It's been a while since we've seen some decent miniature Star Wars ships on shelves. That's why I've been looking forward to the new line of Hot Wheels vehicles for some time. The first wave of these is now hitting stores, and includes a Snowspeeder, a Y-Wing, the Ghost, the Millennium Falcon, and Slave I.
The vehicles are die-cast, and incredibly close in scale to the now defunct Titanium Series line. Unfortunately, they lack the detail and features of that earlier line. They're rather pricey too - $14.99 here in New Zealand. For these reasons, the Titanium Series versions of the classic ships remain the better choice. With that being said, this new Hot Wheels line is a great way to get hold of vehicles that didn't enter Star Wars lore until after the Titanium Series line had ended. It's for exactly this reason that I made a point of snagging one of the Ghosts as soon as I spotted it in stores this week.
While the paintjob is a little flat, the sculpt is excellent - and makes a great base for anyone looking to customise the ship by adding some more detail (something I might look at doing in the future). Unfortunately there are no moving parts, and I can't help but wonder if Hot Wheels couldn't have at least added in a rotating turret to increase playability.
The Ghost (like all of the other vehicles in this line) comes with a bonus "Flight Navigator" - a transparent display stand that doubles as a finger-mount for added 'whoosh' factor. Honestly, I find this a little gimmicky. I would have much preferred a simple, elegant stand like those that used to be packaged with Titanium Series and Action Fleet vehicles. Truth be told, I'll be looking to retrofit one of those older stands to display this very ship.
The Ghost (like all of the other vehicles in this line) comes with a bonus "Flight Navigator" - a transparent display stand that doubles as a finger-mount for added 'whoosh' factor. Honestly, I find this a little gimmicky. I would have much preferred a simple, elegant stand like those that used to be packaged with Titanium Series and Action Fleet vehicles. Truth be told, I'll be looking to retrofit one of those older stands to display this very ship.
Overall, this isn't a bad representation of the Ghost - and with a little tweaking, it can be made great. Now I'm just waiting to see which vehicles from The Force Awakens get this same treatment!
