Star Wars Action Fleet Micro Machines Imperial Shuttle Alpha

The detail of a model and the durability of a toy! What's not to like?

The Star Wars Action Fleet were a perfect toy. They blended the interactivity of the larger Star Wars toys (build for action figures) with the enjoyment of a smaller size (think of it as fun size) that made it easier to play with multiple toys, or even just more manageable to store and collect. The Alpha Series was a special edition of Action Fleet toys that included a smaller toy that is supposed to be an earlier design of the ship packaged with it. This particular toy is the Imperial Shuttle.Return of the Jedi gave us a really good look at this unique looking ship with oversized wings that is used to ferry Imperial passengers and supplies from place to place. The original ship is big enough to carry 30 passengers (with nine in the forward cabin. That would make for a big toy, so this one only has seating for two. Difference in scale is a small price to pay as the ship looks equally cool in it's "sedan" form than "bus". The Imperial Shuttle sports a lot of details like the primary and secondary guns, cockpit controls, wing panel details and more. So this makes a worthy display piece to admire as well as play with.The Action Fleet toys I had previously had four points of articulation. However this shuttle only has three, but at the same time this doesn't necessarily make the toy feel limiting. The points of articulation you do get are a wide cockpit that opens in closes for the two figures, the wings shift from flight to landing position (which simultaneously lowers the landing gear as they are attached to the wing assembly), and and the main twin guns pivot up and down to about a 90 degree angle each. It would have been nice if the could have figured out on additional articulation point, but that being said the toy does plenty.The action figures you get are a stormtrooper with blaster rifle in hand (it's not removable) and a stormtrooper pilot (like the flight suits they wear in TIE fighters). The cockpit fits them both together pretty snug with no shifting around, however take one of them away and the other will definitely be tossed around while "flying" the shuttle. The bonus toy does not articulate in any way and is essentially a static figure. It looks very much like the final design of the shuttle, only the cockpit is a sphere and the wings are designed different (with guns on the base). It's a cool looking design, however the windows keep me wanting to turn the whole thing upside down (which makes a cool looking "Y" shuttle anyway).I have a collection of these Action Fleet vehicles, and while the Imperial Shuttle isn't my favorite I really dig the ship's design and really enjoy the fact I have it here in spite of it not be accurate to scale. Any fan of the Star Wars series that likes to collect toys would do well to have this, and if you aren't a collector but have a child who is digging Star Wars this would be a great toy for them.

With Star Wars Action Fleet, MicroMachines produced one of the best line of toys/models that I have ever seen. These were made with a great balance between fidelity and durability. Yes, these were primarily toys, but they were great models as well.The Imperial Shuttle is 6" tall, 6" long and 4" wide (with wings folded up). The hatch opens to fit the poseable pilot, the laser rotate, and the wings fold up for landing which also deploys the landing gears.This is a great model for the avid collector and a great toy for the young at heart.

Very happy with this toy. I was not expecting it to be so big being micro machines but great still. It looks awesome next to my other micro star.wars and my full size boxed xwing.