The current line of Star Wars toys today has come a long, long way from those that came out back in the late 1970's to early 1980's, but nonetheless, the classic line of toys (or more popularly known as 'The Vintage Collection') are still the ones that is in high demand from collectors everywhere. As a kid I never had that much Star Wars toys in my collection and as far as I can remember I only had the Chewbacca and Stormtrooper figures and this nifty Speeder Bike vehicle which was given to me by a friend sometime around the 1980's. The two action figures are still with me though their individual weapons had been lost over the years and the Speeder Bike just disappeared mysteriously but I'm pretty sure that the two out of the three exploding parts of the bike had been missing ever since. My sister currently holds the record for the most number of Star Wars toys in her collection and it just keeps increasing every time I went to the mall and she'd ask favors from me to get her this and that. But I never realized that this day will come that I'd be reunited with a childhood toy that I truly cherished for the longest time... and I could never be happier.
A couple of days ago I went out to pick up some Star Wars toys that my sister ordered and among the items she purchased, I got for myself the Imperial Speeder Bike from Kenner/Hasbro Japan that came out in 1995 for only Php 600 (roughly around $14.00++). This version of the Speeder Bike has slightly improved compared to the one that I had before in terms of the paint job and its finish is much more detailed and precise unlike the first generation where it is outright plain and just simply looks like a toy. It still has the exploding function where you just press the button located at the back of the vehicle and the toy dismantles into three parts. It has been so many years since I neglectfully lost the first Speeder Bike that I had and this new one definitely brought back a lot of good memories and since I'm much older and wiser when it comes to taking care of my current toy collection, this baby will surely be handled with extra care.
The Biker Scout figure (or more popularly known as the Imperial Scout Stormtrooper) that came with the vehicle somehow changed drastically in 1995 in terms of its physical attributes but the articulation still was limited to bending knees and movable arms though not completely and making it stand straight for display or diorama purposes is no good since the Biker Scout was molded in a semi-slouch position and the legs are somehow stretched wide apart to to make the figure appear to be in riding position... and that's the gist of it. Your only option is to buy a separate Biker Scout figure if you want to play around with the Bike for photography purposes, that is if you can still find a Vintage Kenner figure of it selling somewhere and hopefully getting it at a reasonable price, these Vintage Collection figures can be quite expensive to purchase. But as of the moment, these lovelies will do for now and I'm as satisfied as hell with it! Here are some photos of the Speeder Bike I took yesterday and ain't it a looker? (Sorry guys, child-mode/fanboy in progress hehe) 'Til next time folks, stay safe always!...
