Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter - SW [S - P1] - Vehicles (Exclusive)

Following the Battle of Hoth, Luke Skywalker journeys to the planet Dagobah to train with Jedi Master Yoda, who has lived in hiding since the fall of the Republic. Accompanied by R2-D2, Luke arrives at the uncharted swamp planet and begins difficult training, in which he tests himself in the Force and attempts to meet the challenging tasks assigned to him by the Jedi Master.

Ever since Hasbro tooled the newly scaled Luke Skywalker’s Red Five X-wing Fighter from the Electronic Power F/X line, collectors have been desperately waiting for Hasbro to release this vehicle without all of the bells and whistles. We wanted to see the cockpit fully functioning and perhaps have some of the unnecessary electronics stripped away as well. Hasbro decided to make us wait for a movie year before they attempted this, but our wishes came true with the release of 2002’s Star Wars “Saga” Luke Skywalker’ X-wing Fighter. What makes this release even more special is that instead of just rehashing the X-wing Fighter based on the Battle of Yavin from Episode IV, Hasbro decided to do a new take on the vehicle as based on the scenes from Dagobah in Episode V. This updated vehicle is incredible and comes with quite a few surprises as well, of which we’ll all get to shortly. Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter has been completely revisited. All of the electronics have been removed for this release. We find this bittersweet. While we’re happy to see some of the gimmicky sound effects go, the light-up feature on the 1998 POTF2 release was so impressive that we would have loved to see it applied here too. Be that as it may, Hasbro went hard to work to try an attempt to make this vehicle specific to The Empire Strikes Back. For the most part we believe they’ve done an admirable effort, but there is definitely room for improvement. However, this vehicle delivers a quality toy to kids and collectors.

What perplexes us the most about the deco Luke Skywalker’ X-wing Fighter has received is that it looks like the vehicle was caught is a fire instead of a marshy swamp. It actually looks like the whole rear section (in addition to the nose of the hull) looks like they were totally ablaze moments earlier. It’s likely that this was an attempt to add some mud to the vehicle’s body, but we don’t believe Hasbro was successful in executing this. That’s OK though because there is still a great deal to appreciate here. The all-new cockpit is nicely sculpted. Now able to accommodate a figure as well as allow the figure to be removed, Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter in the larger scale is for the first time a definitive base sculpt that Hasbro can use and reuse time after time to bring us all of the unique pilots’ vehicles we saw during the Battle of Yavin. The larger scale is quite impressive. It’s really nice to have an accurately scaled X-wig Fighter for the basic figure line. The 1998 Electronic Power F/X version was nice, but this is better because it’s completely interactive with the basic figure line. The latter was really only interactive with itself. Aside from what we’re interpreting as a scorched aesthetic for most of the ship’s rear, the rest of the paint job as well as the application of various decals added gives Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter a dramatic and screen accurate appearance. You’re going to like this version of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter very, very much.

Some of the extras included here are going to really make you happy too. Hasbro has included a unique version of R2-D2. Inexplicably, Hasbro repainted 2000’s EI R2-B1 Astromech Droid figure for an Episode V version of R2-D2. It really makes no sense. The point here however is that R2-D2 fits perfectly inside the functioning droid socket, also a new feature for this release. As you can see, the more pilot and astromech droids that Hasbro makes means more options for this vehicle (if you think outside of the box that is). R2-D2 isn’t the greatest action figure we have received. And we’re not entirely excited for the deco he received either. Instead of a muddy wash, Hasbro determined that a speckled green color would work the best. As a result, it looks like moss has been growing on him instead. Either way, you can’t fault Hasbro for including a unique sculpt of R2-D2 for this release. You should really be buying this for the updated X-wing Fighter vehicle, but a “new” version of R2-D2 is also sweet. We would have to unequivocally state however that our favorite part of this exclusive is the accessories meant to complement whatever Luke Skywalker figure you decide to pilot this vehicle. Unbelievably, Hasbro has tooled a survival light, a cargo compartment and a rations kit here. They are incredibly detailed and wonderfully sculpted. As you can see, this is a very thoughtful release by Hasbro. Original Trilogy purists are going to love it and it’s clear why they will.