray
ones are barely discernible against the off-white. As far as moving parts
go, both of the front-mounted cannons can move independently of each other,
as can the bulbous turrets mounted on the sides of the hanger opening.
There's also little rotatable clear balls on the ends of the wings, though
since I'm not all that familiar with Star Wars beyond the basics, I'm not
quite sure what they're for. They do have peg holes in them for the wing-mounted
missile launchers, though that seems an odd place to put them. The missile
launchers' normal spot where the wings meet the main body of the gunship
prevent the wings from moving upwards in this mode, however, so maybe that's
what they're for. Another neat feature is that the hanger has four clips--
two on each side-- that can hold the miniature figurines that come with
all the SWTFs, which is a great touch and adds in a real purpose for those
little things on this toy. As with all SWTFs, the toy comes with a miniature
Clone Pilot figure of its own, which fits snugly inside the cockpit.
The Mech mode looks
pretty good, especially for a SWTF. The Clone Pilot does have a bit of
a backpack, but it all folds out of the way of movement well enough and
the wings complement the look of the mode, so I don't mind it much. It
does make him rather backheavy, however, since his feet aren't very large.
His Mech mode proportions are pretty good, though the aforementioned lower
legs and feet could stand to be a bit bigger to help balance him better.
The head design is an exact replica of the Clone Pilot helmets, though
since they look fairly robotic in nature already I don't mind it as much
as most other SWTF head designs. Both of the missile launchers can be held
in his hands in this mode, though in what is quickly becoming a trend with
the line, they fit in their hand holes rather loosely, which can be rather
bothersome. They can still peg into his wings if you don't want him to
hold his guns, however-- the wrist-mounted guns still give the dude some
firepower even without his handheld weapons. The turret bulbs on his upper
arms do tend to pop off rather easily as well, and his upper arms cannot
move forwards at all, only from side-to-side, which is a major oversight
for a toy in this day and age. He otherwise has great articulation, however--
he can also move at the head, wrists, elbows (at two points), hips (at
two points), knees (at three points), and ankles (at two points).
The Clone Pilot Republic
Gunship is one of the better SWTFs, with an excellent vehicle mode and
a great Mech mode as well, even if it is a little back-heavy. Recommended.
Review by Beastbot
*(NOTE: In addition to the original release, the Clone Pilot Republic Gunship was remolded and re-released in the Clone Wars-packaged "Crossovers" part of the line. The deco was largely kept in tact, but with a new "Twi-lek" painted on the sides of the nose. There were also remolded doors to cover up the interior in vehicle mode (though they created a set of do-nothing panels in front of the wings of his Mech mode), slightly remolded shoulders, and the pilot figure was removed. I like the original slightly more, as the new "art" looks kind of tacky and I liked having an area to store little pilot figures on the inside.)