Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter - R - Vehicles

A gifted pilot since he was a boy on Tatooine, Anakin Skywalker looks for any opportunity to get in the cockpit of a Jedi starfighter and head out on a mission for the Jedi Council. The Jedi starfighter responds well to Anakin's expert flying as he puts the vessel through his often daring piloting maneuvers during the Clone Wars.

Some of the finest collectors have referred to them as micro monstrosities – a fitting term in so many ways. But perhaps the truth of their actual scale lies somewhere in the middle. The classic Jedi starfighter vehicles Hasbro has been making since 2005 (with new styles entering The Clone Wars era) and the new vehicles part of the Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] product line, the Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] product line, and now the Rebels product line are apples and oranges. We’ll get to this more in a moment, but let’s revisit some history. We all received our first taste of this reduced-scale vehicle line in 2013, right after the debacle that was the Star Wars [The Phantom Menace 3D] line. But sadly the 2013 line imploded before it was even technically released. Basic figures (from both Movie Heroes and The Clone Wars line) never made it to retail in the USA. And the other products that did squeak out before the line was unceremoniously canceled didn’t interest too many collectors. Never in a million years did collectors believe they would see the return of some figures coming with 5POA (what kind of sick revival was this), 12-Inch Figures that resembled character shampoo bottles and reduced-scale vehicles that were off in so many ways that are laughable.

You have to remember, Hasbro didn’t completely abandon articulation in the 3.75” basic figure lines for the Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] line. No, that would come before the end of the year, however. We all experienced a tragic reckoning when we saw the line as a whole go south beginning in the Fall of 2013 when the Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] line came to fruition and changed the way we were getting Star Wars toys. The Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] line was the first “pure” line (save for some store exclusives) where everything released was 5POA and then the Rebels line followed in the same footsteps. The repacks are always inevitable, aren't they? These vehicles were terribly “dumbed down” to reduce costs, but it backfired. Collectors weren’t going to have any part of them. Part of this thinking, however, led to a “throw the baby out with the bathwater” mentality, because some of the vehicles for the first time in the Hasbro line were more appropriately scaled than the “fuller” versions they had been producing for years previously. Hasbro released three waves of these reduced-scale vehicles in the Rebels line look, and aside from laughable attempts of both Jango Fett’s Slave I and Boba Fett’s Slave I, the Jedi starfighters in the line aren’t without some merit.

Anakin's Jedi Starfighter is a new revision of 2009’s TCW [R] Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter vehicle, but this is the third time we're getting this same vehicle. The vehicle is small. There is no denying that. And it isn't free from issues. There is no removable droid socket, and R2-D2 has a dome that is about 40%-50% smaller than a standard 3.75” action figure. But from what we can tell, this vehicle is closer in scale to a standard 3.75” action figure that would pilot it. But even if you can accept the smaller scale, there are perhaps too many other issues that are much too difficult to get past. Anakin's Jedi Starfighter is a hollow shell of its predecessor. It’s a hollowed out piece of plastic. It has no body, depth or weight to it and we find this troubling. Even if materials had to be reduced, we feel there is a much better way to accomplish this. Some parts of the vehicle still look fantastic. Details like the ship’s panels and the landing gear don’t look to be sacrificed in any way, but there may be too much of a loss of quality here that will prohibit the interest of hardcore collectors. Paint operations, the decals and the play features are still present and look great, but Hasbro might want to look at a few things before they produce the next one. We're not so sure why Hasbro included this vehicle in the Rebels lineup, but they must know something we don't.