Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter - SW [Y/AOTC] - Vehicles

Obi-Wan Kenobi flies his Jedi starfighter in pursuit of Jango Fett. The Jedi's Delta-7 fighter is armed with cannons and designed to respond to the Force-heightened abilities of a Jedi pilot. An integrated ASTROMECH DROID provides navigation and repair support. Obi-Wan maneuvers this sleek, compact craft smoothly through the turbulent asteroid fields outside Geonosis.

Man oh man. What has the Class II vehicle line come to now that Hasbro’s believes they are developing these for kids instead of collectors? Did Hasbro honestly forget that they made normal sized vehicles for kids in the vintage Kenner line that ran from 1978 to 1985? Don’t they realize that we loved out “large” playsets and vehicles then, so why do they think kids today need smaller scaled pieces in this day and age? Frankly, we’re tired of hearing these reduced scale vehicles are designed for kids. We were kids when the original vehicles were released and we loved them big and loved that we could barely carry them in our tiny hands. Star Wars was larger than life for us and so was the toy line. Why can’t things stay the same? In their minds, they feel that kids today don’t need all the bells and whistles that the classic Kenner ones came with, and to be fair Hasbro has etched a great deal of detail in this smaller sculpts to help them fit better into the modern lineup.

So how does Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter fair? Well, the size of the ship is a bit laughable. Not much bigger than Yoda’s Attack Jedi Starfighter (that came from 2013’s SW [AOTC/ROTS 3D] Yoda’s Jedi Attack Fighter With Yoda & Super Battle Droid Class I set), Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter really has more negatives than positives. There are three features added to the vehicle. It has retractable landing gear, a firing missile launcher and an opening cockpit that.... wait for it.... actually fits The Vintage Collection Obi-Wan Kenobi (VC31) figure. You really don’t have room to complain if a cockpit is able to host a pilot, so we have to give credit where credit is due.The paint job on the vehicle is simple yet good. The color scheme is all intact here and Hasbro did a fair job to ensure the color palette matched the vehicle seen in Star Wars Episode II: Attack of The Clones. As a standalone piece, Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter may pass with flying colors as a kid is concerned, but if they knew about the larger scaled version, they likely would get bored with this release very quickly.

We need to bring up the issue of existing tools again here. How in the world is it more cost feasible to design a 100% new tool for Obi-Wan’s Jedi Starfighter when an excellent version exists in the previous Class II line? A simple rerelease (and maybe even a revisit of the paint job) is all this vehicle needed. More features, larger scale and better detail already exist, so why go backwards? It’s mind-boggling at best. The biggest ironic kick to the gut here? The box boasts “Works With Movie Heroes/The Clone Wars Action Figures”. But you know what? Hasbro canceled the 2013 phases of these lines so technically there are no existing figures to accompany these vehicles. Talk about adding insult to injury. To be fair, Hasbro has had a lot of sand kicked in their faces by Lucasfilm Ltd., so they are desperately trying to play catch up and deal with the cards they’ve been dealt. Collectors are frustrated, but Hasbro is clearly frustrated too. We’d just like to know if the Hasbro Star Wars line will ever catch a break and get back on track again. The beginning of 2013 was a debacle. Let’s hope no matter what product we receive, that both kids and collectors are able to identify with the product Hasbro makes for us.