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Disney Exclusive STAR TOURS BOARDING PARTY
Commemorative set of characters a hit and miss...
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Lucasfilm and Disney are a potent and lethal combination. One turns space operas into cinema magic, the other turns cinema magic into real life adventures. One of these amazing creations is the 1987 motion simulator hit: STAR TOURS, with space ports in Anaheim, Orlando, Tokyo, and Paris.
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Although the popular attraction has started to show its age, the number of fans has never been stronger but it will be bitter sweet as Star Tours is set to shut its terminal gates in both Anaheim and Orlando this summer (July and September respectively). Don't worry, a brand new adventure(s) is coming to our galaxy in 2011. But to celebrate the original Star Tours, Disney and Lucasfilm joined forces with Hasbro to create a commemorative set of characters to tour the galaxy.
The STAR TOURS BOARDING PARTY is limited to only 15,000 pieces and includes five figures, mostly recycled, but completely worth getting for the one figure that is brand new. The Disney theme park exclusive set retails for $39.95 and includes STAR TOURS OFFICER, KAINK, TEEK, REE-YEES, and CHEWBACCA.
The one figure to get this set for is TEEK. Teek is the mischievous speedster from the second Ewok movie and after being neglected in the Fan's Choice polls so often, Hasbro finally came through.
This is 100% a brand new sculpt and he looks fantastic, comes decently painted, and features solid articulation throughout, including wrists, ball jointed shoulders, feet, and more. His plastic sculpted clothing drape around his legs makes sitting and running a little difficult but it’s certainly better to have Teek than to not.
The second figure to buy this set for is KAINK, the Ewok High Priestess from The Ewok Adventure. The body is reused from the recent Ewok figure releases but features a soft fabric hood. This isn't exactly movie-accurate as she needs much more clothing, but if it adds variety to your Ewok building, it will certainly do the job.
She has articulated neck, ball-joint shoulders, wrists, waist, legs, and feet. Her description informs us of a magical staff that she carries around but none is included here.
The third figure that is somewhat recommendable is the STAR TOURS OFFICER, a repaint of the older Imperial Officer figure released earlier this decade. To clarify, this outfit and paint scheme is the Walt Disney World Star Tours Cast Member costume, though it's not even 100% accurate (ditch the hat, gloves, and boots). The Disneyland Star Tours cast members don full orange or full blue jumpsuits (also doable with existing Star Wars figures) and to put it bluntly, a lot easier on the eyes so it's too bad Disney didn't go with that design. Google it if you don’t believe me.
What's most disappointing here, however, is the fact that Hasbro gave us such an old figure to repaint, and not only that, the badge on his left sleeve doesn't have the Star Tours logo painted on. Even the smaller Disney Collector Pack figure (also made by Hasbro) features the Star Tours logo!
The remaining repainted figures I can take it or leave it, but REE-YEES is rather unique. Okay, the figure is still the exact same figure you bought in the Power of the Force days but with a more matted paint job. In the second safety video, C-3PO reminds us that there is to be no smoking or flash photography while on board. Poor Ree-Yees here was used as that bad example.
And since he has three eyes, his camera has three lens! Funny that our cameras still only have one lens? This accessory is well sculpted, well painted and hangs nicely around his neck. The problem is with the basic POTF2 body, he won’t be able to take any real pictures since his hands aren't capable of holding his own camera.
Lastly, we have another unnecessary repaint of CHEWBACCA. Long time collectors might recognize this version of Chewie from the Power of the Jedi days, only he's missing his goggles and welding tool. This is an EXTREMELY odd version of Chewbacca to give to fans. I would rather get a repainted Mon Calamari officer!
Packaging for this set is very attractive in a slender box with each figure on full display. The backdrop is a view of the Star Speeder 3000 with R2-D2 inside. The back of the box gives us a little background of each character as well. Nicely done.
So overall, this set is mostly a hit with a major miss. The hit hits big and the misses miss even more, but as a limited edition exclusive set that brings us two characters from the Ewok films, nothing makes me happier than that. Ree-Yees actually turns out to be more fun than I expected as well because his accessory is so specific to this ride. So ultimately, Chewbacca is the only real stinker here, and but I'm sure we all know enough kids that would be happy to be given a free Chewbacca toy.
This set is only available at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, CA and Disney Hollywood Studios in Orlando, FL. So go buy it and hope for more Ewok Adventure toys!
Review and Photos by David Yeh
