Scouts and Rides (updated with Part II, May 2023), Star Wars comparison reviews Hot Toys, Sideshow, Hasbro, etc.

Part I: Hot Toys Star Wars Return of the Jedi Scout Trooper MMS611 Review and Comparison



For Part II, see HERE.




Introduction

As I was saying elsewhere, I love the world Lucas created with Star Wars, even if I have various issues with his stories, including the Original Trilogy.  Of its three components, Return of the Jedi is largely my least favorite, but it still belongs and it features plenty to love.  One of my favorite troopers were the Scout Troopers (AKA Biker Scouts), and Hot Toys just released their Return of the Jedi version of this trooper, following relatively quickly upon their Mandalorian version.  Naturally, there is relatively little difference between the two versions, but I will point them out below, along with some comparison to the earlier Sideshow version of the original scout trooper.  I also purchased the speeder bike, after receiving the figure, and will post a follow up with it.  I took a few too many photos, and relegated some of them to a separate topic to keep from making the page too slow, you can check them out HERE.



Packaging

The Scout Trooper comes in the familiar shoebox type container with removable lid featuring a nice image of the figure and enhanced with a cigar band with more texts and images running across the bottom.  Inside is a title card showing off the figure on the speeder bike companion piece (which I will be reviewing separately).  Below this is a single plastic trey with its transparent plastic lid, containing the figure and its accessories.  Everything is safe, snug, and collector friendly.  The bottom of the box features plenty of credits and warnings.



Sculpting

Like the Mandalorian version of the scout trooper, which had an almost identical sculpt, the sculpt is clean and sharp and source accurate.  Of course, there is no human likeness to worry about, just the armor, uniform, and weaponry.  The main difference in the sculpt is the upper body armor, which is substantially shorter on the Original Trilogy scout trooper than on the Mandalorian version, and the Return of the Jedi version features additional detail (four horizontal indents) on the back "hump" of the armor.  The incompletely closed helmet appears to be a carryover from the Mandalorian version, using the same mold.



Paint

The basic color scheme is simple enough, black and white, with just a few details in other colors. Like the Mandalorian version, but far more subtly, this one is given plenty of weathering effects, with worn or dirtied up parts of the armor and boots. The two weapons, especially the blaster rifle are also given some weathering, or rather wear and tear, and their lenses are given a nice gloss.  The main difference in paint between the two versions (amount and type of weathering apart) is the different coloring of the "frown" on the helmet.  The helmet's lenses are translucent green, although it is very difficult to notice or show this.



Accessories

The Scout Trooper comes with an attachable thermal detonator that clips over the belt at the back and, as usual, is difficult to place securely and tends to fall off while one handles the figure.  The small blaster pistol (EC-17) fits into the holster built into the right boot.  There is also a long targeting blaster rifle (DLT-19x) with a cloth sling.  I do not recall the rifle from the film, though it might have been featured in a game.  The thermal detonator that clips onto the back of the belt was mentioned before.  Hot Toys provided a number of spare parts, including, as usual, a pair of wrist pegs, and a total of four pairs of hands (a pair of relaxed hands, a pair of fists, a pair of steering grip hands, and two right gun grip hands for, respectively, the blaster rifle and the blaster pistol).  There is also the standard Hot Toys platformed crotch-grabber stand with the product's name and an optional card printed to resemble the surface of Endor.  There is a small leaflet (not shown) with warnings and instructions as to which gun grip hand goes with which weapon.



Articulation

It seems to be the same thing I keep saying every time I review a Hot Toys action figure.  In theory, the articulation is all there and excellent, but in practice, Hot Toys' insistence on inserting intrusive thick padded garments under the visible clothing and armor severely restricts it.  The soft material used for the upper parts of the boots, however, leaves the ankle articulation virtually unimpeded.  Almost as helpfully, the gloves and gauntlets are a two-part design, allowing for wrist articulation.  The figure is often difficult to pose as desired.  Neither weapon has any movable parts.



Outfit

Apart from the armor, the outfit is made up of a black body suit or overalls and collar, as well as the boots (hard plastic shoe with soft vinyl-like shaft closed with velcro at the back), and the gloves (hard plastic hands and softer plastic vambraces).  Articulation at the shoulder is helped by the fact that the shoulder bells of the armor are attached with velcro, and can be removed and replaced for posing.  Since the shorter upper body armor leaves more of the lower torso exposed, the cummerbund and bags on the Return of the Jedi version are broader/taller than those on the Mandalorian version.  This portion is a little darker and warmer in color than the armor, which is appropriate but possibly a little excessive in degree. The Return of the Jedi body suit or overalls is of a different design than that used for the Mandalorian.  Upper body armor apart, the placement of the otherwise more or less identical knee armor is reversed (flipped) between the two versions, accurate to their respective sources. 



Comparison to other Scout Trooper figures

Excluding the upper body armor, cummerbund, and knee armor, Hot Toys' Return of the Jedi scout trooper is virtually identical with their Mandalorian scout trooper, paint apart.  Both are unusually tall for Hot Toys figures (12.25 inches = 31.1 cm), and in fact taller than the Sideshow version.  Since they are based on the same source, the Hot Toys and Sideshow Return of the Jedi scout troopers are very similar in appearance, although the Sideshow version looks squatter.  It also does not benefit from the wrist and ankle articulation of the Hot Toys figures.



Fun Factor

Good articulation (which would be excellent if the padding is removed), proportions, accessories (up to and including the speeder bike), and figures to interact with (Hot Toys has made Return of the Jedi Stormtroopers, Emperor, Leia and Ewok) all guarantee that this figure can be fun to display or play with.

I placed a number of additional images with other figures HERE, so as to avoid overburdening this topic with too many photos.



Value

Retailing at nearly $230, this is not a particularly cheap set, especially considering the limited number of accessories; then again, it is not nearly as expensive as some of Hot Toys' other sets these days.  The deluxe set including both this and the speeder bike costs a little over $500.  On the whole, the figure is excellent, with very minor shortcomings from an accuracy point of view.  It is probably unlikely that we would get any better scout troopers anytime soon.



Overall

Hot Toys' Return of the Jedi Scout Trooper is a very good rendition of one of my favorite trooper types.  While the reuse of the Mandalorian scout trooper helmet has introduced a technical discrepancy in the accuracy of the appearance, the overall look and proportions of the figure are great, and in my view preferable to those of its predecessors.  I enjoyed the figure and plan on reconstituting one without the padding, so as to take fuller advantage of the articulation potential.

For more photos, see HERE.


For Part II, see HERE.

Where to Buy

You can still find them here (or search eBay):

Timewalker Toys

Big Bad Toy Store (still preorder)

Cotswold Collectibles

Monkey Depot

Sideshow

Other recent or relevant reviews:

Mr Toys MT2021-08 Slave Princess set (and Huttlslayer Leia customs)

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Hot Toys Star Wars Rogue One Assault Tank Commander

Hot Toys Star Wars Rogue One Director Krennic

Premier Toys PT0001 Wasteland Gladiator

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Sideshow and Hot Toys Star Wars Scout Troopers (comparison)

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I hope this has been useful.

For more photos, see HERE.


#starwars #returnofthejedi #rotj #scouttrooper #bikerscout #galacticempire #scifi #male #military #hottoys

Nice comparison and review, Ian. Thanks. I didn’t order a new speeder bike, but I did order a new scout (I already have the SS versions). Never cared for the saggy man-boobs version of the Mandalorian Scouts — and I can’t understand why they ended up looking so different in the first place. “Factory produced” armor wouldn’t change so drastically, even if the armor were “found.”

Stryker2011 wrote:Nice comparison and review, Ian. Thanks. I didn’t order a new speeder bike, but I did order a new scout (I already have the SS versions). Never cared for the saggy man-boobs version of the Mandalorian Scouts — and I can’t understand why they ended up looking so different in the first place. “Factory produced” armor wouldn’t change so drastically, even if the armor were “found.”

Thank you very much, I'm glad you enjoyed it. It is quite nice, I don't think you'll be disappointed. And it still works ok side by side with the Sideshow ones (you can chalk up the differences to stature). Apparently other reviewers are up in arms over the reuse of the Mandalorian scout helmet, which is molded in a not completely closed position. But I would guess some of the guys running around Endor had big heads too and maybe some of those helmets were not completely closed. Apart from the type and degree of weathering, the only differences between this and the Mandalorian version are the upper body armor (inexplicable indeed), the orientation (by accident?) and a bit of the detail on the knee pads, and the underlying body suit. I think these are minor enough to have them work together. Hopefully I get the bike and parted out parts for a non-padded version soon so I can do the follow up.

Part II: Speeder Bikes

I only got to processing these photos now, although they were taken early last Autumn. But, it is Star Wars month, and what with the popularity of this review, I figured it was time for the update...

Although I initially expected to forego the expense and space required for even this relatively small vehicle, over time I ended up acquiring three versions of the Speeder Bike from The Return of the Jedi. The first was Hasbro's, designed to work with their 12-inch figures, which used to be relatively inexpensive, although availability and shipping costs have probably made that less the case than ever before; I modified it with some repainting and added sculpted detail. The second was Sideshow's, and the third and last was the ROTJ version of Hot Toys'. Each varies a little bit in size and detail. For specific width and length measurements, see one of the photos below. If I remember an earlier discussion, Hasbro's was a little too long and much too wide, Sideshow's was a little short, which makes Hot Toys' a slight improvement. Of course, it also has the most fine and intricate level of detail.










Hope this was informative and useful for someone.

I found it insightful, GubernatorFan. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share.

Very informative. Now I’m sorry I passed on the HT speeder bike. Ahh, maybe someday.

Titan wrote:I found it insightful, GubernatorFan. Thanks for taking the time to photograph and share.

Thank you, Titan, it's great to hear that.

Stryker2012 wrote:Very informative. Now I’m sorry I passed on the HT speeder bike. Ahh, maybe someday.

Thanks, Mark, glad you liked it. Did you get the Mandalorian speeder bike tho? HT's ROTJ one is probably the best (for the Original Trilogy, naturally), and I wouldn't be too surprised if they re-release it (without giving you a break on the price, of course).

Yeah, I have the Mandalorian Swoop Bike, and the Sideshow Speeder Bike.

Stryker2012 wrote:Yeah, I have the Mandalorian Swoop Bike, and the Sideshow Speeder Bike.

Well, in that case, don't beat yourself up. Yes, the HT ROTJ one is probably the best, but most of the time I have to look twice to make sure I can tel the Sideshow one apart from it. The big one (Hasbro), is easier to spot. Also, the Mandalorian Speeder Bike (for the Mandalorian Scout Trooper) is the same as the ROTJ one, just different color scheme, I think, so if you for some reason find that for a good price and feel like repainting...

Thanks for sharing, GF! They look great together, quite a collection!

I have such limited space, but I enjoy looking from afar.

Still hoping someday they'll do Anakin's AotC swoop bike, but perhaps that's overly optimisitc of me

skywalkersaga wrote:Thanks for sharing, GF! They look great together, quite a collection!

I have such limited space, but I enjoy looking from afar.

Still hoping someday they'll do Anakin's AotC swoop bike, but perhaps that's overly optimisitc of me

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked them.
Also, I'm sure they'll eventually make an Anakin swoop bike. They have been covering the movie and animated series stuff a lot lately, and if it is a question of some modification to the Mandalorian swoop bike they already did, they won't be able to resist producing variants for big bucks as usual.

rootleaf wrote:Wow, Ian! That is a super comprehensive review - thanks for that. Is the Hasbro one in your review the same one as the one from 1999? Back in 2000, I had the Hasbro 1/6 scale Speeder Bike w/ Scout Trooper and it was amazing. However, I couldn't afford to keep it so I reluctantly sold it. It was a different time.

Anyway, the vehicle designs from RotJ are second to none...Shuttle Tydirium, Skiff, Scout Walker, to name a few.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it.

Yes, that is the same old Hasbro speeder bike -- I think 1999 is right, but haven't double checked. I can't seem to find my old more detailed photos of it at the moment. When Sideshow came up with their more detailed version, I was unwilling to spend on it (eventually I gave in, as you can see), so I picked up a second-hand Hasbro one and modified it. Most of the modification was a slight repaint, but I also added 3D details to the dashboard controls and the motor (?) bits on the back (the little round tubes inside the arches on the left and right). It is pretty good, but it is certainly a little too long (although the Sideshow version and maybe even the HT one might be a little too short). If you don't want to spend Sideshow of HT money, you can do a lot with the Hasbro, although by now it is probably a lot more rare and less affordable than when I picked it up several years ago (before 2018).

I agree about the other vehicles, too, but note that the Scout Walker (AT-ST) was actually designed for ESB -- even though it is barely seen there, in profile.