The Good: Wonderful detailing, Great playability
The Bad: Some discoloration, Underwhelming springs, Headset in cockpit
The Basics: Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter toy might be one of the only discoloring vehicles I would still recommend!
I have often wondered to myself if I would recommend any product with a serious, obvious fault (though, I suppose I have done that with plenty of movies before!). So, when I opened up my Attack Of The Clones Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter that I purchased over a decade ago, and realized that it was beginning to yellow (a fact I only ascertained by comparing the white body coloring to the vastly whiter coloring on the canopy of the ship!), I was a little dismayed. I like this little ship!
For those who might be unfamiliar with it, Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter appears in Attack Of The Clones (reviewed here!) when Obi-Wan Kenobi leaves Coruscant to search for the bounty hunter who made an attempt on Senator Amidala’s life. He flies the red and white, arrowhead-shaped vehicle through an asteroid field in pursuit of Jango Fett, nearly getting blown out of the stars as a result! Fortunately, the little red Jedi Starfighter is remarkably agile and was able to escape destruction.
Hasbro has since resculpted, or at least rereleased, Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter multiple times, but the 2001 Attack Of The Clones remains worthwhile (and worth buying!).
Basics
Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter is a full-sized vehicle toy from Hasbro’s 2001 Attack Of The Clones toy line. The ship, made entirely of hard plastic, is instantly recognizable to fans of the Star Wars films and, despite the two fundamental flaws with it – the yellowing issue and spring issues – it remains a worthwhile toy that virtually all Star Wars toy enthusiasts are likely to enjoy!
Measuring 16” long by 8” wide by 3 1/4" tall, Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter is a fast-looking space ship that transforms from an arrowhead into a flying dagger! Cast in red and gray-white plastic, Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter features an incredibly detailed sculpting. The ship looks exactly like it does in Attack Of The Clones, with each panel on the outside looking like it could be blown off, like it was an assembled ship made from real parts somewhere! The coloring of the toy is initially incredible; details like the two forward cannons having burn marks in front of them are very cool. Similarly, the wings feature tiny speckles of silver that make the ship look like it is worn and pockmarked from traveling through the asteroids.
This version of Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter features a cockpit that opens up to seat a single figure. There are several stickers that must be applied – like to the consoles on the inside of the cockpit – but they are easy to put on and most look organic where they belong. Inside the cockpit, there is a sensor scope and the controls Obi-Wan Kenobi uses to fly the ship. These are cast in an unfortunate baby blue plastic that looks utterly ridiculous.
Even so, Hasbro got a lot right with this toy; the two detachable wings that pop off to transform the ship from flight mode to battle mode have screws in them so there is obviously only one way to attach them to the body of the ship (so the screws face downward). Obi-Wan’s R2-unit comes embedded in the top of the vehicle.
Accessories
The Attack Of The Clones Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter does not come with any action figures for accessories. All the Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter comes with are two identical missile accessories. Each is 2 13/16” long, cast in monotonal gunmetal gray plastic and looks like a little torpedo. In fact, all of the weaponry underneath the blow-off wings is monotonally colored, but the missiles – which are pretty light on any surface details – match the colors underneath the winds and look good when there.
Playability
Playability is where the Attack Of The Clones Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter had me initially impressed, but ultimately dismayed. The primary play function of Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter is the blow-off wing function. When properly assembled, the toy looks like a big arrowhead. However, pressing a button on the underside ejects the two side wings and causes fins on the wingtips to flip open (actually making the ship look disturbingly like a Sith Infiltrator!). This exposes the missile launchers as well. Unfortunately, the spring system on this toy is one of the weakest Habro ever made. The wings now only detach (not eject) and one of the fin assemblies does not actually deploy! Hitting the button multiple times does get everything to open, but it is a long way to go for a function that is supposed to be simple and cool.
The other cool feature for play is the missile launcher. Underneath the blow-off wings are the missile launchers. The missiles deploy by pressing a button on the back of the ship. These springs, too, are exceptionally weak. The right missile flew six inches past the front of the ship when deployed; the left missile did not clear the front of the ship!
There is a landing gear that easily slides into place and slides back into the body of the ship to differentiate between landed and flight modes.
The head of the embedded R2 unit rotates.
The cockpit opens and easily houses one figure. The sensor scope in the cockpit folds down, but looks utterly ridiculous when it does.
Collectibility
At the time of its release, the Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter toy was only about $20 and they hever appreciated all that much. In fact, because there have been subsequent releases of this same ship, the Attack Of The Clones Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter remains easily available in the secondary market at deflated prices. Given the discoloring issues, this seems like a toy that is unlikely to ever appreciate in value.
Overview
Despite its faults, the Attack Of The Clones Obi Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter squeaks by with a “recommendation.” It is generally well-designed and colored and fits in with the current quality level of the Star Wars toys (discoloration notwithstanding, of course). It is a cool enough toy that it makes me actually want to hunt down one of the newer ones to see if Hasbro fixed the issues with this version as they went forward . . . I can’t recall the last time I was so eager to “double buy!”
For other Star Wars: Attack Of The Clones vehicles and playsets, check out my reviews of:
Jango Fett’s Slave I
Geonosian Starfighter
Hailfire Droid
5.5/10
For other toy reviews, be sure to visit my Toy Review Index Page for an organized listing of all the toys I have reviewed!
© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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