Story and Photos by David Syczylo (Boba Binks)

INTRODUCTION
The Republic’s Clone Turbo Tank is bristling with weapons and covered with thick armor. This ten-wheeled titan plows through every obstacle in its path. Clone Troopers take aim from the laser turrets and missile ports as this heavy assault behemoth crushes anything under its massive wheels. A true mobile fortress, the Clone Turbo Tank can deploy a company of troopers and a full recon speeder team and also serve as an armored command bunker for extended ground sieges and campaigns.

You might think that this vehicle was created for Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith but you are wrong. The look of the turbo tank was first developed during the making of The Empire Strikes Back. Early story concepts for the Battle of Hoth had the Imperials attack not with walkers, but with tanks. Joe Johnston concept sketches included a ten-wheeled behemoth bristling with weapons and sporting a thin crow's nest at the very top.

This design was abandoned, but it was resurrected almost a decade later by West End Games. At the time the sole publisher of Expanded Universe lore, the roleplaying game company added a wealth of ground assault vehicles in 1989's Imperial Sourcebook. One such vehicle was described as the HAVw A5 Juggernaut, and was based on Johnston's sketch. Due to its inclusion in this book, the tank would appear elsewhere in the Expanded Universe, such as guides, novels and videogames before its eventual debut in a Star Wars movie.

George Lucas revisited unused concepts from the original trilogy when seeking to bridge the designs of the new and older films. The tank design was one of them -- renamed the turbo tank. As seen in the film, the turbo tank is much larger, better armed, and cosmetically different from the Juggernaut seen in the spin-off materials. To accommodate these differences, the Revenge of the Sith turbo tank is actually an HAVw A6 model, while the other ones previously seen are smaller HAVw A5s.

Hasbro in the past year has really surprised us with some rather large vehicles. First we had the Millennium Falcon and then the AT-TE now we get the Turbo Tank! A vehicle this large can also be considered a playset with all of its action features.

With the pop-out BARC Speeder that holds one trooper of your choice, this hide-a-way vehicle is reusing the mold from the first BARC Speeder Bike used in 2005 but this time without the ripcord action.

Clone Wars Clone Turbo Tank includes an exclusive Clone Wars television show style Tank Gunner figure and launching BARC speeder bike. The Turbo Tank has electronic lights, sounds and Clone Trooper phrases.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES

• Retail $119.99

PHOTOS

VIDEO REVIEW
This was also reviewed by Chris Rhoads (dustrho) on our YouTube channel.