It's no secret that my favourite part of collecting in recent times has been the triumphant return of Micro Machines. Given this, it's been particularly frustrating having to deal with the poor distribution of the line. It was a good two months after Force Friday before I saw any of the Force Awakens Micro Machines in my local stores - and as at the time of writing, the new Rogue One sets are still entirely absent in New Zealand. Things haven't been much better here in the US. The 3-packs are still nowhere to be seen, and the deluxe packs only just started trickling into stores this week. Before they turned up in brick-and-mortar stores, however, I managed to snag the three deluxe packs on my huntlist from Force Friday last year from HasbroToyShop.com for $9.99US ($13.95NZ) each, and the single 3-pack from Amazon.com for $9.93US ($14.27).
The first deluxe pack - "Assault on Scariff" - contains an Imperial AT-ACT Cargo Walker, the Imperial Cargo Shuttle SW-0608, a Partisan X-Wing Fighter, Rebel Y-Wing Fighter, and a TIE Striker, as well as Moroff and Scarif Stormtrooper Captain micro figures. The second - "Fight the Imperial Might" - contains an Imperial Assault Hovertank, an Imperial AT-ACT Cargo Walker, an Imperial AT-ST Walker, a Rebel U-Wing Fighter, and a Partisan X-Wing Fighter, as well as Baze Malbus and Director Krennic micro figures. The third - "Mandalorian Melee" - instead features vehicles and characters from Star Wars Rebels, and includes the Ghost, Hera Syndulla’s A-Wing, the Interdictor, a Mandalorian Fighter, and a TIE Bomber, as well as Hera Syndulla and Fenn Rau micro figures. The 3-pack - "High Speed Rebel Raid" - contains a Rebel U-Wing Fighter, TIE Striker (Battle Damage), and Krennic’s Imperial Shuttle
Insofar as the quality of these sets goes, my sentiment towards Micro Machines remains the same as always: these are phenomenally well sculpted and painted miniatures for an excellent price. There's also the occasional bonus feature that you're not expecting, like a pivoting head on the AT-ST. Insofar as selection goes, the two Rogue One packs provide us with a fantastic assortment of vehicles from the film. It's also nice that instead of giving us the same AT-ACT twice over, they opted for both cargo-laden and non-laden versions. The same goes for the Partisan X-Wings (one coming with its wings open, and the other with its wings closed) and the TIE Strikers (one with wings in the 'down' position, and the other with battle damage and wings in the 'up' position). There is one straight duplicate, however - the Rebel U-Wing. Though given the fact that multiple of these ships appear in the film, it's a double-up that can be made use of.
The Y-wing and AT-ST will be fairly uninteresting additions for long-time Micro Machines collectors (though the aforementioned articulation in the AT-ST may see it usurping the classic sculpt). The same can be said of the TIE-bomber and Ghost in the Rebels pack, but the real attraction in that set is the three other completely new vehicles. Most exciting is the Interdictor - a fan-favourite ship from the now non-canon 'Legends' expanded universe. Like many collectors, I'd spent years wanting a version of that ship at this scale, so it's great to finally have our wishes granted!
