On the Battle of Hoth they try to shoot the AT-ATs but the armor is too strong. So they get the tow cable and trip it up, and then it is lying on the ground. And then they come by and shoot a couple lasers on it and it explodes. So does its armor magically become weaker just because it is on the ground?
I’ve always fanwanked that the armor is backed up by a forcefield. When the AT-AT fell over I assume it knocked the shield off. Remember that those things are huge, when it fell the impact probably caused serious damage and killed most of the passengers.
AT-ATs have a weak point on the “neck” that is usually hard to hit because the “head” can turn towards enemy fire. When it was on the ground and immobilized, they had as much time as they wanted to line up shots. If you watch the scene, the first few shots do nothing, and the shot to the neck destroys it.
I always assumed the armor buckled when it crashed to the ground, exposing new weaknesses.
There’s an exhaust port. Guess where it’s located. 
I dont’ know where I heard it, but this is what I was going to say. Wow, I feel like a geek - but at least I’m not alone.
Watching Return of the Jedi, one of the smaller AT-ST things trips on some ewok logs, falls over and explodes (at 2:17).
I’m thinking the phrase “lowest bidder” came into play here.
Your friend sounds hot.
My friend wants to know if your friend will go out with her.
Would your friend like to kiss his friend?
No, the AT-AT blew up for the same reason the rebels attacked machines with guns that only point forward from the front.
She’d like to kiss his little friend.
My friend wants to know which friend is the nasty skank who will give an STD to the other friend.
yeah my friend is very lonely. Is your friend hot?
lol, like YOUR friend is picky.
If I remember correclty, playing as the snowspeeder in Hoth Ice Planet, strategy, and squadron tactics on a home video game was the best simulation of the star wars universe. Even better than the tie fighter simulation.
Disabling them with the harpoon/grappling hooks Unobtanium Cable Bolos was part of a two pronged attack. If I recall correctly it was just easier to destroy as a non moving target and you could get hits on the vulnerable head and turrets of the ATAT…
What was all that infantry doing there, anyway? They didn’t even slow the AT-ATs down. As soon as they saw them coming, they should have retreated into the base to defend against stormtroopers.
They certainly failed to follow standard design FMEA practices with regard to identifying basic failure modes in the operational environment. It was probably built during a cost-reduction cycle that focused on using Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) hardware.
Stranger
According to this, the AT-AT can carry up to 40 troops and 5 speeder bikes. I always thought the Rebel Infantry was there to defend against the stormtroopers inside, not the walkers themselves
I don’t know, but something tells me that Cliff Clavinwould know the answer.
