Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Micro Galaxy Squadron Darth Vader's TIE Advanced

Release Date: July 2022 

RRP: $16.99/£17.99

There are plenty of companies out there making toys and models of the various ships from the Star Wars universe, but when Jazwares announced they'd be entering the fray with their Micro Galaxy Squadron line it certainly sparked a lot of interest. A spiritual successor of sorts to the Micro Machines Action Fleet line of the 90s, the line will feature scaled vehicles each with their own pilot figures. As someone who's always loved Star Wars vehicles but never bought into a dedicated line of them before, I was eager to give it a try and picked up the Micro Galaxy Squadron Darth Vader's TIE Advanced from the launch range to see if they're truly worth all the fuss.

Whereas many toy companies are making steps to eliminate plastic from their packaging, Jazwares seem to be continuing on with this chunky blister pack card that just has trays within trays. From the front you get a good look at the TIE Advanced alongside the Darth Vader minifigure also included in the set. In the top corner there's also a graphic showing off that said Vader can indeed fit inside the ship. On the card along the bottom you'll find the Micro Galaxy Squadron logo as well as the ship name, and for these early releases you'll also notice a gold "launch edition" sticker in the top corner of the card. On one side of the front card there's some nice artwork of battling X-Wings and TIE Fighters, whereas the opposite side simply sports the Star Wars logo. On the back of the card there's some nice blueprint-style artwork of the TIE Advanced, with the toy's vehicle displayed in the top corner and the other vehicles currently available at the bottom. Note this is broken down in both the regular releases and the extremely limited edition "chase" variants, which currently include Moff Gideon's TIE Fighter and Luke's X-Wing as it appeared in The Mandalorian. Inside the TIE Fighter is neatly stored in its own moulded plastic tray, with Vader housed within a separate tray fitted within that.

Darth Vader's TIE Advanced is moulded entirely in grey plastic with black paint added to the wings, as well as a bit of red paint underneath the (transparent) cockpit window. Overall the moulding on the vehicle is very good, and looks exactly like the TIE should. What the vehicle does lack however is depth – it's a very clean looking release without any sort of wash to bring out all the raised areas on the body. Admittedly this is how the ship looked in the film as well, but the cleanliness does make it look a little more toyetic compared to some of the other ships in the line that have been announced/released so far. Both wings can be removed from the body to split the vehicle into three pieces, which doesn't necessarily offer any real functionality but I suppose it means you could display the TIE getting blasted apart should you so wish.

Vader's TIE Advanced features an opening cockpit hatch as well as a hinged back section, which can open to reveal more moulded engine detailing. Truthfully the opening back section doesn't really add a whole lot to the vehicle as a whole, but it is nice for it to have another gimmick in addition to the cockpit. That said, opening the cockpit can be surprisingly fiddly as there isn't a lot of space to get purchase underneath to lift it up. Those with longer nails shouldn't have any trouble, but if not you may need something to wedge underneath just to pull it up. Other than that the TIE Advanced doesn't really have any additional functionality, but it is a lot of fun just to swoosh about. One of the biggest disappointments about this release though (and quite likely the line as a whole) is the omission of a designated display stand. It doesn't need to have anything fancy - just a small bit of clear plastic it could rest on so that it can be displayed in flight. For a line wholly dedicated to vehicles this seems like a pretty basic requirement, as a display of them just sitting stationary sounds rather boring. Given the scope of this line (and the fact the smaller blind-boxed figures come with stands) I'm hoping this is something that'll be rectified going forward, or at the very least stands will be made available separately. That isn't the ideal choice, but at least the option would be there then.

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