Luke Skywalker’s X-wing - TSC - Vehicles (Exclusive)

After the Rebels are forced to evacuate their base on Hoth, Luke Skywalker and R2-D2 escape in Luke's X-wing fighter and set a course for the Dagobah system. After his guidance systems are scrambled by the thick atmosphere, Luke crash lands in a stinking marsh.

Frustrated and alone, Luke is at first impatient with the strange, tiny hermit he encounters, only to find that this odd little creature is in fact one of the greatest Jedi ever to live. Yoda soon proves that size matters not when one is knowledgeable in the ways of the Force. After Luke's X-wing sinks to the bottom of the bog, Yoda levitates the massive craft out of the depths and places it on dry land. Soon thereafter, Luke must leave Dagobah and fly to Cloud City in his X-wing in order to rescue his friends from the clutches of the Empire.

The Saga Collection was the very first Hasbro collection to house all Star Wars sources together under one banner. Hasbro cleverly color-coded the line to help make the delineations from the films clear and separate while allowing collectors to build their own sub-collections based on film and/or Expanded Universe focuses. It was an interesting line because it not only gave collectors all-new figures, it also included refreshed and repainted figures as well. And the same was true for the exclusives Hasbro released too. Hasbro released a rather stunning version of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing fighter in the Star Wars “Saga” line. Released as 2002’s SW [S - P1] Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter Toys R Us exclusive, it was based on The Empire Strikes Back when Luke landed on Dagobah to search out Yoda who would begin his Jedi training. While an exciting release for the time when everything focused on Attack Of The Clones, the set wasn’t completely perfect. The X-wing sustained too much black smoke damage and the deco in general just seemed off at best. Clearly not content with the 2002 Star Wars “Saga” release, Hasbro stepped up to the plate and released another Toys R Us exclusive based on the same scenario, but raised the bar very high. Plus, the pack-in figures in addition to the realistic “moss” accessories just nailed everything perfectly and collectors were very satisfied and content with this new version.

Luke Skywalker’s X-wing is a complete repaint of 2002’s SW [S - P1] Luke Skywalker’s X-wing Fighter vehicle. The tooling remains unchanged, but that’s fine because it was a great release as is. For the first time ever, Hasbro has sculpted four separate, what they describe as “moss”, pieces that have been perfectly tooled to lay over various part of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing. (We’re inclined to call it swamp grass because we feel that better depicts what this effect is supposed to represent.) What’s great is that they’re completely removable so you can recreate Luke’s X-wing submersion in water infinitely as long as you own this toy. Luke Skywalker’s X-wing has been beautifully painted and has been given paint operations that better represent the vehicle overall. We’re very happy with how it turned out. All of the same features are here including opening cockpit, empty droid socket. An R2-D2 figure was planned but then canceled from this set so you will have to provide your own. This actually works out splendidly because the corresponding 2006 TSC R2-D2 (SAGA 010) is the perfect figure to use here because he comes with all of the survival gear that the Star Wars “Saga” vehicle came with originally. R2-D2 (SAGA 010) is the perfect marriage for The Saga Collection version! As if everything so far wasn’t good enough, Hasbro included two pack-in figure: Luke Skywalker and a Dragonsnake.

Luke Skywalker is based on 2004’s OTC Luke Skywalker (OTC #01) figure. Hasbro has retooled a new torso (to get rid of the holes for the backpack), a new head and new arms which makes this version of Luke Skywalker almost feel like an all-new figure. The new arms are wonderful additions because they contain swivel wrists. They can accompany the included lightsaber nicely. As a result, Luke Skywalker has more posing options because of this. We also like the new head sculpt very much. Aside from appearing a little too tan, we have to say that we’re impressed with this version of Luke Skywalker. The best part of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing however is the Ralph McQuarrie inspired Dragonsnake. While we did see the back of the creature in the Dagobah swamp right before it tried to devour R2-D2, we never saw this creature in full, save for the drawings by Ralph McQuarrie. Hasbro graciously tooled an all-new sculpt to complete this character for us and we have to say it’s really the highlight of the set. The Dragonsnake comes with a swivel head, swivel shoulders and a hinge-jointed tail. It has also been painted beautifully. To date, this is the greatest version of Luke Skywalker’s X-wing that is available on the market today. For less than $45 you get a large-size updated vehicle and “almost” two new figures. It’s a bargain no matter how you slice it. We will remain confident that Hasbro will continue making great exclusive sets like this in the future.