The Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff Review

8/19/2019

The Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff vehicle was announced at New York Toy Fair in February of 2019 (here is our coverage), and six months later it was in collector's hands. Hasbro sold the vehicle for a remarkably good price of $39.99. Advancements in sculpting and painting make the 2019 version of the Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff superior in every way to the 1985 Power Of The Force Kenner version, and therefore it's also superior to the Skiff vehicle from the Power Of The Force 2 toy line which was released in the year 2000. The POTF2 version from 2000 used the same tooling as the original Kenner vehicle from 1985. 

The Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff is only available online, Amazon has sold out (click here to check stock), but Entertainment Earth still has it in-stock currenlty (click here to check stock). 

Packaging And Assembly

Before we look at the vehicle's features, let's have a look at the beautiful Kenner-inspired packaging first. 

As you can see the packaging looks amazing and even if you keep the Skiff boxed it'll look great on display. Let's look at the included parts and the assembly instructions.

The Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff Part List

• 1 Tatooine base
• 2 Clear see-through pillars which attach to the base and the Skiff
• 2 Side railings
• 1 Damaged side railing with cables hanging down
• 1 Curved front railing
• 1 Curved back railing
• 2 Floor panels
• 1 Weapon storage lid
• 1 Steering console
• 2 Rudders (each consists of two pieces) 

When you look at the assembly instructions you can see that putting the Vintage Collection Skiff together is quite easy and shouldn't take longer than 5 to 10 minutes. 

Features And Execution

There are no action features built into the Vintage Collection Skiff. The original Kenner and POTF2 versions had two levers in the back next to the steering console, one extended the landing gear and one the plank. The Vintage Collection Skiff doesn't have a landing gear, but it has a plank which can be extended by hand. 

The details on the hull and the paint application look outstanding. The wash on the Skiff gives it a realistic appearance and the color tone matches Jabba's Sail Barge perfectly. The hull even has blaster damage in several places and if you look at the floor closely you'll see that parts of it are used more than others, nice! Here is a look at the hull with open panels and you can see the bottom was painted just as nicely as the upper deck of the Skiff.

There are six weapon holders, two in the front and four in the back, where staff weapons can be clipped on for storage. We tried several different weapons and Force Pikes clipped on just as easily as vibro axes. 

In the middle of the Skiff is extra space for weapon storage, simply lift the panel up and place the weapons inside. The floor doesn't have any pegs on it so displaying figures on it is tricky because the figures will likely fall over. However, not having pegs sprinkled around on the floor makes for a much more realistic appearance.

The rudders in the back can be moved around and the addition of an extra side railing with the cables hanging down gives you the choice to display the vehicle either before the battle started or while it was on-going. Here is a look at the Vintage Collection Skiff with the different railings installed. 

Legendary Star Wars toy designer Mark Boudreaux, who designed the Sail Barge and the Skiff, told us during Star Wars Celebration 2019 in Chicago that the Vintage Collection Skiff is in-scale with Jabba's Sail Barge and that it can easily house all the characters which were seen riding it in Return Of The Jedi. He also mentioned that cables are fully sculpted and aren't just parts which go halfway for accent purposes. The steering console in the back of the Skiff has two handles on it which can be moved up and down so that it's easier for figures to hold on to it. The base balances the Skiff beautifully and it's possible to even tilt it left and right.

The images speak for themselves, this is a beautiful vehicle from top to bottom, the paint application, the color tone, the details, the overall look and functionality is flawless. This vehicle needs to be in everybody's collection, especially considering the price, which at $39.99 is a great deal. 

Who's Who And What Figures Go On The Skiffs?

Here's a look at the who's who on both Skiffs, let's take a look at the Hero or Prisoner Skiff first.

While taking screen grabs of the Battle Of Carkoon sequence we stumbled upon a movie error, when the prisoner skiff is heading towards the Sarlacc pit  the image is flipped in the movie and everybody is standing on the wrong side. The easiest way to tell is by looking at Chewbacca's bandolier which is clearly on the wrong side.

From left to right:

• Vedain, only made once so far*
• Velken Tezeri, not yet made as a 3.75" figure*
• Kithaba , made a few times, we went with the red bandana version from The Vintage Collection
• Chewbacca, made a few times, we went with the 2008 Sandstorm Chewbacca because of the blowing hair
• Lando Calrissian, made a few times, we used this Lando Calrissian (Skiff Guard)
• Han Solo, made a few times, we went with The Legacy Collection 2008 Han Solo (Sandstorm) figure because of the blowing hair and the belt. We used the binders from The Vintage Collection Han Solo in Carbonite figure.
• Weequay, made a few times, we used the short neck variant Weequay from The Vintage Collection
• Luke Skywalker, made numerous times, we used the Jedi Destiny Set Luke Skywalker figure from 2019
• Weequay, made a few times, we used the Weequay figure from The Vintage Collection

*as of August 2019

There are nine characters on the prisoner skiff, and Hasbro has made eight of them, only missing the human Skiff Guard Velken Tezeri. We could also use a more scene specific Chewbacca with blowing hair and a lighter hair color as seen on the Sandstorm Chewbacca figure. Maybe his hands could be tied on the back. Han Solo with a nicer head sculpt, smaller belt and squinting eyes would be great too, the head sculpts on all the Carbonite/Skiff Han Solo figures feel a bit out-dated nowadays.

Let's take a look at the second Tatooine Skiff and another movie error! In some scenes there are seven guards on the Skiff, in others there are only six on it. 

 From left to right:

• Luke Skywalker, made numerous times, we used the Jedi Destiny Set Luke Skywalker figure from 2019
• Brock Starsher, made a few times, we used the Brock Starsher figure from The Vintage Collection
• Nikto (Skiff Guard), made a few times, we used the Nikto figure from The Vintage Collection
• Human (Skiff Guard), not yet made as a 3.75" figure*
• Human #2 (Skiff Guard), not yet made as a 3.75" figure*
• Barada, made several times, we used Barada from the 2006 Saga Collection
• Pote Snitkin, made only once in 1999
• Yotts Orren (pictured below on the right, leaning over the railing), a Nikto guard which has never been made in 3.75"

*as of August 2019

There are seven characters on the Guard Skiff (plus Luke), and Hasbro has made four of the guards, which means we are missing three figures, two humans and one Nikto. Pote Snitkin (20 years old!) and Barada could use updates, they both feel out-dated. 

Even though Hasbro hasn't made all the Skiff Guards yet you can always populate the Skiff with other guards and check out how cool this looks: 

So this concludes our look at the Vintage Collection Skiff vehicle. We've given you an overview of the packaging, the contents and all the parts included, we shared our thoughts about it and we showed you what figures you can use to have an accurate display based on the Battle Of Carkoon, and we highlighted what figures Hasbro hasn't made yet or need updates.

For a full list of Jabba's Palace and Jabba's Sail Barge have a look here: Jabba's Palace figure list and for a look at Star Wars figures from the Vintage Collection have a look here: The Vintage Collection.

Last but not least we leave you with one question, where would the suction cups on the Skiff go which pulled R2-D2 and C-3PO out of the sand?

You can get the Vintage Collection Tatooine Skiff on Entertainment Earth, Amazon and a variety of online stores.