Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter - TAC - Vehicles

Anakin Skywalker battles deadly droid starfighters while on a mission to rescue Chancellor Palpatine, who has been kidnapped by Separatist forces. As he heads for the vessel on which the Chancellor is being held, Anakin takes aim and disables the ship's shields.

The Revenge Of The Sith brought forth a new typpe of Jedi starfighter and along with new vehicles came awesome figures to pilot them. Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter has been re-released with quite a few others in the 30 (77-07) line to celebrate 30 years of Star Wars. This starfighter was an all-new vehicle in 2005 and it was feat of achievement for Hasbro for they reached a new level of excellence in the vehicle line. Hasbro’s sculpting gets better and better throughout the years and the paint operations are generally stunning in most respects. And the inclusion of optional battle-damage decals give the mid-size vehicle lineup that extra pizzazz it needs to stay a cut above competing toy line. Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter is quite frankly a beautiful vehicle. With elements of the Original Trilogy combined with the “new” technology of the Prequel Trilogy, this Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptor fought gallantly in the Battle of Coruscant as Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi attempt to infiltrate General Grievous’ Invisible Hand in an effort to rescue Senator Palpatine. Technically making its first appearance in Star Wars: Obsession, Anakin’s Jedi Starfighter was seen throughout Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series as well. But it was in Revenge Of The Sith where we see it in live action as it left its mark as a powerful and agile starfighter.

Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter possesses an excellent sculpt. The cockpit is very, very wide which allows you to accommodate a huge selection of action figures of various shapes and sizes in it. Obviously most of us will have one choice in mind, Anakin Skywalker, but the option is there if you’re a little more creative than the average collector. This vehicle fires missile projectile with the flick of a button. And if you pull down on the lever on the back of the vehicle, the wings deploy for attack mode. This starfighter also has retractable landing gear (which in our opinion doesn’t work all too well). As you can see, there are plenty of play features here which make this a great toy for kids and collectors alike. But this vehicle is also a collectible because of how great it looks and how well it is painted. It literally looks like a model used for the film it has been done so well. Even if you look at the underside of the vehicle you’ll be amazed with how much effort went into the tooling there as well. Why Hasbro would expend time and energy to make the bottom of a vehicle look this great is mind-blowing to us. But we’re just as thankful for it too. The new 30 (77-07) packaging is beautiful and there is no doubt that sealed collectors are going to want to add this flavor to their collections too. It looks that good. There are some minor deco variances present, but we don't believe the changes were deliberate.

If we did have to find fault with the vehicle, it would have to be with regards to the droid socket and “R2-D2 action figure” that accompanies it. There have been many theories surrounding this detail of the Eta-2 Actis-class light interceptors. It’s against physics how an astromech droid could fit inside this spot on the vehicle (or has one theory described). So it makes sense that Hasbro would have to tool a version of R2-D2 that would fit inside of it. What we get instead is a hollow half R2-D2 “accessory” that fits inside of the droid socket like a glove. It’s disappointing that Hasbro couldn’t have just made a hold that went through the vehicle (where R2-D2’s legs would dangle from) and then perhaps a cover when R2-D2 wasn’t co-piloting it. Anyway, that design idea wasn’t an option. Another fault we must point out is the application of decals. Hasbro has decided that instead of painting on details or applying the decals prior to assembling the vehicle, that the parent or collector would have the joy of doing this instead. Let us tell you that it is maddening trying to get the interior cockpit decals on without wanting to throw the vehicle through a glass window. Unless you have tweezers and a steady precise hand, they aren’t going to go on with any ease. Other than that, Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter is an excellent vehicle. We really do prefer the packaging on this version the most.