X-wing Fighter - OTC - Vehicles

Technical Specifications:
Model: T-65 X-wing
Function: Starfighter
Crew: 1 Pilot
Weapons: Laser Cannons, Proton Torpedos
Affiliation: Rebel

Fly into battle against the evil Empire in the toughest starfighter in the galaxy, the X-wing fighter! Luke Skywalker piloted an X-wing when he destroyed the first Death Star – saving the day and helping to win a major battle for the Rebels! Join the heroic forces at the controls of an X-wing – and feel the power of the Force!

The sudden announcement of the original Star Wars Trilogy on DVD put most licensees at a disadvantage. But the excitement of getting the films on DVD for the first time created enough energy for companies like Hasbro to work up a fantastic collection of old and new action figures to help support this monumental release. Hasbro added some wonderful Original Trilogy themed toys in the later wave assortments of the Star Wars “Saga” [Phase III] lineup. But they needed to abruptly shift gears to focus on the first three Star Wars film, revisit a line look that captured the magic of the vintage Kenner line and work up a cast of action figures that gripped the hearts of most of us many years ago. For vehicles, Hasbro was at a greater disadvantage. But thanks to the tweaking of some vehicles and others eventually reworked to becomes new vehicles they added to the line, Hasbro had a decent supply of vehicle ideas that augmented a familiar, but interesting action figure line. Hasbro made the X-wing Fighter one of the first vehicles released to retail in the summer of 2004. While collectors didn’t initially seem too interested in it, the enhancements Hasbro made to it made the vehicle a little more appealing. It wasn’t soon after this realization that the vehicle started selling well at retail.

The X-wing Fighter entered The Original Trilogy Collection as collectors began to melt their reservations for it. And as one of the first products that made it out of the new 2004 line look, it received more exposure than many other products that get lost in the shuffle, thanks to sensory overload. The X-wing Fighter is a retool and repaint of 1995’s POTF2 [R] X-wing Fighter. But this time, Hasbro removed the vehicle’s electronics. Some collectors might be disappointed by this update, but we’re happy to see it implemented. In all honesty, electronics like this all quite gimmicky and do nothing more than creating a few extra moments of fantastical play value. Unless they’re genuine sound effects from the film, like previous Hasbro products have come with, there isn’t much to appreciate about them as adult collectors. Still too small in scale, the X-wing Fighter still grabs the hearts of longtime collectors because it’s a respectable update to the vehicle offered to us in the seventies and eighties as young Star Wars fans. Both the coloring of the X-wing Fighter and the pre-applied decals are different than the 1995 release. It boggles the mind a bit that almost a decade separates the two modern releases of the X-wing Fighter and the nearly ten years allowed Hasbro to refocus the vehicle to make it the best version of it possible.

Aside from the removed electronics and the new paint job and nicely applied revised decals, the X-wing Fighter doesn’t bring anything else new to the table, aside from great packaging. The same features presented on the earliest versions of this vehicle are present on this version. The wings open up when you press down R2-D2’s head. The foils are removable. The canopy is functional. It seats an action figure (with ample room left over). While not completely Kenner-inspired, you can tell Hasbro took some notes from the design of the late seventies and implemented here as much as they could while keeping the line as fresh-looking as possible too. The X-wing Fighter maintains the “Mid-Size” vehicle box dimensions, but this time Hasbro opened up the front of the packaging with a window and a display scene/diorama aesthetic. It works, but a box without a window might have appealed better to longtime and classic vintage Kenner Star Wars collectors. We tend to like packaging that inspires us to the times we originally remember it. Hasbro also repainted 2001’s POTJ Luke Skywalker (X-wing Pilot) figure and re-released it as 2004’s OTC Luke Skywalker (OTC #05) figure. There are some significant differences in paint jobs between the two figures, so it might be worth your while to update your collection with the revised action figure.