If you think anything screams classic Star Wars more than the Millenium Falcon, you are incorrect. It’s the location where Luke Skywalker took his initial steps on the path of becoming a Jedi Knight, and the location where Princess Leia and Han Solo shared a first kiss before being cockblocked by C3PO. It’s the ship which helped destroy two Death Stars, and it made the Kessel run in less than 12 parasecs. The Falcon is as synonmous with classic Star Wars as a lightsaber. But I don’t think anyone is disputing this, so I don’t know why I’m going on about it to be honest. Anyway, here is the Micro Machines Action Fleet take on the iconic ship.

Like most Action Fleet vehicles, it comes with a stand which you can place the ship and its occupants on. This one comes with Han and Chewie, which is a shame as I’m sure everyone actually wanted it to come with Lando and Nien Numb (not really!).

The Han and Chewie figures are decent enough with a fair amount of detail considering their small size. I’m sure that Han was initially supposed to come with white sleeves to look more akin to how he does in the original movie, as original promotional photos show him in his classic outfit, but instead his entire outfit is black in this set. I’m not sure on the reason for this set. Maybe they thought they could save pennies but having as little amount of paint as possible. As such, Han never actually wears an all-black outfit in the orignal trilogy, so this isn’t completely screen accurate. But I appreciate artistic license, so whatever.

The Falcon can fire a missile at the touch of a button located on the underside of the ship. It’s a neat little feature but I’m certain I would have lost the missile within three seconds of opening the toy from the packaging as a kid.

Despite this version of the Falcon not being to scale with the figures, it’s still plenty big enough to fit one of the figures into the cockpit. It would have been cooler if it was large enough to fit two figures, but I can forgive in a toy this size. Especially considering the other couple features the Falcon has.

The rear of the Falcon opens up to reveal a section of the interior. Although nowhere near as detailed as the innards of the ’70s Kenner playset, it’s still pretty neat considering the size. And the best part is-

Smuggling compartments! Perfect for storing crates of spice from boarding Imperial parties, or even somewhere a Wookie can have a little nap! One final feature can be found in the middle of the ship, under the gun turret.

The turret pops up to reveal a gunner seat, which can obviously fit a figure. Other Millennium Falcon vehicles have also featured a gunner seat, all the way back since the original ’70s release, but being in its own little turret compartment that pops out is really nifty.

So there we go, that’s the Action Fleet Millenium Falcon. Certainly not as memorable as the Kenner original, but this smaller version of the Falcon was released at a time when the majority of the 3 3/4″ figures were overly bulky and muscular, and nowhere near like their onscreen appearences. I don’t remember even ever seeing this version of the Falcon in stores as a kid, but I sincerely wish that I had, as this would have been the highlight of my Action Fleet collection back then. This set is a testiment to just how cool the Action Fleet line is and how much potential micro toylines have. Kenner sadly didn’t have much success with their micro Star Wars lines, but I’m glad that Galoob fared better with their releases.

Action Fleet will appear again soon, cos I love playing with them and enjoy setting them up to take pictures of them!