Review – Star Wars 501st Legion Attack Dropship

The weekend after writing “The Genius of Kenner’s “Star Wars Collection” Mini-Rigs” I happened across this new 501st Legion Attack Dropship* at Target. One of Hasbro’s new Class I Fleet Vehicles (mentioned here), this “modern” Star Wars Mini-Rig is a repaint of a more-difficult-to-find release from last year. How is it?

Pretty cool.

A Small Ship

As a modern Star Wars Mini-Rig it should be no surprise at all that the 501st Legion Attack Dropship* is a very small vehicle. Fully extended — with forward guns deployed and the cockpit extended — the ship is under nine-inches long with a wingspan of less than six-inches. It’s compact and looks quite fast; a review of the earlier Republic Attack Dropship and Dark Lord Dungeon says about the first use of the mold:

. . . the Star Wars Republic Attack Dropship transforms into one of the sleekest fighters to be fielded into the battlefield. It reminds me of an A-Wing fighter and conceptually it’s probably built like a Hoth Rebel Snowspeeder i.e. it’s a repulsorlift engine that someone attached rockets and blaster cannons to.

Landed Position

The above and below photos show the 501st Legion Attack Dropship* with the cockpit folded back and lower cannon swung down to act as part of the craft’s landing gear. The ship is far more stable in this position than I was expecting, and the slight similarities to Boba Fett’s Slave I really show when the toy’s landed like this.

Flight Mode

By swinging the cockpit out, extending the forward guns, and closing the cannon up snug with the underside of the craft you can swiftly change the 501st Legion Attack Dropship* to its flight mode. This is my favorite configuration for the ship and I’m thinking that once we reconstruct the game room this toy will have to be hung from the ceiling to really show it off.

Swivel Guns and Spring-Loaded Missiles

The two cannons on the front of the vehicle swivel forward or back but, unfortunately, have no side-to-side movement. And the large engine on each wing also includes the firing mechanisms and missiles for the toy’s spring-loaded missiles. I’m happy to report that the missiles work quite well and have a decent range.

Minimal Paint Apps

Most of the toy’s coloring comes from the plastic with some blue and black paint applied to spruce up the design a bit. The paint’s neatly applied, and while some battle damage stickers or even a dark wash across the piece would have been nice I can say that what we got is just fine.

Dropship?

Now we get to the “dropship” portion of the 501st Legion Attack Dropship* mini-rig. At the rear of the ship is a piece that can be instantly dropped from the toy by squeezing together the uppermost guns . . . and that part can hold two Clone Trooper action figures!

Below you can see how Clone Trooper action figures look attached to the droppod section. The toy only comes with two action figures — a Clone Pilot and a Battle Droid — so you’ll have to provide your own Clone Troopers, but if you do then I think you’ll have fun snapping the figures in. And the pod splits in two to give each Clone Trooper a backpack with guns. See the review of the earlier version of the ship at jeditemplearchives.com for more pics and another opinion on the basic vehicle design.

Closing Thoughts

The 501st Legion Attack Dropship* mini-rig is way neater than I was expecting and at $20 it’s actually a pretty good deal when compared to the price of Star Wars action figures on their own. (After all, you get the vehicle and two figures for your $20.) The droppod gimmick is fun and likely loved by kids — deploy the Clone Troopers and you have a ship and two heavily-armed Clone Troopers — and the look is great and fits in nicely with the rest of the Star Wars universe.

I’ll say this one’s worth grabbing if you’re at all a fan of the smaller Star Wars vehicles.