Hasbro Star Wars -The Power of the Force: Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-Wing Fighter (Electronic Power F/X) Review

Given its prominence not just in the films of the Classic Star Wars Trilogy but also in many video games, computer simulations and even works of Star Wars fiction, it's not surprising that the sleek-and-deadly lines of the Rebels' Incom T-65 X-Wing Fighter have been duplicated in toy and model kit forms ever since Kenner introduced the 3.75-inch scaled action figures back in the late 1970s.

Along with Luke's Landspeeder and the Imperial TIE Fighter, the X-Wing Fighter (so-called because its double wings (or S-Foils) can be split into an X-shape when in combat configuration) has been a staple of almost every serious Star Wars fan's collection.

I ought to know; Kenner's original X-Wing Fighter was the centerpiece of my growing collection when i started collecting at age 15; it was the second vehicle I acquired back in the summer of 1978, and for many years it was, despite its shortcomings, my favorite spacecraft-based collectible.

Even though Kenner had to sacrifice scale for practical purposes and reduced the original X-Wing in size to something kids could easily handle during play, it did boast a great deal of surface detailing and clever little features.  The S-Foils could be opened into the X "attack position" by pressing firmly but gently on a non-removable (and larger than scale) R2-D2 until they were held open by a hidden mechanism.  To close the wings back to standard flight/landing position, you pressed on this lever just in front of R2 and the wings would gently revert to their double-wing form.

The original X-Wing also had a retractable front landing skid; the rest of the landing gear was simulated by two "ridges" on the bottom of the spacecraft's two lower engines. This was probably a money-saving design feature to avoid overloading the toy with too many moving or breakable parts. 

To allow kids or collectors to place a figure in the X-Wing, Kenner gave the toy a yellow-tinted canopy that, once it was snapped in place on its hinge, could be raised or lowered like the one in the movie.

Though most of the little snub fighter came assembled (the fuselage, wings, and skid), some of the pieces had to be carefully removed from the packaging.  These parts included the aforementioned canopy, as well as the four laser cannon that are attached to the X-Wing's wingtips.

Although Kenner did a good job with the molded surface detailing that gave the X-Wing its almost-perfect movie replica look, most of the imporrant detailing was not painted on in the Hong Kong factories where it was made but had to be added by the end user, as the various Rebel Alliance markings on the wings and fuselage came in stickers.   This was something that was best done by adults, since Kenner only offered one set of labels per spacecraft or vehicle.  (Of course, in the instructions and parts list there was a Missing or Broken Parts? form, so if you tried to affix the labels yourself and botched it, you could probably request an extra parts assortment from Kenner, provided you waited six weeks to receive them and then let someone else put the labels on correctly.)

 For more than a decade, the 1978 Kenner X-Wing Fighter served its purposes well, but the harsh extremes of South Florida sun and humidity treated it poorly.  The stickers on the ship's upper surfaces first faded from vibrant reds and yellows to sad shades of pink and ochre, then they started coming off when the glue which held it to the plastic dried.  Additionally, while I was trying to find the old X-Wing a safer storage area I dropped it, breaking the now-brittle plastic canopy into shards.  Exit X-Wing, stage right,

Unfortunately, this has happened to all three of the original Kenner-era vehicles I've owned: my TIE Fighter's solar panels are all bereft of their black-and-white labels, and the Landspeeder is now sans its crescent-shaped windscreen.

Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-WING FIGHTER (Electronic Power F/X)

Model: Incom Corporation T-65 X-wing Space Superiority Fighter
Affiliation: Rebel Alliance
Crew: 1 Pilot And 1 Astromech Droid
Hyperdrive: Incom GBk-585 Unit

 20 years after Kenner introduced the downscaled original X-Wing Fighter,  its former archrival and eventual owner Hasbro Toys of Pawtucket, RI introduced a new and improved version of the Rebel Alliance's standard space superiority fighter.  Though it shared the same basic design features as the original 1978 toy, Hasbro's redesign was larger, longer and more proportionally correct than its Kenner forerunner.

From the Package Blurb: New larger scale! Electronic lights and 12 real movie sounds & phrases!

Perhaps realizing that its most-likely customer in 1998 was the now 30-something Star Wars fan who had watched the Classic Trilogy many times with his or her friends and was now caught up in the 20th Anniversary/Pre-Prequel Hype that preceded 1999's Star Wars - Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Hasbro was redesigning the action figures and their various accessories with an eye to detail that adults would appreciate far more than 4-9-year-old children would

And knowing that the 1978 X-Wing, for all its charming features, was proportionately shorter and squatter than its movie inspiration, the Rhode Island toymaker decided to stretch the fuselage, slimming its lines some while adding the necessary length to make it look "real."

Even though the basic layout stayed the same, the X-Wing was modified in ways both subtle and not so subtle.  For instance, where the 1978 original was all-white and pristine and its labels depicted spanking new insignia, the Luke Skywalker Red Five X-WING FIghter (Electronics F/X) has an off-white-gray color scheme on the fuselage, wings and nose, with some black "carbon scoring" added on to make it look weathered and battle-damaged.

And even though Hasbro still relegated a lot of the detailing to labels the end users had to affix themselves, the stickers now were more movie-authentic looking.  Instead of being all very factory-new looking, the insignia on the wings, fuselage and nose now had the trademark "lived in, worn-out" that gives the Star Wars series its visual believability factor.

Weapons and Accessories:

Because I was given this Star Wars collectible as a gift some time ago, I can't begin to fathom how complicated it would be to put this baby together from the package.   My friend Rogers, who used to be a dedicated collector for a while, assembled the X-Wing and put on all the stickers before he handed it over as a surprise gift,  However, just by looking at the amount of stickers that are on the X-Wing (including a pair of labels on two of the ships laser cannon), it probably will take an adult at least 15-20 minutes to affix all the stickers properly, especially if the X-Wing is to be a "displayable collectible."

Though the X-Wing is, first and foremost, a toy which the manufacturer intended for kids to play with, its "Electronic F/X" features and some of its physical limitations require that it be handled with greater care than its 1978 forerunner. It's best held with an extendable "pistol grip" handle attached to the rear of the ship's belly; that way one doesn't have to come in contact with the ship's fuselage and touch the labels during handling.

Behind the trasparent cockpit canopy and behind the non-removable R2-D2 astromech droid, there's a couple of little levers which activate most of the various sound effects that are included in the Electronics F/X package.  One lever controls the lights that indicate the targeting computer, while another activates various pre-recorded sounds and bits of dialogue from both Episode IV: A New Hope and Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back.

12 Real Movie Sounds & Phrases:

1. Proton tropedo sounds
2. Fire Laser Cannons
3. Light Up Engine Thrust
4. "R2, fire up the converters." (followed by R2-D2 and converters sounds) - This is the only line not from A New Hope; this was taken from The Empire Strikes Back. 
5. "Red Five standing by."
6. "Lock S-foils in attack position." (followed by R2-D2 sounds)
7. "I'm going in."
8. "R2, that stabilizer's broken loose again...see if you can't lock it down" (followed by R2-D2 sounds)
9. "R2, try and increase the power!" (followed by R2-D2 sounds)
10. "Use the Force, Luke" (Ben Kenobi)
11. "Luke, trust me" (Ben Kenobi)
12. "Luke...the Force will be with you" (Ben Kenobi)

To its credit, Hasbro seems to have used actual dialogue from the two films I listed rather than recorded sound-alike lines to save money.

My Viewpoint:  Even though it's a fairly "delicate" toy - one wouldn't want to buy this for a very small youngling even at its original Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Price of $49.99 (it's probably pricier now) and seeing it be broken within a few hours - this updated and very detailed replica of Luke Skywalker's Red Five X-Wing Fighter is still one of Hasbro's nicest Star Wars collectibles.

True, it is not as sturdy as its 1978 forerunner; the S-Foils are partiicularly delicate and sometimes the handgrip can come off if not attached right, so it needs to be handled, if at all, with great care.

It also includes an unnecessary "launchable" missile, which fits inside a nook in the X-Wing fighter's belly and can be fired by pressing a spring activated trigger.  It's not a small missile and probably would not be easily swallowed, but it might hit a youngling or an adult in an eye if one is recklessly "flying" and "launching proton torpedoes" at imaginary Imperial targets.

Nevertheless, the fact that the X-Wing is now no longer a disproportiately reduced-in-scale vehicle makes it look more like its movie version, and the improved detailing and nice extras more than make up for whatever design flaws the Luke Skywalker Red Five X-Wing Fighter is saddled with.