The Good: Appropriate (and well-made) accessories, Generally good sculpt and coloring, Incredible articulation
The Bad: Entirely lame subjects, No collectible value!
The Basics: The Imperial Scanning Crew Vintage action figure set is yet another Stormtrooper and an entirely generic Imperial officer that makes for a dull exclusive!
When it comes to exclusives, Hasbro does a pretty good job of spreading the love around with its retailers. Unfortunately, sometimes the exclusives are less than thrilling. Such is the case with the last K-Mart Exclusive figure set from 2013: The Imperial Scanning Crew. While the Return Of The Jedi Anniversary figures were somewhat unimaginative, K-Mart’s follow-up was even less remarkable. The Imperial Scanning Crew was the more interesting of the two two-figure sets K-Mart released as part of the Vintage Collection in 2013. It had the Stormtrooper and Imperial Technician figures.
The Imperial Scanning Crew appeared at the midpoint of A New Hope (reviewed here!), on the Death Star. They are seen momentarily approaching the Millennium Falcon on the hanger deck where they go in to scan for life forms and get knocked out so the crew can escape to skulk around the Death Star.
The 4" Imperial Scanning Crew figure two-pack is a very basic Imperial “officer” and a generic, though very well-constructed Stormtrooper.
Basics
The Imperial Scanning Crew is a two-pack that includes two unremarkable figures that are essentially generic lackeys working for the Galactic Empire. The figures in the Imperial Scanning Crew, the Stormtrooper TK-421 and the Imperial Technician, stand 3 7/8" and 3 3/4” tall, respectively. The Imperial Technician is cast wearing his gray uniform, while the Stormtrooper TK-421 is a generic stormtrooper figure. These figures are made entirely of hard plastic, save the belting, and they are two of the least-detailed Star Wars figures in the Vintage line.
This toy is a decent sculpt, especially for a figure that is supposed to be a generic technician/stormtrooper. Because they are such basic figures – the uniform for the Imperial Technician is monotonal gray, while the Stormtrooper is a typical Stormtrooper, Hasbro easily got the sculpt right. The Imperial Technician is a very simply dressed Imperial officer. As far as molding details go, that Hasbro included seams on the character’s uniform and pockets molded onto the pants deserves some credit. The Stormtrooper looks like virtually every other Stormtrooper action figure.
The Imperial Scanning Crew figures are very basically colored. Both figures are indistinct without any coloring for badges and the Imperial Technician figure is monochromatic with the gray uniform, black boots and gloves and peach flesh tones for the face. The ips have no shading or coloring, making this a very basic figure on the coloring front. Stormtrooper TK-421 has no distinct features, nor flesh tones.
Accessories
Both members of the Imperial Scanning Crew come with blasters. They are the very basic Imperial Blaster, which is a 1” pistol that comes with any number of Imperial action figures. This is detailed to be in perfect proportion to the new figure line and as a result, they are thinner and smaller than the original Power Of The Force figures.
The Stormtrooper TK-421 has a comm unit that detaches from his belt and barely fits in his left hand.
The Imperial Scanning Crew figures also come with the box of scanning tools. This is a bright blue box that opens up and has a larger comm unit and a scanning “gun” with an attached tube that fits the figures. The box is blue and looks like nothing else in the Star Wars toy line.
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and the Imperial Scanning Crew is pretty exceptional in that regard. The figures are incredibly articulated and well-balanced. The Imperial Scanning Crew figures have great balance, arguably because the amazing articulation provides so many posing options that it is easy to find the figure’s equilibrium. Like virtually every other Star Wars figure, they have the standard holes in the feet that allow this figure to be posed in more outlandish poses on the playsets and toys that have the matching foot pegs!
The Vintage Collection Imperial Scanning Crew figures are high on articulation. Each figure has fourteen points of articulation, most of which are ball and socket joints. These figures are articulated at the ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, wrists, groin socket, neck and lower bust. This provides the consumer with incredible options for play and display of these simple-uniformed officers!
Collectibility
The Imperial Scanning Crew is part of the Vintage Colleciton four-inch series, but was exclusive to the two-pack and released only at Kmart. Locally, three of the four Kmarts still had some available this month, over a year (and two Christmases!) after their initial release. That makes it a distinctly poor investment for collectors and fans.
Overview
The Imperial Scanning Crew is an unremarkable set that is hard to get excited about spending money on, despite the quality of the sculpts of the figures in it. In fact, one only suspects there will be any enduring value to this set for fans who want to replace the tiny comm unit when one loses it from the Stormtrooper!
For other Star Wars exclusives, please check out my reviews of:
VCP3 Boba Fett (Mail-Away)
TC-70 Amazon.com Exclusive Build-A-Droid figure
Power Of The Force Spirit Of Obi-Wan Kenobi Mail-Away
5/10
For other toy reviews, please check out my index page!
© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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