WHAT! AT-ATs are for realz?

So, all us Star Wars geeks enthusiasts did hand-stands and jumping jacks when we heard that some fanboys were setting out to make a full size, fully functional AT-AT (the giant robot camels, as seen in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (best movie ever made...ever))

then, when Lucasfilm (which is run by the the same villain who is responsible for Jar Jar Binks) put their foot down and stopped the project in it's tracks, Star Wars fans around the world wanted to see George Lucas frozen in carbonite and locked away in a gangster slugs palace/shithole on some shit splat planet in the middle of nowhere for realz.

but then i saw this article on gizmodo.com.au
It's a predecessor to Big Dog and was build by General Electrics for the US Govt. waaaay back. But is also the closest thing that we have seen to a real AT-AT.