millennium falcon battle action, finn, rey, star wars 7 millennium falcon toy, Star Wars The Force Awakens

Review: Battle Action Millennium Falcon from Star Wars The Force Awakens

The Battle Action Millennium Falcon toy is full of great features and should please any young Star Wars fan – with one important addition.

(MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD)

While it’s great to see favourite characters returning in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, for me the most glorious returnee is the Millennium Falcon.

Millenium Falcon, Star Wars The Force Awakens, Star Wars Episode 7, Rey, Han Solo

Probably the most beloved ship of the entire saga, Han Solo’s Corellian freighter has blasted it’s way through childhood intergalactic adventures for decades.

I had an original Millennium Falcon in 1979 or thereabouts, or possibly around the time of The Empire Strikes Back. Ever the hoarder, I never got rid of it (other than a temporary loan to my now 18-year-old nephew). Dusted off, my daughter has been playing with it for the last couple of years.

But not any more. The first thing she said when she unwrapped this new one was “This is MY Millennium Falcon, not daddy’s.” We  can’t help but compare it with the Millennium Falcon 80s toy – and we agree the newbie wins.

Both toys are designed for use with the standard 3.75” Star Wars figures (this set includes 3 characters – more on that later), and they share many features including a cockpit for two figures, removable rear roof to reveal playset inside, and revolving radar dish – though this Falcon has the new rectangular one since the round dish was lost in Return of the Jedi.

But this is not just a Millennium Falcon. This is the Battle Action Millennium Falcon!

The Battle Action Millennium Falcon Nerf Cannon and Gun Turret
At the push of a button, the Millennium Falcon is ready for Battle Action. Pew pew!

It makes sounds. Lots of wonderful authentic sounds. When you lift off or land it makes the appropriate whirring. When you tilt it to fly, it makes a whooshing sound.

It has a pop up gun turret (with room for a figure) with more sounds and led lights blaster action. Most distinctive of all a pop-up Nerf gun turret (by same toymaker Hasbro) that fires Elite darts. While the Nerf cannon is not strictly Star Wars canon – it is tremendous fun to play with.

Battle Action Millennium Falcon Hyperdrive
Finn: “Punch it!”

There’s also a lever to engage the hyperdrive – with the interplanetary vroom, or the forlorn clank it made in Empire when the hyperdrive motivator was damaged.

The removable roof is also part of the playset, upturned and connecting to the back of the Falcon. All these new interactive elements make this a very cool Star Wars toy.

My daughter plays with it daily, enjoying hours of fun with it – from flying the ship, staging parties, acting out bathroom breaks for her figures (a popular play theme for preschoolers), as well as various Star Wars adventures. Not having seen The Force Awakens yet, she is convinced it begins with Luke shooting General Leia by mistake, and her being treated onboard the Falcon.

The moving parts also offer another element of play. My daughter is currently enjoying figure flinging!

The Battle Action Millennium Falcon in Action:

But where’s Rey?

For me there is a Supreme Leader Snoke sized omission in this Battle Action Millennium Falcon – Rey.

Chewbacca action figures, BB-8 action figures, Finn action figures, Star Wars toys,
The Battle Action Millennium Falcon comes with a trio of figures from Star Wars The Force Awakens – Chewbacca, Finn, and BB-8.

Star Wars sets never came with figures when I was a kid, so it’s great that it includes Chewbacca, Finn, and especially BB-8. But missing are the characters who actually pilot the ship in the movie – namely Han Solo and Rey.

Rey’s flying of the ship is one of her, the Falcon’s, and the film’s biggest scenes, so her exclusion from this set seems especially unfortunate.

This may simply be a classic way to get consumers to buy the figures separately. As I mentioned, there’s no Han either. I’ve also read talk of spoilers, though I can’t see how including her would spoil anything, just like Finn and BB-8. Her inclusion would’ve gone a long way to counter the #WheresRey blowback.

At least this was easily fixed for us. I had already raced out and bought my daughter a Rey figure immediately after watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens, so now Rey takes her place in the Falcon’s cockpit as she should.

Rey pilots millennium falcon, Hasbro, wheresrey
Hasbro’s Battle Action Millennium Falcon doesn’t come with a pilot. FTFY.

If this Battle Action Millennium Falcon had included Rey, this set would’ve been a complete slam dunk. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great toy for any young Star Wars fan (and us old ones as well). Just be prepared to get a Rey figure too, so your little one can recreate the new Millennium Falcon’s biggest scene, the escape from Jakku, authentically – with Finn on the guns and Rey at the helm.

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The Star Wars: The Force Awakens Battle Action Millennium Falcon Toy has an RRP of £119.99, and is available from Amazon and other retailers.

Star Wars © & TM Lucasfilm Ltd.

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Disclosure: I received this item free of charge for the purposes of this review.

Family Fever

3 thoughts on “Review: Battle Action Millennium Falcon from Star Wars The Force Awakens”

  1. I understand that you were able to review this as you got it for free but one of my other major gripes with the new Hasbro/Disney Star Wars toys has been the cost. For toys that I want to buy for my 4 and 6 year olds, the cost is astronomical and definitely doesn’t match the quality (so far in our experience it has been quite poor).

    1. I agree it’s not cheap, and a bit pricier inflationwise than my old one was. In this case I do think the overall quality is higher, given all the extra features, than my (very) old Kenner/Palitoy one.

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