It's no secret that Star Wars merchandise has suffered some sever distribution issues over the past couple of years. It's stymied my 3 3/4" collecting, and brought a complete halt to the collection of Micro Force figures my wife and I were building. The same thing very nearly happened with Uncle Milton's new line of Star Wars Science Xcavations Creature Crates. We'd awaited these Walmart exclusives with bated breath ever since their announcement at Toy Fair 2018, only to see the line be cancelled before we ever found them in stores. In a surprising stroke of luck, however, our local Sydney Kidstuff store recently managed to source a limited supply, and we were finally able to pick up a handful of crates.
At $19.99AU ($21.37NZ) each, these crates have a hefty price tag for blind bag toys - and it's still up for debate whether the price warrants the content. Don't get me wrong, the actual skulls are fantastic. Each comes in three pieces and requires assembly. Once you're done, you're left with an incredibly detailed - and thoroughly unique - display piece. While they look good enough in their original plastic colour, I hit ours with a 50/50 wash of Tamiya Acrylic Brown XF72 and water to really make the details pop.
An added bonus are the crates themselves. Modelled loosely after the cargo containers that appear on the back of the Imperial Assault Tank that debuted in Rogue One, these boxes make great reusable storage bins for Star Wars bits, and - with a little paint and modification - would also work excellently as diorama fodder for action figures.
But while the kits are labelled "Xcavations" there's a disappointing lack of actual excavating involved. Instead of encasing the contents in a solid sandstone-like block (à la all of those dinosaur dig kits we had as kids), the skulls are merely placed in some semi-kinetic sand and reveal themselves as soon as they're poured from the crate. It's a disappointing oversight, as making the skull removal more of a process may have made the high price-point feel slightly more justified.
