It’s time to dig out and update the ol’ “why wasn’t this available when I was a kid?!’ list because buried in the Comic-Con news dump was this fantastic drivable X-34 Landspeeder from Radio Flyer that lets a pair of kids zoom across the sands at a blistering 8km/h.
The Landspeeder features an interactive dashboard with light-up buttons and sounds taken from the original Star Wars movie, and in addition to two forward speeds (3km/h and 8km/h) it can also go in reverse for when you slowly need to back away from a group of angry Sandpeople.
There are a few disappointments, however. Radio Flyer’s Landspeeder doesn’t actually hover, so your off-road adventures will be limited to mostly smooth terrain. And the commercial the company made for it is excruciatingly cheesy. We have no problem with the adorable Jedi kids, but their lame dad is almost certainly making Han Solo roll over in his grave.
Powered by a rechargeable 12-volt battery, the Landspeeder will be available in the US exclusively from Toys ‘R’ Us starting on September 5, with an unfortunate $US500 ($632) price tag which seems unreasonably steep for modest moisture farmers. Even more unfortunately is that an Australian arrival has not been confirmed. Though while it’s claimed to support kid-sized passengers up to 59kg, I’m willing to test the limits of that weight rating because this thing is way cooler than my minivan.
[YouTube]