Release Date: July 2022
RRP: $16.99/£17.99
There are plenty of companies out there making toys and models of the various ships from the Star Wars universe, but when Jazwares announced they'd be entering the fray with their Micro Galaxy Squadron line it certainly sparked a lot of interest. A spiritual successor of sorts to the Micro Machines Action Fleet line of the 90s, the line will feature scaled vehicles each with their own pilot figures. As someone who's always loved Star Wars vehicles but never bought into a dedicated line of them before, I was eager to give it a try and picked up the Micro Galaxy Squadron Darth Vader's TIE Advanced from the launch range to see if they're truly worth all the fuss.
Whereas many toy companies are making steps to eliminate plastic from their packaging, Jazwares seem to be continuing on with this chunky blister pack card that just has trays within trays. From the front you get a good look at the TIE Advanced alongside the Darth Vader minifigure also included in the set. In the top corner there's also a graphic showing off that said Vader can indeed fit inside the ship. On the card along the bottom you'll find the Micro Galaxy Squadron logo as well as the ship name, and for these early releases you'll also notice a gold "launch edition" sticker in the top corner of the card. On one side of the front card there's some nice artwork of battling X-Wings and TIE Fighters, whereas the opposite side simply sports the Star Wars logo. On the back of the card there's some nice blueprint-style artwork of the TIE Advanced, with the toy's vehicle displayed in the top corner and the other vehicles currently available at the bottom. Note this is broken down in both the regular releases and the extremely limited edition "chase" variants, which currently include Moff Gideon's TIE Fighter and Luke's X-Wing as it appeared in The Mandalorian. Inside the TIE Fighter is neatly stored in its own moulded plastic tray, with Vader housed within a separate tray fitted within that.
Darth Vader's TIE Advanced is moulded entirely in grey plastic with black paint added to the wings, as well as a bit of red paint underneath the (transparent) cockpit window. Overall the moulding on the vehicle is very good, and looks exactly like the TIE should. What the vehicle does lack however is depth – it's a very clean looking release without any sort of wash to bring out all the raised areas on the body. Admittedly this is how the ship looked in the film as well, but the cleanliness does make it look a little more toyetic compared to some of the other ships in the line that have been announced/released so far. Both wings can be removed from the body to split the vehicle into three pieces, which doesn't necessarily offer any real functionality but I suppose it means you could display the TIE getting blasted apart should you so wish.
Vader's TIE Advanced features an opening cockpit hatch as well as a hinged back section, which can open to reveal more moulded engine detailing. Truthfully the opening back section doesn't really add a whole lot to the vehicle as a whole, but it is nice for it to have another gimmick in addition to the cockpit. That said, opening the cockpit can be surprisingly fiddly as there isn't a lot of space to get purchase underneath to lift it up. Those with longer nails shouldn't have any trouble, but if not you may need something to wedge underneath just to pull it up. Other than that the TIE Advanced doesn't really have any additional functionality, but it is a lot of fun just to swoosh about. One of the biggest disappointments about this release though (and quite likely the line as a whole) is the omission of a designated display stand. It doesn't need to have anything fancy - just a small bit of clear plastic it could rest on so that it can be displayed in flight. For a line wholly dedicated to vehicles this seems like a pretty basic requirement, as a display of them just sitting stationary sounds rather boring. Given the scope of this line (and the fact the smaller blind-boxed figures come with stands) I'm hoping this is something that'll be rectified going forward, or at the very least stands will be made available separately. That isn't the ideal choice, but at least the option would be there then.
One of the coolest aspects of this line is the inclusion of scaled minifigures to sit within the vehicles, with Vader's TIE Advanced naturally coming with the dark lord of the Sith himself. Mini Vader stands at around one inch high with EXTREMELY impressive detailing for its size – a brilliantly moulded figure complete with a soft plastic cape. Not all of the paint apps are there, but the little bits of silver should be enough to win you over. Articulation is naturally quite basic, with the arms and legs both hinged so that each pair of limbs move together. In some ways I was actually more enamoured with the Vader figure than I was the actual TIE, and I'm really looking forward to seeing how Jazwares handles other characters in the line – particularly the ones that require a little more detailing and/or paint.
Fitting Vader in the cockpit first requires removing his cape, which makes sense but at the same time is a little frustrating simply because there's nowhere on the vehicle to store it. Adding a little compartment just to fit it somewhere wouldn't even take much effort since the back section opens up anyway. Given how small the figure is, I'm not too keen on the idea of having to remove a piece and then having to find a place to store it – little things like this will get lost far too easily, especially when (presumably) a lot of these minifigures aren't going to have pieces that need removing. Nevertheless once the cape has been removed Vader fits comfortably into the cockpit of the TIE Advanced in the moulded seating area, with the top hatch then closing without any issue. Sadly you can't really see the figure peering out through the window once inserted, but if you stare hard enough you can kind of make out a shadowy figure sitting there. When it then comes to removing the figure Jazwares have rather cleverly made the underside of the cockpit spring-loaded, which means pushing up on the bottom of the vehicle pushes Vader out of his sitting position for easy removal. Given how fiddly this would be otherwise (both due to the size of the figure and the small amount of space inside the TIE), it's a really nice feature – improving the overall functionality of the set without impacting on the look.
Micro Galaxy Squadron Darth Vader's TIE Advanced isn't the most spectacular debut for this new toy line, but it does give you a sense of what it's going to be like in Jazwares' hands – and the assurance that they can do it competently. The TIE itself doesn't really excel similar efforts from the past but rather matches them nicely, while Vader minifigure is much more of a highlight than I expected it to be. There are a few kinks that need to be ironed out (spare parts storage, the lack of display stand) but Micro Galaxy Squadron definitely has potential – and if Jazwares truly are as committed to the line as they seem then I'm quite excited to see how they improve on this going forwards.
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