With a new movie on the horizon, Star Wars fever is in full effect, and like many young people, six-year-old Harvey from Peterborough, England loves everything about George Lucas' film series. Unlike most young fans though, Harvey doesn't need to add a lightsaber or Lego Death Star to his Christmas list. Instead, he's got a fifteen-foot-tall, twenty-foot-long giant AT-ACT playhouse in his backyard with tons of Star Wars toys hidden in its belly.
The AT-ACT – an All-Terrain Armored Cargo Transport – appears in the new film Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and is a sister vehicle to the four legged AT-AT, first seen in The Empire Strikes Back. This massive playhouse version, complete with moving head and guns, drop-down ladders, and a play space in the undercarriage, is the result of a collaboration between eBay and YouTube personality Colin Furze.
Built in Colin's garage workshop just six weeks before being secretly erected in Harvey's garden, the playhouse was a surprise Christmas present for Harvey, who is also a Colin Furze superfan.
“I've seen all the Star Wars films and I'm a bit of a fan myself,” says Furze, who rose to fame filming the projects he builds in his garage. “So when eBay came to me about building a Star Wars play den made entirely from products sourced from the site, I was definitely up for it.”
Using a Hasbro AT-ACT toy, stills from the film, and online renderings as guides, Colin roped in two friends to help him construct the beast, which is among his biggest projects to date.
“I use eBay to buy pieces for all of my projects, so sourcing materials wasn't a problem,” said Furze. “The strangest things we used in the build were woks for the guns, and there are bathroom handrails and paella pans in there, too. A garage wench lowers the ladders down from the belly, and the eyes, which look a bit like Knight Rider, are red LED lights.”
Rouge One: A Star Wars Story debuts in theaters worldwide December 16th.
