Anakin Skywalker’s Jedi Starfighter - CW - Vehicles

Begun the Clone War has!" – Jedi Master Yoda
On the remote planet of Geonosis, the growing conflict between the Republic and its foes explodes into all-out war. The Republic's Jedi Knights lead a massive Clone Army into battle on hundreds of planets. The Separatists, led by the powerful Dark Lords of the Sith, fight back with their own formidable droid armies. As this terrible conflict rips across the galaxy, Anakin Skywalker, Padmé Amidala and Obi-Wan Kenobi are swept into the turmoil of war and the rising shadow of the dark side.

Even though Anakin leads an army in the Clone Wars, he still has within him the boy who restored and rebuilt a junked Podracer and piloted it to victory. Dissatisfied with the performance of his Jedi Starfighter, he modifies the vehicle to meet his own personal preferences. He increases the engine power, adds a vectored thruster and makes other mechanical and aerodynamic modifications to enhance the starfighter's performance. He also adds four laser cannons and a proton torpedo launcher to increase the fighter's firepower. Finally, he has added an ingenious forward-mounted hyperdrive enabling him to travel through hyperspace.

The Clone Wars line added an admirable amount of 3.75” vehicles for collectors. Some of the vehicles were simply rehashes of previously existing tooling, but others, like Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter, are all-new sculpts. Making its appearance in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter is one of the standout all-new vehicles in the Clone Wars line. Call it the “Batmobile” of the Star Wars line, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter has one of the unique looks of a Jedi Starfighter we’ve seen to date. With a wealth of new parts added to the standard Jedi Starfighter frame, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter looks like no other Jedi Starfighter before it, and its beautiful deco pattern makes it one of the nicer vehicles we’ve seen in the toy line in a long time. While released to support the Clone Wars multimedia event in its entirety, Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter is part of many chapters in the Tartakovsky Clone Wars animated micro-series. The beloved television series is made better thanks to the great toys Hasbro makes based on it. And we’re thrilled to see this unique vehicle added to the toy line. It’s a well-made toy and has some cool features.

Seen multiple times in Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars Volume 1, Anakin Skywalker’s Modified Jedi Starfighter (nicknamed the Azure Angel) is a customized Delta-7 Aethersprite-class light interceptor starfighter. It was personally modified and subsequently piloted by the Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker during the beginning of the Clone Wars. It was quickly replaced for bigger and better vehicles and wasn’t utilized much after Volume 1 in the micro-series. Anakin Skywalker likes what he likes. And the vehicle’s paint job was directly inspired by the pattern of his Podracer when he was only a boy on Tatooine. We see his podracer with this pattern in Episode I. After sustaining multiple battles, Asajj Ventress destroyed the Azure Angel right after Anakin Skywalker landed it on Yavin IV to confront her in that epic lightsaber duel. The destruction of Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter was meant to happen because updated models awaited him upon his return from Yavin IV. The Azure Angel looks a little clumsy to some fans, but we think it looks streamlined and fits in well with the rest of the Jedi Starfighters. The large “podracer-esque” front thrusters look like they wouldn’t do much to help the vehicle, but then again, we don’t build Jedi Starfighters, so what do we know?

Hasbro gave Anakin Skywalker's Jedi Starfighter a very, very nice paint job. It’s not often we receive vehicles from Hasbro with a pattern that stands out from the rest. But there is a great amount of detail to take in here. From the final “dirty” wash collecting in various places on the outside of the vehicle to the beautifully sculpted cockpit interior brought to life with decals, Hasbro brought a wonderful amount of detail to this vehicle and didn’t hold back anything to make it the best vehicle it can be. The blue exterior of the vehicle is accented with broad white stripes from beginning to end. Aside from the opening cockpit, there aren’t too many other usable (or impressive) features here. Sure, side wings pull out and lower wings lower, and the turning of the astromech’s dome will fire the projectile. These are more like filler features than anything noteworthy, but we appreciate the effort by Hasbro to give this vehicle a little play value for the younger fans. Oh, and in case you’re interested, the astromech droid featured here is R4-P22. The four cannons on the top and the bottom of the vehicle dress it up nicely, but if bumped they fly off very easily. They also don’t fire anything. It’s a great vehicle for the 2003 Clone Wars line. Give it a chance!